Mercy Tavern — Restaurant in Salem

Its a tavern alright. The hostess was lovely, friendly and personable, she sat me at the bar while I waited for a table. The bartender was a bit less attentive and friendly - now in all fairness, its Halloween in Salem, so I understand that the place has been overrun by obnoxious tourists, and patience has worn thin. The inside is quite small and exceedingly loud, between the music and the patrons, i could barely hear my dining partner. As for the food, it was fine, I got a cup of clam chowder which was a little sweeter take than i expected, but it was clearly their own house made chowder with fresh ingredients and a fair amount of clams. For entrée's i got fish and chips, which was supposed to be coconut fried - i did not detect even a thought of coconut - fish was cooked perfectly and very fresh, but served over garlic fries, which were fries that had roasted garlic cloves smushed onto them. This was a curious, and though not unpalatable, texturally maligned execution which found me picking soggy garlic off of soggy fries. Overall i was left a bit disappointed as the dish did not live up to the description on the menu. My dining partner got the pumpkin ravioli, which he said was good, especially the sauce. I have had this place saved on my want to go list for some time, but unfortunately it just fell short of my expectations and the reviews i read. They also very clearly wanted to rush people in and out as quickly as possible, not a place to sit and hang out or have a nice conversation over good food. I feel bad leaving a mediocre review when i know my experience probably isnt representative of the norm given the holiday, but I can only go off what I ate and the...

Dairy allergies beware. The 1 star for service is for management, not for the actual servers who have overall been very nice. I have been getting impossible burgers from here for a couple of months now, both online and in person. Both at the restaurant and online my partner who I eat with specifies that they are vegan and have a sensitivity to dairy and eggs. We have gotten different breads each time we order - sometimes pita, sometimes a bun that looks very similar to brioche. The two times my partner has eaten the brioche, he has gotten very sick!

The last time we were eating in person, they brought out his burger in a brioche bun, not a pita, and I asked the manager (a man in athleisure wearing a baseball cap) if this was vegan, and he seemed annoyed at my question, briefly checked with the kitchen, and rudely and condescendingly said this was the only bun they'd ever used, as if I somehow made up the pita bread. Lo and behold, my partner got sick after eating this.

We ordered the burgers online again last Friday and a new manager gave us the impossible burger with no bun whatsoever, stating that the brioche bun does in fact have eggs and always has. But for some reason we had to ask for the (confirmed to be vegan) pita so we didn't take home a $17 burger with no bun, lol.

If you can't accommodate certain diets that's one thing (and just say so) but the rudeness and lack of knowledge from managers in addition to the risk of sickness is...

My husband and I were visiting Salem for the first time for our anniversary. We were excited to try Mercy Tavern after alm the good reviews so we dropped in last night and at first the atmosphere was great and everyone was super friendly. About 30 seconds after we got our appetizer the DJ was blasting music so loud the speakers were crackling. Then all of a sudden pur waiter was preoccupied with guests that I assumed he knew personally because he was sitting down and talking with them. Every time he came to our table we couldn't hear him and before we could say a word he was running off (I want to be clear, I know he was busy when the crowd started to pour in but he really did not pay attention to us, it wasn't about being busy at that point). When we tried our drinks mine was so strong I couldn't drink it and tried three times to let the waiter know that but to no avail. I honestly felt like they knew we were tourists and only cared about serving the locals. The food was good, I'll give them that. But for the service and atmosphere we were unhappy. I wasted an entire $13 cocktail that I still paid for because no one paid any mind to what I was trying to tell them. I don't mind paying for drinks but I took the tiniest sip and the whole glass went to waste after that. Save yourself the hassle if you are hoping for a more mild atmosphere or waitstaff that actually pay attention to you, go to The Witches Brew...