La Carniceria Meat Market (San Antonio, Loop 1604)
Physical storefront
Tier 3 · Wagyu-Forward What the tiers mean
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This listing's current published materials advertise Wagyu, but the offering does not meet our full verification standard for provenance. It carries no authenticity badge; undisclosed details remain explicitly unverified.
Authenticity flags
- The Wagyu case is labelled by origin alone: 'Japanese Ribeye', 'Aus Ribeye 89' and 'Ribeye Wagyu Americano TX'. No grade, prefecture, marbling score or producer is attached to any of them at the counter, so you cannot tell from the label what you are paying for. The chain's own site elsewhere describes an 'A5 Japanese Wagyu Ribeye', which the store listing does not repeat. Ask which grade and origin the case actually holds before buying.
Why it's listed
A premium retail butcher on the north side of San Antonio with a dedicated Wagyu case: Japanese ribeye at $89.99 a pound, Australian ribeye, flap meat and picanha, and a Texas-raised American Wagyu ribeye. Everything is cut and sold over the counter, with online ordering for pickup at this store. It holds a Kobe Beef Association registration.
A Wagyu case, priced by the pound
This is a premium retail butcher on the north side of San Antonio with a dedicated Wagyu case running to three origins: a Japanese ribeye, Australian ribeye and cuts including flap meat and picanha, and a Texas-raised American Wagyu ribeye. Everything is cut and sold over the counter, with online ordering for collection at this store.
Three origins in one case is rare at a neighbourhood butcher and it makes this a genuinely useful shop for comparing them side by side, which is difficult to do any other way. Japanese, Australian and American Wagyu are three different eating experiences at three different prices, and most people meet them months apart.
The labels name the country and nothing else
The case is labelled by origin alone. Japanese ribeye, Australian ribeye, American Wagyu ribeye, with a price. No grade, no prefecture, no marbling score, no producer.
Two consequences follow. First, a Japanese ribeye with no grade could be A5 or a good deal less, and the chain's own site elsewhere has referred to an A5 Japanese ribeye that the store's listing does not repeat. Second, the Australian items carry a number in their names that most likely encodes a marble score, but it is not written anywhere as one, so it earns nothing here and should not be read as a grade by a shopper either. Ask the counter what grade and origin the case actually holds; the answer exists, it is just not printed.
A Kobe registration, and no Kobe
This store holds a genuine entry on the Kobe association's register, filed through a named importer at this exact address, so the licence is real and matches the shop rather than a sibling.
It carries no Kobe. Nothing in the case or on the site is Kobe beef, which is why no Kobe badge appears on this page: a registration is permission rather than inventory, and permission alone has never been the badge here. This is also not a criticism of the shop. A registered business that does not currently stock Kobe has claimed nothing false, and staying quiet about a licence you are not using is the honest way to hold one.
One caution for anyone checking this brand elsewhere. This is one store in a chain of roughly two dozen across Texas and California, each with its own ordering page and its own case. Everything on this page describes this address. Another branch may stock something different, and a verdict does not travel between units.
Storefront
- 946 N Loop 1604 W, Ste 140San Antonio, TX
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Common questions
- Does this shop sell Kobe beef?
- No. It holds a genuine Kobe registration filed at this address through a named importer, but no Kobe appears in its case or on its site. A registration is permission rather than inventory, so no Kobe badge is shown.
- What grade is the Japanese Wagyu here?
- Not stated on the store's own listing, which labels the case by country and price alone. The chain's wider site has referred to an A5 Japanese ribeye, but this store's page does not repeat it, so ask at the counter before buying.