I have been to Eddie Merlot's twice for lunch, with differing experiences. The first time I went was shortly after they opened this location, with an older male colleague, and the service was fantastic. I had a burger, which was fine but nothing special.
Yesterday I visited with several female colleagues (and I myself am female). The service was subpar, particularly in light of the price point. My glass sat empty for quite awhile, even through we were in a highly visible area and the waiter walked past us frequently. We did not receive bread, though tables of male businessmen received bread (that looked fabulous). Our food took quite a long time to come out. Eventually someone who appeared to be a manager came over and said that one of the dishes had had to be recooked because it was overdone (my thought: does that mean that my dish was sitting under the heat lamp all that time?). While I am not one the one who picked up the bill, I don't believe anything was done to compensate for the extended lunch. Bread wasn't even offered (the manager left so swiftly I didn't have a chance to ask for it).
I had the meatloaf. It was good, but didn't knock my socks off. It was served with mashed potatoes, which were bland and lacked any wow factor. I lovea good mashed potato, and they're not hard to make, so this is not impressive. The green beans with the dish were well done. The meatloaf left a strong aftertaste that lasted until bedtime that evening, so I would not recommend it on a date!
Overall, I am not sure what to think. I hate to think that we were treated differently as a table of all women, but when I experienced much better service when with a male colleague and the tables around us did not experience similar service issues. This leaves me reluctant to suggest Eddie Merlot's in the future, though I will go if someone else picks it.