The Merchants Tavern — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Very small menu to start, almost feels like they’re trying to hard to be different from the rest and not a typical “pub” menu which is a shame. Ordered a simple Coke with no ice which came with ice, easy mistake which can be corrected but it set the president of what was to come. Ordered their salt and pepper chicken loaded chips which came with 3 options of chips for £8. All food came out 1 by 1 and when the burgers came out, the server couldn’t tell which was which and then proceeded to shout(!) across the restaurant to the counter where the food comes out to ask and even the chef couldn’t tell, this resulted with no true answer and had to be figured out between our group, good thing there were no allergies present or this would have been a disaster. When my food came out, it was apparent that I did not get the chip option that I chose at the bar (unsure why there’s 3 options if you do not get the one you pick), it arrived with a few sliced chilli peppers and sesame seeds. It was 100% not salt and pepper chicken, it was very dry balls of chicken with 0 seasoning which you can bulk buy from Iceland, soggy oven fries which were also unseasoned, and horrifically sickly sweet curry which didn’t taste quite right. Even for £8, it was not worth it and actually quite insulting to be served (wrong) oven food. Between the obnoxious waitress who couldn’t stop singing or the waiter collecting plates from the table despite some of our party still eating, I wouldn’t recommend. Such a let down from previous...

Went here today for the first time as it was recommended to me but probably will be the last in terms of food!

Went for a Sunday roast but they don't do chicken/turkey dinners which was BAFFLING to me (just beef, pork and lamb) so I went for the London pizza, which ended up being dry - turned out the pizza was a frozen pizza, so not fresh at all. Homemade chips and ‘seasoned’ fries were lovely though!!

I got the bbq chicken wings for starters - they were really tasty but very fatty. Potato skins and halloumi fries were nice!

My mam had the pork roast, she really enjoyed it but found 2 hairs so sadly wasn’t able to finish it.

For how much we spent there, and how expensive most of the food was, I would’ve thought the service would have been way better.

Most of the staff were lovely, can’t say the same for one of them which I believe was the manager. Not a single smile, made us feel rushed when trying to order, didn’t seem to want to be there and spoke to her staff members quite rude and with constant attitude, shouted at them a few times (deffo brought back bad memories of working in retail 😂) seems like she wouldn't give her staff a second to just breathe. I really hope we just got her on a bad day and it isn’t like this all the time, however, by the look of some reviews and speaking to friends/family I don’t think it was a bad day.

The location is lovely, just off the river Tyne with some lovely boats! This place would be perfect in the summer...

Just been for Sunday Lunch and to say we are disappointed is an understatement. Booked a table a week in advance and when we got there our table was a tiny little table in the corner of the snug. We felt as though we had just been put out the way which was disappointing. The table was dirty as was the salt and pepper shakers. When the food came it didnt fit on the table and I had to put bowls and other things on the fireplace behind me. The dinner was average and was absolutely not worth £14, meat, potatoes and mash was cold, veg was way overcooked and a tiny portion between us and the cauliflower cheese was like soup! With very little choice on the menu o thiught the food was going to be cooked well.. that isn the case. Not a single member of staff asked if we were OK or if the food was OK while we were there and we were in and out in half an hour as we just could not get comfortable at the table we were in. Wont be back that's for sure. Just seen the reply to my review and it is absolute lies. U did not ask us if that was OK u told us that is where our table was and sat us there! And the plates were still on the table when we left. As we're the plates and dishes next to us on a different table that had been ther 20 minutes with flies swarming round them! Obviously have to make up lies to cover ya backs knowing we can't reply to your...