Merlin Alderley Edge — Restaurant in England

Before the pandemic, Merlin was always a go to place. Either to go for a meal with friends or just for a few drinks - the atmosphere was amazing, with reasonable prices and great service.

I can’t say the same from my last visit, Sunday 28th 2024 at around 3pm. The food and the service were appalling, I was very disappointed. My wife had Olives and Linguini with seafood and chorizo – She said that her pasta was okay but not special, lack of flavour. 10 washed Olives in water for £4 (that’s crazy), at least put a bit of olive oil and garlic to flavour up, show some care.

I had the SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS for starter (£7.95) and a PLANT-BASED BURGER (£16.25) for my main meal. The food wasn’t fresh at all. The mushrooms were like an appetizer and microwaved, the croutons were old and with a funny taste. The burger was served with plain salad in a cup (never saw being served that way before), but that’s okay I suppose, the problem was that the burger had a bitter taste, I only had 2 small bites, something was off.

It taken over 30 minutes for someone to come over, but it wasn’t to check how was everything, it was to ask if we had finished. I had to mentioned to the server that I didn’t enjoy the burger, that the burger was unpleasant, a bit off and with a bitter flavour. She asked if I wanted something else. We mentioned that we been waiting for over 30 minutes, and no one had come over to check on us (She had passed over us 3 times and saw me look at her, she choose to ignore us – she could see that I wasn’t eating the burger).

She than went to speak with the manager and returned saying that the burger would be taken from the bill. The manager never came over to check what was the issue or if there was something it could be done.

Obviously, there’s something not quite right in the Merlin. My concern with this latest experience, isn’t the lack of service and care from the server and manager but that the food it seemed to be off.

It’s a shame, I used to love this place. Will not be going back and would advice anyone going there to be careful with the food.

I end-up eating at...

The place looks really nice. When I walked in at the 'greeting stand/place' there stood a staff member, middle aged woman glasses, who was actually the manager, I had to stare at her for a bit to get her attention and then she looked at me as if to say 'what do you want' I asked if there was a table for 2 "there's no room in the restaurant part, you can go and sit at the bar" as she went straight back to whatever she was doing/ talking to another staff remember.... RUDE B I thought. our actual waitress was very nice. I ordered the Trio Roast dinner Got a plate with 2 slices of beef that was very tasty, a leg of chicken that was,,,,ok and a slice of pork that was emmm not the best... a couple of roast potatoes and a pretty small stuffing wrapped in bacon. my partner had the lamb roast, the lamb i tasted was extremely tough and chewy. she said some was nice, some was not. set between us was one dish of cabbage and a couple of chunks of carrot, whist it was very very nice (covered in butter) I fell that it wasn't enough both for 2 and as extras to dinner. Then I noticed the pork crackling was missing (comes with meal)so I had to re order that. now that was the nicest crackling ever! however we also noticed that the sauces had not come and we had to re-order them too. I had a pint of cider and she had sparkling water, overall price was £43. worth it? I really do not think so If you are going to be paying over £40 for lunch it should be a good lunch with good service. this was not . yes some of the food was good, but overall my conclusion is that we are never going...

I booked the family in for Christmas dinner this year instead of staying at home. What a disappointment this was from start to finish. We were a family of four, 2 adults and 2 children. The starters arrived, no problem except I was served a dessert spoon for my soup and this came with no bread or offering of bread although on the menu it says it is served with bread. The main was a huge disappointment and I can only assume that there was a shortage of vegetables as we were given a small bowl of sprouts and green beans that was required to serve three, hardly the selection of festive vegetables we were expecting and is listed on the menu. I had the Vegan option which also came with no accompanying sides whatsoever and consisted of the Wellington and some broccoli, again no purée that was listed on the menu. The desserts again were served with a mixture of dessert and soup spoons, and the bowl my youngest daughters dessert was served in was chipped, we also didn’t receive the Green & Blacks Chocolates listed on the menu. Finally, where we were sat was like a sauna and even the waitress commented on how hot it was. All in all a poor experience, badly planned and presented and didn’t justify the price we paid which was around 400£...