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 oftimecafeteria 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 very good as 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 was good but 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!

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 intimeto 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, good eatin food you’re probably looking for. don’t miss out y’all!

great soul food. the sides are excellent. i had the fried soft shell crab as a special. it was exceptional. this is my firsttimein downtown charlotte and i was not disappointed. outside dining too.

this is the secondtimethat i have been to mert's. both times food was prepared excellent. i had wings first time, the seasoning was just right. secondtimehad catfish, it was good as 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 was good as well. nexttimei will make sure to save room for dessert. they have a bar full of cakes that look very good.

had breakfast once and it took 35 minutes. i was disgusted but said maybe because it was busy that's why they were slow and our food was cold. tried again, thistimelunch and it was worse. everything had a strong vinegar taste. no flavor and again our food was cold. they bought me my side dish and 15 min later they bought my food. they had to reheat my side again. we will never go back there. they no nothing about southern cooking or hospitality for that matter

overall it's a great place to eat. food is good and 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 lasttimeyou were there. also, it's not too expensive even though you're in uptown.

tip: park in the deck at the holiday inn next to mert's. that's the only deck they validate tickets for.


-----24 feb, 2014-----

ate there tonight for my second time. firsttimehad sausage & red beans. it was good. tonight my sweetie and i had fried chicken and bbq ribs, mac & cheese, potato salad, and black-eyed peas. cornbread comes with the meal and we also ordered soul rolls. the chicken was ok, nothing extraordinary. price's is much better. the cornbread and the soul rolls were excellent and worth another visit. the other sides were not remarkable. mert's was packed tonight, but the service was still fairly good. overall, the joint is ok, not great.

all i can say is ew.... first off let me just say that i love soul food and as an african american woman in the south, i expected this to meet expectations but it did not! i called 45 min ahead oftimeof picking up my order and asked if they can make it ready in 30 when my initialtimewas 15. but guess what?! i still ended up waiting even though i gave them 15 add'l min!! then when inquiring about the cake that they had, the lady starts hacking in front of me like she's about to lose a lung! like gross! then when i finally get my food, i get back to work and my red beans are all over my chckn wings and mac n cheese! i was sooooo mad! then to make matters worse, my meal was the biggest plate of seasonless food i have ever consumed! it was so bland, it was ridiculous! smh never again!

not going back. we have been here twice. the firsttimewas okay but not great but we were willing to give it another chance. the secondtimewas 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 firsttimethe cornbread was really good, almost cake like, the secondtimeit just tasted like jiffy mix.

service is not good here; 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 have good service as well. will not return to merts.

mert's has soul. did you grow up in the south? delicious fried chicken, pork chops, corn bread, candied yams, and greens? this uptown restaurant is anything but uptown. the sweet tea is intoxicating and if you combine it with lemonade....you have a tiger woods. once you are stuffed with any of their wonderful entries, just try any of their homemade cakes or cobblers. there isn't any white table cloth here. your arteries won't thank you for the experience, but your taste buds will remember the tastes for a longtimeto come. try the buttermilk chicken tenders with some honey....omg!.....and on sunday they have a morning brunch that just kicks it up another notch.

good. went to dinner here a couple of times and the food is good. the cake is also good as well, although they were out of cake the lasttimei went. their fried chicken wings are good and so is the corn bread!

excellent. this is my 3rdtimegoing to merts after a falcons / panthers game. after eating tailgate food all weekend, this is the spot to get your veggies and good sweet tea. the chicken tenders are seasoned perfect and the green beans and mac and cheese are really good. see you in 2012.


-----20 nov, 2009-----

atlanta falcons to charlotte. i was in town for the falcons/panthers game and wanted some home cooking. the place was packed with locals at 12:45pm, that was a good sign. the saturday menu isn't as big as the weekly menu. the veggies are really good, i stuck with the fried chicken and was a good choice. i also was able to sample the smoothered fried chicken steak and shrimp creole and both was very good.

the cornbread was a meal by its self. this will be my normal stop when i come in town.

minnie. i had a complaint and thought they were not going to address it because it had been a couple weeks since but must say they rectified the situation and i said that i would compliment them if they did and now i am.
thanks, merts.


-----29 aug, 2011-----

minnie. husband and i ate there for the firsttime2 sundays ago. the waitress suggested smothered chicken as the special for 8.95. when it came, it was one chicken wing covered in gravy. he complained and was brought a couple more chicken wings with gravy on them. and really, the amount was 9.99 for his.
the part that makes me frustrated is the inability for them to apologize. they just looked at him when he paid our bill. and i wrote to them via email and have yet to hear back. if i do, i will write another review and let everyone know.

robert callahan. outstanding dining experience. from thetimewe arrived until thetimewe left, we were treated like valued patrons. we were seated immediately, even on a busy evening. our waitress was pleasant, punctual and proficient. our food arrived ontimeand was everything we had hoped for. our party ordered several items on the menu and shared samples. the fried chicken and catfish were delectable. the individual portions of cornbread melted in the mouth. the sides were fresh and perfectly seasoned. as good as the dinner was, the dessert was even better. their cake selection is vast and varied. it was much too difficult to make a decision without complete culinary ambivalence. however, let me say that choosing the sweet potato cake (think carrott cake without the carrotts) was the best decision of the night. you have to try it to appreciate just how moist a cake can be. i read a few negative reviews before dining here. i have to think these folks were referring to another restaurant, because i can say nothing but positive things about our experience here. we'll definitely be back and recommend mert's to everyone we know!