The Merlin, Alderley Edge

Why choose? Our Trio of Roasts presents the most delicious highlights of your favourite classic roasts on one perfect plate. Try it this weekend, and welcome autumn with open arms. 🍃🍁🍂

Need a little escape? We’ll set the coffee machine whirring and save you a seat. Don’t forget to bring a book.

Walk done. Time to unwind in the bar. 🐾

Our dark and indulgent Espresso Martini makes a stunning after-dinner drink… or a twist on coffee with the girls. Cocktails are 2 for £10 Monday to Friday, 12pm to 7pm – just the excuse you need.

It’ll be that time of year again before you know it. Book ahead for an irresistible festive season at ours, whether you’re dreaming of a luxurious Christmas lunch or a glittering New Year’s Eve.

Marvellous, melting, magical. Our Golden Chocolate Bomb makes autumn taste that much sweeter. Try it now from our new seasonal menu.

It’s been a wonderful summer. But now they’re back at school, you deserve a little time off. Gather a few friends (grown-ups only, of course) and join us for a 2 or 3-course lunch.

We are hiring!!!!
We are looking for full time waiting on/bar staff to join our fantastic team. Please send a CV to enquiry@themerlin.co.uk or call and ask to speak to the manager on duty. 01625599959

Are you attending this stunning dining experience?
This event is not to be missed!

Meat free Monday or meat free every day, we’ve got you covered with our vegan menu.
Choose from delicious dishes that include our Roasted Aubergine, Spinach and Harissa Burger, the Spiced Coconut Curry and this amazing Roasted Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Tart.
... What will you choose?
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To swirl or not to swirl?? Rothschild will teach you everything!
You are encouraged to swirl your wine. The reason for is to allow the components to disperse and oxygen to seep in which opens the true flavours! 😍
Learn more about our wine at our upcoming Rothschild event on the 8th September priced at £65 per person including a 5 course menu. There are only 10 places left so book now to avoid disappointment!!

Summer calls for sparkling bottles of fizz, cold beers and fruity, fresh cocktails. Check out our drinks menu and find your favourite tipple.
Visit us and kick off the Bank Holiday weekend in style!

Places are booking up fast.
We can’t wait for this event. It has got to be our favourites! Fantastic food and lots of wine!
Don’t miss out. Secure your table tonight.

You know that Thursday’s the new Friday, right?
It’s also National Burger Day, so let’s get this bank holiday weekend started off in style.
From stacked Homemade British Beef Burgers to our Roasted Aubergine, Spinach and Harissa Burger – there’s something for everyone!

Our Rothschild Wine and Dine evening is only round the corner.
Come and enjoy a fizz arrival with Canapés followed by a 5 course meal with flavoursome Rothschild wines to match each course.
What more could you want?
... Tickets are £65 each.
Please give us a call to reserve your place.
01625 599 959
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Exclusive Dining Experience with Rothschild!
Stephen the Commercial Director from Rothschild will be here to host this exceptional evening and tell you all about how their wines compliment each for the 5 courses designed by our talented Head Chef Tom Lowery.
... On the evening you will be enjoying some of Rothschilds most exquisite wines including: Leoube, Baroness Nadine, Mouton Cadet and Los Vascos. Sit back, relax and enjoy all the flavours this evening has to offer.
Places are £65 per head and include a spectacular 5 course dining experience. Please note a £35 per head per person deposit will be needed at the time of booking. Places are limited so please book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
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Just add friends.
Who would you like to be enjoying this deliciously spicy pizza with?

Looking for somewhere to host your meeting, corporate function or networking event? We have two private dining rooms which we can customise to accommodate your requirements! We can provide a projector and screen, teas and coffees on arrival and water for the table - not to mention our delightful menu and buffet options!
Please get in touch with a member of our team to enquire or make a booking!
Call us on 01625 599959
... enquiry@themerlin.co.uk
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Refreshing summer botanical notes, clinking ice and juicy green fruit – our T&E drinks have everything you need for a perfect summer afternoon.
Plus, it’s vegan and under 100 calories – the benefits keep on coming…

What a fantastic place now after a refurb.

