Merchants Pub & Plate

Came in for lunch, had a great sour beer. Was bummed they were out of the ahi poke bowl, so I had crab cakes and a pear and arugula salad instead. Extremely good. Was well tended by the bartender, who chatted us up on all things beer and kept my ice tea filled, and most importantly, complimented on the cuteness of my friends baby. Major points there. ;)

I have been to Merchants Pub and Plate many times and always had excellent service and amazing food. I have tried many things on their menu and always been pleased. My favorite time to go is on Sundays for brunch to have half-​priced beers. Their beer selection is impressive and changes frequently. My favorite appetizer is the brussels sprouts salad or whatever variation of beet salad they are serving at the time. My favorite meal is the sweet potato quinoa burger. The servers I have had have always been knowledgeable about the food and the beer. Every year for my birthday I get to choose the restaurant that my family will eat in and this will be my choice for the foreseeable future.

One of our favorite spots in town! Merchants has all the stops covered; fun drink menu, fantastic selection of beers on top, awesome appetizers and the best veggie burger (I’m not even vegetarian)! They also have great servers who aren’t afraid to engage beyond the ‘what would you like to drink’. We’re never disappointed after an outing at Merchants!

Flavor explosion! I had to check my gps to confirm that I was in Lawrence, KANSAS! I rate most restaurants based on the region or cuisine… but once in a while an establishment scores too high to be reviewed as a local treat. All I can say is — This is real food… done right. Every plate of food in America dreams to be a mere reflection of the great dishes served here.
And to all the patrons who eat here regularly, I am disappointed that you are keeping this place a secret by limiting the number of reviews.

great vibe.
mass st. + old bank + trendy décor = fun atmosphere.
my husband made dinner reservations for us here last Saturday. it was packed. we got there early and waited at the nicely sized [and really cool] bar.
to start, I ordered a cocktail (something with ‘punch’ in the name) which was too sweet for my taste and my husband ordered a glass of red wine. we split a ramekin sized portion of the lobster risotto (very tasty) and the local roasted chicken plate with greens and sweet potatoes (so-​so).
the service was good and again, the atmosphere was fun.
the only thing I wasn’t as excited about was the food — but it might just be that I don’t like gastropub food in general. paying a steep amount of money for standard food with special garnishes and sauces is just not really my thing.
Id definitely try it again.

We have been to Merchants many times since they opened, but last week we had a meal that I just thought it was worth mentioning in a full-​fledged review. There were four of us – for starters we ordered crab cakes and the brussel sprouts and tasty beers from their «curated» list. The beers, the sprouts and the crab cakes were totally satisfying. I should mention that It was Friday night, so all tables were full, but the service was impeccable. Our server was super competent and cheerful, which is unusual in a college town where most wait staff are college students who provide poor service. She was very busy, but still managed to keep everything flowing for an enjoyable dining experience.
Our entrees were the evening’s lamb special (amazing and perfectly prepared!), which was a recommendation from our waiter; the schnitzel-​y pork chop (wow!); the salmon (best in Lawrence); and the scallops, which would have put Top Chef contestants to shame.
We all agree that we may have enjoyed our best meal in Lawrence in a long, long time. Kudos to Merchant’s for developing and maintaining a high level of quality, imagination and service. I can’t wait to go back again – thank you so much!

Merchants has become the go-​to hangout for young adults in downtown Lawrence. Located right on Mass street, Merchants boasts interesting and upscale renditions of your classic pub fare. There is dining room seating for traditional sit down meals, however in addition there is a nice sized bar area with high top tables to accommodate more casual gatherings. This restaurant used to be an old bank, so in addition to the tall, dramatic ceilings the bathrooms are located in an old vault.
Merchants has an excellent craft beer selection, but also a nice list of quality cocktails. The menu is inventive, but typically you can’t go wrong (especially with helpful suggestions from the knowledgeable wait staff). If you are visiting downtown Lawrence this restaurant should be on your short list!

Pleasantly surprised. Locally sourced food, with a map on the back showing where products came from. Very diverse menu. For starters we had a muscles on fries special, everyone raved about whatever the sauce was that was on the fries. We also had the burrata. Entrees enjoyed were the pork special, crabcakes, shrimp with grits (really more like a polenta) and bangers and mash. Good service. Buildling was loud, not very conducive to quiet talk. Overall an enjoyable evening.

