Merchant Tap House

Formerly The Merchant McLiam, and probably several other names before that, the Merchant Tap House has been around, in one form or another, for quite a long time. The Merchant is located at the very bottom of Princess Street and is the quintessential tavern - poorly lit, poorly laid out, and well equipped with beer taps.

The Merchant is best known for its live music acts and extensive selection of beer, but not so much for its food offerings, which are your typical restau-pub fair. They offer one burger - The Gourmet Burger - which is the standard 8 oz patty with the vegetables, chipotle mayo, and a side of fries, for $9. I added cheddar cheese for good measure.


The burger seemed so promising on the plate. The patty was huge and clearly homemade. The veggies were fresh and thick-cut. The bun was soft, lightly toasted, and matched the patty size. And the first bite was good. But, that was about it.

The burger seemed to get progressively blander the more I ate. I think most of the blame for this falls on the bun which was very dry, and turned out to be not as soft and squishy as I originally though, leaving a lot of bun in every mouthful. The measly amount of barely-flavoured chipotle mayo didn't help with this either. The patty too, once you got past the tasty char-broiled edges, was unimpressive and still a tad pink in the middle.

The fries were excellent. They were the 'dark style' chip-truck type, but were perfectly cooked, nicely salty and crispy.

1 out of 5 Pickles