Mertens Prime (formerly New Hotel Mertens Brasserie)

"Simply delightful. From the moment we walked in, our host was warm and very welcoming, as was our server. The bartender made me a perfect Aviation cocktail, despite it being ordered off-menu. Our server worked with us on a grilled version of the salmon entree, to help us avoid dairy: it was 100% delicious, cooked perfectly. The beet salad is incredible, too. A lovely dining experience, pre-show with Opera GR. Can’t wait till we return!!"

"I really wanted to love this place. Made a reservation about a month in advance for Valentine's Day. The woman hostess didn't smile, say hello or even wish us a happy Valentine's Day. She seemed like we were bothering her. OK, shown to our table; lots of other couples, this showed promise! Sat for easily 15 minutes before our waitress took our drink order. Probably another 15 or 20 before we received them. The whole night went like this. Our waitress was friendly when we saw her, which wasn't often. The poutine was excellent. Our cocktails were excellent. My husband ordered a steak rare and it came out well done. Overall I was extremely disappointed for what's supposed to be a higher end restaurant in Grand Rapids. Would I go back? I'd probably give them another try, but not for dinner."

"It was definitely a nice experience to have. It's a cute little restuarant with a roof top bar looking over downtown GR. Food was just okay. We tried the ratatouille, salmon, ribeye & mashed potatoes."

"My son and I were so excited to go to Mertens and were eagerly anticipating an elevated experience. It is not often that we get to treat ourselves to a meal at a fine dining restaurant. We were so disappointed. It definitely did not have the feel of somewhere you'd spend $300 for two people. I mean, the table was set nicely, there were nice white napkins and sophisticated sounding dishes, but that's where it ended. There was no fine dining presence by the servers, who seemed rushed despite there only being 3 other tables. We tried many dishes, including a cheese plate, bone marrow appetizer, fish croquettes, snapping turtle soup, duck a l'orange, cassoulet, and cherries jubilee. The soup was fantastic. That and the cocktails were the only items we were really impressed with. The other dishes seemed to all taste the same, and the duck was overcooked - we were not asked how we wanted it cooked. What was truly bizarre was that my son had his leftover appetizers on a plate to take home when the server came by with a box and dumped the contents of the plate in it. There was no care taken. It was as if she was dumping them in the trash. We were stunned. Even the cherries jubilee was lackluster. We left feeling as though we wasted a lot of money. We were also sad that they closed the rooftop due to weather, but it wasn't even raining. I hope this was just an off night, and that other diners had a better experience."