Rain Shadow Meats

Great place. Love the bratwurst and lamb. These guys really know how to handle their sausage.

Came here on a recommendation by the bellman at our hotel and we were not disappointed! The meat can’t get much fresher when you are eating at a butcher. They have a great variety of sandwiches. The French dip was the best I’d ever had. It was so full of flavor with the horseradish sauce. The roast chicken salad sandwich was also exploding with goodness. This place is a must if you like a good sandwich and are in the Pioneer Square area.

Great place. Meat centric and everything meat wise is top notch.
Highlights —
Tartare — was a huge portion, and delicious.
Porchetta sandwich — This is a must have. Subtle herbs, delicious chopped porchetta crisped just a bit and wrapped in french bread that soaks up all the love. So good.
Rainshadow Press — straight forward, thin sliced meats, layered with arugula and a little bread. Nothing wrong with this at all. Great sandwich.
Other —
Pickled veg on every plate. Always love this and it was really good.
Got a romaine salad as well, cause it’s January and wanting to feel like we didn’t order just meat… Was okay, nothing special.
Bottom line — meat related = F yeah!!! Veg related (unless pickled) = okay.
Overall, really good. Thanks.

These guys are awesome and so is Melrose Market in general. I’ve gotten many things from them in the past, all have been of top quality, without exception. Arrived a day early yesterday to pick up an order (my mistake), and the butcher stopped what he was doing and prepared it for me anyway. Always great, friendly guys at the counter, and a great, consistent product!

Always looking for a quality/​value meatshop, but unfortunately at the moment the high asking price for these meats does not match quality. Do not get me wrong, this is good meat, it is just lacking in value. RSM, either lower your prices, or bring a higher quality product and I’ll be your best customer. Promise.

The sandwiches here are great! My friend and I shared a sandwich before an event and we were pleased with the pork belly sandwich. They were out of the pasta salad, the potato salad was okay, it’s an oil and vinegar salad, so wouldn’t be my first choice next time. My biggest disappointment is the bar selection. Yes, it is a meat store primarily, but if you’re going to offer wine at $ 7 a glass have a decent pour instead of putting it in an over-​sized shot glass. That felt like a rip-​off.

Here’s the deal with Rain Shadow on Melrose. The butcher shop is extraordinary. We purchased a couple of gorgeous rib-​eye steaks, as well as some bone-​in pork chops — both were outstanding.
What completely sucked was the service. If I’m paying over $ 50 for two meals’ worth of meat, I expect to be treated with at least some common courtesy. These guys were rude. We asked a simple question, inquiring if their bacon was made with nitrates. Some guy huffed and and rolled his eyes and answered, «YES», as if the question was stupid.
We’re going to give the Rain Shadow in Pioneer Square a try since it’s close to my office. If they’re rude there, too, I don’t care how great the products are — I’m taking my business elsewhere.

These guys know their meat and they are eager to share and let you taste a few items which is always appreciated. It has been over a year since I was here, but I distinctively remember them being really nice and the meats tasting great! I went with a country style pork terrine wrapped with bacon to have with some cheeses I got across the way at The Calf and Kid.
If I lived in Seattle, I’d most certainly make this a regular stop.

Rain Shadow was a very pleasant surprise.
Excellent customer service and nice selection of quality meats, housemade sausages, and more.
Painted Hills Farms & Gleason Ranch Beef.
You won’t be disappointed

Favorite place for lunch near my office, hands down. Normally, I’m not willing to put down $ 12 for a sandwich but for Rainshadow I happily make an exception. My coworker and I have a running bet that every sandwich on the menu is the best sandwich you’ve ever had (yes, even better than Salumi – Salumi has great meats, but Rainshadow has all the fixin’s). We’ve sampled about half the menu, and still haven’t been let down.
They also have rendered leaf lard, if you’re into making fancy pies like I am.

I almost don’t want to review this place. Sometimes you don’t want the true gems to be known by the general public, while at the same time I want them to have continued success.
This is short and sweet. Rain Shadow is some of the best product anywhere. Period. They don’t have a large selection as they only get the finest of the finest. Some days your desired cut will be there, sometimes you may have to adjust. No matter what, it will always be amazing.
Bring your wallet, it won’t be cheap, but it is truly a «get what you pay for» proposition!
If they have the Lamb Crepinnete in, make sure to get some… but please save some for me! It is one of the best things I have ever had!

Melrose Market Place is such a lovely place. I hope that there was a genius behind this place so that I can pay my proper admiration.
Boutique, small, friendly, specialized, refined.
Ah, also not trying to compete on prices.
You take a look of the meats behind the counter, you immediately knew two things: they are good and they are not cheap. So you imagine the nice dish, great flavors, and the tasting experiences that will come with that.
So you walked away with an anticipation, not in a small way enflamed by that low-​key butcher who chatted up with you with whatever topics you forgot. And you forgot this piece of meat is twice more expensive than the one from QFC next door.

This is our go to if we are entertaining or feeling like an indulgent meal. Though expensive, the quality and selection of their meat counter is incredible! By now we’ve sampled a large majority of their cuts, sausages, and other products and I can’t say we have been let down once.
The service here is fantastic too! They are very helpful in estimating the right amount to buy for a group and sometimes they have extra bones laying around that I grab for my dog.
Two notes: we are lucky enough to live by Melrose Market but if you want to drive, you are going to struggle parking. Also, look up the hours as the closing times vary (we always seem to want to go there right at 7pm and realize we can’t!)

