I was recently here for a Christmas party/board meeting. With all the times I've been at the Galleria, I have never eaten at this restaurant. There was a small buffet set up for the party I was with and it was a nice selection. All the food was hot and good. What I was most impressed with was the service. The waiters were very attentive. They were quick to refill our drinks and take away plates that were empty. If someone were staying in the hotel, this would not be a bad place to stop by. read more

See all

I enjoyed two delectable breakfast buffets here recently. The food was excellent and served hot and fresh. The interior is comfortable and casual. The attached bar has excellent drinks and comfortable seating. The service is what really shines here. The staff is incredibly friendly and welcoming. I really cannot recall when I was treated this well with genuine kindness and attentiveness. Well done folks!! read more

They were out of my first 4 draft beers I chose so I decided to go with red wine? Guess what they were out of my first choice as well. Food is ordinary as well. Had dry chicken wings read more

Customer service is amazing. Everyone was extremely kind, and honestly I'd come back just for them. The price is insane. The Wynfrey has absoutely stripped itself down to a moderate hotel but not informed the restaurant. The prices were upscale pub dining, for almost local bar food. The place was pretty empty but we did stay on a Sunday, everyone at at the bar and i can count on my hands how many people we ran into. Drinks were strong and the hummus trio is great, they need to lower the prices. Why pay this much for items i can get in the parking lot of the galleria for better and cheaper? read more

This place is a joke. Ordered a grass fed burger on a brioche bun, what we got were 2 frozen cheap burgers on a 10 cent generic bun. It was awful!! At $16 a burger, I thought I was on a prank show read more

Stopped here for dinner after a long travel day. The food was awesome. My wife had the shrimp and grits. I have never seen her enjoy an entree so much. The chicken was awesome. We had the pleasure of meeting the chief to thank her. Our server, Vishnu is a rock star. He had a lot of tables, but was always there for us. Highly recommend. read more

Latarren was an amazing bartender! We had an amazing experience and she was such a great bartender. I cant wait to come back here soon!

Arrived 8 am and all tables were dirty. Finally I was seated at the end of a dirty table. Waitress tried to push the $30 breakfast buffet on me. I told her I wanted to order from the menu. She said she couldn't take my order. Someone else had to take it. By 8:30 am no one had taken my order so I left! Very disappointing! Did not appreciate the breakfast buffet being pushed on me! read more

Usually do not review places too often, but this place deserves better than 3 stars. Solid service, solid food, and super convenient location. Large TV's for guys like me who love to watch sports with dinner. If you are staying at the Hyatt, this place is a great dinner spot without having to leave the premises. Prices are slightly above what I would expect but that comes with the territory. Shrimp and grits were very satisfying, and my friends had the salmon and steak. Both were very happy with their dinner and drinks. read more

As good as expected for a hotel restaurant breakfast. Prompt service, well appointed buffet, and a separate menu if you're not interested in the buffet. The place is super clean and the food was above average. Nice attention to detail and some delicious individual sized jars of high end marmalade and jams on the tables. If you're near the galleria and looking for a peaceful spot to have some eggs, toast, sausages etc and you want good service then this is the spot. read more

Merk's Tavern & Kitchen - American Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

This is a very clean, nice looking place, and the staff is very friendly and attentive but that's about where it ends.. stayed here for a work trip at the hotel and ate here twice. The food is very clearly frozen, purchased in bulk and just heated up. Turkey wrap was lunch meat and cheese in a tortilla for $12. I'm sure nothing is homemade. Buffalo chicken sandwich was bad. Hot sauce and melted cheese in a frozen fried chicken breast. Drinks are outrageously expensive and the bar tender while nice doesn't seem to have any training that warranted a $10 old fashioned from a standard bourbon. You're here for the confidence.. I get it.. but maybe that's why the place was absolutely empty on both nights I was there.. it's even attached to a mall.. has to be hemorrhaging money. read more

