Tomahawk Butchery & Tavern — Restaurant in Merrimack

We just moved to Merrimack, and, where I go, I always like to find "my place". In Rochester, it was Revolution (a wonderful restaurant that treats you like dirt - I still have a mug there), and when we were in Fremont, CA it was Jack's Brewery.

I'm pretty sure it'll be Tomahawk Tavern now that we're here in Merrimack. After a few visits here's my inventory of pros and cons.

Pros: the food is excellent. That's why you go to a restaurant, right? Reuben is a 9/10. I could only finish half for how full of corned beef it was. One point off because the sauerkraut has to be especially potent to offset that impressive stack of corned beef!

Steak tips were solid. Served best as rare as possible, but tender at any finish.

The deli sandwiches are off the charts. For less than $10 you get a meal and a half. These are Subway prices and New York deli quality. Bonus, the pickles are CUBED - not sliced. This is the only acceptable cut for a picked in a sandwich like this.

Wings are good - a little pricey at $1.50 each. I like bone-in wings at the $1 price point. So, it's your call if a delicious wing is worth a 50% overage. There are probably other places to get them.

Beer selection is stellar. Not because that selection is as large as the Thirsty Moose, but because it's curated well. Kudos to whoever chooses the drafts.

The atmosphere is just awesome. 3 of the booths have private TVs (get your GameDay reservations in 5 min before they open and hope for the best). 2 booths are great for large groups. And there's a small function room. I'd certainly consider bringing my team of engineers and technicians there for a team outing.

Now, the cons. The list is short, but worth considering... They charge for your chosen dipping sauce with wings. We were charged $0.75 for some ranch dressing.

You can decide for yourself if that's a cardinal sin, but we, also, were not informed that a dipping sauce would cost extra. Simply offered... Then charged when the bill came.

You know when those steakhouse chains ask you if you'd like to add mushrooms and onions to your steak (don't) but don't tell you it's an extra $2.99? That's what Tomahawk is doing here. It's not that $3 is going to break the bank, it's the tactic... It's the practice...

Hey Tomahawk, at $12 either include the sauce, or have the guts to charge $12.75.

The only other con I have is the allocation of space. I don't know what to recommend, but it needs to be bigger - peak hours are uninviting. Too hard to just decide it's time to go to "the local" and have a drink.

There's like a stupid fish store next door or something... When that goes under (pun?) buy up that space and reallocate. More booths, pls.

Alternatively, start a mug club or something and give preferential space to your loyal and repeat patrons.

4 stars for the sneaky move re: dipping sauce.

We'll...

Went to the Tomahawk Tavern for linner yesterday. My wife and I were meeting friends that had never been to the tavern. We arrived at the tavern at 3:45 and our friends were already at the bar. They were at the corner by the servers station. We sat down and occupied the four seats in a row going around the corner.

We were having great conversation and laughs. We had ordered drinks and appetizers. We were disscusing what we were going to order for dinner. The bartenders were in the process of a shift change. Eric was now behind the bar and came over to us and said "Sorry about this, but before I take your dinner order, the four bar seats you are sitting in are reserved. I am going to have to ask you to move down the bar to these other four seats." He apologized and said that "he is just doing what he is told."

It was clear that Tomahawk tavern appreciated the patronage of people that had not arrived over our patronage. Again there were four other seats open at the bar. Eric had put glasses of water in front of these seats in anticipation of our move. However we decided not to move or stay for dinner.

Several things about this really irked me. 1.) When we arrived we were never told that the seats were reserved (did not know you could reserve bar seats). 2.) The four seats we were in we chose so we could have conversation with each other. 3.) Why couldn't the four people that had not arrived sit in the four seats that were open? They were literally 3 bar seats away from the bar seats we were sitting at. 4.) If these seats were actually reserved, then the manager on duty should have come over and spoken to us. Not leave it up to Eric. 5.) Once we left the Tomahawk tavern I was still frustrated. I decided to do a test. I called the tavern and asked if I could reserve bar seats. The answer I got on the phone was that "No, we don't reserve bar seats." I said "really, I just saw four people leave because they were asked to move because they were sitting in reserved bar seats". The only thing the woman on the phone said was "interesting"

I live in Merrimack and would purchase take out from the tavern also we would purchase from butcher. I will be sure to take my...

Ordered the 16oz ribeye steak. I eat carnivore woe and have been eating ribeyes my whole life it's my favorite cut of beef. I was clearly served a sirloin at the ribeye price. Food came out undercooked mentioned that it wasn't a ribeye cut. They kept saying it was the way the cut came out?? What ?? So it came back overcooked choked it down with some water. 54$ wasted. Maybe their other food is good. But if you say your a butcher shop passing a sirloin off as ribeye ?? As I left i went into the butcher shop side, and there was 5 ribeyes right next to 4 sirloin. I mentioned it to one of the waitresses who had been agreeing with me it wasn't a ribeye. Do better and don't lie to your customers.

To the response !! WOW !! I paid $44 dollars IT was a sirloin ! I was raw when it came out, not medium rare. I think your response is less than professional. As a business owner myself, I have just moved to this area from Texas. Something I have learned in my day is "Own your mistakes!" The photo attached is how the steak came out AFTER it was first served and had been cut in half, sent back reheated, of course, that portion will cook up fast. Your waitress was agreeing with me that it was not a RIbeye.

And as far as saying, "As we explained to you last night, "What is that? Are you seriously arguing with a customer to save face? The Bartender, super cool guy we talked and got along great ! Until the food came out wrong, He couldn't even make eye contact afterwards, and I had said nothing except this is not a Ribeye, and it's quite undercooked. Then several of the staff came out after asking, "Oh, did they serve the wrong steak? " I paid my money for something I didn't order that wasn't cooked to the way it was ordered. And I tipped the bartender $10 ! So he deserves a 5-star you as an owner get Negative stars...