The staff and the food were

Amazing the Merlin will now give all the restaurants in Alderley Edge a run for the money .

Big car park so give it a go

Much easier than in the village .

We visited The Merlin yesterday with family and had a fab Sunday roast. We all enjoyed our meals - food and service excellent. Will definitely return and highly recommend.

We tried the vegan menu last week and the food was amazing and really imaginative! It was so nice to be spoilt for choice somewhere and we can't wait to come back to try the rest of the menu �

The place was nice and clean with a chilled atmosphere. The Food was lovely from start to finish and we didn't really wait too long. Although it could have been quicker seeing as there was only 4 tables occupied. Average 20 mins between courses. My missus had fresh orange juice and it was almost like freshly squeezed oranges. Shame the same can't be said for the Guinness. Wasn't good... in fact I'd say the Guinness was terrible. But wasn't going to mix drinks. Had to send the second pint back due to it loosing it's head only after the first mouthful. Replacement was just as bad.. But the food was good.

The food, atmosphere and service was all great!! Our waitress Becky provided excellent customer service too! Would recommend the Merlin and we’ll be visiting again soon.

The Merlin is a beautiful setting for any dinning experience. My husband and I go regularly however this weekend I booked a surprise Sunday dinner to celebrate his 30th. We had a party of 23 to celebrate with family and friends. The food was great and the service was perfect. They handled the large party with ease and didn't make one mistake. I particularly like that they gave us a host, who looked after us all afternoon. I would recommend for anyone wanting to have a small gathering or even for just a couple. Thanks for finishing my husbands birthday weekend so perfectly. We'll be back soon. 🥂

Really enjoyed the vegan tart and my partner enjoyed the vegan curry mains today. So lovely to have a a full vegan menu choice. Well done. But to add, the sides of the greens beans was disappointing though, should have come with walnuts but came with pine nuts and was just ok. The side of broccoli was gorgeous though.

I ate here the other lunchtime and really enjoyed my choice from the vegan menu. I’m not vegan but can’t eat cheese so it was great to have such a great selection of non meat dishes without having to worry about a cheese element. I had the salad and a friend had the tart and we both really enjoyed it. I hope it proves popular enough for you to keep it going.

I ate at the Merlin about a week ago for my third or fourth time. It was very pleasant, the food was excellent and it's particularly nice to be able to get a Nut Roast as a vegetarian alternative to a usual Sunday Roast.



The food was delicious as usual and the staff were also lovely and friendly. I definitely recommend for good food at a very reasonable price.

Excellent food and service as usual, Absolutely lovely atmosphere and the staff are fantastic Thank you

Absolutely amazing meal last night!

Fantastic service and the most amazing Vegan meal freshly prepared.

I did not miss having meat at all and my Vegan partner was incredibly happy with his birthday meal.

Will definitely be back.

Popped in here some years ago and said I’d return if in the area. Was a very hot bank holiday Monday so busy expectedly. We decided to go for the restaurant as it was waitress service as though maybe get served quicker. Drinks took longer that self serve at the bar and we had to chase. We had a starter sharing platter, on table clean up waitress took dirty napkins rightly so but did not replenish so had to ask for these. We asked for the bill and they have us someone else’s bill......not the best revisit.

Food was nice and would return & recommend.

Good service and reasonable food

We were told before ordering that there was no cauliflower cheese with the Sunday lunch,

Which was fine they managed our expectations .

No other veg offered - when my porky lubch arrived I was then asked did I require any sauces, my reply was yes please apple

No we don't have any we've run out !

Roast potatoes pale.

Ate here yesterday for a family celebration and it was recommended to us for the vegan menu. It's in a lovely spot and has outside seating, the decor inside is well done and the seating comfortable.