Solid breakfast buffet, can't speak about menu as we didn't order from it Service was... Many people wandering around attempting to whisk you plate away at every moment. Ordered a made to order omelette but the lady who was cooking them had left on break--- other service folk around didn't seem to be able to man the pans so 20+ minutes later after we had checked on it twice ( there was no one else in line and the restaurant was not slammed with business), I went up the third time and waited while the person mangled the eggs and ingredients around over the heat. Finished product was tasty-- not an omelet and NOT pretty, but edible. Personnel need some pushing up on their " service", it's not just about removing plates... read more

Merk's Tavern & Kitchen - Fresh berry blend on the buffet - American Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

The breakfast buffet was cold and no one was on the omelet station so no fresh eggs. Basically bland and flavorless food that was all ice cold probably left over from the previous day. Server was ok did get a refill once but basically ignored us. Fairly clean but definitely not worth the money. Go to ihop better food fir less money and at least fresh. read more

Being from New Orleans, the hipster places we visited in Birmingham were really cool and industrial. The death metal bands plastered in the bathroom didn't bother me a bit. I had to return my memory to a "dead milkmen" concert some time ago. Comparing "Saw's" to this place "Merk's" is not even close. Look at the photo I posted of the cob salad and read the description. After the "restaurant manager" offered to refund the purchase, he reneged on his promise. On the food and the refund. It was garbage two times. It's not that he didn't try-the fact of the matter is he doesn't check the orders, employees, or is just plain ignorant and just doesn't know any better. At first there were no worries because "Merk's is open till midnight...". Now, it's "the ticket is closed, and he has NO authorization (even though they SHARE A KITCHEN WITH SHULA'S) They deny having anything to do with them. (If I was the manager, I would insist on the same notion!) But it's hard to believe you share a kitchen and have two different chefs. Don Shula eats Nutrisystem. This Hyatt should be embarrassed to have not one, but two restaurants that emanate from this same kitchen. When we got the food back it was just as inadequate. Raw chicken, a spec of Bleu cheese, a few diced pieces of tomato, slivers of cucumber, minced olden egg, a bite of bacon, no avocado, but a whole red onion, uck! We had to throw it out after it was made right!?!?! As for my Reuben, it was BBQ beef thrown in a bag with fries on top. It's what a professional chef would do to have the sandwich bread mop up the fry grease. The ARBY's sandwich is much better, swear on my mom's grave! -no sauerkraut nor swiss. Just globs of brisket. I eat a Reuben every day at cooter brown's in NOLA. I never understood why tourists freak over the most basic of foods (like garlic bread) Now I can completely empathize!! Even AMTRAK serves a better sandwich. We cook like we travel: low and slow. Real and by rail! Sorry for the initial misspelling of Merk's, but my wife was about to Merc me. If it was a quick here, take a refund and get lost--it would have been fine. But this guy who could pass for "Tom Fitzmorris" insisted that he could make it like glitter. Most errors can be summed up in two words (as Douglas MacArthur quoted). "Too late"-by the time we got this mystery bag up to the room everywhere else was closed, and it had to be discarded anyway. Just holding us hostage to be released in the Darien Gap only compounds things. You think a Hyatt would put a microwave in the room? read more

Got the fried chicken BLT. Great choice. Very large and filling. Terry at the bar was super nice. Met some good people there for a conference as well. read more

In between meetings at the Wynfrey Hotel, decided to try for a quick bite of lunch. Seated quickly and drink order taken reasonable amount of time. Food order took longer than expected to come out. I had the bacon cheeseburger. It was quite good. Service was not. Once we had our food we didn't see our server again until she brought check and cleared table. One of our party flagged down someone else for a drink refill. None of the rest of us were offered a refill. Probably doesn't typically have much of lunch crowd, with the service we received I can't imagine that will change anytime soon. With the $$ and service experience, I doubt I will return. Also didn't make a good impression on out of town guests. read more

This is the new restaurant inside the Hyatt Regency Wynfrey Hotel. Prices: Appetizers $8.50-$18; Sandwiches $10.50-$13; Entrees $27.75-$31. Hours: Breakfast weekdays 6-10:30 a.m., weekends 7 a.m.-noon; Sunday brunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; lunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Dinner 4-10 p.m.; late night menu served until midnight. Info: Full bar; credit cards accepted read more

