I stopped for a quick late breakfast, noticing the sign on the door said they would be closing by…read more11:00 am (since it is Christmas Eve). It was 10:20am, and the place was PACKED. Merlins is a family restaurant with breakfast all day plus lots of other options. I was seated within minutes. Knowing I would have to be quick, I ordered the Bennie Skillet, which is a layer of hash browns topped with English muffin, your choice of ham, bacon, or sausage, plus 2 eggs over easy, and your choice of cheese sauce or hollandaise. I chose bacon and hollandaise (duh!). I didn't wait more than 5 minutes and the food was delivered, piping hot. It was tasty and my waitress was quite lovely and attentive. I only subtracted one star because the bacon and hash browns could have cooked a bit longer (bacon was chewy in a couple of bites and no color at all to the hash browns). I highly recommend this restaurant, the people are fantastic, and it's an obvious beloved place due to how many patrons there were. I also got a caramel roll to go (it was the last one available) since they were going to be closed for Christmas, and I didn't want the bakery items going to waste. The waitress scraped every bit of extra caramel out of the pan for my to go roll, so I gave her an extra tip on the tip. Go support Merlins when you are in the area, and even if you are not in the area, it is well worth the drive.

First timer! We had family visiting from out of town and…read more decided to grab breakfast together. There was a wait with about five parties ahead of us, but I was honestly impressed with how quickly they moved through the list. We were seated in less than 10 minutes on a busy Saturday. I tried one of the featured breakfast sandwiches, the Breakfast Denver Sandwich. It was $13 and honestly delicious. For the price, though, a side of hashbrowns or fruit would have been appreciated. The biggest reason I'm leaving 3 stars....service. I genuinely felt bad for the wait staff. They were trying, but were so clearly understaffed, especially considering they advertise they recently renovated their space to add more tables. It took over 10 minutes for us to be greeted, or offered a drink. Once our order was in, our waiter tried to be attentive, but simply couldn't keep up. Would I give Merlin's another chance? Sure. We thought the food was great. But, I wouldn't go out of my way, or rush back.

Loved it!! The service is amazing and friendly!! Highly Recommend!! I loved the homemade ranch…read moredip that I got with my cheese curds!! YUM!!

Friendly Service and great apps. House sauce is the bomb!read more

Terrible have gone in twice only to be totally ignored! Waitress on both occasions looked at us and…read moredidn't even acknowledge.

Legit delicious!! I file this under hole-in-the-wall or dive-bar - and those terms aren't…read morederogatory in the least! This is on the edge of "the middle of nowhere" (unless of course you're one of the fine folks that lives nearby). But disregard all of that - the service and the FOOD were both top notch! Different daily specials every day (see the picture) and the regular menu is HUGE! Hubby had a Peanut Butter and Jalapeño Jam burger - big 1/2 pounder - with fresh fries. I thought the fries were a little soggy (literally the only negative) but they were deliciously seasoned. I had a shaved beef with Au Jus. Now I know that sounds dull but it wasn't! The roll was super-soft but lightly toasted with a buttery taste and the beef (I'm told by the VERY fabulous waitress) is sliced from their weekly prime-rib special. I had it with a slide of slaw and GOOD LORD they actually know how to make excellent slaw! Again - same fabulous waitress says that the dressing is house-made. It really, REALLY was good. Add three tap beers and our lunch was a sweet $33. I wish we had an easier more frequent reason to stop because the menu has me intrigued! I definitely recommend it!

I love the vibe but the menu is so so. One time I was playing pulltabs here and had a winner, and…read morethe box was so close to being empty that I was considering buying out the box. Another guy was also playing the same box and watching me like a hawk, and the bartender literally came up to my table and forced me to tell him what I was holding onto and told the other guy that was playing so that he knew he could safely buy out the box instead of me. I wasn't really sitting on the winner because I had only had it for a couple of minutes, but the bartender knew the other guy so I got screwed over.

Food is never that great here. The service is good, and the ambiance is good. The food is so so…read moreat best.

