mert's heart and soul

mert's isn't necessarily what you'd expect to find in the middle of uptown, but man the food is excellent! it doesn't lack that casual southern character that makes you feel at home, especially with all the waitstaff in t shirts and jeans.
my girlfriend and i came in for lunch, decided on our orders and were pleasantly surprised when the food arrived in just 2-3 minutes. with nearly all of the food made ahead of time cafeteria style with just a quick sear needed to finish off some items and no finishing touches for most others, you might worry that the quality suffers but it did not in our experience! i ordered the salmon cakes with collards and mac & cheese and she got the chopped bbq with green beans and mac & cheese. the salmon cakes were amazing.. no other way to describe it, just order them! the remoulade on the side makes them even better too. the chopped bbq was verygoodas well. for the sides, the collards and green beans were both tasty choices but the mac & cheese stole the show. so gooey and cheesy, classic baked macaroni & cheese like mom/grandma used to make. the cornbread wasgoodbut nothing special. i would have guessed that the salmon patties or mac were what mert's was famous for rather than the cornbread tbh.
overall, the food was fairly inexpensive and came out very quickly, but the taste was amazing and the portions were very large. add on the fact that the waiters were friendly and that's about all i ask for in a restaurant experience!

omg...... love love it........this place is southern comfort food at its best. so very pleased that we ate there today. food was just asgoodas anything my grandmother or my mom would cook. and they both are fantastic cooks. customer service also great..... our waitress was victoria.... she was very helpful about the menu and took excellent care of us. the food really took me back to my grandmother’s home and that was always the best place to be

my girlfriend and i, along with another couple, were in town for a show the night before and were about to head back home the next day and stumbled across this. we’re all foodies so we were looking up places to try out. some real hole-in-the-wall type places. and we could not find any. every place we came across was very modern and fancy schmancy and there’s nothing wrong with that but wasn’t us at all. then we found this place ... y’all ... my entire soul was happy finding this place. we placed our order to go but my girlfriend and i had to use the bathroom while waiting and their hostess was nice and pointed us in the right direction but just walking through that place took you back in time to after church when they had the dinner plates for sale and everybody was lined up to get one and a piece of cake with a lemonade to go lol. it felt like there wasn’t any air circulating in there, everybody had on church clothes and was fanning themselves, kitchen wide open so you can see the cook throwing down, and old timey picture hanging up. if you don’t feel at home when you come to this place then you gotta find somewhere else to go. the cornbread alone tasted like it was made by somebody’s old southern baptist grandma and i am perfectly fine eating all that cornbread. it’ll get you right. everything else on the menu’ll get you right too. all in all, in the midst of so many modernized and gentrified places to eat downtown, mert’s is the hole-in-the-wall, southern comfort,goodeatin food you’re probably looking for. don’t miss out y’all!

if you like soul food in a welcome joint, this place is great.  food was hearty and they don't skimp, so bring a healthy appetite.  i enjoyed the chopped bbq and mashed potatoes while others at our table had agoodrepresentation of their menu.  nobody was disappointed.  check it out.

this is the second time that i have been to mert's. both times food was prepared excellent. i had wings first time, the seasoning was just right. second time had catfish, it wasgoodas well. atmosphere is also great. i will definitely done here again in the future.

the fried chicken was awesome. i also had the mac and cheese as well as the black eyed peas, both were very good. they serve you a huge hunk of cornbread with your meal and it wasgoodas well. next time i will make sure to save room for dessert. they have a bar full of cakes that look very good.

overall it's a great place to eat. food isgoodand staff is friendly. occasionally you'll get an older waitress who doesn't give a darn and a chicken breast that's half the size as the one you got the last time you were there. also, it's not too expensive even though you're in uptown.

worst $20 i ever spent!. did not like anything! nogoodseasoning in my fried chicken, but the best mac and cheese, collards disgusting, no sugar in my sweet tea. #fail

solid soul food generally, but probably a bit over rated. this place serves some prettygoodlow country/country cooking dishes, at reasonable prices at lunch, not so reasonable at dinner - the prices at lunch run $7 - $9 for an entree which comes with 2 sides and corn bread. this is not the quietest restaurant, nor the cleanest, for that matter. the service is hit or miss in my experience

the fried chicken (1/4 dark meat for $7.05 at lunch) is very good, the beef ribs ($8.25) aregoodnot great, and i love the salmon cakes ($7.25 at lunch). the fried catfish isgoodand well priced at $7.75, and the whiting is even better at $7.55. the fried green tomato app is nice, not as tart as some, but still good. the collards are not to my liking, and i've tried them several times.

the shrimp and grits ($7.89) are nice, rich and creamy, though a rather small serving. the bbq pork ($7.30) is not really a favorite of mine - the meat is tender, but lacks any hint of smokiness, and the sauce is sweeter than i care for.

all in all not a bad place to grab some soul food for lunch if in the area, and a visit to see what it is all about should be considered but once is probably enough. this is just not a destination soul food spot despite the hype,
there is better available in the charlotte area.


