Prime Butcher Baker

It's nice to see real butcher shops still around in the city. I was excited to see Prime Butcher Baker open up in Yorkville and have had a chance to shop there recently. Problem is, my wallet just can't really afford it!

If you are looking for a true Kosher experience this place plays by all the rules. From the meats, to the prepared foods, to the freezer items, to bakery goods, and canned/jarred items on the shelves everything is certified Kosher. They even have items that surprised me such as salads (quinoa and cous cous chick pea), rice (kobe beef fried rice and Mexican rice), kabobs (Korean beef satay and seafood) among others. Their meat selection is terrific and displayed in the front window so you get a good view of slabs of meat while walking by. The bakery items which are in the back half of the place are just delicious. Cookies, cupcakes, macaroons, rugalach, babka, muffins, etc, are all made here. This sleek looking designer store is fully stocked with all types of refrigerated, freezer, and grocery items.

As a Kosher gourmet food shop goes the prices are very high on certain items, with some causing sticker shock as soon as you lay eyes on them. Sure, you are paying for the gourmet quality and the fact that it is Kosher, but be a bit realistic of the neighborhood it is in. 2nd Ave and 82nd Street is not Madison or Park Ave over here!

Still, if you can afford to splurge now and then as I have done it's worth a visit once in a while.

Outrageous prices!!! Saturday before Easter, first time we decided to make lamb chops. Never purchased or made lamb chops before this. They charged us $60 per pound!!!!!!! Since we never purchased before, embarrassed and surprised but we did not question the price. Our mistake. Afterwards we realized from comparing prices and opinions from many others.

So don't let this place rip you off either. It's ok to question the price no matter how much you have to spend or how much the meat is. Really felt like not only were we taken advantage of but it was done without a smile and no advice on how to cook. They looked at us like we were aliens when we asked. First and last time we patronize this place.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. It's not overpriced and is actually very good. They have great customer service are very polite. You may think it is overpriced but it is not because for the quality that you are getting, you are getting a steal

Doesn't appear this place is interested in walk in customers. Lots of people bustling around, but it is difficult to get someone's attention. Most of the food is unexceptional and overpriced. Not worth the bother.

I have been a good customer at Prime Butcher since they opened. The butcher and catered food are quite good.

The problem is that the store is poorly managed and staff can be quite rude. As an example I have ordered food to be delivered on three separate occasions. These were very large orders. The first time the food was delivered 30 minutes after Shabbat started. The second time was for Thanksgiving and I specifically said I would pick the food up...when I was on my way to get it the food was delivered to my home causing a lot of disorganization and extra travel.

This morning (at 7:30am) I placed a big order and specifically asked when I would get it. I was told 2pm. It did not arrive and when I called they said 3pm. At 3pm they said 4pm. Shabbat starts at about 5:20.

This place is not reliable and it does not matter how good the food is if you can't depend that you will get it when you need it. Also the staff including the manager talks to their customers in a very rude manner.

Discovered this great kosher butcher/baker by chance. The meats just looked good from the window so I walked in to look, and it was fantastic. They were fully stocked for passover and doing business non-stop with customers placing large orders for the holiday. There was a cooked food counter which displayed poached salmon. I decided to come the next day and eat that in the hotel room with a beer. Turns out that there is a good Chinese take-out next door where I bought lo mein noodles. A super evening meal in front of the TV.

I'm rating this 4 stars instead of 5 because the salmon was way over priced at $36 a pound, even for NYC kosher. It also included a thick mushy topping which they did not have the day before. Still tasted good after I scraped off the topping, but I prefer it simpler with a wedge of lemon. I am certain that the meats and fish would all be fantastic. The challenge is to cook it perfectly.

I just stopped by here for the first time today as I was walking by and witnessed an employee spill a bucket of food in a highly trafficked area of the floor and then pick it up and put it back in the container. Gross!

Im not sure what they spilled (does it matter anyway?) but it looked like a 2 or 3 gallon container of cherries, they were small and red, but I doubt they were cherries though given its a butcher / baker shop.

We ordered 14 dishes for a Rosh Hashana meal. Our guests arrived at 6 PM, but no food had arrived. We tried calling and e-mailing, but there was no response that day, and while it has been almost a week, I have yet to receive a response . At 6:15, our food arrived (we were told it would be there between 1 PM-3PM), however, 6 dishes were missing, including ALL of the appetizers and the fish that we ordered was replaced by another fish that we did not like of want. We still had to heat up the food so we didn't eat until much later than expected, and with many young children at the meal, that was a problem. When we spoke to the store manager after the holiday (we physically had to go to the store since no one was communicating with us any other way), we were told that we were called and told about the MASSIVE changes to our order, however, this is simply not true. We would have made alternate arrangements for food had we known that half of it would not be arriving. BEWARE, this place takes advantage of people ordering on Jewish holidays. They hire delivery people to work on holidays, but no one to answer phones and make sure that people receive what they ordered. We will not be making this mistake again. This is truly a shameful practice they have running here.

Some high end stuff here definitely a must go if in NYC and want to have some select cuts of meat!

I bought a gift certificate on Gilt, which the Prime Butcher supervisor refused to fully honor and was totally rude about. I had read the fine print carefully- the voucher was for "prepared foods" and "bakery" only. Well, when I got there, they told me that despite what the voucher said and despite what the website listed as available "prepared foods," quote, "the website was wrong" and I could only choose from one of the many freezer cases. They grudgingly relented after some argument but they were extremely unfriendly and this is not a business that I would return to. What terrible customer service, and talk about a bait & switch - it was totally fraudulent advertising.