Merll's Pub & Patio — Restaurant in Waukee

Waited a while after opening to try them out. It's got a sports bar ambiance. Very loud. Packed with TVs. Very bright. Even though they weren't packed, it just didn't feel like a comfortable place.

Food is OK. Basic selection of standard items. Nothing special. We'll prepared and quickly served. Had the Minnesota Charcuterie. Very disappointing and wish I saw a picture first. Pretzel was great. Bacon jam was 10/10 amazing. But the menu described it as an assortment of meat and cheese. They give you literally just packaged, sliced kielbasa and packaged cheese curds. Not worth $19.

Beer selection is good. We heard cocktails are good, and maybe it depends on who you get making them, but these were not cocktails. Got an Old Fashioned. It was literally just ingredients poured into the glass. Not even stirred (let alone stirred over ice and strained). Tasted like a pre-made mix and was very sweet. My partner's gin cocktail was the same way. Took a taste off the top and it was pure gin.

Service is good.

We also have tried coming around 9pm before and found all chairs up on tables and lights off, with a few employees cleaning up. Hours posted online say open til 11pm, but I guess if they're slow they just close up shop.

Overall a serviceable restaurant, but a really mixed bag and nothing to make you really want...

First off, I loved the vibe here. Faux grass wall, tons of tvs you can see from every seat and well-thought patio. Our server was super attentive and service was quick.

I started with a drink called Fruit Smash which I expected to be sweet and fruity, but it was VERY sweet. Definitely not a drink I would want more than one of.

We ordered appetizers today:

1. Chicken fingers- came with 4 fingers which were decent size and 2 of 4 of them were tender and had lots of meat, the other 2 were average at best.

2. Sweet potato fries: these were floppy and I like my SPFs crispy, so this was a flop for me. However, they did have "fry dips" which include a marshmallow fluff which would be great for kids!!

3. Wonton Nachos- this is what won points for me. They are wonton chips with chicken (which was chunks of grilled chicken, not shredded) and the chicken was perfectly cooked. It was also had their queso which t has a kick to it and a sweet chili sauce. I think the sweet chili could have been more of a drizzle than dumped on, but that's just my preference. It typically also comes with tomatoes and green onions, but we opted to leave those off.

Overall it was good, and I'll be back, but want to try their main...

We were seated on the patio. No server stopped to take our order in the 30 minutes we were here. Eventually got our own drinks from the bar. Asked a worker if our table had a server assigned, and she answered "oh yeah". Whoever it is, it is still a mystery to us.

Update: I posted this review while I was sitting at our table and not getting service. Shortly after I posted, a waitress stopped and asked if anyone had helped us. I ask if she was our server, and she said no, and that "so an so" should be helping us. A minute after that our assigned server came over and apologized and offer to make it up to us with 2 free drinks.

Then it started to downpour and we had to move from our patio table to the bar inside. A manager held two seats for us, and the bartenders checked on us frequently after we were seated. So clearly they have staff that want to be helpful. Still not sure why our assigned server didn't check on us for half an hour. Changed the rating to balance the people that were helpful with the lack of...