Merlion — Restaurant in Seabrook

Edit: As a word of advice, It is possible to not have a good experience at the restaurant. Every single guest isn’t wrong to give criticism just because it’s your restaurant. The professional thing to do is to apologize to the customer, or you don’t even HAVE to apologize, but say something along the lines of “We hope to make things right next time you come!” Or something along those lines that takes some sort of acknowledgement or accountability, not nit-pick the customer’s opinion essentially telling them they’re excessive. I originally said we may return, but after the owners response, we won’t be. We will take our money to another establishment who is respectful of customers. Also, not sure why it’s relevant that you bought cupcakes from my mother in 2010 and that you know my aunt. You would think that makes you want to respond in a professional manner. My review was fair and gave credit where credit was due. But ok. 👍

I will start off by saying, the food is always amazing. However, the service is severely lacking.

My husband have been here for an anniversary date before and had a wonderful time. Our server was attentive, the table was decorated, the anniversary/event was acknowledged off the bat, it was a lovely experience. I have also been to merlion over the years with family, and my family knows the owner, so it has been a place I normally recommend to others when they want an upscale Thai dining experience. My last experience unfortunately was not good at all and very disappointing.

It was my husband’s birthday last week and we decided to make a visit for his birthday dinner. When we were seated, our waitress did not come to see us for 10-15 minutes. The first old fashion that my husband ordered was fine. I ordered the jalapeño pineapple margarita - which took a long time to come out - and it was absolutely awful. It tasted of absolute straight tequila. My husband’s second old fashioned he got tasted like straight whisky. He is a heavyweight, and he told me, “I don’t think I can drink this. It is literally straight alcohol. I wouldn’t be able to drive us home.” We asked the waitress to send both drinks back and explained they were extremely strong and tasted very off. She did take them back. In between tasks our waitress would disappear for long periods of time. We didn’t even get our food until 15 minutes before closing. We asked the waitress about this and she said they stay open late for people. While we do appreciate this, it seemed a little pressuring and we felt like we had to rush because all the servers/workers around us were loudly cleaning tables, moving lights and chairs around, sweeping etc signaling it was “time to go.” This doesn’t make for a nice experience. There was also a table next to us for the first half of the dinner that was ridiculously loud so that was frustrating. At one point we had to ask a busser to go find out waitress for us because we hadn’t seen her for a long time. My husband and I are very patient people, and understand things happen, but the experience overall was very poor. The food is always great, so there’s that, but with the ambiance you expect a nicer experience. I think this was a waitress issue. Several times we debated asking for a manager when she would disappear for a while. My husband could see her in the back on her phone and just sitting down joking with people. She did at the very very end when we paid our $150 bill ask if there was something we were celebrating (the table was decorated the whole dinner) and we said yes and that it was his birthday. I do appreciate the champagne and the free cake they give for celebrations. Like I said it normally is a good experience but unfortunately not this time. One of the drinks we had to send back was also still on the bill so we had to ask her to remove it again.

I’m not sure if we will be back. We are probably willing to give it another chance, but we will have to specially request to not get the waitress we got. I won’t include...

We went on Saturday at 5 30 for a meal .There were 16 of us.This was only my third time here,1st time 13 yrs ago at a Weddng and once a couple of years ago for a meal.They were ok.We and our daughter arrived after the others who were sat down on Saturday..They came to us to order our drinks after about 5 mins of our sitting down and a little later but it was at least half an hour before we could order our meals then,an hour later,we finally got them so we had been there an hour and a half before we ate.Bad service!.Not enough waiters.They were very busy so basically they were short staffed and maybe the kitchen is not big enough or they have not enough Chefs.Three of us ordered Curry.Min e was a sweet Lamb Curry with Pineapple and there seemed to be a courgette as well mixed in there.The meat was a little tough .The sauce was ok.My Husband and Son had spicy currys,my son the Green one with Salmon and my husband a spicy Orange looking Curry with Lamb.His Lamb was very tough and tasted fun n y he said.He should have sent it back!.My daughter had egg rolls with somethi ng as her friend did.I was ok but my husband got terrible stomach pains and terrible diarhe Sat night and Sunday all day and felt sick.My son had bad stomach pains and diarhea Sat night and all day Sunday,my daughter's friend had Diarhea and felt sick also but my poor daughter,she had a terrible headache, STomach pains and was vomiting all the time and never got up until 4pm the next day.Now this was obviously caused by the restaurant,depen d ing on what you ate as the oth e rs were ok I think.The curry sauces apparently all had a fish base.There were only about 6 little pieces of Lamb in the Currys and probably the same with the sal.mon and other thin gs.For that it was 28 dollars.inc rice.So not worth it and the bott les of beer were dearer than the pubs also.My poor daughter has now got a UTI and aches all over.Everyone was perfectly fine before they ate .My daughter goes there often and has never had a problem.We will not be go I ng again but they need to get sorted with the staff in the kitchen.Something defi nitely going on in there and I hate waiting and waiting a lo ng time and I also hate it when they put the service charge on for you which they usually do with a group and they...

I had been to this restaurant several times when they were in their smaller location. It is definitely worth a drive from Houston , a good chance to get out of the city , and experience the beautiful seabrook area. I love the new place. The interior is nicely decorated, and has an modern yet intimate feeling at the tables, not overcrowded. We ate outside on the patio. Our birthday celebration was so much better because of the fantastic wait staff, and those talented chefs. They made us feel welcome and special from the minute we got there.

We were a group of 5, and ordered 11 appetizers. The waiter joked about dragging over another table to fit it all, but we managed! All came out of the kitchen hot and artfully presented. My favorite was the coconut soup and their dumplings were very tasty with rich dipping sauce. everyone was very happy with the tastes and flavors.

Our meals were expertly prepared. When we ordered we were asked how hot we wanted out food, and the waiter let us know that the batch of chilis they just got in were particularly hot. He recommended dialing it down from our usual tolerance. He was right! They were fresh hot chilis!!! We tried nearly every heat level for comparison. A dish with level 1, another with 1 1/2, 2 and 2 1/2 and up to 3 1/2. Tasting them all you knew the chefs were experts using and knowing chilis and understanding how to celebrate their flavors and heat level. Each dish was just a little hotter than the one before. We had a full range of variety from the menu. Pad Thai, Coconut and pineapple curry with scallops, and a few chicken and shrimp dishes. The food was soooo good.

The portions were generous and it was too much for one sitting. We needed to take some home. The kitchen packaged up our food, and added a portion of fresh rice to go with it. I think that was a really nice touch, so the dish could be appreciated a second time served over fresh rice. Well done Merlion!! Our birthday girl also went home with a bottle of bubbly compliments of the waiter!!!

I can't wait till I get to celebrate there again. What are you waiting for, get there and enjoy a great Thai meal, with Thai...