The Healthy Butcher in Toronto, ON

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:	+1 416-674-2642
Website:	www.thehealthybutcher.com
Address:	298 Eglinton Avenue W, Toronto, ON, M4R 1B2 Yonge and Eglinton
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:	120 ftAvenue 980 ftEastbourne Avenue 0.3 miHillsdale Avenue West
Categories:	Meat Shops Grocery

Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Accepted Cards	Credit, Debit
Parking	Street

Bike Parking	Yes
Wheelchair Accessible	Yes

Today

Today	9:00 am – 9:00 pm Closed now
Local time (Toronto)	12:52 AM Friday, November 29, 2024

Business hours

Monday	9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Tuesday	9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Wednesday	9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Thursday	9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday	9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday	9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday	11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Description

Specialties

The Healthy Butcher is a «go-to» for those looking for Toronto’s best organic meat and gourmet groceries. The Healthy Butcher has quickly grown to meet the appetite of discerning customers, offering Toronto’s best selection of Certified Organic, Naturally-Raised, 100% Grassfed and Local Meat, Fresh Organic Produce, Gourmet Prepared Foods and Organic Foodstuffs.

We are your friendly neighbourhood butcher, and ensure your food is produced the way nature intended.

Now also offering home delivery via Toronto’s best eGrocer RealFoodToronto.com!

History

Established in 2005.

Organic food is not a novelty… it was the past and will be the future. Eating fruits, vegetables, grains, or meats grown with pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and other unnatural chemicals is ludicrous and unsustainable.

Do you remember the days when you could walk into your local butcher shop to buy fresh meat grown locally by a farmer who cared about his animals? When the cows would graze in large pastures? When the chickens had access to both indoors & outdoors and had time to sleep? And when growth was determined by the animals eating habits, not growth hormones and antibiotics. For most of us, unfortunately, the answer is no. Industrialization over the last few decades has brought us to this day of antibiotic stuffed, water injected, assembly-line cut, pre-packaged meat.

The Healthy Butcher aims to restore an area of the food industry that has wrongly disappeared. We are your good ‘olé fashion butcher.

Meet the Business Owner

Mario and Tara F.

Business Owner

Former Lawyer and Investment Banker, Mario and Tara left their large Bay Street Firms to do the unimaginable — open an organic butcher shop. The Healthy Butcher was born out of their frustration of the difficulty finding good quality, fresh organic meat in Toronto and the difficulty of finding good quality prepared foods to eat in the comfort of their own home when their work schedules didn’t allow for enough time to spend cooking.

So, they used their business savvy to negotiate a deal with long-time owner and furniture store operator Sol Borenstein to buy 565 Queen St West. in the heart of The Fashion District. After restoring the building to its original 1890 beauty, their goal is to provide downtown Toronto residents with a place they can trust to sell only the best organic meats and gourmet prepared foods that will bring a passion for food to their patrons’ dinner tables.

The Healthy Butcher now has 3 locations in Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario.

The Healthy Butcher also recommends

The Healthy Butcher

33

reviews

Butcher

Mario and Tara F. says,

«Visit our 565 Queen Street West location! Now offering home delivery via Toronto’s Best eGrocer RealFoodToronto.com»

The Healthy Butcher

Grocery

,

Butcher

Mario and Tara F. says,

«Visit our 25 Bruce Street location in Kitchener!»

The Healthy Haven

5

reviews

Health Markets

Mario and Tara F. says,

«Our Kitchener store is located within The Healthy Haven.»

Related places

Explore similar places:

Nortown Foods

892 Eglinton Avenue W

Marlon’s Meat

2636 Yonge Street

1.3

Canworld Foods

10 Shorncliffe Ave

1.3

Tasty Chip Steak Products

10 Shorncliffe Ave

1.3

Treeline Foods

10 Shorncliffe Ave

1.4

Perl’s Meat Products

3013 Bathurst Street

Vicinity

Near this location:

Magic Oven

302 Eglinton Avenue W

Nicola’s Fine Foods

298 Eglinton Ave W

Fleur-De-Lis Interior Design

294 Eglinton Avenue W

Room

294 Eglinton Avenue W

Atlas Rug

306 Eglinton Avenue W

306

306 Eglinton Avenue W

10 reviews of The Healthy Butcher

No registration required

Emma G.

