Merle's American Tavern — Restaurant in Peculiar

After seeing reviews and the recommendation of others I decided to have my bday dinner at Merle's American Tavern, Peculiar this evening. It went horrible from the time we walked in and continued to worsen through the rest of the night. I've never been so disgusted with a place. The reservation made earlier in the day with the manager was not honored. I was told we would have the outside, but covered area space for our large party, but when we arrived it was already taken. And no accommodation was made by the staff. We had to fin for ourselves to figure out were we could all sit. I had to go to the bar to ask the manager for help and approval to move our own tables and chairs in from outside to even get a seat. One waitress was sent to help and couldn't do it alone, so I had to help get my own tables and chairs set up. We waited for an hour+ for our food, which then came cold. Mine didn't come at all or my drink and I had to go to the bar again to ask for it. Drinks and orders were made wrong multiple times. Jason never did get a good soda. We were never checked in on, asked if everything was okay. No waitress was around most of the time. I always had to go find one for assistance or go to the bar for the manager. During the Tornado warnings and watch and even after the Tornado sirens the establishment had no Emergency Action Plan for either it's employees or guests. No one knew what to do the multiple times we asked. They just continued business as if nothing was happening. Due to weather we had to move ourselves inside and find ourselves tables and settings. No employee helped accommodate the situation. I had to go to the group of waitresses and manager standing chit chatting to even pay the bill. No one ever came back to get it. Apon paying I voiced all these concerns above and that they made us feel like a burden. I expressed my concern for ourselves and the employees not knowing what to do in an emergency. The manager, whom I had delt with through the evening about all of this said absolutely Nothing and literally turned and walked away back to the bar without a single word. Several of the other staff walked away or turned away from me taking. I didn't get a single word from the manager or any of the staff. I voiced I couldn't believe we didn't even deserve a simple apology for the evening. There was no means to try and make things right through the whole evening or even after voicing concern again at the end and letting her know the entire party would not be back. I told the staff I would share this review with everyone I know and so would the rest of my group. Only ONE waitress in the entire restaurant expressed an apology after I stated this. It wasn't her fault even, she was never our waitress, I don't even recall seeing her the whole time, yet she was the only sympathetic one. The whole visit was just ridiculous! I would never recommend this place soley on the manager and the staff! I couldn't even say if the food would be good enough to go back, because it was all cold. I'm still...

Idk what has happened here but things aren't the same. We came in here on 9/16 for lunch order boneles wings they brought us bone in wings. We explained what we ordered and she said she'd replace the wings. Our server asked if we wanted the wings anyway becaise all they were going to do with them is serve them to someone else or throw them away. So we said we'd keep them but we wanted what we ordered. We asked for our ticket and both sets of wings were on the receipt we asked our server to fix the receipt and she said since we are taking the bone in wings with us we had to pay for them. It's what Erin said had to happen. Well Erin we had already touched the order of wings that was wrong and put them in a to go box because your business messed up our order. You were then going to serve them to someone else? My husband had just ordered 2 beers and his arm got bumped and he dropped one bottle he was picking up the glass when a waitress said are you stupid your going to get cut. First of all my husband isn't stupid. We asked for a replacement beer and was told we'd have to pay for another one. Seriously? He literally just got them and his arm got bumped and one bottle dropped. Okay well we asked the server what we owed for the 2 beers and she said $3.50 each and then she changed it to $3.75 a bottle. How much is a single bottle of course light? Your servers should know because it then looks like she's padding the price for herself. We used to go here all the time and it was decent but now it seems to have a problem.

This is a decent place to eat at. It has its ups and downs at times regarding service. It's local and we have get together here and they are helpful and work with us. Usually it's packed which lately we've been able to get a table. The Surf and Turf is my go to meal but they fluctuate on size. They charge extra for condiments which I'm not a fan of but they have to do what...

The chicken fried steak (Salisbury fried steak on their menu) was SO GOOD! Fresh and hot. When you cut into the crust it has a lovely crisp crunchy crust that's not too thick. My stepfather got the Cuban sandwich with these odd curly fries and loved it. Even the coffee, which was just a normal drip brew, was good and not butter at all. I've had a ton of dinner coffee and while it seems odd to make note of it, theirs has been some of the best.

The staff was incredibly friendly. I did find the other people were a little too interested in me, but I'm black and in the middle of America. That happens. The wait staff though was beyond friendly and kind. The one when we told her we had never been was like "we try and make everyone feel welcome" and they honestly did make me feel quite welcome. I still felt very comfortable eating here with a few stares from overly interested pick-up truck drivers.

Really recommend stopping here if you're travelling and don't want to bother with Kansas City traffic. You will definitely not go wrong with these...