I had the Quail and my friend had the roasted chicken. Both were wonderful. We shared the chocolate cake desert with cherry ice cream. It was rich but delicious. Would definitely go back.

Food was tasty and the cocktail was trendy. The ambiance is hipster chic. It would be a good first date place. I would not get the lemon and orange cake. It was like a citrus porridge. The chocolate cake was delicious. The Lousy cocktail had a nice kick of heat that lingers in the back of the throat. The shrimps and grits was reconstructed with squares of polenta instead of a traditional creamy pool of grits but still good just different. The potato leek soup was creamy and flavorful. The duck carnitas were good.

In town for a conference and was a guest for dinner at Merchant’s. Great wine and micro brew selection. The steak I had was great as was the mozzarella appetizer. Will be back!

Came here after a night out in Lawrence. I have never eaten here only because we always seem to get there after kitchen hours. Lots of drink choices! I don’t visit this place often enough to know if the beer changes often or not. 4 stars just because the kitchen closes. I like a late open kitchen!

Excellent… The Sunday brunch menu is amazing… I had the lemon ricotta pancakes with strawberries… crazy sweet… crazy good! ($ 11.00) The chicken & biscuit is served in a bowl of veggie stew… Perfect! The place is in an old bank with cool lighting and great staff. Total for 2 with coffee and tip… $ 30.00!

Quinoa sweet potato burger with green beans.
The burger was great, difficult to eat the green beans on the burger. But still enjoyable! My friend ordered the gnocchi and it seemed like a small portion. I had originally wanted the mushroom loaf, but the kitchen didn’t have enough mushrooms. Great atmosphere, reasonable prices. Would recommend!

Sunday ½ pints are a much do. The draft list is great, and they also have several really nice cocktails. The food is gourmet comfort. In the bar, I love the honey manchego bites. It’s a small portion, but great to nibble with a beer.
For dinner, they have a range of entrees from $ 9 sandwich to more expensive steak and fish offerings. The vegetarian offerings are limited but i’ve had the veggie burger and it was OK. with the common problem of too much bun to patty proportioning. Dining makes have had the chicken poblano sandwich and entrée fish dishes, and they had enjoyed their meals. The ambience is great — I love the vaulted ceilings and open kitchen. The food is always solid, not disappointing. Never really knock your socks off, but pretty good overall… I really just come here for the wide range of beers… then say if dinner is calling my name.

High end food and drinks at a reasonable price.
Great place to taste a variety of great beers.
Caution order of the chalk board not the menu, it may not be current…

I thoroughly enjoyed this place when it used to be Tellers, unfortunately, the quality greatly deteriorated when the became Merchants.
When we sat down I ordered a cocktail and made it clear to the waiter I don’t like sweet drinks. He assured me that the drink I ordered wasn’t sweet. Much to my dismay the drink was extremely sweet. They did change the drink out without a fuss for a bourbon on the rocks.
The food was meh. Started with the pork belly which was a disjointed dish that looked like they were trying too hard. The pork belly itself was alright, but not anywhere near as crispy as it should be. The plate had a smear of Skippy peanutbutter across the bottom that was completely out of place and ultimately hurt the dish. Last, they sprinkled frozen or canned corn all over the top of the plate. This was also out of place and clearly frozen or canned and just terrible. The dish was a conceptual mess.
Had the pork chop for an entrée. The pork chop itself was cooked perfectly. Everything outside of the chop went downhillfast. It came with some kind of peach side that was clearly made with canned or frozen peaches and was terrible. It had corn on the side that was the same frozen or canned corn on the appetizer.
I brought gave us a side of sweet potatoes to replace the corn and those were good.
The waiter was inattentive and kind of aloof. This is not somewhere I would recommend. It is way overpriced for the quality.

I love local farm to table. They even took the location of an old bank and repurposed the building into a restaurant. The restrooms are located in the old bank safe. Love it!
The menu shows where all the local food comes from. Even a beer menu of brew companies. Springfield Mothers brewery is now in Lawrence. We all ordered something different. All good. Bread seems to be homemade. All good food. Seemed they needed more service, but it was KU spring break. So some of those kids might not have been around. Highly suggest it. I will return.

