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| - It was recommended to me by several coworkers to check out Merchant as part of my quest to find the best cheese curds in Madison, as well as enjoy a tasty cocktail. The hubs and I went for a later than normal (8pm) dinner on a Friday night. The place was hopping, but we were seated right away.
Our table was a small raised table at the end of a row close to the kitchen, which being the culinarian that I am, actually enjoyed being able to peer into the kitchen every so often. However, we were essentially sitting on bar stools and it wasn't the most comfortable for dinner. We got the menu, massive drink menu and we were off!
I had already perused the menu online because rarely do I go to a restaurant without scoping it out ahead of time, so I had a good idea of what I wanted. We put in an order of buffalo style cheese curds (per Yelpers suggestion), a Ralph Lee cocktail (one of the few rum based ones), and I ordered the Lamb Sliders.
The buffalo cheese curds were...interesting. When I go back, I will definitely order them plain because I thought the sauce was just too overwhelming. It tasted more like buffalo chicken bites because I honestly couldn't taste the cheese portion. Which made me sad. And after awhile, eating that much buffalo sauce just overwhelms the palate. So my recommendation as a cheese curds connoisseur is to skip the buffalo and if you really want, ask for the sauce on the side. The Ralph Lee cocktail however was divine. The perfect balance of acidity and sweetness with just enough booze. I would definitely order again. The lamb sliders were delicious, have a delightful cherry jam on them and the flavors were well composed.
The dessert selections were a little wanting, or perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for what they had, but I got a cherry chocolate pot de creme essentially. It was good, but not very cherry-y. One of my things is if you use it as a flavor descriptor, it should probably taste like that. No one calls a banana split cherry flavored because it was one maraschino on top. The hubs's key lime pie was very not pie like and was disappointing, but not terrible.
Also, when we were there, it was VERY loud. It made it difficult to have a conversation with someone sitting right next to me. I mean, it was busy, but I feel like it shouldn't have been that loud. It was also very dark, even more so as the evening went on.
So to sum it up: Service was great, food was good but not foodgasmic, stick to the regular cheese curds, branch out and order an interesting cocktail, go somewhere else for dessert.
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