Great place! Highly recommend!! Great pizza and owners are wonderful…read more Great family atmosphere.

I don't really know where to start my felling about this fantastic experience ! I lived just 14…read moremiles away in the summer at our farm in Dalbo. First Kim the owner is very hands on in everything. So she is going to talk to you ...me a stranger about why am I there? Etc. this was a farm work day ended up after I reserved a crust for Adrian and I and I needed to get it to go because we had other folks helping with fencing that day...no problem we got one of the extra crusts they make and I think it was Sam cooked our pizzas and they were amazing fresh farm raised ingredients for the vegi's and Don't know about the meat source but the Meat pizza was awesome along with the JJ special I think it's called. Had to get them to go, but we will be back!

Ribeye sandwich is the best bang for your buck at this joint. 8.8/10 if I were to return I'd ask…read morefor mushrooms and onions on the steak. Jalapeño popper burger was 7.2/10 Curly fries were nice and crisp 9.5/10 Ambiance was just your average Princeton bar. Service was fine I wouldn't be apposed to returning

Love this place!!! Sad that Jeff passed away but the spirit lives on…read more 100% recommend all the food!

For a mexican restaurant about as far away as you can get from Mexico without speaking canadien,…read morethe food was not awful - it wasn't the best or anything to write home about, but it was edible. we would come here once or twice a month when nobody felt like cooking. That was until the last time we came and saw the (attached) sign on the door. wow. so "government handouts" are the reason your hours are reduced? Look, I don't want to be slapped in the face with your trumpian politics when all I want is a mediocre burrito. I wondered why everytime we went, there was always a different server . . . seems to me the issue madre loca is having is not GETTING help - but KEEPING help. for the prices charged - which are not cheap - you would think maybe paying your employees decently or maybe even treating them like one SHOULD treat those making them money would be the best business practice. I read everyday about restaurants and other businesses doing just fine when they treat their employees well, (and as a business owner myself I have no trouble getting and keeping *my* employees ) so if you're going to blame "government handouts" as the reason you have to reduce hours, well, then excuse us for not contributing to said "handouts" and we'll just go on down to Elk River where the REAL Mexican restaurant is. The only reason you get more than one star is the surfer dude server was really good the time we had him. ps. trump lost. get over it snowflake.

Great food and service. The new decor is also very pleasant and relaxing. I love the pulled pork…read morequesadilla, especially.

Decided to check this place out based on the yelp reviews. Ah-mazing! Food. Margaritas. Service…read more Ambiance. All of it. What a gem to have in Princeton. We had the choose 2 combo: tamale & carnitas street taco. And the enchiladas, which they allowed us to do both chicken and steak, and both red & green sauce. Also guacamole. Salsa was good. Guac was also good, but needed more salt, which we easily just added. The tamale is one of the best I've ever had. GET THE TAMALE. We will be back very soon!

Had to go and was pleasantly surprised. I had Birria Quesadilla. They were Fire!!! Very good…read moreconsomé for dipping. It also had some Guacamole and pico. So good!! Highly recommended this place!!!

As usual buffet great We do carry out buffet at-least once…read morea week Ordered off the menu is not as good

Smallest China or Asian buffet that I know of. Very good food, especially for the price paid.read more

Amazing food and even better service! I had delicious pizza…read morehere, fresh and full of flavor, totally exceeded my expectations. We had a tough situation after dinner: we were stuck in Princeton with no Uber or ride service to get back to Minneapolis. We were really worried and helpless. Our sweet server Alex was so kind and helpful. We explained our problem to her, and she proactively called taxi companies for us and helped us find local contact numbers step by step. Thanks to her kindness and patience, we finally got connected with a local taxi service and made it safely back to Minneapolis. Alex went far beyond great customer service. This small town restaurant has warm people and wonderful food. Highly recommend this place if you're in the Princeton area. Thank you again, Alex!

Had the House special pizza and boneless wings. Both were good. Nice place with pool table and…read moresmall arcade.