Merk's Tavern & Kitchen - Tables & Community Dining - American Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

See all

Sharing plates we had were Deviled Eggs, Gnocchi very good. Especially the pork bellies in both of those. Cheesy potato fries were ok. They gave us a sample of their Alabama Stoup which was quite good. Very nice friendly service in a very quiet Sunday mid afternoon. Key lime dessert was very good and I love key lime. Cheesecake my daughter had was quite tasty. Maybe should be 3.5 but rounding up to a 4. read more

This restaurant is located in the mall next to the Hyatt hotel. There is no bathroom in the restaurant. The service was ok, but the wait staff were awkward. We were in a group of 15, with a special menus that included a set appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. The people at the table ordered the braised short ribs, the chicken and shrimp creole, and the shrimp and grits. The server never once refilled my water, and he came by and filled the people around me. When I finished my salad my waiter took my dressing covered fork and knife and threw it on them on the table. He should have taken them with him, so it was odd that he left them. I then had to ask for a new set of silverware because the one he threw on the table was already covered in dressing, but also landed on the table. The people who ordered the chicken said it was good, the braised short rib was great for one person but another person had a piece that was very fatty. The shrimp and grits were mediocre, not something I would order again. The shrimp was rubbery and the grits were a bit inconsistent. The people at the table gave it 2's, 3's, and 4's. So we averaged as a 3. read more

See all

We came here for my birthday dinner before seeing Paulo Shore at the Stardom. We were running a little late so we sat at the bar. We asked for menus and Frank our bartender asked. Can I have a credit card or a room number? I don't remember him saying hello or welcome. He never did give us his name. Lucky for me he had a name tag. We ordered drinks and decided on dinner. I ordered the salmon, but asked to replace the asparagus with green beans. our meals were brought and I have asparagus. Yuck. I said I asked for green beans instead of asparagus I pretty much finished my meal by the time I got the green beans. Frank did ask once if we wanted another drink. But pretty much ignored us. Later That night, I was up sick. I don't know if it was the salmon, but that is what I suspect. The food was ok, but not great. Certainly not what we expected at a Hyatt. We will never go back. read more

Stayed at the Hyatt with hubbae for a staycation to celebrate our anniversary and since we were getting "buzzed" we decided to jot on down to the hotel restaurant and boy were we disappointed. Food was cold even the damn cheese dip! Since the food was cold we decided to box it up and go back to the room and guess what no microwave! Don't do it go elsewhere. read more

Ok, yeah hotel restaurant so I imagine high employee turnover is the reality here. PLEASE BARTENDER MEN AT THIS LOCATION, DO NOT USE YOUR FINGERS/ BARE HANDS to rub around the drink garnishes! I was here at 12:30 Today had lunch which was wonderful! Woman bartender was amazing and professional. She used a toothpick when handling drink garnish. I do not want the crap Under your nails with my food/drink guys! When here this evening I asked for the forgotten garnish he literally dug his fingers into tray stirred the lemons around before handing it off like a baseball! EWWW My garnish sits NEXT to my drink untouched! Come on read more

Food is a four/five, service is a two, so I'm sticking with with a three. I understand restaurants like these are mostly open to serve the hotel, so I'm sure the breakfast buffet is good, and room service is effective. And while I'm glad they were open during the day for dining in the restaurant instead of paying through the nose for room service, there was still something so lacking in the service that even when making all the excuses for them I possibly could, I was still upset with the service. I needed to grab a quick lunch. I had about an hour and 15 minutes, but I didn't really intend to spend 50 minutes waiting, 10 minutes eating, and 15 minutes trying to get the check taken care of. There were several people working in the restaurant, and though I'm sure they had other tasks, it didn't need to take so long to deal with me. It took 15 minutes just to get a drink. There was one other couple in the place, and a man finishing a meal at the bar. If they don't want to serve people in the restaurant beyond what they do during buffet hours, they shouldn't. If they can't take care of people in a timely fashion during off hours, they should close, or serve a more limited menu. I enjoyed my meal, but felt unwelcome. read more