Place rating: 4
Dublin, Republic of Ireland

I’m not gonna lie, when I first went into the healthy butcher my jaw dropped. I couldn’t get my head around the prices of some things but understandable at least because of the quality.
The food is organic and the staff are great, although I can’t say the same for the managers. I didn’t like the way they were treating some of the staff while there were customers around. It was uncalled for, even if there weren’t customers around.
The food is great quality and very tasty, the staff were able to give me some great tips on how to cook certain things, which was very helpful.

Husani C.

Place rating: 5
Toronto, Canada

Quality: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Selection: 8.5÷10
Pricing: 8.5÷10 (you get what you pay for) but it could still be cheaper

Eric Y.

Place rating: 4
Toronto, Canada

I took the chicken and fish cooking classes here so my review is going to be mostly based on that. The classes were excellent — the instructors made sure everyone was moving at the same pace and were understanding towards different levels of experience (both classes ran over 3 hours even though you only pay for 2.5). The chicken class taught us how to truss a chicken, how to part it with bones, and how to de-bone it. The fish class taught us how to fillet round fish, and also demonstrated different cooking methods. Their ingredients are all certified organic, and there is truly a noticeable taste difference between theirs and your typical grocery store.

Kurtis C.

Place rating: 4
Downtown Core, Toronto, Canada

Went in to buy a new 8″ chef knife and was blown away by the fantastic customer service. The guy that came to help me choose was very helpful and knowledgable. Definitely going back in the future.

Hazel P.

Place rating: 3
North York, Canada

Don’t expect this store to be large. It’s a cute little boutique type of store. Besides the meats they also carry a small quantity of fresh produce & basics like cereal, tea, cooking oils, canned fish, etc. The prices for naturally raised meats is a bit pricey but we decided to splurge just to try it out. We got some lamb burgers, hamburgers & sausage. I tried the lamb burgers & they are absolutely delicious! I wouldn’t eat these regularly but for special occasions this place has some fine quality meats. Ambrosia Natural Foods still has better prices for the Beretta meats though. I will say that the people working there were very friendly & professional.

Erykah B.

Place rating: 4
Toronto, Canada

I love that the Healthy Butcher has organic, naturally-raised meat and fish as well as soups and sauces. Their whole chickens are really good (expensive though!) and they have organic brisket!!! What made me give this place 4 stars is the very friendly and knowledgable staff who gave me great tips on braising beef and helped me find a cut of meat fit for my more modest budget.
I will continue shopping at The Healthy Butcher because it has great meat and fish, soups and organic quiche and the best service I’ve ever had at a food shop. I definitely want to try their lamb sausages – they look SO good! I would’ve given this store 5 stars if they have more of a selection (like chicken wings, chicken legs, ground lamb, etc). Great store if you’re in the neighbourhood! Stop by to pick something up for dinner! :)

Tina H.

