We had never purchased anything from the Meat House before, but that didn't stop me from bidding on a charity's silent auction item that featured several selections from their store.\n\nSeveral months after winning, I called the store owner and he was incredibly helpful, letting me know that I only needed to call them 20-30 minutes in advance to have my package ready for pickup.\n\nWhen we picked up our order, I was truly impressed by so much about the store: The variety and quality of their meats, cheeses and wine, and the samples of their meat, olive oil and vinegar on display. The storefront seems more like a place you'd find in Napa, California or Tuscany, rather than in Charlotte, North Carolina.\n\nThe employees were friendly the moment I approached the place, with one wishing me a great day even as she was leaving at the end of her shift, and holding the door for me.\n\nI scoured the store looking for something truly unique to buy along with my auction items, and settled on crab cakes, one of my favorites since I'm from the Maryland area. A man behind the counter took pains to get me the best recipe to fix them, and even recommended a restaurant in town that he thought served the \"best\" once he knew I was a crab cake aficionado.\n\nI returned home with a slew of meat and a delighted husband, who graciously packed up everything in freezer/FoodSaver bags in portions we would eat. Everything we unwrapped was exceptionally fresh and a far step above what you might find in a grocery store's butcher selection.\n\nTo date, we've feasted on hamburgers, chicken breasts, \"meat house\" marinated turkey tips and maple bourbon marinated steak tips. Last night we had the steak tips, which is what prompted me to write this review. Everything is delicious, but I could not get ENOUGH of the maple bourbon steak tips. As someone who \"hates\" bourbon (thanks to a college experience with some) I was wary of these tips, and ordered them only because my husband wanted them.\n\nThey were the most delicately flavored, savory and tender bites of meat I've had in a long, long time. \n\nMy husband is bragging to his friends about this \"great deal\" that I scored, and we look forward to trying the many other items we ordered from the Meat House. We are new customers, and we will most DEFINITELY be back. The quality of the food we've had from them is simply unparalleled. You owe it to yourself to try this place out.