The Merchant - Old Toronto

We ate outside and enjoyed the sun. The Friday lunch rush had started at these people did not disappoint. The staff was bright and helpful. The food was good and well priced for downtown Toronto. Kids enjoyed it as well.

Tried this restaurant for lunch, extremely slow service, wait staff walk by and don't make eye contact, literally brought our food to us with her shoulder turned and looking away and hurried off, order wasn't right, never checked back, took ages to get it right, we had to seek our bill and then were late getting back to our conference.

Friday afternoon prior to the Jays game we entered for eats and drinks.This place has a nice patio and decent layout. The Service was good, friendly. Some items on the taps were limited due to issues with broken taps or handles. No pitchers are available so you're stuck with pints or bottle for the beer drinkers. The menu was interesting. My wife had stacked egg plant or as the rest of the world would call it an eggplant lasagna which was decent. I had he veggie burger... I don't recommend anyone ordering this item.For a couple of pints each and food it was roughly $90... a touch on the expensive side.

It is a pretty decent place with a really nice patio as well. Our server was also quite attentive and efficient. Their wine selection is not bad - not amazing but adequate. It's just the food menu - everything is battered, flat bread or pasta. There are no grain free choices for shared platters. Even the list of non grain mains is next to nothing. Value for money is ok. We ordered some poutine and that was ok. Nothing great but average.

My friend and I were looking for a quiet pub-like meal before going to the ballet on a Thursday night. The restaurants near to the ballet are generally used to dealing with patrons of the ballet/opera. Merchant offered a wide selection of foods, and the service was reasonably timely, but they clearly cater to the after-work crowd. The place was packed, and quite loud. Not quite what we were looking for... but it was obvious that the place was exactly what many others had in mind. The food was ok; nothing memorable.