I've lived in this area my whole life, been to the Galleria more times than I can count, and I had no idea Merk's existed. Lucky for my, a colleague was staying in the Hyatt (Winfrey) and we settled on Merk's for our meeting place. It was relatively empty for prime lunch hours (12:30) and that suited me just fine. Our waitress quickly came by to take our drink order and let us know about the soup/salad/pasta bar. We looked at menus just in case. While everything on the menu looked pretty good, we opted for the salad bar. The pasta looked sinfully delicious as did a hot peach cobbler that was on the line. Trying to be good I went with a salad alone. They didn't off the most toppings I'd ever seen, but what they had was plenty. The balsamic vinaigrette was fantastic and set the whole salad off. Good and simple. The wifi was free (for two hours), which made it a great place to get some work done. Between that and our server being very attentive with our drinks, I'm officially a fan. read more

Nice upscale tavern and grill. We were a party of 9, and the had several tables devoted to large parties. TV's were playing the NCAA tournament. We sat down and then it started. It was 1215, on Sunday, they were open. We waited, then had to track down the wait staff to get menus. A few minutes later, they came with menus, finally came to take the order. Bright the teas and waters. I ordered a chicken cob salad. Another 15 minutes later the food arrived. We're about 45 minutes into this. "Could we get more tea and waters?" All the ice was gone in the glasses on the table, and no attempt at bringing ice. Filled glasses with warm drinks. Let's move onto the salads. All the cob was on the bottom of the bowl then leafy lettuce then five over cooked chicken strips. Should have ordered the club sandwich. Took 1+30, the restaurant was pretty empty, now I understand. Won't be back. Cleanliness 3/5, sticky tables, service 1/5. Food was tasty. read more

See all

I am staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-Wyndham at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama. Merk's is one of two restaurants in this hotel. I have ordered room service several times during this trip. 1. Breakfast food---Very good. But who could mess up breakfast? They do a good job. 2. Ice cream-Apparently they use two vendors. Ask first. One brand is okay. The other is plain bad. 3. Cheeseburgers-One time perfect. One Time burned. 4. Other sandwiches-Good 5. Potato products-Very good. 6. Price-Way too high! 7. Personnel-Great people! read more

Horrible!! I was staying at the Hyatt and wasn't feeling well so ordered room service. I got the chicken breast and broccolini and I've had better food at a nursing home cafeteria. The chicken was dry and difficult to chew, broccolini was like rubber. And the worst part is I paid over $30 for this garbage. Stay away. read more

I needed lunch, air and free wifi so i pulled into the hotel and went inside to Merks. Bartender was super attentive and the manager came and took my food order. I ordered my shrimp cocktail and the shrimp were still a little translucent so I asked for more cooked ones and decided to let them grill me some. Those were okay but tough. SO I just opted for a reuben and it was awesome. They redeemed the food. At no point was service off so I'm still going with 4 stars. Customer service is key. read more

Excellent. The ppl were warm and welcoming. The food flavored perfectly and the cheesecake was awesome. I had the chicken with shrimp over rice pilaf read more