Our waiter was polite but not friendly and did at some times seem to be tolerating us. Some of us were a bit early and a drinks order was taken, and then another 10 minutes later when the rest of the party arrived but after that, we were never asked if we wanted to order more drinks, no one checked in with us until after the main course and it wasn't terribly busy at that time. Having said that, if we caught someones attention as they passed the table and asked for something they did deal with the request.



The menu looked amazing but in reality the food was patchy. I had the lobster pot to start which was very tasty. I followed that with the buttermilk southern fried chicken stuffed with n'duja sausage. The chicken was quite dry and the apple salad which I had been looking forward to was very limp - even for a shredded salad! I don't think there was any dressing on it, but the aoili and sweet potato fries were nice. My sister had the salmon in a filo parcel and didn't finish it as the fish was overcooked and dry. They got one of the side orders wrong and the carrots had to be sent back as they were also rather limp! Although the vegans asked for their starter salad to be made without pine nuts (allergies) and there was no problem with them doing that.



We didn't stay for dessert as there was birthday cake to be had back at home.



I have heard some good reviews about this place so maybe we just experienced them having a bad day at the office.

We booked a table of 4 adults and 2 kids for Xmas lunch. Based on a very nice Sunday lunch a couple of months previous. We we're hoping for a repeat experience if not a better one considering the £75 per head price tag( same price for kids) but we didn't get quite the experience we were hoping for.

We were shown to the table and ordered drinks, within 2 minutes the starters had turned up. The drinks a few minutes later. The food was decent enough to be honest, it Just seemed to be lacking something. Plates were cleared and mains came about 5 mins later. I had beef wellington, the beef fillet looked lost inside the massive pastry case, which looked like no beef wellington I'd seen before. It was served with about 4 sprouts, 1 sliced carrot and a couple of pieces of butternut squash and red onion-Which were overcooked, when I asked the waitress about the roast potatoes for the table, I was told it didn't come with any, which I found very hard to believe. But she said she would see what she could do, a tray of boiled spuds tossed in oil turned up

Upon checking the menu it stated 'served with crispy goose fat potatoes'. We then mentioned this to a different waitress who said it came with 'fondant potatoes, and that's how we've served it all day '

Seemed like the staff couldn't decide which excuse to use. We asked to see the manager who came over for a chat. She told us the potatoes were 'cooked in goose fat, just not crispy' and she offered to knock off the price of the wine from the bill.

The desserts were very nice and coffee was good,overall just feel that £450 for 6 people wasn't good value for the quality of food and service. We won't be rushing back next year

My partner and I stayed here for the second time at weekend and were looking forward to a night away. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed for a number of reasons; our room smelt musty as soon as we arrived, then we realised we had an infestation of ladybirds in our room (which were cleared up) however, whilst the staff were in the process of doing this, we weren't offered a complimentary drink. Once in the room I noticed how dirty the TV remote was, along with the hairdryer. These are basic things that only require a wipe with a cloth. Nevertheless, we went out for a meal that night and enjoyed Alderley Edge. We woke up the next morning and went down for breakfast at 9.20, where we were asked to wait whilst a table was cleaned - this took 15 minutes. Although there was only one member of staff on, I feel, the customer service just wasn't up to standard. I had to ask for hot drinks, plates for the buffet, butter, bowls and what the process was for ordering our hot breakfast. I didn't regard the room as particularly busy as there were only three other tables that were occupied. We then waited until 10.15 to get our hot breakfast. I say hot, it was barely warm. The sausage and bacon were charcoaled and had obviously been warmed up. By this point we'd had enough and made the decision to eat elsewhere. I asked for my money back for the food and we proceeded to leave The Merlin. It just wasn't good enough. We were both very disappointed all round.

Went tonight, was dire, mushroom starter was tinned mushrooms and main was cold as a result of us waiting half an hour for the bread to go with the starter, bill was wrong too.