-----06 jun, 2011-----

nice downtown eatery. this place serves excellent low county/country cooking dishes at reasonable prices - at least the prices are reasonable at lunch, $7 - $9 for a entree which comes with 2 sides and corn bread.

the fried chicken is excellent, the ribs are as well, and i love the salmon cakes. the fried catfish is good, any of the po' boys are worth trying. the fried green tomato app is nice, not as tart as some, but still good. the collards are not to my liking, and i've tried them twice.

the shrimp and grits are nice, rich and creamy. but, i was disappointed in the shrimp creole, was bland and watery. service here is excellent, even when this place is busy, which it always seems to be. the ambiance is homey, though it can get a little loud.

so so ... very over rated. don't get me wrong. it's a nice place and the service isgoodand friendly but the food has a long way to go.

my wife and i drove into charlotte ot give them a try. my wife ordered a grilled chicken salad while i stuck with one of the brunch specials, chicken and waffles. being a soul food restaurant, what could be better?

given that my wife liked her salad, my chicken and waffles left much to be desired. both the waffle and the chicken were grossly overcooked. the waffle was very dense in texture with no height to it at all. in other words, it was very flat. it was also cooked to almost a very dark brown.

the corn bread is verygoodbut they may want to cut back a bit on the sugar so that it tastes a bit less like cake. still very good, warm with butter on it.

chicken was very tough and dry with a very hard crust on the outside. you definatey needed a knife to cut these babies.

being on almost a diagonal from the performing arts centers, the decor is rich in posters from off broadway shows. it's a nice decor and very homey. as i mentioned earlier, service isgoodalthough i would have liked a refill on my tea at some point.

at some point, i'll give them another try but right now, restaurant did not live up to my expectations or their reviews.

it lived up to my expectations; the barbecue was asgoodas i’ve ever had and the boys had to fight me over the mac and cheese. with some of the friendliest service in addition to delicious food, this is a must-visit restaurant if you’re ever in charlotte.

scramble eggs were runny. service was terrible. chicken wasgoodso were the home fries.

ate there this past weekend.. was expecting reallygoodfood, and at least average service .. not what i got. the service was awful and the food was worse. my wife had cajun pork chops with yams and collard greens. i had a veggie plate (collard greens, seasoned rice, green beans). each bite of my greens was ruined by a crunch of sand & an overbearing taste of vinegar. the 'flavored' rice had no flavor whatsoever. my wife said her pork chops tasted like they had been sitting in water then they took them out and sprinkled some blackening seasoning on them.
when we asked our waiter for the check, he could not produce it... he asked "i was your server right?" the manager was then supposed to handle the problem.. we did not hear from her until 10 minutes later as we were about to walk out after a different waitress figured out how to get us the bill. definitely will not go back there again.

not going back. we have been here twice. the first time was okay but not great but we were willing to give it another chance. the second time was just plain awful. these people claim to cook soul food but don't know how to season food. everything main dish we have had there was bland-fried catfish, fried chicken, salmon cakes, shrimp creole. the shrimp creole tasted like boiled shrimp with a few tomatoes on it instead of being a nice tomato sauce. the collards were gritty and one of the kids in our group ordered fries which were really small white potatoes quatered that were partially raw and had no seasoning. the first time the cornbread was really good, almost cake like, the second time it just tasted like jiffy mix.

service is notgoodhere; they are slow, the don't come back and ask you do you need anything, you have to flag them down for refills, they don't clear the table well. you are have to hand them your dishes when you are done, they don't think to do so. if you are looking for southern/soul food in uptown, go to king's kitchen- the food is much better and they havegoodservice as well. will not return to merts.

dang good. i had the shrimp & grits. it was prettygoodand was a brown gravy base. service was reallygoodfor our party of 7. all the plates looked great imo.

i wouldn't make a special trip but if you are in charlotte looking for somethinggoodto eat, this is one to consider.