Meritage — Restaurant in Glendale

Made reservations for 3 at 5 PM on a Wednesday for my birthday. Was early so sat in my car for a while before going in. It was likely between shifts. 2 guys, whom I assume worked there, were talking loudly outside on the front step. One was peppering his speech with F. That was a bit off-putting. Parking isn't the best. The handicapped makes you walk around a fence to get to the front door. The dumpster was front and center. Not the greatest placement, but I don't think there is anywhere else to put it.

We were seated after a short wait. The waitress did not come right away. We examined the menu and were working to make the table wobble less. The menus have seen better days. Kind of worn and torn. Don't feel very clean. The silverware was rather utilitarian and cheap. Only one fork and a knife were wrapped in a cloth napkin. The cloth napkin smelled clean.

Waitress came and was very sweet. She brought water and answered questions and gave us the specials of the day. She gave us some time to look over the menus and then came back with some rolls and to take our order. One of us ordered soup and salad, I ordered the pork chop with spinach and twice baked potato, and the third order was for the Alfredo pasta special. She did come back with news that the special was no longer an option, so a second pork chop was ordered.

We talked as we waited. and the soup and side salad ordered came out relatively quickly. The french onion soup was very hot, and took some time to cool down.

When the entrees arrived, they looked quite impressive. A lot of food. The full size Meritage salad with chicken was a slight disappointment as the lettuce was bitter. The toppings, chicken and dressing were good, though. The pork chops were huge and tender. There is no salt and pepper on the table so we had to ask for it. Both the meat and potato needed salt. The "twice baked potato" was huge. Unfortunately, it was lukewarm. The spinach was not actually sautéed or creamed as expected. Was really just some raw spinach leaves on the plate.

Both of us who had the chops couldn't finish the food and got carryout boxes. I am doing this review as I eat my warmed up leftovers. I think the potato, big as it was, might have a bit better presentation if it is HOT, and is also topped with some cheese. As it is, it tastes like lumpy mashed potatoes loaded back into a potato skin. Needs seasoning.

I was offered a free dessert since it was my birthday. I chose the cheesecake with berry topping. My sisters got creme brulee and carrot cake. It was all very pretty. Couldn't finish the dessert and brought it home, too. The portions were generous.

I am grateful for the meal, and that my sister covered the check. At $34 for each pork chop dinner, I'm sure it was a doozy.

I had planned to meet some friends at the bar to enjoy the music by Sonny Moorman, but it was very crowded with nowhere to sit, so I dipped.

I think I will try Meritage again for lunch and see how those offerings are. It is a neat building in a great location with speeding trains coming by multiple times per hour. I recommend you try it. We did not order drinks, but there...

Service gets dinged because of how ticked off I was with the reservation part. I called at 12:30 on a Wednesday to make a reservation (neither my husband nor I have access to OpenTable) and was told they were “extremely busy” so call back in a half hour, I called periodically after 1:00 without an answer, I asked my husband to call, they answered and he made the reservation in less than a minute. I believed I was denied service then ignored because of my fatal blunder of calling during a lunch hour…😒 👎

Anyway, despite sour expectations, the food and portion sizes were excellent! We got 5 menu items (all gluten free except anjou and no croutons on the salad): The stuffed mushrooms were creamy and flavorful! The Meritage salad was a great combo without too much or little of anything. The prime rib 20oz was gigantic and came with anjou. The scallops were even better than the prime rib, perfectly cooked with a tasty sauce. To top off our enjoyment, the crème brûlée was light to eat and the vanilla flavor very pleasing.

Our server gets 5 stars for sure. I always drink a lot of water when out to eat and I appreciate her filling my water 5 times in the 2 hours we were there without me having to ask or anything!

The place is a renovated old home style building but it is really big, they have a lot of space. The live music was a guy with an acoustic guitar and a wide variety of songs he could play and sing. It made a nice vibe.

It was a great...

Let's start with the highlights. Or waitress was just wonderful. My fiancee has the seafood dinner: bruschetta was good, tomato tasted fresh, not too crusty bread and parmesan with a nice balsamic drizzle. The wedge salad was a 3/5, not bad, and the scallops for the main course were a bit salty but perfectly cooked and yummy. Wet both really enjoyed the French onion soup as well. Sweet potato fries were light and yummy

The bad. The house burger was trash, and at 16 dollars was a joke. Beef tasted cheap, a nice grocery store ground chuck patty that at least didn't taste like it came in a pack of 20. I've never eaten a worse brie cheese. I like brie, but if you've eaten before more than once, you know something's off when it doesn't melt. At all. Topped with salty overcooked bacon and even more balsamic to drown out the flavor, dear God don't get the burger. The "new fashioned " with well liquor and a neon pink frisch's cherry was a bummer, and it looked like an old funeral home inside, old worn utility carpet, drapes hung over the windows like a newly minted college dorm room and the weirdly random stained glass"windows" embedded on the walls were just bizarre. Overall it felt like the chef was really trying and when he had good ingredients at turned out well but you can't make chicken salad out of...