Visited yesterday, having booked a little bit last minute. It didn’t seem busy inside but it was quite nice out so I asked if we could sit in the pergola, we were handed menus and told to find a table. Nobody came out to take a drink order, I waited a while and then went to the bar, asked someone as I passed and she said to order food & drink at the bar. It wasn’t busy and I was served straight away. We waited quite a while for food which wasn’t a problem but no one came outside at all. As it was Father’s Day it was a set 3 course meal for £23.95. I wouldn’t normally have 3 courses but there didn’t seem to be an alternative. When the food arrived it was fine, just a roast dinner which to be honest wasn’t great but edible. I then found a long blonde hair in what I think was stuffing/meatball. No one came out to check how the food was so I just left it. After about 20 mins I gave up and went to get the bill just as a waiter came out. I showed him the hair, he apologised and offered us both dessert for free. I pointed out dessert was in the set meal, he said I could have just had 1 or 2 courses (the menu didn’t give that option). Again no one came out to check after dessert so I went into pay, the guy behind the bar asked how everything was to which I explained it wasn’t great and all the above, his response was “ok” and that was that. So overall, £53 for a very average roast dinner with a soft drink and one glass of wine and a hair was pretty shocking. Won’t be back which is a shame as the restaurant is a really nice setting.

Let's start on a positive. The vegan menu is really nice. Went on a Friday evening. It was busy bit not overly so. The service was not great mainly due to the fact that there was nowhere near enough staff on.

Went a few weeks ago and sat outside where the service was almost non existent. After our food had been brought out we didn't see another member of staff. Good job we were honest and paid the bill. Could easily have left without paying.

Won't be going back in a hurry. Shame as food is very nice.

What a fantastic place now after a refurb.

The staff and the food were

Amazing the Merlin will now give all the restaurants in Alderley Edge a run for the money .

Big car park so give it a go

Much easier than in the village .

We visited The Merlin yesterday with family and had a fab Sunday roast. We all enjoyed our meals - food and service excellent. Will definitely return and highly recommend.

We tried the vegan menu last week and the food was amazing and really imaginative! It was so nice to be spoilt for choice somewhere and we can't wait to come back to try the rest of the menu �

The place was nice and clean with a chilled atmosphere. The Food was lovely from start to finish and we didn't really wait too long. Although it could have been quicker seeing as there was only 4 tables occupied. Average 20 mins between courses. My missus had fresh orange juice and it was almost like freshly squeezed oranges. Shame the same can't be said for the Guinness. Wasn't good... in fact I'd say the Guinness was terrible. But wasn't going to mix drinks. Had to send the second pint back due to it loosing it's head only after the first mouthful. Replacement was just as bad.. But the food was good.

The food, atmosphere and service was all great!! Our waitress Becky provided excellent customer service too! Would recommend the Merlin and we’ll be visiting again soon.

The Merlin is a beautiful setting for any dinning experience. My husband and I go regularly however this weekend I booked a surprise Sunday dinner to celebrate his 30th. We had a party of 23 to celebrate with family and friends. The food was great and the service was perfect. They handled the large party with ease and didn't make one mistake. I particularly like that they gave us a host, who looked after us all afternoon. I would recommend for anyone wanting to have a small gathering or even for just a couple. Thanks for finishing my husbands birthday weekend so perfectly. We'll be back soon. 🥂

Really enjoyed the vegan tart and my partner enjoyed the vegan curry mains today. So lovely to have a a full vegan menu choice. Well done. But to add, the sides of the greens beans was disappointing though, should have come with walnuts but came with pine nuts and was just ok. The side of broccoli was gorgeous though.

I ate here the other lunchtime and really enjoyed my choice from the vegan menu. I’m not vegan but can’t eat cheese so it was great to have such a great selection of non meat dishes without having to worry about a cheese element. I had the salad and a friend had the tart and we both really enjoyed it. I hope it proves popular enough for you to keep it going.

I ate at the Merlin about a week ago for my third or fourth time. It was very pleasant, the food was excellent and it's particularly nice to be able to get a Nut Roast as a vegetarian alternative to a usual Sunday Roast.



The food was delicious as usual and the staff were also lovely and friendly. I definitely recommend for good food at a very reasonable price.

Excellent food and service as usual, Absolutely lovely atmosphere and the staff are fantastic Thank you

Absolutely amazing meal last night!

