Merchant Tavern

I just love this place. Yes, it is that simple.
I have never found an item on this menu that I haven’t liked. The prices fair well to other places in the area but I think the food is much better. In my most recent visit my two friends and I sat at the bar. I highly recommend sitting at the bar here because all the bartenders are there to serve you. They don’t have one
bartender per section and there were about 4 of them working, needless to say we had impeccable service. My friends and I asked some pretty ridiculous questions about portion sizes and what all was actually in a dish. We usually are not a picky group but we just needed help deciphering certain things. Props to the girl who was patient with us while we apologized profusely for being so picky and needy. Ha Ha.
As a group we ordered the Caesar Salad, Thai Chili Wings, Chicken Philly, Lettuce Wraps and multiple beers. Everything tasted wonderful and they have an excellent beer selection. They even had a good selection of O’Douls for my pregnant friend! Also, they do let you sample beers for free (always a plus in my book)!

Went on a Tuesday night which is burger night. Tried the Hellfire Burger which was prepared perfectly, spicy, and came with fries. The portion size was very large and a great value on Tuesday nights. Hidden gem in the Valley.

Fantastic food and drink menu, the service is good even though it’s a bar/​Tavern setting.

This is one of my go-​to restaurants because the food is great. The portions of the appetizer menu are large enough as an entreè. The chicken tenders, Thai mussels, tacos… are my go-to’s
I had a few of the burgers and they are not that bad. One of my favorite is the Goat Mac n Cheese only when I’m *starving* because you need to be starving to even eat this! Why? Because it’s so filling. I mean super heavy, delicious, leaving you into a food coma when you’re half way done.
Why 4 stars even though the food is great? Well sometimes their service can be a little slow. The food takes a while and by the time it has arrive, the server had filled my water twice and the food you ordered may have a missing bread, sauce, or something else.

Best burger north of the Mason Dixon line. Only spot in town that has actually served me a true rare burger. You can add pretty much anything you want on it. Just writing this makes me want to go and get one tonight.

Not kid friendly whatsoever (the host staff gives you looks if you even walk in with a child), but the food is outstanding! I have literally never had a chicken philly this good anywhere in my life!

Pretty casual place. Good food, cocktails and beer list, but a very plain ambiance. Only really good if you have a large group or want to play pool. Otherwise, you might try it once or twice, but it’s not necessarily worth a detour.

D. The merchant is a good place to get some good food; common food made in unique ways. The drinks are very good. You will drop some dough here though so be prepared.
M. Bar food only taste good after you have sat at the bar to long. Come on back to the right side of the table.
D. just saying bro…
M. If counterclockwise is the way you roll it’s the place to be.

There isn’t a pretension to greatness at the Merchant, and that’s one of the reasons I like it. It’s a nicely renovated neighborhood pub trying to humbly tie together several different strands of experience of the restaurant world: the sports bar, the gastro pub, the casual dining nook, and the «hang out» spot for hipsters with billiards and skeet ball. I’m not sure if I can say it excels in any one of these areas, but it’s good enough in each of them to make it easily the most interesting haunt in the «The Valley,» that funny part of Akron where it’s still 1973, judging by the barfy architecture and head-​scratching lack of any semblance of urban planning.
Unlike the Bricco Pub across the street, you’ll find that the Merchant takes some risks with its appetizer menu, resulting in an interesting array of both standard and nouveau bar fare to go along with its stellar selection of draft and bottled beers. An excellent read as you sip your Green Flash IPA. We had poutine and shrimp and grits on one occasion; both were hearty and comforting, although each had minor flaws: the poutine was room temperature, while the «grits» component of the second dish we found to be lacking complexity (perhaps some cheese or cream melted into grits themselves might have helped).
The burgers earn high marks for their quality ingredients, contemporary flair, and solid engineering. We tried the MPO and the BBQ. In each case the patty was perfectly seared on the flat top, creating caramelized crust and leaving the ground beef on the inside moist and juicy — but not so much that it soaked through your toasted pretzel bun (GREAT option of the pretzel bun by the way). The fresh-​cut fries were golden and piled high, with nary a soggy or oil-​soaked fry to speak of. In true «gastro burger» style, you could see the attention invested in each detail of the burger experience, giving you the closest thing you’ll get to a Flip Side burger in the Akron area.

On a whim drove into town and was directed to the Merchant by locals. The food was exceptional the atmosphere was quaint. Highly recommend you won’t be sorry.

Hit or miss… sometimes in the same dish… we have never sat at the bar… and never had problems with the service in any part of the dinning area.
We have been there 3 times now… here are the descriptions that go with the pictures…
Burrata! Not the easiest thing to find in the Akron area… nice and cool… creamy and chewy… Bread was warm… super crispy and well done crust… barely enough for the size of the curd. Would ask for less toasting on the bread.
Canellini Dip… nice alternative to chick pea hummas… pita was ok… would order again.
Romaine Wedge with Shrimp… Awesome white french dressing… mild blue cheese crumble… HUGE… like 3 person HUGE… more than enough for an entrée. or two… shrimp were nothing special… would not get them again… would try the chicken option… or not… more then filling without a protein.
BBQ Pork Tenderloin Special… moist, soft pork… tangy sauce… fluffy mashed potatoes… tree stalk asparagus… totally woody… very little edible… even the small stalk was strangly tasteless and fiberous… would skip it and opt for a different veg option.
Panko fish and chips with kale slaw… large moist fish… decent slaw… train wreck soggy bits of fries… like they came out smashed at the bottom of a 50lb bag. BUT… would love to have the fish again… with a different starch.
Linguini with Shrimp… pasta and shrimp were no thing special… sauce was nice and light and fresh… nice everyday dinner dish… not rock your world awesome… huge portion… easily could be shared.
Will go there again… super busy on burger night… always a table after 8 on a Friday.

