The Merchant Ale House — Restaurant in St. Catharines

This is one of my all-time favorite places in St catharines. It has The rustic feel of an old downtown bar. Dim lighting, squeaky floors... But it has the amenities of a modern Brew pub. Excellent if somewhat upscale food, great tap selection, and outstanding service.

Stout is one of my favorite beer styles, and the merchant is particularly good at brewing them. In fact, while not everything on their tabs is to my taste, I've had most of it, and it's all very high quality and often quite unique.

When concerts were a thing, the merchant used to be my dinner and drinks destination. At those times, it's extremely crowded, and not as fun to be in as other times. Yesterday, I took my wife and daughter in for dinner. They had a high chair for my 1-year-old. It was dim, quiet, and friendly. Perfect for what we were looking for.

Since the pandemic, the merchant has added outdoor dining. My wife doesn't like patios, so we didn't try it. However what little I saw of it seems pretty makeshift and not super accessible.

If you are not in the mood for a high-end dinner and drinks out on the town, the merchant has a very good bottle shop and usually offers between 6 and 10 beers in the fridge. Unfortunately, when I say bottle shop, I mean literally bottle shop. The merchant uses 500 ml glass bottles instead of the ubiquitous pint can. So you get a smidgen more beer, but you pay top dollar, and you wouldn't want to carry out more than a six...

I've been here too many times to count, whether it is with my girlfriend, my friends or my family. It is my go-to restaurant in St. Catharines and I don't see that changing at all over the next few years. I've explored the menu quite extensively and I have almost had everything on there (before the new menu came out). I've also had most of their beers.

The food is some of the best pub food I've had, I think that the kitchen puts an incredible spin on some classic meals. Their burger is incredible and they probably have my favourite patty of all time (sorry, Five Guys). There isn't anything I wouldn't recommend on the menu, no matter what you get you'll be satisfied.

The beer list is extensive and they feature a few rotating taps for those who want something that isn't made in-house. I am a huge fan of their Murray Street IPA and the Dankfruit IPA, both are different styles of IPA yet done so well. Everything they brew is quite delicious and if you enjoy beers of all types then you'll enjoy most of what they have.

One negative point: they do get very busy so pick and choose your times to visit wisely!

Overall, you won't be disappointed by...

We went to Merchant last night after a show at the Meridian Centre. When we walked in the door a lady behind the bar told us to sit wherever but it was bar service only. We ordered our drinks and found a table. Not even 5 minutes later, a male server comes over and tells us our table is reserved at 11:30 so we would have to move by that time… it was 10:55. I told him that we were told we could sit wherever but he didn’t care. 11:17 the same man comes back and tells us that the reservation has already arrived and we needed to “either go downstairs or stand against the wall” We couldn’t believe it. My friend goes “well I guess we will just chug our beers and leave” and he goes “Great! Thanks!”. So unprofessional and honestly ridiculous. We definitely won’t be back. How can you push paying customers out the door. If you over sat, that’s your problem not ours. How can you ask us to move after telling us to sit wherever. Train your...