Fantastic service and the most amazing Vegan meal freshly prepared.

I did not miss having meat at all and my Vegan partner was incredibly happy with his birthday meal.

Will definitely be back.

Popped in here some years ago and said I’d return if in the area. Was a very hot bank holiday Monday so busy expectedly. We decided to go for the restaurant as it was waitress service as though maybe get served quicker. Drinks took longer that self serve at the bar and we had to chase. We had a starter sharing platter, on table clean up waitress took dirty napkins rightly so but did not replenish so had to ask for these. We asked for the bill and they have us someone else’s bill......not the best revisit.

Food was nice and would return & recommend.

Good service and reasonable food

We were told before ordering that there was no cauliflower cheese with the Sunday lunch,

Which was fine they managed our expectations .

No other veg offered - when my porky lubch arrived I was then asked did I require any sauces, my reply was yes please apple

No we don't have any we've run out !

Roast potatoes pale.

Ate here yesterday for a family celebration and it was recommended to us for the vegan menu. It's in a lovely spot and has outside seating, the decor inside is well done and the seating comfortable.



Our waiter was polite but not friendly and did at some times seem to be tolerating us. Some of us were a bit early and a drinks order was taken, and then another 10 minutes later when the rest of the party arrived but after that, we were never asked if we wanted to order more drinks, no one checked in with us until after the main course and it wasn't terribly busy at that time. Having said that, if we caught someones attention as they passed the table and asked for something they did deal with the request.



The menu looked amazing but in reality the food was patchy. I had the lobster pot to start which was very tasty. I followed that with the buttermilk southern fried chicken stuffed with n'duja sausage. The chicken was quite dry and the apple salad which I had been looking forward to was very limp - even for a shredded salad! I don't think there was any dressing on it, but the aoili and sweet potato fries were nice. My sister had the salmon in a filo parcel and didn't finish it as the fish was overcooked and dry. They got one of the side orders wrong and the carrots had to be sent back as they were also rather limp! Although the vegans asked for their starter salad to be made without pine nuts (allergies) and there was no problem with them doing that.



We didn't stay for dessert as there was birthday cake to be had back at home.



I have heard some good reviews about this place so maybe we just experienced them having a bad day at the office.

We booked a table of 4 adults and 2 kids for Xmas lunch. Based on a very nice Sunday lunch a couple of months previous. We we're hoping for a repeat experience if not a better one considering the £75 per head price tag( same price for kids) but we didn't get quite the experience we were hoping for.

We were shown to the table and ordered drinks, within 2 minutes the starters had turned up. The drinks a few minutes later. The food was decent enough to be honest, it Just seemed to be lacking something. Plates were cleared and mains came about 5 mins later. I had beef wellington, the beef fillet looked lost inside the massive pastry case, which looked like no beef wellington I'd seen before. It was served with about 4 sprouts, 1 sliced carrot and a couple of pieces of butternut squash and red onion-Which were overcooked, when I asked the waitress about the roast potatoes for the table, I was told it didn't come with any, which I found very hard to believe. But she said she would see what she could do, a tray of boiled spuds tossed in oil turned up

Upon checking the menu it stated 'served with crispy goose fat potatoes'. We then mentioned this to a different waitress who said it came with 'fondant potatoes, and that's how we've served it all day '

Seemed like the staff couldn't decide which excuse to use. We asked to see the manager who came over for a chat. She told us the potatoes were 'cooked in goose fat, just not crispy' and she offered to knock off the price of the wine from the bill.