Place rating: 4
Toronto, Canada

I’ve been a regular shopper at the Healthy Butcher. Usually this is the meat in my fridge and freezer.
This location is bigger than the original location and has some veggies too. The prices at the HB are always quite steep for grocery and cooking items compared to other places. The Healthy Butcher is the best butcher shop in the city that I’ve come by. They have organic and naturally raised.
Pasture raised/grass-fed only beef is rarely available but that’s Ontario not the HB. When I was in Vancouver I was able to find all kinds of providers for grass-fed beef, which I truly miss. I hope there’s more grass-fed beef in the Toronto area in the future.
They make their own sausages, burger patties, meatballs, beef jerky, pepperettes and other food items, which are all pretty good. They don’t always have what I’m looking for. I go in *hoping* they have what I want. If they do, I’m often very happy with what I get, but that’s only if they have it. I generally stock up because I know the next time I go they won’t have it. It’s hit or miss unfortunately.
This location has a coffee shop. Unfortunately their coffee is TERRIBLE. The milk was scalding hot (which the best coffee shops will tell you is a big no-no), you can hardly taste the espresso, and they use these funny agave syrups for flavour shots. Not sure if it was the agave or the latte itself, but I couldn’t drink it and had to literally throw it out. Worst «vanilla latte» I’ve ever had in my entire life, no word of a lie. I should’ve gone back to try to return it.
Service is often very friendly and helpful.
They now offer $ 1 off to customers who bring their own bag and $ 1 off to those who ride their bike, meaning if you do both you can get $ 2 off your purchase. Free valet parking on Saturdays.

M S.

Place rating: 4
Toronto, Canada

Great service! I’m a regular customer. My only complaint is that the produce is not always fresh.

O S.

Place rating: 3
Thornhill, Canada

Where THB exceeds is probabaly the most interesting meat offerings in the city. The water buffalo burgers will turn you off regular beef burgers forever. And the Elk has an amazing flavour on its own without having to be manipulated by spices.
My issue with THB is their teminology of ‘organic’, which is touted heavily in their marketing. Consumers in Canada should understand that what is deemed as organic by industry and government DOES NOT translate neccessarily as healthier or more ‘natural’. The day-to-day administration of this classification diverges to many different food products and many different producers. In short, it means something different to different producers, and the requirement to make an organic apple can be VERY different that producing organic veal.
I listened for 10 minutes at the girl at the counter brag about how THB was touted by some newspaper/magazine as the organic retail outlet of the year. When I asked her what organic meant, she had very little as a response. It’s not her fault. Her difficulty in responding reflects a confusing mish-mash of industry-led definistions on what this actually is/means.
For example, one very simple meat requirement, in my opinion, is grass fed beef. The highest quality of beef world over is fed this, which is historically part of a cow’s main diet. In North America, 80% of our stock is fed corn — a method which is responsible for the development of ecoli in cattle. I asked the meat servers behind the counter if their beef is grass fed. They either didn’t know, or at least 1 person mentioned that because the beef was local, grass feeding was impossible. This comment basically revealed that they have no clue how the meat industry works, since I know for a fact that it is possible to feed beef grass during the winter.
That said, I want to make it clear that I trust their product. I just wish they had a full understanding of what they sell as their marketing has tried to establish. Clearly they are somewhat disconnected from the food they sell, but this is the challange of retail stores that grow to a certain size. It becomes too costly to challange the chain, and eventually, the need to cut costs will overrun how the system works (a la the supermarket chain stores).
Generally speaking, I feel it’s importand to keep them supported for now. And when I feel in the mood for something exotic, THB is my place of choice, but I would not actively pursue a rack of veal from their outlet with any less guilt than I would from Longos.

Heather M.

Place rating: 5
Toronto, Canada

I had heard a lot about this Healthy Butcher store and had been keen to check it out, went on the website and saw that they had all sorts of cooking classes! I decided to take the sausage making class. It was about 2.5 hours long, and Mario Fiorucci, the owner, taught it, with 16 people in the class. It was fun (and funny… you can never underestimate how many sausage jokes you can make in such a short span of time.) and at the end you took home between 6 – 8 of the sausages that you made (each group of 4 got about 10 lbs of meat to work with) I highly recommend the class!
Otherwise, in terms of the store, what I like about it is that it is very nicely merchandised. Typically, I find with «natural» and «health» food stores, they are a little bit institutional looking. This one has a fantastic café at the front, and organic everything. Also, I love that they sell all sorts of great cookware here — everything from some very expensive Japanese knives to le Creuset cookware. As you can imagine, things are a bit pricier than a Loblaw or Sobeys, but in return you get great service and people who know their products and take pride in them. I’m a fan!