For breakfast the food is amazing, but the service is pretty terrible. I stayed for a week at the Hyatt, so breakfast at Merk's was pretty much a no brainer. They even bill it straight to the room, so you don't have to take out your credit card. The first morning I tried the Harvest Buffet. It is $15 and consists of made to order omelets, oatmeal, a lot of hot items like eggs, sausage, biscuits, cold items like cereal and yogurt. I ended up getting an omelet with mushrooms, spinach, and cheese and some yogurt. Did I feel like the amount I ate was worth $15? No, but if you're in a rush and don't want to wait for your order, it is a decent option. The next day I got up earlier and decided to order off the menu. I'd been eavesdropping quite a bit in the morning and realized that the waitresses would never even bring up that there is a menu. Usually a customer would ask about breakfast and the server would motion to the buffet and say there is a buffet over there, get whatever you like. I found it odd that nobody ever mentioned the menu. Well, I asked for the menu the server looked at me and informed me that the buffet is really good. I had to tell her I didn't want to eat that much and that I wanted the menu. I'm not sure if it is sheer laziness that the servers don't want to have to take an order, but their aversion to the menu is strange. I ended up ordering a burrito under the Stay Fit menu. The burrito I got was delicious, but it was filled with meat and had cheese smothered on the top. Definitely not the Stay Fit burrito, but I didn't have the time to send it back so I just took it. So now the next morning I wanted just oatmeal and toasted macadamia nuts. The waitress was again shocked I didn't want the buffet but put in my order. When it came out there were no macadamia nuts. I was directed to the buffet bar to get them, but there were none there either. Turns out they don't have toasted macadamia nuts. I sent the oatmeal back on the sheer principal that they didn't have what I ordered and I ordered the Stay Fit burrito again. I figured I had 15 minutes at that point (it took 15 minutes for the oatmeal to come out) and that was enough time to eat a little and box the rest. Nope, it took 15 minutes for me to get the burrito. I just had them box it and I had to take it to work with me. At least this time it was the right burrito. So now I'm at a conundrum. The food was always spot on and delicious, but the service I had was amazingly bad. Bad enough that I never ate at Merk's again for the rest of my stay (and I had been hoping to try there for dinner). So 5 stars for food, 1 star for service, I'll give it 3 stars. read more

Only got small plates. Deviled eggs and pork bellies were well done Cheesy potato slices were OK Potato Gnocchi. Very good with bits of pork bellies. Also had the key lime pie and berry cheese cake They are delivered in low and roundish mason jars. That makes them hard to get past the whipped cream for the first few bites. However the chess cake with a mixed berry preserve was very good. The key lime was OK but I am not that big of a fan of Key lime. Service was slow but very nice. read more

Drink elsewhere! Staying at the Hyatt so stopped in for a drink, ordered a Makers 46 on the rocks (average bourbon $29-$39 a bottle) and when I got my check the bill was $19.32...for one drink! $16 for the drink, which is insane enough and $3.32 in tax! The bartender told me that all of Alabama charges 23% alcohol tax. I have never paid more than $10 pre-tax for a Makers 46 or ever heard of an insane alcohol tax, and I cover 10 states for work. I then walked across the street to Bonefish Grill to join friends for dinner and ordered the same drink out of curiosity...$9.75 + $0.55 tax. This place is a ripoff. Run, don't just walk away! read more

Love the breakfast everytime. A very nice deal for a great price. The waffles and sausage are awesome.

I am giving it a 3 because our server was really good. He was also the bartender and stayed pretty busy with a few tables not at the bar. The kitchen had no reason to be busy and was super slow. Joey, our server, stayed on top of our drinks and apologized repeatedly for the delay. When we finally got the food, it was very below average. My wife got the steak and fries and actually used steak sauce for the first time in our marriage. I got the roast and mashed potatoes thinking I couldn't go wrong. This was not the case. It was so dry and the gravy had a burned flavor. My 2 yo daughter got the kids grilled chicken fingers and they were great. Of course! I hope this helps and happy eating. read more

FYI, if you order the flatbread pizza, it's a cold dish. At least that was the explanation i was given after they lost my order. A cold pizza, served on a hot dish....um, ok. This place has been consistently BAD for years. I'll give them a consistency award, but not my money again. read more

Sat at the bar. Took five minutes before the bartender even acknowledge me. The bar was relatively empty. Ordered the honey fried chicken. Wasn't very good. Very small portions. Very overpriced. Won't be going back. read more

Came in for breakfast ordered egg white omelet and a cappuccino. They nailed the presentation and it tasted as good as it looked. Very large portion and a good value esp if you can share it with someone read more

Merk's Tavern & Kitchen - Egg white omelet - American Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

Wonder why this level of the restaurant is in Hyatt Regency. Poor food and poor service. We would drive 15 min to have our breakfast elsewhere next time. read more

This place needs some help. Took a loooong time to get food. But once it came out it was very good.

Our breakfast was superb! The French toast is a MUST! Not only is the food really good, but the service is excellent. Will definitely come back again! read more