When the Cleveland Metroparks took over parts of the Flats, I was excited because it meant that someone would finally start to look after those areas that have been neglected for so long. It was part of a bigger project for the Columbus Road Peninsula where the pieces are finally starting to be put together. The Cleveland Rowing Foundation purchased the former Commodore's Club Marina and made it its new home. The Crooked River Skate Park is set to open in November. Many new businesses including the soon to open Brick and Barrel craft brewery and winery have popped up in the area recently. The Columbus Road lift bridge is set to be finished any day now to open up traffic flow to the area. Just across the bridge new luxury town homes are being built... It was the perfect time for the Metro Parks to roll out something that could take advantage of all of the great things going on here. That thing was Merwin's Wharf Bistro.
The Metro Parks renovated the old Rivergate Park Cafe into a full service restaurant with a 3,000 square foot landscaped patio with fire pit and fireplace overlooking the scenic Cuyahoga River. Eat delicious food while watching the ships and row boats go by. Enjoy everything Rivergate Park has to offer. Get away from the hustle and bustle of Downtown and Ohio City. I'll be honest... it has all that going for it.
Now granted we should have vetted the place 1st before having my family up for a Sunday afternoon clam bake this past weekend. Unfortunately for us though plans need to be made fast and furious with Gina and my schedules. We assumed that since they were advertising the Clam Bake they would be able to accommodate the people that would come in for it during the times and dates that they had set forth. With all of the positives mentioned in the above paragraphs, we assumed that even if the food missed the mark a little, the beauty and atmosphere would make up for it... we also assumed at the very least, an average restaurant experience. We were wrong...
From the minute we walked in the staff and service at Merwin's Wharf disappointed us all. The woman at the front desk couldn't find our reservation and all but blamed us for why she couldn't find it. Our reservations were made for a table out on their scenic patio. When we asked why we weren't getting seated outside, we were told that we would have to wait for a table to open up on the patio or we could sit inside right now. We chose to sit inside because nightmares of a 2 hr 15 min wait at Melt in Lakewood still haunt my dreams even though we were all disappointed that we wouldn't get a chance to enjoy the outdoors.
Once we sat down we were told that there would be no organic chicken and no corn which were both part of the clambake package. After Gina had a brief talk with the manager, we were then told that our substitutes would be a different chicken meal off of the menu and corn on the cob. I'm not sure what would have happened if Gina wouldn't have negotiated that. Would we have received a discount since half of the advertised meal was not going to be served? During the moment I would have given them the benefit of the doubt but now as I look back my guess is we would have received nothing and still had to pay full price. We were also told that we would be immediately moved to a table outside on the patio.
Once we sat down we were told that there would be no organic chicken and no corn which were both part of the clambake package. After Gina had a brief talk with the manager, we were then told that our substitutes would be a different chicken meal off of the menu and corn on the cob. I'm not sure what would have happened if Gina wouldn't have negotiated that. Would we have received a discount since half of the advertised meal was not going to be served? During the moment I would have given them the benefit of the doubt but now as I look back my guess is we would have received nothing and still had to pay full price. We were also told that we would be immediately moved to a table outside on the patio.
We quickly received our drinks and there was a TV close so we were able to occupy our time for awhile. Unfortunately after drinks, we sat there for 40 minutes and were given no service what-so-ever. I got my nephew Jeremy to follow me on to the patio since by this time he had completely colored his place mat and was looking bored. We watch a large ship go by and waved to a tour boat that went past. It was a pretty cool experience for for the both of us. Shortly after, the rest of our party came out to take in the sights and snap some pictures. Notice that there are open outdoor tables in some of the shots I took. I could actually see them from the waiting area before we sat down. I wasn't too happy about it but we were told that we would be moved out there immediately... over 40 minutes of immediately ago. Again unfortunately for us, we never did get moved outside. In their attempts to practically avoid our table at all costs, they forgot they had made that promise.
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Feeling like we may have been outside too long, we went back in to our table hoping we had got some sort of food and that it didn't get cold... no food still. A short time later we received our chorizo and clam chowder soup. It was very spicy but welcomed after our hour or so wait since drinks. We also received a fried calamari appetizer and a baked pretzel for free since there had been issues so far with our experience. We each tried a bite of the fried calamari and had no more. It was cold and frankly I thought it was gross. I'm sure it was sitting out for some time and probably forgotten about.
Once we were finished with our soup we waited there another 45 unattended mins or so before I was told to go see what was taking so long. Fed up, I told everyone that I will just go back there and ask for our bill so we could leave. All I wanted to do was to make the waiting stop and to call it a day. The second my butt left the seat I saw them headed our way with our clam bake. We order 3 clambakes and 2 lobster bakes plus J's kid's meal. We didn't receive 1 of the clambakes. Once we brought this to the manager's attention she told the waitress to "Just go get them another bag" like we were to blame somehow.
When the waitress returned to see how everything was, we asked her for some butter to dip everything in. She apologized for forgetting it and went in the back to get it for us. The butter was supposed to be part of the meal and is a shellfish staple that even Red Lobster gets right. Once we got our butter, we dug in. The Lobsters were hot and delicious. The clams, corn on the cob, and butter however were not. They were cold. The cold clams were not tasty and did not have the best texture. The corn I could salt and eat. The butter was starting to harden.
About 10 mins after we were initially served, we received the chicken dishes that were the replacements for the organic chicken they were out of. It looked good but came too late for anyone to enjoy. Completely fed up with the sub standard service, the cold food, and the over 2 hour wait we immediately asked for boxes and our bill.
