Mertens Prime (formerly New Hotel Mertens Brasserie)

Reservation was for 6:00pm. Food did not come out until 8:10pm. Kitchen seemed to be extremely backed up as every table in the area we were seated was also waiting for their orders for at least 2 hours. We had tickets to an event at van andel at 7pm and expected to be at least 30 minutes late to it due to the time of our reservation… food eventually came out after we asked server where our food was after 2 hours. Once it did come out we cashed out immediately to make it to the last 30 minutes of the event at van andel. Not once did we receive an apology or explanation for the wait. We both got steak and frites. Food was ok but the cuts of meat given were extremely fatty and salad that came with was subpar… I wanted to like this restaurant but will have a hard time being convinced to go back especially for the price and wait for food and drinks.

We sat down for a 6:00 reservation at 5:50 and paid our tab at 8:58. 3+ hours and we brought a bottle of wine from the bar with us. Food was really good except for my friends whole chicken which look like it had been in the oven for 2 days. Service was bad, like really bad. It seems like they don't care. At no point did anyone say say 'hey sorry things are taking so long' or whatever. - just nothing. Wish I had read the recent reviews before spending $350 for 4 of on a dinner and being pissed off. This place needs a new owner at the least new leadership.

I decided to go here for my birthday. Unfortunately, this was a poor restaurant choice. I believe this is the worst premium restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids. Please avoid and go to The Chop House or Ruth Chris instead. First, it took awhile for the waiter Jeff to greet our table. Second, Jeff, was disengaged the whole night. Maybe, they were short staffed. We ordered drinks that never came. I ordered the ribeye steak medium temperature. It came out well done. I asked them to fix it and then the steak came out medium well. Still not right!! Meatball appetizers weren't cook fully. Waiter did not replace them. Food took forever to come and steak was Luke warm when it got to the table. Service is about creating a good experience. The experience at Chick-fil-A is better. The absolute worst restaurant in Grand Rapids. Very poor service and food quality. The manager did not come to our table to check on our experience which is expected at a fine dining restaurant.

Absolutely horrible experience. Go anywhere else.

Was excited to try this place with some friends for new years eve. Overall, it was not a super pleasant experience. The atmosphere was great and they were able to seat us 15 mins before our reservation. At that point, things went downhill. It was over 20 minutes before a server came over to us and that was only because we flagged down the hostess to ask if we had one. An hour into our reservation, we had only received a drink... not once did the waiter come back and check on us and ask if drinks were OK or if we needed more. About 30 minutes later, we finally were greeted with the waiter to put in an order for app. Apps took forever (30+ mins), and dinner even longer. I understand that it's new years eve, and places are busy. The long wait for apps and food wouldn't have been as bad if the waiter was a little more attentive and apologetic. Entrees were good, but the sides/apps were mediocre. The "green beans" should have never been sent out to our table..... For $9, i expect more than 15 green beans shriveled up and doused in grease. These things were completely inedible and all 4 of us were disgusted with them. We had to ask for them to be comped, which they obliged, but I can't believe they would even send them out of the kitchen looking that way. My chicken was delicious but a little lackluster for $40. With all the great restaurants in grand rapids, i expected more from this place... sadly, I won't be returning.

We were excited to try this place but after our experience we will not be going back. 3 hours, over $250, and terrible service. The night started promising when we were seated right away even though we were 10 min early to our reservation for 4. Everything was downhill from there. Our table had a large water spill, people were missing appetizer plates, and my napkin had a hole in it. After 20 min, no one had come to our table to greet us or ask for our drink order - we had to flag down the maitre d’ and ask if we had a waiter. It took another 5 min for the waiter to come over. No introduction, just stated, “there was a mixup on the tables.” We put our drink orders in and waited… it had been 45 min since we were seated and still didn’t even have drinks. Once we got them, we placed our appetizer order right away. We had the meatballs, escargot, and eggs mayonnaise. They were unfortunately out of the bone marrow that night. During the 30 minutes it took to get the appetizers, we placed another drink order which took 20 min to get. The appetizers were fine, but the meatballs were overcooked and very dry without the sauce. It’s unfortunate that they only give you 3 of them, so none of us could have an entire (normal sized) meatball. Our waiter was extremely inattentive. He didn’t ask how the food or drinks were until he cleared away the appetizer plates. At this point, we were an hour and 20 minutes into “dinner” and we were finally able to put the entree orders in. We got the 8oz filet, crispy duck cassoulet, salmon, and roasted chicken along with the brussel sprouts, haricot vert (green beans) almondine, roasted garlic potato puree, and the pomme frites for the sides. Our waiter asked if we wanted the frites dusted in “magic” which is supposed to be a sugary and spicy coating. We said sure. Another 40 minutes passed before we received our food. Our waiter came by only once during this time and it was a 5 minute process of him staring intensely at his order pad while clearing away all of our plates, rearranging silverware, placing new plates, etc. He did not provide a time update, apologize for the long wait, make conversation or anything. The only thing he said was that the napkin on my plate was for the skillet to rest on. It had been 2 hours and 20 min from the time we were seated before our food finally arrived. None of the entrees were bad, but there was nothing special about them. I asked for my filet medium because places tend to undercook steak, as this one does, so it came out medium rare which is what I was after. The menu says that it is “bacon wrapped” and comes with a garlic herb compound butter. The filet was not bacon wrapped. Instead, there was a single piece of bacon on the plate and the butter was missing. We also noticed that the green beans hadn’t arrived. As we waited for our waiter to come around, we tried some of the sides. The Brussels were probably the best thing we had. The potato puree was smooth but lacked salt and didn’t really have a roasted garlic flavor to it. The pomme frites were lukewarm, tasted meh, and were missing the “magic dust.” We flagged the waiter down and inquired about the butter and the green beans. No apology, just “yep let me grab that.” Surprisingly, he returned very quickly and brought the butter and the side of green beans, if you can even call them that. We understand that haricot vert are narrower green beans, but these were the tiniest, most shriveled things I have ever seen. It was about a toddler’s fist full of “beans” in the dish and these are supposed to be shareable sides. It looked like someone scraped together the last bits from a pot that had been there a while. On top of that, they tasted like straight oil. They never should have left the kitchen or have been served. We asked for them to be comped, as well as the up charge for the dust that never came on the frites, and one of the drinks that arrived warm. All in all, we left exactly 3 hours and 2 min from when arrived and it wasn’t because we were having a good time or enjoying ourselves.

Great food but takes 2.5 hours. Wish the server would have let us know mains would be extremely delayed.