I'll admit that food-wise, Merry-Ann's certainly isn't worthy of four stars, but for me it's more about nostalgia. We always used to go to the one on Kirby and Neil back during my U of I days, but now when my husband and I go to C-U we'll occasionally go here for breakfast.
Their breakfast fare is actually pretty decent and insanely cheap. Everything else is pretty much meh. Typical diner fare. Milkshakes are super yummy, though.
There can often be a wait on the weekends particularly during home football game weekends, but it's never very long at all (and I suspect there's probably a wait at most other places, too). There's a parking lot adjacent to the building which is convenient--and there's easy access to 74.