Barrett's Smokehouse

2 weeks ago I ordered 15 lbs of beef brisket for the New Year's eve party and indicated I'd like to pick it up around 4 or 4:30. The gal says "we may not be open that late but will give you a call if we're closing earlier". So imagine my surprise when I came to pick up my order around 4:15 and the Portage store is closed. But hey, there's a handwritten sign for another customer on the door with a cell phone for Tim Barrett so I call him. I explain to him that I'm standing in his parking lot with no food to be picked up and 10 guests arriving within the next 2 hours. He says "we filled all orders by 1 pm and we did not miss a 15 lbs beef brisket order". Asked me when I placed the order and I told him and asked him what I am supposed to do now. It is at that point that the call gets disconnected and NOT on my end. Bad cell signal, I can relate to that. Surely, he'll call me back. Riiiight...NOT.



Mistakes happen, but I've been a big believer, even in my own business, that it is what you do after a mistake happens that makes the difference. Apparently, Tim is not familiar with that concept. Not a "sorry", not a "hey, maybe one of our gals made a mistake". Clearly, this was my own fault for ordering from them. The good news is, I won't be making that mistake again - this will be the last order/purchase that I will place with them.



Luckily, the folks at the Chicken Coop came through for me.

I chose Barrett's because of their 5 star rating, but would not personally recommend them after using them. They did not weigh our deer when we dropped it off as they were backed up about 20 deer and it was warm out. We guessed the deer to be about 80 pounds field dressed. The shot was low on the neck so not much meat should have been lost. We received 16.5 pounds of meat when we picked it up. Seriously, there were only 6 steaks that weighed 1/2 pound each. They could only get 3 steaks out of a hind quarter? They also do not weigh the burger. Each pkg is approx. 1 pound, but who knows. Keep in mind that Barrett's also sells packaged venison. I guess they have to stock their inventory on their customer's deer.

Barretts is a locally owned Custom Butcher Shop that offers a unique line of specialty items including a huge assortment of smoked meats and cheese.