Merlo’s Press & Bean

Not impressed with our visit for lunch today, especially compared to previous experiences. No one to greet us upon arrival, despite reservation, and in the past it was a nice touch to have someone offer to hang coats — this was missed. Temperature was cold, fireplace was broken and while our waitress was nice, calling a table of senior ladies «girls» seemed a little too casual. Even the gentleman at checkout seemed distracted with other matters and chatted openly with another employee about work matters while I was being served. Hoping things will improve, because the restaurant has lovely atmosphere but today was a disappointment.

A very lovely restuarant with exceptional service. Although they were out of a few of the selections the server was more than accommodating! The wine selection and the décor could be better but overall was A+.

The food here is fabulous it is so fresh and the service was 5 star. One in our party is gluten free and the restaurant was very knowledgable and had several choices, economic value allows an appetizer and dessert to be added to your meal for $ 10.

Foods pretty good, although a little plain. But the music is awful for a restaurant. Gives the place a bar atmosphere. They obviously don’t cater to the older crowd even though the average age seems to be 40 – 50. I couldn’t wait to get out of the place.

I visited the Torbay road location today for lunch. I ordered the pan fried cod, it came with excellent schrunchions, fries, and a slice of homemade bread with garlic butter. The cod was the best cod I have ever tried in any restaurant by far. She has some sort of chick and bacon panini with sweet potato fries, which both were excellent. The atmosphere here is great, service and food is excellent, and prices are very good!

Having visited both Press & Bean locations during my latest week-​long stay in Newfoundland, I find myself at a loss. One, in downtown St. John’s, is swank and fancy; the other, on the Torbay Road, feels like your average diner-​dive from the eighties. I don’t know why this bugs me but hey — it really, really does.
The menu at both locations is a plethora of sandwiches, salads and soups, making it an easy choice for lunching and with really well-​priced combos, it’s hard to go wrong.
Being the vegetarian of the group, I figured this would be a great spot for me but unfortunately a lot of the seemingly veggie-​friendly options were laced with either beef or chicken broth. Sad that I couldn’t have stuff like the roasted red pepper and curry soup because of a sneaky chicken add, but good that the server knew enough to flag that for me when I attempted to order it.
In the end, the stir-​fry was the only meal that I could order and it was alright. Veggies were fresh and the flavour was pretty good. In retrospect, I should have just ordered one of the salads since I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews of the strawberry spinach. Be ye not so stupid.