The desserts were very nice and coffee was good,overall just feel that £450 for 6 people wasn't good value for the quality of food and service. We won't be rushing back next year

My partner and I stayed here for the second time at weekend and were looking forward to a night away. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed for a number of reasons; our room smelt musty as soon as we arrived, then we realised we had an infestation of ladybirds in our room (which were cleared up) however, whilst the staff were in the process of doing this, we weren't offered a complimentary drink. Once in the room I noticed how dirty the TV remote was, along with the hairdryer. These are basic things that only require a wipe with a cloth. Nevertheless, we went out for a meal that night and enjoyed Alderley Edge. We woke up the next morning and went down for breakfast at 9.20, where we were asked to wait whilst a table was cleaned - this took 15 minutes. Although there was only one member of staff on, I feel, the customer service just wasn't up to standard. I had to ask for hot drinks, plates for the buffet, butter, bowls and what the process was for ordering our hot breakfast. I didn't regard the room as particularly busy as there were only three other tables that were occupied. We then waited until 10.15 to get our hot breakfast. I say hot, it was barely warm. The sausage and bacon were charcoaled and had obviously been warmed up. By this point we'd had enough and made the decision to eat elsewhere. I asked for my money back for the food and we proceeded to leave The Merlin. It just wasn't good enough. We were both very disappointed all round.

Went tonight, was dire, mushroom starter was tinned mushrooms and main was cold as a result of us waiting half an hour for the bread to go with the starter, bill was wrong too.

Visited yesterday, having booked a little bit last minute. It didn’t seem busy inside but it was quite nice out so I asked if we could sit in the pergola, we were handed menus and told to find a table. Nobody came out to take a drink order, I waited a while and then went to the bar, asked someone as I passed and she said to order food & drink at the bar. It wasn’t busy and I was served straight away. We waited quite a while for food which wasn’t a problem but no one came outside at all. As it was Father’s Day it was a set 3 course meal for £23.95. I wouldn’t normally have 3 courses but there didn’t seem to be an alternative. When the food arrived it was fine, just a roast dinner which to be honest wasn’t great but edible. I then found a long blonde hair in what I think was stuffing/meatball. No one came out to check how the food was so I just left it. After about 20 mins I gave up and went to get the bill just as a waiter came out. I showed him the hair, he apologised and offered us both dessert for free. I pointed out dessert was in the set meal, he said I could have just had 1 or 2 courses (the menu didn’t give that option). Again no one came out to check after dessert so I went into pay, the guy behind the bar asked how everything was to which I explained it wasn’t great and all the above, his response was “ok” and that was that. So overall, £53 for a very average roast dinner with a soft drink and one glass of wine and a hair was pretty shocking. Won’t be back which is a shame as the restaurant is a really nice setting.

Let's start on a positive. The vegan menu is really nice. Went on a Friday evening. It was busy bit not overly so. The service was not great mainly due to the fact that there was nowhere near enough staff on.

Went a few weeks ago and sat outside where the service was almost non existent. After our food had been brought out we didn't see another member of staff. Good job we were honest and paid the bill. Could easily have left without paying.

Won't be going back in a hurry. Shame as food is very nice.

What a fantastic place now after a refurb.

The staff and the food were

Amazing the Merlin will now give all the restaurants in Alderley Edge a run for the money .

Big car park so give it a go

Much easier than in the village .

We visited The Merlin yesterday with family and had a fab Sunday roast. We all enjoyed our meals - food and service excellent. Will definitely return and highly recommend.

We tried the vegan menu last week and the food was amazing and really imaginative! It was so nice to be spoilt for choice somewhere and we can't wait to come back to try the rest of the menu �

The place was nice and clean with a chilled atmosphere. The Food was lovely from start to finish and we didn't really wait too long. Although it could have been quicker seeing as there was only 4 tables occupied. Average 20 mins between courses. My missus had fresh orange juice and it was almost like freshly squeezed oranges. Shame the same can't be said for the Guinness. Wasn't good... in fact I'd say the Guinness was terrible. But wasn't going to mix drinks. Had to send the second pint back due to it loosing it's head only after the first mouthful. Replacement was just as bad.. But the food was good.

The food, atmosphere and service was all great!! Our waitress Becky provided excellent customer service too! Would recommend the Merlin and we’ll be visiting again soon.

