Holland Bros Meats

What a wonderful find. My father in law drove past here for years, and didn't stop in until they got a good write up in the local ag magazine.Well, I am glad he did. The meats here are great. They smoke their own bacon and ham. Grind their own sausages. Have a small scale "processing" plant. And they are USDA inspected (for whatever that's worth nowadays).But if you have read FAST FOOD NATION you too know the dangers of large scale industrialized meat production. And that is one of the reasons I love this place. Dave (my father in-law) loves it because the meat tastes more like meat did when he was a kid. The litmus test in this case is how much water comes off the meat when you cook it in a skillet. The answer, hardly any. Their breakfast sausage was some of the meatiest and porkiest that I have ever had. Their Kielbasse makes my mother-in-law swoon. Their lean ground beef was tender and tasty. Their standing rib roast was magnificent. Even the chicken breasts were beautiful.And it is very reasonable. Walked out with a pound of bacon, a pound of lean hamburger, a pound of cheese, six chicken breasts and a chunk of sausage for under $20.The extra star is reserved until I learn something about the livestock they process. It would be miraculous if these vittles came from healthy animals that didn't need to live on a persistent diet of antibiotics. But this isn't California. It's Pennsylvania.

Great meats, sausage, scrapple, and smoked cheese. I even got my buckwheat pancake flour. Great service, I highly suggest the stop.

I stopped at Holland's recently to pick up a whole filet. I asked the woman who waited on me to cut it for me. She seemed immediately annoyed that she had to take the time to honor my request. I asked for one to one and a half inch pieces (I like my filet a little on the thick side). She cut the filet behind the counter and didn't show me what I was getting. When I got home I saw that I got a bunch of chopped up pieces that looked more like stew meat than a nice filet. When the woman checked me out, she sent me on my way without a thank you or any kind of positive greeting. I guess anyone can have a bad day but it sure was a turn off for me. Don't think I'll be going back. Rolls in Altoona is consistently friendly and helpful and always interested in meeting my needs.

My wife ordered some meat at Holland which consisted of three filet tenderloin roasts, hot sausage and miscellaneous meats. The hot sausage was.....orange. Not hot at all. Colored but not flavored I guess. The tenderloins were the absolute worst cuts of meat that I have ever encountered. I have carved many, many tenderloins. These looked like they were either torn or chewed from the cow. It was difficult, no impossible, to get decent cuts from the tenderloin. Absolutely horrible quality. I don't know about the other choices in quality meats in central PA but if this is the finest you all are eating low grade dog food. Holland Brothers should be ashamed to provide such low quality meats and call themselves national award winning! Yeah ooookkkk!

I love this place I don't go all the time but they have good slim Jim's and they sell bones for dogs and they are really friendly.Also they can make prepared food you have to call ahead of time but they have really good haluski and pulled pork

Holland Brothers hams are the best in my opinion! I just had 2 hams shipped to N. California. They arrived in perfect condition. One of the freezer packs was still frozen solid, the 2nd had just begun to that. In the 2nd ham one of the vacuum packs had lost its vacuum. I opened that 1/4 ham. I cut a ham steak and found the middle 2/3 was still frozen. The other whole ham will be slow backed for Christmas Dinner. On visits to Altoona I would have a ham quartered vacuum sealed and I would carry it in my carry on baggage. Thank you Steve, Rick and your employees. Merry christmas,Steve

Holland Brothers uses bait and switch tactics to sell their meat. They quoted my elderly husband one price and then told him the price was nearly double when he was getting ready to pick the meat up. When he complained, they verbally abused him until he told them he thought they were dishonest, and then said they would not sell him the meat at all, although it was preordered.The qupted price for a pig and a half was about $ 300; the revised price was in excess of $ 600.00.Holland Brothers owes my husband an apology.

Last night we attended a party. Pulled pork was the best we ever have eaten! Kudos to Holland Brothers. You now have a new customer!

Best meat shop ever. Very generous and huge supporter for many worthwhile causes. The pulled pork and hot dogs are to die for. Have had several items made there from venison: Pepperoni sticks, bologna, hamburg, and all were excellent. Have my own business and have had samples out for customers and nothing but rave reviews for their products. Rick and Steve and their crew and wonderful.