As a patron who requires special dietary modifications to my meals, Merchants not only meets — but exceeds my needs. The menu itself has to be one of THE BEST in regards to how each dish is described (for those requiring modifications) than any place I have encountered in Lawrence or Kansas City.
I have only seen menus with this accurate and detailed of descriptions in bigger cities that I find to be way more aware of and accommodating to people like myself. So kudos to Merchants for having the sense to create a menu that is marked not only in a way that is helpful for those of us with dietary restrictions. But for also going above and beyond.
The staff also understands the menu, and the modifications vs items which are naturally gluten-​free, dairy-​free, vegan, etc. That is also a rarity I find in this area. So that was appreciated as well.
The service is kind, helpful, patient, and willing to go above and beyond in my experience. The menu has a good selection of options, including something for everyone. The desserts are absolutely worth saving room for as well. I like the happy hour menu offerings, and look forward to returning for perhaps a drink and desserts only outing soon.
Some of my favorite menu items I have experienced were the Yam fries, the brussels sprout salad, the pork belly, and any of the vegan ice cream offerings.

After the excellent food and service we had during our second visit to Merchants, I decided I needed to give it a boost to the full 5 stars.
When we arrived, the hostess told us there would be about a 20min wait, but she could text us when the table was ready if we wished to wander about. We were perfectly happy sitting on a bench out front enjoying Mass Street’s passersby, but I still appreciated the fact that we could wander around instead of toting around a buzzer or crowding together in a foyer or bar to wait.
The wait ended up only being about 5 minutes, so double-​bonus!
I would like to also note that this visit was on the Sunday over Memorial Day weekend, so the fellow patrons were mainly locals and weekend visitors (eclectic and generally unpretentious), instead of the «Greek Life Parents’ Weekend» crowd filling the space with their matching mother-​daughter hair highlights and father-​son popped collar ensembles like my previous visit. I know restaurants can’t really decide who wants to eat with them on a particular night, but the energy of the other patrons does affect one’s overall experience, as well as the energy of the staff.
Our server was very attentive, bringing us water right away and explaining the drink and menu specials for the night. He offered his personal recommendations in case we needed them and he was clearly well versed in the offerings. It’s good when the staff is knowledgable and stands behind their products. The service remained attentive yet unobtrusive throughout the evening, and unlike our first visit, we were able to take our time to converse and linger unrushed through our entire meal.
We started with soups. I tried the soup of the day, a beef barley stew, and Gary T. got the house soup, black truffle potato leek. Neither disappointed, although I’d be more inclined to go with the potato next time. My mom decided that a side of bread would be good with our starters, so we were quickly brought some pieces of focaccia drizzled with olive oil and dried herbs, and served with white bean hummus ad hops salt. the bread was a little dried out, as if it had been cut into its pieces several hours earlier, but it still made a good medium for the hummus and salt. I’m not a big bread person anyway.
For our main course, opted for the first special, a smoked brisket sandwich served with mac’n’cheese. Gary opted for the surf & turf special, an 8oz grass fed filet from the local meat market, served with four tempura battered jumbo gulf shrimp over a ginger carrot slaw. He also got a side of the mac’n’cheese. I decided to get the white bean and kale griddle cakes with roasted carrots, because I figured I’d be sampling some of Gary’s meal and I knew there was a delicious sounding dessert list later.
None of our meals disappointed. Gary’s steak was so tender he could cut it with his butter knife! It was truly amazing. The shrimp were tasty and crisp. He didn’t love the slaw, as it had a slightly bitter taste from some of the greens in it, but I liked it fine.
My griddle cakes were delicious too. They had a green tomato chow-​chow on top that brought the right amount of sweet an tanginess to the mild flavors of white beans and kale, crisp on the outside, bust moist on the inside. The carrots were perfectly roasted, sweet and tender, not soggy or crunchy.
Mom’s brisket sandwich was filled with tender flavorful strips of meat and a house-​made KC-​style bbq sauce slathered on the top bun. It was huge, but she managed to finish the whole thing. She did however save her mac to take home, knowing dessert was next.
And so the grand finale: dessert! We selected the goat cheese cheesecake and the peanut butter chocolate cake. The cheesecake was creamy and tart as one would expect from the goat cheese. The crumb crust was crisp and the raspberry purée garnish balanced the flavor perfectly. The peanut butter chocolate cake was delectable as well. I only got one bite before Gary devoured it, so I was unable to make the same emotional connection with it that I made with my cheesecake, but it was deliciously rich and creamy.
Lovely service + lovely food + best street in the best town in the world = a dining tri-​fecta!