Meatball Shop Customer Outraged That Balls Have Pork

People rave about the Lower East Side Meatball Shop, which, as the same suggests, specializes in meatballs. We know from Wikipedia that meatballs can be made with all sorts of ingredients; Italian meatballs usually contain beef and or pork and sometimes turkey, while Ivan Reitman's 1979 Meatballs contained Bill Murray, ha cha cha. At The Meatball Shop, varieties include "Classic Beef," "Spicy Pork," and "Chicken." However, one devoted customer was recently shocked to learn that all the balls have one ingredient in common. Here's her indignant email:

I ate at The Meatball Shop (TMS) on a couple occasions, endured the long waits and enjoyed their meatball heros wholeheartedly. However, on my latest visit, I struck up a casual conversation with the bartender and found out that even though I may have ordered the chicken or classic beef meatball, they all contain pork. I was shocked to say the least. I then met with the manager who came by and gave me his "sincere" apologies for not notifying me of this and told me that all staff are required to make patrons knowledgeable that this ingredient is added to all meatballs.
I told him that out of all the times I have sat down and ate here I have NEVER been notified of this. The manager continued to apologize for the TMS's mistake as if it was a minor slip. I continued to explain to the manager about how appalling this discovery was, especially since this piece of information may be vital for those who have dietary restrictions, whether religious or not.

Overall, I find it appalling that Meatball Shop doesn't clarify this on their menu or state this to their patrons verbally. I understand that perfecting the perfect meatball requires you to utilize different types of meats, but at least have the decency to state on the menu that the "classic beef" is actually a "classic beef & pork" and that the "chicken" is actually "chicken & pork".

Indeed, there's no mention of pork on the menu posted on The Meatball Shop's website. Their publicist tells us, "This will be listed on the new spring menu that will be live in about two weeks. We are sincerely sorry that we caused issues for your reader and we do try and tell all our customers that the chicken and beef meatballs contain pork." The menu is certainly misleading, and it's an unfortunate discovery for someone who clearly doesn't dig on swine, but we can't help but think there's an element of caveat emptor here—after all, they're called MEATballs. That's a pretty broad category, and it gives these balls a lot of wiggle room.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in Food on April 8, 2011 10:39 AM

Comments [rss]

GregJG

No one should be eating such a filthy animal anyway. The Lady is quite right and the store owner is a real pos in lying on his menu and now trying to apologize.

Peanut_Butter

Says something about her taste buds too.

augustojr

Yeah these are MEATballs, not BEEFballs. Big deal. Its not like he said they were Kosher.

David Chan

If they go through the same food processor, I think everything has a little pork. Perhaps a kosher Meatball Shop is the answer - but then there would be no dairy...

Eric

Lots of women in the East Village are not into pork.

Guest

DING DING DING! - WINNER!

shocktheday

Can we send her down south with the same demand and attitude ? Let's see what the owners' response would be.

Guest

eating Italian south of the Mason-Dixon would be punishment enough...

solidunit

Actually no. It would be more like someone ordering a chicken patty sandwich, and instead gets a patty made with 70 to 90% chicken and the rest tuna. Or turkey or something.

By the way, these are MEATBALLS. If you ever made one, you would not be surprised by the presence of other kinds of meat

TheRealCannibal

The beef meatballs are made from pork, the chicken meat balls are made from sardines, the veggie meatballs are made from vegetarians.

TimeDown

Veggie Meatballs are people! They're people!

solidunit

I am weirded out by people that get this offended over something this trivial *on other peoples' behalf*. Ok, we get it, you're an AWESOME person because you're acutely aware of other people's religious/dietary sensibilities.

Politburo

It is really creepy. "Oh, I don't mind, but it's just so OUTRAGEOUS!!!1"

Guest

damn this cruel world that doesn't cater to my foibles!!

Guest

It's like vegetarians going to a steakhouse and whining that there are no vegetarian options besides salads.

FU Boy

Not really. It's more like a person ordering a chicken sandwich an not being told the chicken's really tuna.

Steven Harris

No its more like a person ordering chicken noodle soup and complaining about the vegetables in them. Or somebody ordering a seafood paella and complaining about the sausage in it. Meatballs could mean that there could be bread crumbs, spices, or anything in them. If you have a gluten allergy you ask if there's any gluten in something even if you're ordering a chicken meatball. If it really mattered to her she would've asked first. I don't eat pork, so when there is something that isn't clearly a breast of chicken or a slab of tuna then I ask, "Is there pork in this?".
Shes just stupid.

FU Boy

I guess my point is, if you order for 'chicken' meatballs, why should you expect pork in them?

Okay, ask if you're against the pork, but since there are several varieties of 'meatballs' at this restaurant, and one is named 'chicken' it's not unreasonable to assume that the meat in the ball is all chicken.

It's a bit of a false advertising.