The Merrywell

Apparently voted the best burger for 2013,2014, we decided to try it before watching Deadpool, which was, I thought strangely appropriate.
We both got The Merrywell’s The Red Eye. It was surprisingly spicy for a burger, it puts Huxtaburger’s Denise to shame. I love the smokey flavour but in the end, for some reason I detected a lot of maple syrup flavours which is too sweet for my liking.
They had a special chilli cheese fries so hubby ordered that. It’s not too bad but was it worth $ 14?! Probably not really…
Not bad but not the best either. I would probably go back there if we were in Crown again and looking for fast cheap eats. The service was quite good as well.

My friends and I booked the Merrywell’s West Terrace to celebrate our friend’s hens night. We had a big group, so did our homework and booked the area two months in advance by filling out a booking form and sending it through to the team.
Fast forward to a week prior, we phoned to confirm our booking (as was required) and were told that the space we had booked was not available at that time and that they could place us on bar stools next to the dancing area. For real? After a bit of back and forth the staff member managed to «move some things around» and confirm our booking for earlier in the evening than we had hoped for, but in the right area.
On the night, it took a while for our drink orders to be taken and delivered (bottles of wine, not hard) and the entrees arrived about an hour after our arrival. Our mains were only delivered after we asked our waiter where they were, to which his reply was, «Oh, I’ve been on my break, I’ll check for you» — twenty minutes later, they arrived, almost three hours after we did.
Our experience wasn’t great. Our group were restless over the wait and left almost straight after dinner, ending my friend’s hens night pretty abruptly.
The only saving grace were the heavenly macaroni and cheese bites we received with our entrees. We could have had more of those.

So I came here for dinner with my girlfriend, she ordered the lamb ribs with water melon and I got their award winning burger… honestly the food was amazing, I mean the lamb was juicy and the meat falling off the bones. The burger was perfectly done to medium rare and simply finger licking delcious, BUT the service was kinda lacking. 1) Our plates got cleared up without the waitress asking if we were finished eating (which we weren’t actually.) 2) We weren’t asked if we wanted to have desserts or coffee or another glass of wine. 3) We were left waiting, trying to grab someone’s attention so they could fetch our bill. I mean overall the experience wasn’t bad, but neither was it memorable.

There’s a lot to be merry about this American wonder if you’re wandering the city at 11:30pm and hanging for a feast, look no further.
Oh Merrywell, you may be the most misunderstood restaurant in Melbourne. Some consumers may have been confused about how this establishment works as it includes two areas. The upstairs is the main restaurant where you’re seated in a fine dining like environment and your order is taken. Downstairs, the Burger Bar, is more of a casual experience where you go up and order. Most negative reviews deal with customer service which is mainly supported in the restaurant area. If you ask though, the staff downstairs are always happy to help, Merrywell is a regular for me, and the staff have always been super helpful, so sit tight for a long review of my 4 years at dining in The Merrywell.
What you get here is big food, bacon, burgers, lots of meat selections, flashy lights and a little taste of Vegas. It has a feel good vibe about it perfectly located in Crown to walk out after dinner to watch the fire on Southbank or taking a romantic walk by the water if that’s your thing. The décor is classy if you merry your way to the upstairs area (the outside sitting has a nice view of Southbank) and you will find a sleek and modern version of Happy Days like bar below.
It’s all about the food, so let’s eat into it as the menu is huge.
The Burger Bar.
The Oreo and chocolate milkshakes hit the spot, they’re large and rich in sweetness but not overbearing. The Chicken Fingers with blue cheese dip and the Loaded Fries with bacon, cheese sauce and sour cream have enough of a hit for you to feel guilty. It’s cooked perfectly you will be thinking while you’re drowning in the flavour.
The Merrywell burger can be inconsistent. Back in 2012 the burger was amazing (which was voted best burger in 2012 and 2013). It had it all, a juicy beef patty, bacon, cheese, pickles, L.T.O, special sauce, ketchup, mustard (yep, all the sauce). Over the years the burger still retains all the madness, but the taste just doesn’t wow anymore (2014 and 2015). BUT, The Merrywell burger served in the restaurant (upstairs) is a different story. I believe the 2012 winner is alive and well here, with cheddar cheese being the only change in ingredients from the burger downstairs. Maybe a different little chef creates their magic there instead? Ratatouille fans eat your heart out. My recommendation is to get the The Merrywell in the restaurant, that burger is in my top 10 of burgers in Melbourne.
The restaurant.
The Buffalo Chicken Wings which are hot and spicy with blue cheese fondue and celery sticks is full of taste, chicken is tender, spicy sauce hits home but is smoothed over by the lip licking fondue. Mac & Cheese Bites that are Dorito crusted served with house BBQ sauce is hearty, delivering that nostalgic flavour you have come to except from this classic. The Mini Burgers with wagyu beef, white cheddar and caramelised onions is a joy to eat, juicy beef, cheese melted perfectly and a soft bun will put a smile on your face. The Spiced Beer Battered Fries has a tasty consistency that goes well with all the sides, great fries to have with your mains as well.
The scotch fillet 300g main that has a MW glaze with spiced fishcake, tiger prawn, fried potatoes and onion rings is an interesting dish. There’s no sauce, but the scotch fillet is perhaps the best I have tasted, tender and the glaze is sweet as it is brilliant. The fried potatoes are soft on the inside and crunchie on the outside. However, the rest of the gang doesn’t impress and were on the cold side than hot. This dish needs more thought for $ 40, maybe adding sauce for the fishcake and served hot. The seafood gumbo, which is an American curry with chorizo, cumin, lime, chilli, tomato with steamed rice captures the peppery curry taste. However, we found some fish bones in there which is disappointing to an otherwise satisfying curry.
The Merrywell is one of the better places to dine in Crown, even though it’s expensive, especially for the smaller items on the menu. However, there’s so much here to enjoy, and most of the time, nails the American taste.
Watch out for the surcharge that’s attracted with the credit card (because it makes sense to have a surcharge right?) and if you’re a Citibank cardholder, ask about the selection of free bottles of wine (ask at the start to enjoy with your meals), you will get it for free when you pay with your Citibank card.
This review isn’t sponsored by Citibank, but I do have a Citibank card.

