Merchants NY (CLOSED)

My Wife and I recently moved to the city from Austin texas, actually a suburb to be exact, we live across the street from this hard to describe restaraunt-bar, first night we happened to be greeted by the most welcoming hostess, and we were sat by a lovely fireplace.....we instantly felt like christmas. It was like santa klaus came right down our individual chimneys and served us our french onion soup. After that the elves clearly did their job and brought us the best chicken quesidilla ever. If only misses klaus was a stripper. will be back for sure!

So this venue offers a great cocktail menu, with martinis made with Grey Goose vodka for just $10. A good deal for non-house vodka right?!? When I watched my bartender put house vodka into my pomegranate martini, I asked what kind of vodka she was using. She told me that I needed to ask the bartender for the type of vodka I wanted. My response was "then why do you advertise Grey Goose" in ALL of your martini drinks, if you are going to switch it for swill! Beware, you might not get what you paid for.

This place basically advertises itself as an upscale Outback Steakhouse, when in reality the food is just average and the service is sub-par. The waiters pay minimal attention to the patrons. For example, it took 20 minutes for my dining partner to get his glass of water refilled. To top it all off we left smelling like cigar smoke thanks to the cigar bar in the basement. This place has potential given the atmosphere and attractive bar space near the entrance, but until they work on their service and live up to what their menu implies they will not receive anymore of my business.

A friend recommended the Sunday Brunch's jazz music and so off we went. The music was great indeed BUT the food was lousy, not even the previously well reviewd lobster roll. Delayed, orders mixed up, bread never delivered not that it would have fit in the tiny little tables, good for drinks but not for food. The bartender was also our waiter, she was overwhelmed, service suffered. Buy a jazz CD and eat somewhere else.

I was looking for a new place for my husband and I to take some friends out, and came upon Merchants on MenuPages and looked on their website. We were VERY pleased with everything from the clean quiet dining room, to the service, to the wonderful food. The kitchen was very accomodating by doing a few special orders for our table. One thing though.....the menu they have posted on here is not accurate. It's really cool that they have the smoke room downstairs, and a pretty awesome bar area too. All n' all a successfull find.

I have gone there many times for Brunch and service was mediocre, but dishes were pretty good. Last night we went and sat outdoors. The hostess sat us and then we waited quite awhile for anyone else to acknowledge us and give us menus. When the waitress brought out our drinks, she took them back after staring at the dirty glasses the drinks were poured in. We ordered another round of cocktails to have them brought out 1/2 hour later with our dessert. That's when we decided to leave. Forgot about getting anybody's attention to take the bill. The help walks around cluelessly not knowing who odered what and what they should be doing. After 20 minutes my husband went inside to pay the bill. Imagine his astonishment to fine that the inside area had no patrons. This place is off my list once and for all.

For a nice location with a great space, this place was a bummer. After starting out with hard bread and cheesy butter packets (if a restaurant wants to charge over $15 for a pasta course, they can at least give you decent butter), was the meal. My dish was flavorless while my dining companion's tuna was overly salty. Service was personable and trying, but failed to impress. Restaurant decor was lovely, while lighting was a bit bright for the scene I thought they were going for. Nonetheless, the potential is there but no one wants to pay NYC prices for a meal they could make better themselves.