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| - Another stop during our 2018 Cleveland Restaurant Week marathon of unbridled gluttony., Merchant Street is an eatery with a shining kitchen that's dulled by lackluster ambiance and stilted service. Everyone on here seems to be raving about the fantastic happy hour, but we didn't partake so there'll be none of that here. Oh, and what's with the deal of places only offering happy hour specials if you sit at the bar? This place is pretty small, seriously, the bar is about 6 feet from the rest of the tables. And the bar normally comes with annoyingly chatty barkeeps and buttnumbing seating. Whatever, I didn't take advantage so I'll discontinue going there.
The restaurant really isn't much to speak of. Sure, it's nice, it's got plenty of natural light, but it just feels sort of blah. It's not one of those places where you'll walk in and you feel like someone put some serious thought into the design. It's clean, so there's that, but it has that hotel restaurant feel to it.
We arrived sometime around 5pm on a Tuesday and the place was completely empty. Not a soul save for the bartender/server. Even the hostess stand was empty. It was a bit like a movie set for a restaurant and the director hadn't called action yet. She greeted us with a half-hearted smile and we took a seat by the front windows. This is probably the main reason for the 3 stars. The service was pretty lackluster. Sure, she did her job, but that was it. She was visibly uninterested, just going through the motions.
If you're looking to buzz your brain, they've got what you're looking for. Well, unless your a guy that likes a big craft beer selection. They had 6 taps, two of them were out, and nothing special. On the bright side, they at least had something. Wine your bag? Lots to choose from there, too. Now if you're looking for $12 cocktails with Seussian ingredients like lemon-celery bitters, lavender infused agave, and smoked orange, they've got a solid list. Fun, yes, just not my thing.
The food was really the star here. The menu features a well-curated selection of small plates, salads and larger-size entrees. It's your typical new American cuisine thing, simple dishes, nods to classics and all. For restaurant week there wasn't really a pre-set menu inasmuch as it was a pick your own kinda thing. App, entree, dessert it was. Everything we had was simply delicious. Beautiful presentation, cooked perfectly, just the right size. Seriously. It almost made me forget about the boring restaurant and anemic service.
The mushroom and leek flatbread was crispy, garlic-y, earthy and yummy. My wife loved her Kale Caesar (Kale! You abomination!) and found it fresh and delicious. Hell, the egg on top was a wonder to behold. Still, it was on top of kale. The burger, cooked a medium so spot-on other cooks should take a lesson. Sure, it was obscenely tall and there was no way it could ever fit in a typical mouth and the burger was scorched all to hell, but it was wonderful. The seared scallops were equally brilliant. Cooked perfectly, sweet, and tender and the sweet corn succotash with smoked paprika oil and bits of bacon was so damn good.
We had two desserts because restaurant week and both were great. The toffee panna cotta was jiggly to the spoon with crispy chocolately caramelly toffee bits and the flourless chocolate cake with salted caramel sauce. My pancreas is painin' just typing about these things.
Yes, we ate everything and I'm not ashamed to say it. OK, maybe a little, but I'm willing to own it.
So there you have it. Merchant Street is like the pearl in the oyster story if there was such a thing. The outside is sorta ugly and there's a layer of slimy stuff you've gotta work through to get to the prize, but once you do you're like "hell, it was worth nearly cutting off my thumb to get to this pretty little begemmed nugget and this really belongs on a necklace".
Bill: $111.00 without tip
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