SpringHouse At The Merc — Restaurant in Idaho

update #4: The cook and Merc staff have significantly improved their quality control. The salads and BBQ sandwich has been both very good and consistent lately. Nice job. Considering the other choice in HS/CR, this is definitely the place to go. Highly recommend now :) ps: the staff has always and continues to be super friendly and helpful. Seems to be part of their business model to be friendly and helpful. Good for them and the customers. update #3: I've been trying some of the other menu items and find that so far they are very good. I can also say that the serving size seems decent and consistent from order to order. Yea, the prices are a bit high IMHO, but that seems to be the trend these days especially for a restaurant in Hidden Springs with a captive customer base. And yes the outdoor seating is pretty good especially since they put up more umbrellas for shade and replaced some of the not so good tables and chairs. I understand that outdoor furniture at a restaurant takes a beating, but at the same time the older metal chairs are pretty sad and not in good shape. Plus, the outdoor tables that have a lattice type top are clearly hard to clean as most of them have grungy food residue on them. But nothing any better or worse than I've seen elsewhere, it's just that there are some tables I cannot use because of this. Sorry to be a stickler on these things. Update #2: Tried their Mexican salad. What a joke. Good amount of lettuce (was fresh), some crunchy seeds and dressing of your choice, that's it. The cook forgot the small chips, which when added still does not make it a Mexican salad. For over $15 I cannot recommend this. So far I'm struggling to find a salad at the Merc that I like, it's just not there. ps: some people like the Cob salad, good for them but Cob is just not for me even when it's good. But the prices seem to be going up, over $40 with tip for two people with just an entree and fountain drink, yikes.

Update about Rooted: Coffee lovers tell me their coffee is pretty good. Prices in line with Sbucks. My main complaint is they need a little less talking and more coffee making. The barista greets everyone who comes in and thanks everyone who departs. Nice personal touch. But during those time no coffee is actually getting prepared. Too long of wait.

Update after name change and remodeling: One try of the food seems good, same as before. But I fear to say that the ambience is not nearly as good as before renovation. Sorry Spring House, but you lost the small town/old time feel. Big loss IMHO.

Original review: Restaurant is excellent and food is tasty and plenty. Their rental rooms are also very good and reasonable, a bit in need of remodeling but so very convenient for extended stay in...

We've gone there more than half a dozen times. Generally pleasant with some annoying problems here and there. You order up front, not from your table. We went in tonight with another couple, and we both ordered and paid for a pizza for each couple. The pepperoni came out in 20 minutes, but our veggie pizza (ordered at the same time!) took 50 minutes. On the visit before that, I ordered our food and paid up front with cash, as I've always done. The food eventually came and so far so good. I later went up and bought a beer with cash. The guy up front was more than cool with that. But about 30 minutes later a gal came around to our table with an I-Pad asking for us to "close out" our "ticket." I told her we'd paid up front with cash. So she sticks the screen in front of me to show that I apparently hadn't paid! So rather than her going to the guy I gave all the cash to, she required I go find him to verify my story. That was uncomfortable. But it worked out. The guy remembered my paying everything with cash. This place can get real loud and slow when it's busy, but that's to be expected. However, we didn't expect to be treated like low-life grifters. We'll still give the place 3 stars for consistently long and erratic waits, (even when not busy), and generally poor service and decent food. I know one of the managers, and and he's trying hard most of the time to have good food with good service at reasonable prices. It's a positive that Springhouse is within walking distance...

The location of this restaurant was exciting to me. It is in Hidden Springs. It looks like it would be a fantastic experience. Ever since I first drove by it a few weeks ago, I have been wanting to try it. Today was the day. I was happy with the food choices. I got the Springhouse Hamburger. I liked that instead of fries or coleslaw I could get chips and salsa as my side. When I went to sit down, all of the individual tables were dirty. I sat at a long table with high top stools that was uncomfortable. I kept waiting for them to clean off the tables. It took a while. I was able to finally move to a clean table right before my food came. When I went to drink my water it tasted horrible. I had 2 sips and that was it. I was glad I didn't pay for any drink with water mixed in. My meal was delivered and the burger was massive. I was left with 2 napkins. The waiter never gave me silverware or asked of I wanted anything. I would have wanted to cut the burger in half since it was so large. The waiter never came back. It was simply too messy to eat in whole. However, it did taste very good. I just won't make the effort to go all that way when I can get a great meal, better drinks and service...