Really disappointed in the experience at merchant tavern. For paying almost $100 per person, I expected way more.

First of all, there was a terrible smell in the short walk between the front door and restaurant that was very off putting. They also have a big sign saying masks mandatory and then you walk in and none of the workers are wearing masks. (I realize the mask mandate is over...but then take down the sign).

Next, we were quickly seated upon arrival in a half full restaurant at 6pm and then not one server came to our table for 15 minutes. Finally someone came up and apologized as there was some confusion and asked for drink orders. Then two other servers did the exact same thing within minutes... So it seemed the confusion was still there.

Next, we went on a Sunday and weren't aware they had "theme nights". We were really looking forward to the oysters and full menu, however it was "steak night" and they only had three options for dinner. We were very dissappointed to learn this but figured we were already there so we would stay. We figured if they were only cooking steak, then it would have to all be really good steak.

Ordered a bottle of wine. Server comes with the bottle, tells us she's not good at opening bottles or pouring. Then proceeds to spill a bit of wine on the table while pouring, says oops , then doesn't clean it up.

Next we ordered the $100 ribeye to split between two of us. Server then says she has to go check if they have any left.....it's 6:30 and you have three things on your menu.....how could you have possibly run out at 6:30. They ended up having it so that was fine. She then told us she can't guarantee how well the steak would be cooked. So we are paying $100 for a steak and it could come out medium well?! She said because they cooked in butter that they can't control the temperature so medium rare might not be possible......we were baffled and reiterated that we wanted medium rare.

While getting up to go to the bathroom we noticed this silver kitchen tray of fully cooked steaks just sitting under the heat lamp and mentioned to eachother how scared we were that they were precooking the steaks and then serving them when people ordered.

Steak comes out quickly and it was large and fed the both of us with enough sides, however it was not hot and it was covered in chunks of garlic butter and was definitely more medium cooked. We both love steak, cook it all the time and were very dissappointed in the taste and texture for an $100 meal. We agreed the side of mushrooms were the best part of the meal. The temperature definitely felt like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while.

I reccomended merchant tavern to train your employees better for a higher end restaurant setting (they are using the wine glasses from Raymond's which we thought was strange as they are branded Raymond's) and to get rid of the theme nights and stick to the main menu.