Chicken caesar was awesome! Wine is good and service impeccable. Upstairs atmosphere is lovely with the view looking over to the city.

The Merrywell is located in the Crown Casino and has good food and regular drink specials. Everytime i have been it has been live music with a mid to older crowd. GoodTimes.

Since we are going to crown casino we decided to grab something near there. I would describe this as a fancy burger place, the deco is nice and the area is huge.
They hv a bar at the side too, so you can hv beer together with your burger. I saw that they have the sticker they are voted the best burger of the year in 2012 and 2013. Shouldn’t be bad right?
I ordered the red eye burger 15 dollars. It’s just a single burger. The size of the burger was okay. The bun is soft and nice. It seems they fried the burger bread as its greasy on the top. This burger it’s way too spicy for my liking, my tongue burned just with 1 bite.
We ordered another which is the American burger which cost slightly more 17 dollars. This one is good. The beef patty is cooked perfectly with a slight pink in the centre.
We ordered fries too, fries was just alright, I still like the fries from grill’d. To finish it off we had a root beer:)
If you come around 4−6pm you can enjoy a burger with a pint of beer for only 15 dollars.

Love the music and atmosphere. Ordered the Oz burger with chips. I couldn’t finish it. I’m not sure if it was the oil they used but there was an odd taste in mine. The burger was sopping wet and the meat fell apart. Partner had the KISS burger and finished his and said his had no funny taste. Although he said his a basic burger.
I’m not sure if I got a dud burger, but seriously that was below average and doubt even a dodgey fish and chip place would serve that up.

Came into to the Merrywell today with my girlfriend and i thought I’d try out the so called «burger of the year». I had high hopes when i entered the establishment but unfortunately ended up leaving sadly disappointed. I had to wait over 30 mins for my burger to arrive, by this time my girlfriend had already finished her meal. The buns were soggy, the luke warm patty was flavourless and the bacon had the texture of an elastic band. All of this for $ 22. I am sad to say that i will not be coming back.

The food here is just okay. Nothing special for a place that specialise in american food. I’ve tried some of the burgers, ribs, chicken&waffles and mac&cheese. I have nothing else to say except the drinks is great here. Great service and good pricing during happy hour. Such a good place to have drinks after work with co workers. I do recommend coming here for drinks

Great american style diner with a taste of elegance and the service to go with it.
The meals were great too.
Dont get the wholemeal bun though ;-)

Came in with a friend starving for a good burger, we both ordered the blue cheese burger and we were disappointed. The bun was massive and dry, and just a simple market style kaiser. Burgers here aren’t cheap (and come with nothing on the side) so I would expect a fresh bun, maybe a brioche or something nicer.

I need to find myself a burger in every new place I go — and as I am trying to be healthy, on my most recent trip I had to limit it to ONE burger — and I think we chose well!
The Merrywell signature burger has been well awarded — and rightfully so! The meat in this beast was to die for! Thick and juicy, the patty was perfect and the flavours were damned fine!
My mum ordered another burger (can’t recall which) that had pulled pork and was also very nice! To go with our chips (which were better than some of these reviews suggest — I mean they weren’t AMAZING but they weren’t bad either!) we grabbed some blue cheese sauce — which was divine!
I rather enjoyed my experience here but a loss of a star for two reasons;
1) the guy working behind the bar was in a terrible mood — so grumpy! Oh and the drink prices were a little extravagant but I guess that’s to be expected…
2) more outdoor seating would be great — we sat in a kind of indoor /​outdoor section but there weren’t many seats there (and not much more room…) if they could get more outdoor seating somehow, it would be great to sit riverside and enjoy the (probably rare, considering it is Melbourne) sunny days!

