Mertens Rooftop at Mertens Prime — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

A friend and I chose the rooftop scenery for an impromptu birthday celebration. We were asked to move from the love seat we were sitting on, to an area with 2 chairs due to limited seating, and a party of 4 waiting for seating. There were 2 chairs seated next to us that were not being used as we were a party of 2. I'm uncertain why we of the entire rooftop full off of caucasion people were asked to give our seats up when alternate accomodations could have been made. Such as removing the 2 unused chairs next to us and placing them with the 2 we were asked to move to. I am primarily hispanic and my friend is black. I'm not saying this is a matter of discrimination, however, I am not excluding it either given the events that took place. The worst experience I've ever had. I called the owner regarding the incident. The excuse given as to why this may have taken place was because of a waitlist. However, the downstairs staff communicated with the rooftop staff via walkie talkie, while all present to determine if seating was available and confirmed we were on our way up to the rooftop. There wasn't a greeter present nor waiting to seat us when we arrived upstairs by elevator, no more than 1 minute later. If there had been a waitlist I'm sure a greeter would have been waiting to seat...

I think they don’t want my money.... I’ve called at least every two weeks for the entire summer eagerly anticipating the opening of this rooftop bar always hearing they were close but not yet open. Finally they are open come August, online hours state they open for brunch on the weekend. We go- they are closed. Come September I see they have oysters. Since my husband and I have been missing an oyster spot since the departure of Mazzo from the downtown scene I thought this would be the perfect before dinner snack as we celebrated our anniversary on a cloudy September evening. Opon arrival we find that they are reservation ONLY despite no mention of this policy on Facebook or on their website. Apparently “reservations available” and “reservation only” are one in the same for this establishment. Regardless they would not take our name but only stated we could go to Open table to get a spot. Not even checking if a spot was available. Instead I sit here and enjoy my drink and escargot at Jdek at the JW Marriot with a view of the river. Based on experiences had prior to even stepping foot on the rooftop I cannot imagine their service upon arriva...

We enjoyed the cocktails and appetizers here. We got the Cotton Gin (very liquor forward, similar to an old fashion) and Sloe Gin (similar to a spiked pink lemonade). Their shrimp beignets are excellent 👌 but the rest of our meal was disappointing. I'm Canadian, and I would not call their poutine an actual poutine. It's just loaded fries. I ordered the Boise "poutine." It didn't even have cheese curds or gravy on it?? 🤔 I then asked for a side of gravy and was given room temperature country gravy... that's not at all poutine! Also, my husband ordered the duck hash and it was bland. He didn't even want to take the left overs home.

Our server Liz, was very attentive and sweet. We liked her. And our hostess was excellent. He gave us a tour of the rooftop bar and told us all about the history of the restaurant. We want to give this place another chance but will only come back for the rooftop view,...