The Merchant Tavern

Evening meal with work colleagues. Great food and service in a lovely downtown setting.

Food and cocktails were amazing as always. Loved the new squash vegetarian addition!

We had a meal there Saturday night past, the food was excellent, the atmosphere was lively, and the service was great! We shared the mussels and fries for an appetizer, then both had the scallops special for entrees, and a chocolate dessert. It was the perfect amount of food, and everything tasted exceptionally good. It's a treat to be able to watch the hustle and bustle of the open kitchen while you eat, and I love the central bar as well. It's always a great experience and a treat to dine at Merchant.

There was no gluten free options, did not have potato or rice as a side option. Prices were high and I had to make a reservation. Then left without ordering anything. I was disappointed!

Excellent time and excellent service !!!
We had a group sitting and had the best time ! 2 weeks in a row

We had a wonderful evening out for our work Christmas party and ended up getting the Vault last minute ! It was fabulous and our server did an amazing job!

We are booked for another visit Wednesday with a big group and can not wait !!

Thanks you guys :)
Ashley

the food was delicious, I had the Cod dish, it was fantastic

We had a lovely Saturday morning brunch with two of us ordering the quiche and two ordering the pancakes. Everyone enjoyed their meals very much. Our server was very nice and checked on us frequently and brought hot refills of our drinks regularly. A really nice dining experience. We’ll be back.

Friendly professional staff

Never a fan of a waiter that snatched my visa from my hand without me actually presenting it to him. Our waiter was good at his job, but a little arrogant. Food was very good and restaurant was nice.

The menu was sub-par. A lot of great choices were removed since the last time we ate at Merchant. The server also dropped an entire drink on my lap, hardly without apologizing only to say “we’ll get you another one”. Hopefully this was just a one off. For a $220 dining experience this was not enjoyable at all.

Beef tartare was the best we’ve had anywhere. Snow crab was fresh & delicious. Tried two pastas - one lamb & one sausage truffle - both were fabulous. Service & atmosphere were awesome. Best meal of our trip to St.John’s.

Another delicious meal. Food here is consistently great. Only down side is that the noise level goes up significantly when they are at capacity and makes it difficult to hear others when more than 4 people at a table.

Bon restaurant .produits frais.une bonne table a st jean

We loved this restaurant so much we went back the next day for our last dinner in St. John’s NL!

Great place, this wasn’t firet time coming and wasn’t disappointed! Would be a bit better with just a few more options on the menu but the menu selection was good!

Everything they had prepared ahead of time was excellent. Everything cooked to order was overcooked.

Fish and chips was terrible, fish was thin and over battered and the shoestring fries over cooked. This was the first bad meal there. Stick with the pasta dishes!!!

Egg Benedict ordered eggs soft. They were raw. Hash browns were over cooked. Ate it anyways as didn't want to make experience negative for family. Food is becoming inconsistent. Not acceptable when charging $100 for 2 adults and 2 children (no alcohol).

Lovely restaurant and good service. We went for brunch and had the pancake stack which was really good although a little overpriced for pancakes unless it included a small serving of fresh fruit. Toutons was good but again $6.00 for a small toutons would like to see a more substantial size for the price.
We have been here a few times and will be back again. A very nice unique restaurant!

I made a reservation for 6:30 on a Friday. We got there a bit early but we're still seated right away. Our server was very knowledgeable about the menu's (Both food and drinks). The Cod tacos were amazing. The entrees we had were great and the desserts were also very good. Overall the experience was one of the best I've had at any restaurant. I highly recommend eating here.

Anniversary

Excellent all around. Great food and great staff. Very friendly.

We had been at Merchant for a birthday celebration just a few weeks ago and thought maybe we ought to go somewhere else for our anniversary. We mulled it over and ultimately decided that we were pretty sure we'd be happy at Merchant. We were not disappointed! The meals were delicious and creative, the wine recommendations were perfect and the service and ambiance are the finishing touch. It's our fave!