Unfortunately, since my first experience at the Merchant, my experiences have steadily worsened.
I stopped coming here for cocktails after it became clear that the bartenders are inexperienced. The bartender who assisted me had to look up each drink she was making. None of the shots were measured, which raised a big question mark as to how they could consistently nail the balance of a complex cocktail (this weren’t just offering an average gin and tonic).
My biggest issue was with the Ramos Gin Fizz that I received, which I have had at the top cocktail bars outside Vegas and perfected at home. The one here tasted like just a mixture of pure heavy cream and egg whites – and no gin, lemon, lime, or orange blossom water – probably due to her failure to measure. I also never saw her dry shake or double strain the cocktail…
Then, recently, I had out-​of-​town family visiting and we took them here for a bite to eat. The service was deplorable. 3 of the 4 entrees were served at the same time, while the last entrée was not served until after everyone else was done eating. And then, it took so long for our waiter to pick up our check, that we ended up walking up to the front greeter to inquire. Our guests all liked their food but didn’t think it was anything special (PB&J chicken wings, burger with ghost pepper aioli, buffalo chicken sandwich).
The only reason I still give this place 3 stars is because I still have had a couple of dishes that I enjoyed– namely the taco trio and the Thai mussels.

I travel the country extensively for work and the cocktails and food here was among the BEST I’ve ever had! Will definitely be back.

Clueless inattentive staff at the bar. They leave a stack of menus and don’t return to ask if you’d like to order anything.

One and done. Very disappointed in Service, Food was average at best, for those who received their food. Party of six on a slow Sunday night; we ordered beverages, appetizers, and meals, our tab was over $ 200 and that excluded the salad that never showed up.
Our server may have been newer or just didn’t care. I’m not sure how one can overlook providing silverware and napkins-​guests should not have to request the basics.
Appetizers arrived first and were average at best. Meals arrived with one problem, I am allergic to eggs and requested NO egg on my salad, it arrived covered in eggs; sent it back, server seemed out of sorts, «I told them no egg». 30 minutes later, everyone had finished their meals, still no wedge salad. I realize it may take 7 minutes to fry up the bacon, but 30 minutes on an extremely slow night, Unacceptable.
Poor service, average food, and overpriced-I’ll take my hard earned money and patronize those who offer quality service and food for the price.

Great place, great service, great food, great drinks, and most of all great ownership. This establishment takes much pride in what they do. Love the history behind the owner and his staff, the man has a great relationship with his staff, which exemplifies how any business should be like. Love this place.

I have to say, the food was good. not great but that said, the atmosphere, which many people seem to like looked more like an open area cafeteria to me. Didn’t have much of an ambience unless you were with a large group or playing pool. Not my cup of tea as far as the décor or the vibe, but you may love it. Worth trying.

Having passed The Merchant multiple times but never really had a desire to stop in until I was told that Tuesdays were $ 5.00 burger nights. I love a good burger so I decided to try it.
I went with my girlfriend, niece and her boyfriend. 2 are under 21 and the g/​f didn’t drink.
The bad: The pops were extremely syrupy and they wouldn’t have gotten them except they were required for the $ 5.00 burger special.
The good: Lets just call it the great. Oh My God. These burgers are amazing. We all ordered our burgers medium well and they had a slight tint of pink but almost like they were cooked perfectly. The burgers are served on either a Kaiser roll (free) or a ciabatta or pretzel bun for $ 1.00 more. We all did the Kaiser and it tasted great. We did a mini tour of the sauces and they are just insane to add to the burger My favorite was the sweet onion? Sauce which I eventually dumped half of the side onto my burger and was dipping my fries into also. The siracha ranch had a nice ranch taste with a kick to the face of siracha following it up. I’m not a pb&j fan but the 2 peanut butter girls at the table were extremely excited to try it. They said that it was good but they were glad it was on the side because they couldn’t imagine eating it on an entire burger. For an extra dollar you can add an extremely generous side of fries to your order. In all honesty while I really enjoyed the fries I wish I hadn’t ordered them and had ordered a second burger.

Nice bar/​restaurant in the valley area. A nice change from the rowdy college scene that you will run into at places like Johnny J’s, etc. I got the BYO burger, it was pretty good, but I thought it was definitely undercooked by my «medium» standards. Overall, I’d go again, but I’ll definitely get a medium-​well burger next time.

My party arrived on a Wednesday night to have some drinks and play a few sets of pocket billiards. The staff was flat out unwilling to serve us on the billiard/​lounge side of the bar.
I asked the hostess to send us a server, she advised that if we wanted drinks we needed to walk up to the packed bar. I asked her if the staff tending to the guests on the adjacent patio could take our orders. I informed her that I intended to purchase a large amount of top shelve beverages for my party and one of her waitresses would certainly appreciate my generous gratuity. The hostess advised that she would send the owner to greet us and address my request.
The owner arrived and informed me that they do not serve guests in their billiards/​lounge area and we would need to wait at the bar if we wanted to purchase beverages. I informed him that we would rather depart as there are numerous other proprietorships in the area happily willing to provide me with full service. The owner, obliviously offend, choose this moment to inform me that I had «made the hostess cry».
Needles to say I recommend avoiding this establishment. You will find many other hospitable options right across the street.