The Merlin is a beautiful setting for any dinning experience. My husband and I go regularly however this weekend I booked a surprise Sunday dinner to celebrate his 30th. We had a party of 23 to celebrate with family and friends. The food was great and the service was perfect. They handled the large party with ease and didn't make one mistake. I particularly like that they gave us a host, who looked after us all afternoon. I would recommend for anyone wanting to have a small gathering or even for just a couple. Thanks for finishing my husbands birthday weekend so perfectly. We'll be back soon. 🥂

Really enjoyed the vegan tart and my partner enjoyed the vegan curry mains today. So lovely to have a a full vegan menu choice. Well done. But to add, the sides of the greens beans was disappointing though, should have come with walnuts but came with pine nuts and was just ok. The side of broccoli was gorgeous though.

I ate here the other lunchtime and really enjoyed my choice from the vegan menu. I’m not vegan but can’t eat cheese so it was great to have such a great selection of non meat dishes without having to worry about a cheese element. I had the salad and a friend had the tart and we both really enjoyed it. I hope it proves popular enough for you to keep it going.

I ate at the Merlin about a week ago for my third or fourth time. It was very pleasant, the food was excellent and it's particularly nice to be able to get a Nut Roast as a vegetarian alternative to a usual Sunday Roast.



The food was delicious as usual and the staff were also lovely and friendly. I definitely recommend for good food at a very reasonable price.

Excellent food and service as usual, Absolutely lovely atmosphere and the staff are fantastic Thank you

Absolutely amazing meal last night!

Fantastic service and the most amazing Vegan meal freshly prepared.

I did not miss having meat at all and my Vegan partner was incredibly happy with his birthday meal.

Will definitely be back.

Popped in here some years ago and said I’d return if in the area. Was a very hot bank holiday Monday so busy expectedly. We decided to go for the restaurant as it was waitress service as though maybe get served quicker. Drinks took longer that self serve at the bar and we had to chase. We had a starter sharing platter, on table clean up waitress took dirty napkins rightly so but did not replenish so had to ask for these. We asked for the bill and they have us someone else’s bill......not the best revisit.

Food was nice and would return & recommend.

Good service and reasonable food

We were told before ordering that there was no cauliflower cheese with the Sunday lunch,

Which was fine they managed our expectations .

No other veg offered - when my porky lubch arrived I was then asked did I require any sauces, my reply was yes please apple

No we don't have any we've run out !

Roast potatoes pale.

Ate here yesterday for a family celebration and it was recommended to us for the vegan menu. It's in a lovely spot and has outside seating, the decor inside is well done and the seating comfortable.



Our waiter was polite but not friendly and did at some times seem to be tolerating us. Some of us were a bit early and a drinks order was taken, and then another 10 minutes later when the rest of the party arrived but after that, we were never asked if we wanted to order more drinks, no one checked in with us until after the main course and it wasn't terribly busy at that time. Having said that, if we caught someones attention as they passed the table and asked for something they did deal with the request.



The menu looked amazing but in reality the food was patchy. I had the lobster pot to start which was very tasty. I followed that with the buttermilk southern fried chicken stuffed with n'duja sausage. The chicken was quite dry and the apple salad which I had been looking forward to was very limp - even for a shredded salad! I don't think there was any dressing on it, but the aoili and sweet potato fries were nice. My sister had the salmon in a filo parcel and didn't finish it as the fish was overcooked and dry. They got one of the side orders wrong and the carrots had to be sent back as they were also rather limp! Although the vegans asked for their starter salad to be made without pine nuts (allergies) and there was no problem with them doing that.



We didn't stay for dessert as there was birthday cake to be had back at home.



I have heard some good reviews about this place so maybe we just experienced them having a bad day at the office.

We booked a table of 4 adults and 2 kids for Xmas lunch. Based on a very nice Sunday lunch a couple of months previous. We we're hoping for a repeat experience if not a better one considering the £75 per head price tag( same price for kids) but we didn't get quite the experience we were hoping for.

