Eddie Merlot's — Restaurant in Warrenville

To preface, this was our first experience here, and we didn't realize that they were still only offering their Mother's Day Buffet - Open Table stated that it ended at 2pm ( the time of our seating) so we assumed we would dine if the menu. In reality, they were serving it until 3pm.

It was not a good experience. The buffet consisted of the following: Caesar's Salad and a chopped salad, a charcuterie board, a fruit medley ( strawberries, raspberries, grapes), shrimp (served in ice), clams in the shell, breakfast sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs (powdered), chicken tenders, curly fries, lyonnaise potatoes, creamed corn, Mac and Cheese, a carrot and cauliflower mix, baked salmon, eggs with hollandaise, another salmon dish, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, an omelette station, and a carvery with lamb, prime rib. There were breads and desserts, I'm told, but they were on the bar and I didn't venture a look.

We're not big on buffets in general, but held out hope that EM"s would be a step above, based on their ambiance, menu, and the $75pp cost.

The issues started out we arrived to the area of the restaurant where the buffet was located - it was relatively dark and just not presented well. The area where the salads, fruit, and charcuterie were was messy and not very presentable - a common theme throughout was no one seemed to be regularly cleaning the area around the food. And, that had an empty bowl for Caesar's dressing, which I had to ask twice for it to be refilled.

But this was secondary to the #1 issue we had: dirty plates. Our first time, we set aside 4 plates before finding a clean one. And we're talking very evident food - a fellow customer questioned whether these were ether dirty plates had been set. On subsequent visits, I turned away 6 plates before finding a clean one, and by the third visit there wasn't a clean one to be found so I just quit. This visit, a fellow diner had actually forewarned me to inspect the plates before I took one, that's how prevalent of an issue it was. And that raises the question of how clean the plates are when ordering off the menu. I shudder thinking about that.

The salads and fruit were passable. The shrimp was good ( I had one that was mealy). The chicken tenders and curly fries seemed out of place, but I guess it was for children(?!).

The vegetable medley was mostly gone and never refilled while we were there.

Same for the mashed root vegetables.

No creamed corn, despite there being a placard announcing them.

The Mac and Cheese was pitiful. It was this dish that made me feel the fool, as it was literally macaroni noodles that had a bland cheese sauce haphazardly poured over it, not even mixed in. I'd fire the "chef" on the spot for putting this out. Boxed Mac and Cheese would have been a better choice.

Didn't try the carvery. First visit, they were waiting for more proteins to be brought out, the second visit, no one was there to serve...

The salmon was ok. The potatoes were dried out. Didn't try the breakfast sausage, but my wife and I did have the scrambled eggs and bacon. She enjoyed the bacon, I tolerated both, but was reminded of every free hotel breakfast with every bite.

The best part of our meal were our drinks, the Spiced Cherry Mule and the Martini.

We shared our experience with the wait staff and with the GM, because we wanted to love this experience and were sorely disappointed. We felt heard, and plan to go back later this week to hopefully have the experience we anticipated.

Despite our insistence otherwise, the did comp our meal, which my wife felt was the right thing for them to do. And the GM did offer to make us any dish off the menu, which we declined. We're paying for the full experience, not just a dish.

In summary, we feel that their buffet experience was not very well planned or executed, considering that this may be the first EM's foray for many, and Mother's Day to boot. We've had better in our past at some of the chain buffets, for half the price.

That said, we're holding our hope and will share a review...

Our experience during Christmas Eve was nothing short of dreadful. Here’s the cliff notes: -took 10 mins to simply get waters poured -took another 15 mins to simply get our cocktails (extra dirty martini and Woodford old fashion) -the cocktails were equivalent to what you’d get at a dive bar. You’d expect more from a $15-$20 a drink. The old fashioned was overly sweet (barely any bourbon) and served over chip ice instead of one large cube. I asked about it and they said they ran out. For anyone that knows what I’m talking about, the ice cube is just as important as everything else in the cocktail. The extra dirty martini was not dirty at all. -we ordered the kids food during the same time of our cocktails. The kids food took over 35 mins to come out, and it didn’t even come out together. They brought the French fries and broccoli (the kids sides) first. Then they brought the cheeseburger and salmon 10 mins later. Cheeseburger was fine, but the salmon was clearly undercooked. The kitchen clearly smashed a piece of salmon onto the grill and cooked the outside, but the inside was raw. This salmon was for a 14-month old. We sent it back and they brought the same exact piece back instead of cooking a new one. But what was even more upsetting, it was clearly just popped into the microwave to cook the middle part of the salmon. Shocking that what would be considered to be a nicer restaurant would decide this to be the most logical thing to do. -I ordered the $89 bone in ribeye. It was mediocre at best. The steak felt small and the bone in was almost broken off. The steak was cooked fairly well, but didn’t think they seasoned it evenly. Maybe my experience sullied my enjoyment of the steak but it really wasn’t impressive. Glad I decided to not order the wagyu ribeye… -creamed spinach was lacking in every way -our experience was so rough I wasn’t able to try the loaded baked potato so that got tossed into a to go container -we ordered wild mushrooms and it never came -I ordered a Stella (as ordering another cocktail would’ve been a poor decision) and it never came

Positives -We were sat early with a large sized table -The atmosphere was rather nice and festive -Server was a nice person and apologized quite a bit. She brought some fruit for our children as they were getting hungry waiting for their food.

All in all, that bill was $260+ for 2 adults and 2 kids. We got an experience that was closer to a $50 night out at Red...

Food great! Sever Justin completely ruined the night when it came time to pay the bill and pulled a heavy with loud overbearing voice requesting my ID after successfully running my approved Visa credit card. Maybe Justin and this establishment should learn the visa, MasterCard and American Express merchant agreements. This is illegal!!!

Not only was it insulting and humiliating as all the other tables glanced over like we had done something wrong or we were criminals. I asked why do you need it and Justin mentioned it’s policy and procedures. Read below. This is the policy and procedures you need to follow when you sign up to accept credit cards. Needless to say you won’t we seeing us again or our group of friends and colleagues that frequent your establishment on a regular basis.

Here a copy of it for your reference news.consumerreports.org…

"Both Visa and MasterCard prohibit merchants from requiring customer ID as a condition for accepting their credit or debit cards. All you need is a signed card, and of course the signatures must match.

American Express says it doesn't ban merchants from requiring customer ID, though it discourages the practice. But it does ban merchants from treating Amex holders differently than any other cardholder. Discover told us that merchants are free to request ID if they want to.

If you're a Visa cardholder and a merchant presses you for an ID, Visa says you should notify your card issuer. In the case of Amex, notify American Express directly. MasterCard customers should report the violation by visiting the company's merchant...