Happy that I’m able to get such great service and advice right here in my neighborhood. Matt has helped me several times from picking out a hangar steak for my sous vide to selling me casings so I can make my own sausages at home.
This is one of the best places to get incredible well sourced meat in the city. It’s location is great if you’re walking, but watch out if your driving. Parking is scarce and the parking cops’ll get you if you get carried away and lose track of time. It’s easy to do in this market.
If they started serving food like their Pioneer Square location, I might go there every single day. Steak tartare and ALL the sandwiches FTW.

Rain Shadow Meats is staffed with some of the most helpful and friendly people around. Whenever I stop in, whether its to grab some steaks, bacon, or just poke around and ask questions about their whole rabbits they are always willing to take a little bit of extra time and make sure that I am leaving confident that I am not going to completely butcher (ha) their meats, and that it’s going to be cooked to perfection!
The first time that I stopped in I was craving a steak, but I wanted to make it myself. A little weary of my ability to execute, I admitted my novice to the butcher and he was quick to offer advice and I left there more confident than ever.
The result? PERFECT medium rare steaks. It wasn’t just my newly acquired chef skills either, Rain Shadow Meats doesn’t mess around, you’re definitely getting the best of the best here.
I just wish that they opened a little bit earlier so that when I wake up on Sunday morning and absolutely NEED bacon, I don’t have to wait until 10am.

We bought:
–Pâté foie de pâté pork belly and liver terrine
–Chicken mousse
–Mortadella
–Jamon
I think we both enjoyed the chicken mousse, which is I think is the best seller in the pâté/​mousse category. My fiancé really enjoyed t he mortadella as well.
However, the jamon didn’t stick out for me. Maybe it’s because I had jamon at a tapas place the night before that blew my mind, but for some reason I wasn’t too impressed with the jamon here.
The pâté foie de pâté pork belly and liver terrine was also disappointing. I think there were too many components in it, so I got kind of lost trying to decipher the different flavors.
Overall, I think the variety of meats is great. However, when I think about how much we paid for the food that was okay to good, I think 3 stars is most appropriate.

I must really like Seattle but this is my second 5star review ever. both of them are for seattle things. Maybe I’m just happier and more willing to give out 5 star reviews?
We stumbled upon this place after walking around the Pioneer Square area. it was a Saturday and we our flight out was later that day, so we were looking for some lunch. Salumi was closed (weekend) so here we were.
I had minimal expectations but this place was awesome. It was not busy enough that after we ordered, we got a seat facing their open kitchen. (they have a low bar kinda sitting area, as well as some tallboy tables). We got the porchetta sandwich and the corned beef/​rueben.
Both were fantastic. the corned beef was described as «best ever». It was also fun watching the butchers/​food prep people do their thing, while we were there they were working on breaking down half a pig.
A tad pricey but inline with other places. I regret not being able to go to Salumi, but if it is anything like this, Seattle should change their name to sandwich city. no one cares about emeralds anymore anyway.
(we did not buy any of their meats, etc so this review is only for the food they serve)

I’m in love with this place!
I found out about Rain Shadow Meats through instagram. One of my friends kept posting pics of the place which led me to look up the reviews on Unilocal.After reading them, I just had to check it out.
Rain Shadow Meats was a lot smaller than what I imagined. It’s just a small counter located near the entrance of Melrose Market. At first glance, it might seem a little pricey but hey if it’s good quality it should be worth it right?
During my first visit, I decided to treat myself to some of their foie gras pâté. I really enjoy being able to eat pâté in the comfort of my own place or even as a snack at work. It was reasonably priced from what I remember. I also come here to buy their smoked apple bacon for my roasted Brussels sprouts, which totally makes this side dish.
I recently brought a whole chicken (from Ephrata, WA) to cook a surprise roast chicken dinner for my boyfriend. I’m not going to lie, my jaw was going to drop when I saw how much I was forking over for this 3 lb sucker. I quickly sucked it up and paid for it since I wanted to do something nice for him.
ANYWAYS, how was the end result? He LOVED it! He could have ate that entire bird in one sitting but managed to have some self control. I made roast chicken for Christmas dinner (with a Safeway chicken) and he definitely noticed the difference and preferred the Rain Shadow chicken. Ladies, if you want to do something nice for your man, make him dinner with meat from Rain Shadow Meats!
As for service, I had nothing but good service from Rain Shadow. The guys that work here have been very helpful and I have even received cooking tips. It might be pricey but its my go-​to shop when I plan to cook a dish that involves meat.

Wow! Kid in the candy store…
I picked up some cured meat and like it and would like to try more.

If you don’t know when to buy meat… buy it for Valentine’s Day, dammit! Tonight my boyfriend and I had a fantastic home-​cooked meal that consisted of filet mignon
His was slightly bigger and cooked very rare. Mine, slightly smaller and rare as well. The result? BEST. MEAL. EVER.
The cuts of meat were amazing. Deep, dark red with gorgeous marbling. I normally rave about the Painted Hills grass-​fed beer burgers at Spur and Tavern Law, but tonight our steaks (from the same farm and also grass-​fed) far surpassed that of the famous $ 30 burgers at those popular Seattle establishments. So what I’m telling you here is that you can have that kind of quality at home. In PJs and on the couch!
Worried about overcooking our meat, we decided that there’s no such thing as too rare when it comes to good quality meat. In fact, there were hints of grass in the flavor. Tasting lean, clean and delicious it was the best cut of meat I’ve had in ages. And I eat red meat a lot. Trust me!
Can’t wait to come back and get some more. Don’t save it for just once a year. It’s too damn good for that!