Meritage — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Major disappointment.

Stopped in for lunch on Valentine's Day and sat in the bar area.

STAFF: The bartender was cold, short and unwelcoming acting as if we were an inconvenience to him. It took him a good 5 minutes if not more to throw down our menus at which point we weren't greeted or spoken to about the menu or anything else just asked what we wanted to drink.

After being told nothing about the menu we decided on a dozen over-prices oysters (I'm a HUGE oyster fan and this was my primary reason for visiting) poached salmon salad and Greek chicken salad.

OYSTERS: while the oysters were overpriced (I'm accustomed to paying $18 for 1/2, $36 for a dozen. Meritage charges $23 for 1/2, $48 for a dozen otherwise the oysters are priced from $3.50-$4 each), I was happy to see Meritage's large selection and descriptions of the oysters size and flavor on the oyster menu. This is important when the bartender has no interest in serving you. We decided on Beausoleils one of my favorites from the east and two I hadn't tried: Lucky Limes and Glacier Points. Glacier's while nice and big there were definitely not my thing. As I watched the shucker I couldn't help but notice the oysters we were served weren't stored in ice. Instead they were in a cooler in plastic containers which meant the oysters were not served ice cold as they should have been. The shucker also dumped the "liquor" out of the oysters as he shucked (super disappointing). We were served the dry oysters by the shucker who was friendly and explained the two mignonettes as well as which oysters to eat first.

FOOD: we ordered the poached salmon salad and Greek salad. Both salads were mediocre at best. The lettuce/greens were lukewarm. The chicken tasted like it was packaged, pre-made chicken and the dressing was unremarkable. I've tased better out of a bottle. The poached salmon was no better. You could get a better salad at chains like Panera or Corner Bakery.

This place is not worth your time or money.

Why two stars if it was so bad? Because it could...

We had a lovely time at Meritage! The service was fantastic and the interior is both intimate and spacious. The high ceilings are to die for. I highly reccomend asking for a spot by the window or the half-booth half-table spots along the back (this is where we were). The patio also looked beautiful and romantic.

The wine list was HUGE. However, we didn’t even dig into the wine because they have an assortment of delicious champagne cocktails (and I love champagne) as well as a plethora of fantastic NA beverage options!

As far as food, we ordered off the ala carte menu. Everything we ordered was delicious and RICH! We made the mistake of ordering way too much food—the serving sizes are plentiful so be careful not to over-order like us.

The steak tartare with the big taters was flavorful and rich, but still had a light “spring” flavor to it with the fresh veggies on top and mustard seed. A great starter.

The French onion soup was divine, however the serving was way too big. I would have loved a French onion soup “shooter” option.

By the time our main dishes came out, we were so full already. We ordered the risotto which was absolutely perfect and so fresh with the spring ramp and peas. We also ordered the moules frites. The fries are a MUST ORDER at Meritage. The most perfect fries I could imagine.

The mussels were still delicious, but not my favorite that I’ve had compared to some other mussel dishes at other restaurants in the twin cities. There are so many other good menu options, I would have just ordered fries and skipped the mussels for some other options.

My wife was gluten free and the wait staff were very knowledgeable about what could be made gluten free (almost everything!).

We were too full for dessert, but the options looked delicious.

Overall, we will be back!! They also have a tasting menu that I would love to try. A classic Twin Cities restaurant that I hope to return to again and again....

Came last weekend on a Sunday and I feel like we might have come on an off night for the kitchen, so I'm hoping to give this place one more shot. I've heard amazing things about this restaurant and have been planning to go for a long time. Maybe it was just what we ordered, but everything felt like it was swimming in butter. I know French food has a lot of butter and garlic, and I love French food, but this felt over the top. Most of the photos from other people on here though don't look like the oily buttery intensity we got, so maybe it was a training night. The hostess and many servers had people following them around, so maybe the kitchen did too 🤷🏼‍♀️

Things were delicious, but WAY too rich. I can make delicious at home with enough butter, salt and garlic. I expected the escargot to have a lot of butter, and it did, and it was perfect. The 2 mains AND side of mushrooms did NOT need to be swimming in butter. I think the mushrooms just had escargot sauce dumped on them... That's what it tasted like. The duck was very tasty, but the ratatouille and pasta with it was so oily/buttery. My husband's tomate farcies were delicious, but the pesto that accompanied his sides was also so oily. The plate was a pool of oil/butter. I ended up with an uncomfortable stomach. We had an issue with one of our starters, but the server was so great about it and fixed it right away. Staff was attentive and friendly. Wine was delicious. Espresso at the end of the evening was perfect. My stomach was too full of rich food to attempt dessert, but I hear it's good. I'm giving this a hopeful 4 stars, which might be a touch generous given the price point and our food situation, but I hear really great things and the photos of other meals look great, so I will some day give this place another go, and hope to elevate...