We were shown to the table and ordered drinks, within 2 minutes the starters had turned up. The drinks a few minutes later. The food was decent enough to be honest, it Just seemed to be lacking something. Plates were cleared and mains came about 5 mins later. I had beef wellington, the beef fillet looked lost inside the massive pastry case, which looked like no beef wellington I'd seen before. It was served with about 4 sprouts, 1 sliced carrot and a couple of pieces of butternut squash and red onion-Which were overcooked, when I asked the waitress about the roast potatoes for the table, I was told it didn't come with any, which I found very hard to believe. But she said she would see what she could do, a tray of boiled spuds tossed in oil turned up

Upon checking the menu it stated 'served with crispy goose fat potatoes'. We then mentioned this to a different waitress who said it came with 'fondant potatoes, and that's how we've served it all day '

Seemed like the staff couldn't decide which excuse to use. We asked to see the manager who came over for a chat. She told us the potatoes were 'cooked in goose fat, just not crispy' and she offered to knock off the price of the wine from the bill.

The desserts were very nice and coffee was good,overall just feel that £450 for 6 people wasn't good value for the quality of food and service. We won't be rushing back next year

My partner and I stayed here for the second time at weekend and were looking forward to a night away. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed for a number of reasons; our room smelt musty as soon as we arrived, then we realised we had an infestation of ladybirds in our room (which were cleared up) however, whilst the staff were in the process of doing this, we weren't offered a complimentary drink. Once in the room I noticed how dirty the TV remote was, along with the hairdryer. These are basic things that only require a wipe with a cloth. Nevertheless, we went out for a meal that night and enjoyed Alderley Edge. We woke up the next morning and went down for breakfast at 9.20, where we were asked to wait whilst a table was cleaned - this took 15 minutes. Although there was only one member of staff on, I feel, the customer service just wasn't up to standard. I had to ask for hot drinks, plates for the buffet, butter, bowls and what the process was for ordering our hot breakfast. I didn't regard the room as particularly busy as there were only three other tables that were occupied. We then waited until 10.15 to get our hot breakfast. I say hot, it was barely warm. The sausage and bacon were charcoaled and had obviously been warmed up. By this point we'd had enough and made the decision to eat elsewhere. I asked for my money back for the food and we proceeded to leave The Merlin. It just wasn't good enough. We were both very disappointed all round.

Went tonight, was dire, mushroom starter was tinned mushrooms and main was cold as a result of us waiting half an hour for the bread to go with the starter, bill was wrong too.

Visited yesterday, having booked a little bit last minute. It didn’t seem busy inside but it was quite nice out so I asked if we could sit in the pergola, we were handed menus and told to find a table. Nobody came out to take a drink order, I waited a while and then went to the bar, asked someone as I passed and she said to order food & drink at the bar. It wasn’t busy and I was served straight away. We waited quite a while for food which wasn’t a problem but no one came outside at all. As it was Father’s Day it was a set 3 course meal for £23.95. I wouldn’t normally have 3 courses but there didn’t seem to be an alternative. When the food arrived it was fine, just a roast dinner which to be honest wasn’t great but edible. I then found a long blonde hair in what I think was stuffing/meatball. No one came out to check how the food was so I just left it. After about 20 mins I gave up and went to get the bill just as a waiter came out. I showed him the hair, he apologised and offered us both dessert for free. I pointed out dessert was in the set meal, he said I could have just had 1 or 2 courses (the menu didn’t give that option). Again no one came out to check after dessert so I went into pay, the guy behind the bar asked how everything was to which I explained it wasn’t great and all the above, his response was “ok” and that was that. So overall, £53 for a very average roast dinner with a soft drink and one glass of wine and a hair was pretty shocking. Won’t be back which is a shame as the restaurant is a really nice setting.

Let's start on a positive. The vegan menu is really nice. Went on a Friday evening. It was busy bit not overly so. The service was not great mainly due to the fact that there was nowhere near enough staff on.

Went a few weeks ago and sat outside where the service was almost non existent. After our food had been brought out we didn't see another member of staff. Good job we were honest and paid the bill. Could easily have left without paying.

Won't be going back in a hurry. Shame as food is very nice.