Merlino's Family Steakhouse — Restaurant in Conway

09/21/2019 - After a day playing at StoryLand we decided to check out the steakhouse next to our hotel as it was convenient seeing we had two small children (2 & 9) with us. We arrived at 5:30 and were promptly seated in the upstairs dining room. Neither the downstairs dining area nor the upstairs are were full so we assumed we were seated up there as we were a party of 6. We got settled then waited a minimum 10-15 minutes to finally have our drink orders taken (which were non-alcoholic all around.) Another wait of at least 15 – 20 minutes for the drinks and have our orders taken. In the meantime we joked that our waitress must had left for the night because she was nowhere to be seen. Finally a good 30 minutes later our appetizers arrived. (Unfortunately, not everyone was eating the appetizers; they were waiting for their burgers.) (3 well done burgers and crab cakes). Another 30 minutes of waiting with fussy, hungry, children and still no food. We were never approached about how things were, why it was taking so long, no apologies, no eye contact, no offer to top off our beverages, nothing from anyone we just sat with empty plates from eaten appetizers and empty drink glasses. I also want to make note that while waiting we sat and watched the ENTIRE upstairs dining area be emptied and refilled with new diners TWICE!!! They received their drinks, (mostly alcoholic), appetizers, dinners and bills and were gone. TWICE!!! Not just two tables, the entire place emptied and refilled twice while we sat and waited for BURGERS….and crabcakes. WHY??? Finally, after all this waiting and having to entertain two hungry, fussy & unhappy children (not to mention adults) I hollered across the dining room to get our servers attention to tell her we were done WAITING and we wanted the bill…then she proceeded to tell me our food was almost done possibly. I said “OH WELL THAT’S NOW YOUR PROBLEM! Bring the bill!!!” When she brough back the bill I indicated to her that I this was appalling to allow us to sit there this long and then to have the gall to bring us a bill. She said “I told you I was sorry what more do you want?” I said it would be nice to have been comped for the inconvenience. She said “so do you wanna talk to the manager?” I said “Sure Do!” Another 5+ minute wait and the manager arrived. She proceeded to argue with me about how long we’d been sitting there. Oh no you didn’t! What ever happened to the customer is always right? What ever happened to making your patrons happy? It seems to me that only patrons ordering alcoholic beverages were getting the star treatment. We just sat on the sidelines and watched how we SHOULD have been treated but were not. I will tell everyone I know and then some I do not know to stay away from this imposter of a steak house and go elsewhere. They need to just be a PUB if that’s all they cater to is alcohol patrons. NOT COOL!!! Apparently no one cares, that's more than...

Went here with my wife and two kids ,two and four. Very nice service food was good. This is a pub style restaurant so I wasn’t expecting five star food like some of the people writing the most tasteless shameful ignorant reviews. We sat right down Saturday night at 5 o clock. The waitress got our kids food out first so they were occupied. The bruschetta was different but really good. Salads were good and the kids were no problems. Wife’s prime rib was on point. Chicken and broccoli Alfredo was ok but that was my expectation. Portion was big and I’ll eat it three times. I have no words for the unhappy people ordering seafood at a steak house and not getting their palates whisked away into heaven. Go to a seafood restaurant. Some dude that worked in the (business) 45 years wrote some appalling review after going there in the middle of summer with a bunch of people and couldn’t believe he had to wait and everything wasn’t perfect. He clearly wasn’t in the restaurant business. If the hostess does her job and makes people wait while tables aren’t flat seated bringing the kitchen to a halt they are unhappy. If they sit and wait they are unhappy. These people are known Well by people really in the business. Other reviews seemingly bragging about being rude to waitstaff and demanding from them free food. It’s North Conway and it’s underserved and overcrowded in the summer. If you take your kids out to eat at five any night in the summer your not gonna have a good time. It’s nobodies fault but your own. I really think some people enjoy abusing waitstaff while having completely unreal expectations for establishments. After we sat a couple was leaving after the husband was very rude to the waitress because he thought he was going to have a quiet romantic evening. At the family steakhouse and pub with a sandwich sign that read four tv’s and sports channels. He stormed out like a two year old. Plenty of nice places this ride cheapskate could take his wife but he chose to be a abusive to nice people trying to get people fed. Like my family. I recommend this place totally and hope all the ridiculous people writing such awful reviews reads this so they know what the rest of the world and people in the business think of their callous disregard for...

I’ve been coming to North Conway my whole life. My grandparents have lived here for over 20 years as well and we have never made it in here so tonight on the way out of the outlets we decided to stop and try it for dinner. What a disaster. We were seated near an old door right in the door way looking into the bar area and where they store all the glasses and utensils. The front door kept slamming so hard anytime someone came in or out that it actually shook our table. The place is very outdated and felt rather unclean. We ordered dinner, which took quite some time but that is never a big deal for me, I like to feel relaxed when I go out to dinner. While waiting for dinner I took both of my children to the restrooms. The bathrooms were not very clean and you waited by the bar to use them where not only where the bar tenders talking loudly to each other about work related things, but also swearing. Then I hear the bar tender telling a patron they can’t leave like that and to put there head down on the bar and rest and she was going to get him some coffee. I looked over and sure enough there was an older gentleman hanging off the bar absolutely obliterated. Who let this man get to this point and isn’t this suppose to be a family restaurant?! Then who I can only assume was the manager or owner went over to him as well to try and reason with him. All of which my five and six year old children did not need to see. Our food was very expensive and mediocre at best. We also heard the table next to us tell the waitress how disappointed they were as well and that they “wouldn’t send there worst enemy here” so disappointing, we were really hoping for a great family dinner for our last night in town. If you’re looking for a great restaurant I suggest taking a little bit of a drive down 16 and going to Tuckerman Tavern, that was well worth the wait, the food was fantastic and it wasn’t nearly...