The service was great and the food tasted great. The cocktails were very innovative. The whole restaurant was very elegant and I thoroughly enjoyed the open kitchen concept. There was a good variety of food options, in terms of dietary restrictions. We had a blast and would visit again when are are out east.

We had a lovely date night at the Merchant Tavern, it’s an energetic vibe, but not so loud that we were unable to comfortable talk during our meal. We enjoyed the cellar salad, seafood soup, and oysters to start before splitting the shrimp and mussels linguine. All the food was delicious, with the seafood soup being the favorite of the night. My husband ordered a scotch (which came as a shockingly short pour) and I had the beet cocktail to start. We would skip those next time and stick with the wine list. We took the sommeliers recommendation to pair with our pasta and it was excellent. This is a great date night spot and we look forward to returning!

My wife and I had the cod and salmon. The meals were not very flavourful. The burgers seemed to be a very popular dish as there appear to be quite a lot being served that night. We would go back and try another dish. We had the creme brûlée for dessert and it was great.

The Merchant is one of my favourite places to eat. The vibe is casual and friendly, the service is great and the food is always creative and delicious.

Excellent cocktails, great atmosphere, service, and food was amazing (as always).

Excellent recommendations from our Server. Very attentive service overall.
The recommendation to have the lamb pasta was perfect for me since I love lamb. The meal was delicious.
My husband had the cod dish which was excellent but not great value at the price.

Overall, great place to dine out in St John's.

A birthday brunch for multi ages and we all loved it!

I liked it so much and we’ll go back as soon as possible

We were greeted by the hostess for our 5:30pm reservation, who then immediately asked us: did they tell you another party is booked at 8pm, so you only have 2.5 hours for dinner?
No, we weren’t told. Yes, I made my reservation via OpenTable and gave the website my credit card as a guarantee.
What is up with this? Does management think so little of customers making online reservations that a cc is needed, then narcissistically telling customers their time is limited. Let’s get real! Dinner in 2.5 hours is more than enough time, so why insult us by describing the limit? The next customer has already given a cc as well, so they’ll show up too. The time problem is a management problem, one that should not concern the paying customers.
Food was interesting. Caesar salad was “classic”, meaning it had bacon. While I liked the bacon, Ceasar’s in Tijuana doesn’t use bacon??
The Halibut was a bit dry, so I asked for Olive Oil to make it more interesting, yet my wife’s duck was very good with nice sauce.
Lot’s to see in the restaurant. One section to the left of the kitchen is for prep. It’s surrounded by a counter with seats; this seemed to be an exciting place to watch the very clean and professional kitchen, although it’s neither clear how to make a reservation for seating at this counter nor how long one is allowed to sit.

Outstanding food and Service. I recommend sitting at the raw bar, the staff are truly entertaining and masters of their craft.

Such a great experience. Just luvs it. Will definitely be back and it is a must to visit while in St John's. Staff and setting is amazing. Cod and salmon meals were just perfect, wine was delish.

Our server was really busy she didn’t have time to do justice to amount of tables she was looking after . Waited a long time for drinks , to be checked in with and our bill . Will be back to give it another try soon

Tables were too close together, and packed into a small space.
The cocktails were decent, but over priced.
The food was very disappointing. A very expensive steak dinner consisted of a small piece of poor quality meat, with a huge pile of fries.
Would not recommend this place, will not go back.

Great atmosphere and food with seasonal ingredients.

Our favourite restaurant in St. John’s. Everything we had was delicious and cooked to perfection. We’ll definitely return!

Exceptional as always. Went for girlfriends birthday / date, and have been before for similar style occasions. Restaurant is very modern with a large bar at its centre and an open and visible kitchen along the back. Waitress, I believe her name was Meghan, was quick to take seat us and make suggestions with good knowledge of both the specials and drink menu. Food was quick and fantastic. Slightly overcooked steak was instantly noted and corrected by the waitress as food arrived to the table. Absolutley recomend anything on the menu, you can't go wrong, however the steak topped with merchant's butter is still our favourite! My girlfriend would "eat here every day" if possible.