We ordered 3 clam bakes, 2 lobster bakes, and a kid's meal. The bakes included soup, corn, and chicken. Some of us had pop. We were told that we received free appetizers for our trouble. The meal came to $200. Yep, for our trouble we were charged full price for everything except the appetizers... only one of which was edible. Gina was as shocked as I was to see that on the bill. She tried to do something nice for my family and was completely embarrassed with how we all were treated. She became further enraged when her debit card wouldn't work because of her credit union's fraud protection mechanism which is basically: if she doesn't use it to purchase things on the roof of the credit union itself, they assume someone stole it and shut it down.
The waitress apologized and said that there was nothing that she could do. I paid, signed, left no tip, and walked out. I was humiliated and to think I paid $200 to be treated this way. My family was just as upset about the experience and most of all felt sorry for Gina. It reminded me of how my family was treated like scum at the Melt in Lakewood by 2 different employees after a 2 hour and 15 min wait where we never even saw a table... at least that was free! I will never eat at that hipster shit house ever again and I will never eat at Merwin's Wharf again either until I'm assured that everyone involved is long gone and have been replaced with people who care about the dining experience of a paying group of people who made reservations for an advertised event.
In all honesty I was certain that this was going to be a home run. I was routing for it even! Gina and I planned on eating there since the day it was open. They had everything so perfectly come together that they couldn't screw it up short of bad food and service... and THEY SCREWED IT UP!!! The flats towards us in Tremont is a shit hole that is finally getting some attention. It could be a place where multi-million dollar condos could have city, river, and lake views. It could be the connector between a resurgent downtown and the popular Ohio City entertainment district along West 25th Street. It could be an urban oasis. I wanted this place to be awesome... now I have to tell everyone not to eat here. Not to waste their money and time. Send a message with your wallets that we deserve to be treated better. Especially in a city were there are tons of wonderful places to eat. The Metro Parks do some wonderful things in this area and those things should be enjoyed by everyone... just not this one.
At least the Browns beat pittsburgh. Love you Cleveland. Tomorrow's another day of progress.
Once we were finished with our soup we waited there another 45 unattended mins or so before I was told to go see what was taking so long. Fed up, I told everyone that I will just go back there and ask for our bill so we could leave. All I wanted to do was to make the waiting stop and to call it a day. The second my butt left the seat I saw them headed our way with our clam bake. We order 3 clambakes and 2 lobster bakes plus J's kid's meal. We didn't receive 1 of the clambakes. Once we brought this to the manager's attention she told the waitress to "Just go get them another bag" like we were to blame somehow.
When the waitress returned to see how everything was, we asked her for some butter to dip everything in. She apologized for forgetting it and went in the back to get it for us. The butter was supposed to be part of the meal and is a shellfish staple that even Red Lobster gets right. Once we got our butter, we dug in. The Lobsters were hot and delicious. The clams, corn on the cob, and butter however were not. They were cold. The cold clams were not tasty and did not have the best texture. The corn I could salt and eat. The butter was starting to harden.
About 10 mins after we were initially served, we received the chicken dishes that were the replacements for the organic chicken they were out of. It looked good but came too late for anyone to enjoy. Completely fed up with the sub standard service, the cold food, and the over 2 hour wait we immediately asked for boxes and our bill.
We ordered 3 clam bakes, 2 lobster bakes, and a kid's meal. The bakes included soup, corn, and chicken. Some of us had pop. We were told that we received free appetizers for our trouble. The meal came to $200. Yep, for our trouble we were charged full price for everything except the appetizers... only one of which was edible. Gina was as shocked as I was to see that on the bill. She tried to do something nice for my family and was completely embarrassed with how we all were treated. She became further enraged when her debit card wouldn't work because of her credit union's fraud protection mechanism which is basically: if she doesn't use it to purchase things on the roof of the credit union itself, they assume someone stole it and shut it down.
The waitress apologized and said that there was nothing that she could do. I paid, signed, left no tip, and walked out. I was humiliated and to think I paid $200 to be treated this way. My family was just as upset about the experience and most of all felt sorry for Gina. It reminded me of how my family was treated like scum at the Melt in Lakewood by 2 different employees after a 2 hour and 15 min wait where we never even saw a table... at least that was free! I will never eat at that hipster shit house ever again and I will never eat at Merwin's Wharf again either until I'm assured that everyone involved is long gone and have been replaced with people who care about the dining experience of a paying group of people who made reservations for an advertised event.
In all honesty I was certain that this was going to be a home run. I was routing for it even! Gina and I planned on eating there since the day it was open. They had everything so perfectly come together that they couldn't screw it up short of bad food and service... and THEY SCREWED IT UP!!! The flats towards us in Tremont is a shit hole that is finally getting some attention. It could be a place where multi-million dollar condos could have city, river, and lake views. It could be the connector between a resurgent downtown and the popular Ohio City entertainment district along West 25th Street. It could be an urban oasis. I wanted this place to be awesome... now I have to tell everyone not to eat here. Not to waste their money and time. Send a message with your wallets that we deserve to be treated better. Especially in a city were there are tons of wonderful places to eat. The Metro Parks do some wonderful things in this area and those things should be enjoyed by everyone... just not this one.
At least the Browns beat pittsburgh. Love you Cleveland. Tomorrow's another day of progress.
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