So it is very easy to mess up the simple American burger. And I must say, The Merrywell did not do that.
I walked in here for a healthy meal (sic) after a game of volleyball, and the day before starting a new job, so I thought I would use that excuse to have some good American food.
I have been here a few times before so knew what to expect, however I decided to eat downstairs and order from the diner menu that they offer.
I ordered the American Burger (Sans Pickled Onions). It comes with a Beef Patty, Pulled Pork, BBQ Sauce and Coleslaw. I ordered a side of fries also for good measure, and a pint of Miller that’s on Tap.
The wait for the drink was longer than it should have been, this seems was due to the bar staff too engrossed in conversation to be bothered pouring my beer. I was one of only 6 people downstairs at that time, so they certainly were not run off their feet.
The Burger and fries arrived about the same time as my beer, and I must say, as soon as I took my first bite, I had forgotten about the wait for my drink, and was drooling over the juiciness and flavour the burger had to offer.
It had the soft bun that I have come to love from America, and an ample amount of pulled pork, sitting atop a pink and juicy beef patty. The BBQ sauce was a little lost on this burger, and had there have been some on the table, would definitely have been added.
The burger ate well, not falling apart, however I would not recommend putting this down mid way through, as you will struggle to pick it back up again, use the single hand hold in between bites, to allow beer and fries to enter the mouth.
Speaking of fries, they were crisp, and delicious. Fries are another thing that can easily be messed up, but these did not disappoint.
I am a sucker for a good burger, and although when I dine downstairs here I normally order chicken with buffalo and blue cheese sauce, I will now be heading back for the burger.

The Merrywell is located in the Crown Casino. It’s a little restaurant/​bar that serves alcohol. I know it seems kind of trendy for a bar to sell alcohol these days. However, it’s totally innovative and pushes the envelope. We came here after dinner at Rosetta on the recommendation of my cousin. He mentioned it’s a pretty awesome spot to get drinks and he and his ‘mates’ come there often.
The drink prices were a bit higher than usual for the amount of alcohol being distributed to my vien from the IV. However, the beers were fairly cheap and the patio view definitely made up for the price of having the alcohol directly injected into my viens.
Overall, it’s a very chill spot to enjoy a few drinks and overlook the Yarra river and Melbourne. There are torches along the patio that light up every 20 minutes and adds an interesting vibe to the patio. It’s like you’re eating and you accidently bite into a pepper. It’s pleasant surprise.

Was looking for a burger joint and came across The Merrywell. The place looked great and saw some nice looking burgers from the outside so decided to go in and try one. Ordered the Oz burger, wasn’t impressed. Juice started dripping down the burger. It was messy. Not sure if it was meant to be like that but I like my burgers dry. The chocolate shake was good thou.

Merrywell Burger… Good but not worth the $$ tag. nothing special! The patty wasnt that great!

Have you ever (Come on Kev, of course they have but I’ll ask anyway!) had such high expectations for a place that, after you actually got to experience it, it didn’t turn out to be as great as you thought and hoped it’d be? Well, that’s how I felt on Saturday night after leaving The Merrywell.
Im not a fan of Crown so yeah, alright The Merrywell was up against it from the start but that’s not the main reason for my ‘Not So Good’ experience. It was a beautiful day, perfect for hanging out on the terrace where we were sat. I really like the dining space. It is neat, classy and vibrant with the waiters dressed up accordingly.
The place has a cool and chilled vibe with nice tunes playing in the background. Walking in, all I wanted was their Merrywell burger. I’d heard such good things about it and having been voted burger of the year in 2012 and 2013, I was excited to try it.
Well… The chips were a major letdown for me. The burger itself had some positives — good meat to bun ratio but it didn’t have the wow factor though.
I haven’t given up on it though and I will give it another shot next time I’m in the area.

We went for dinner last night. It was pretty good. Had a great table on the balcony overlooking the Yarra.
The service was friendly and fast and they were well organised. Between us, we had the buffalo wings, Caesar salad, the Merrywell Burger, and the rack of lamb special. It was all very nice, however tge Merrywell burger was still just a burger and at $ 29, so not worth the price. Which is a little strange because I thought most of the other things were reasonably priced.

Dislike when places make «the best *blah blah* in [insert city here]» claims. How dare that assumption be made by the venue. Let the people decide. Let us see if your boat is worth floating. Save your ink.
Food is extremely average vs the price.
Things I love:
–Lots of fun & happy memories made here
–Super cool music
–Hot dj’s
–The West Winds Gin
–lovely staff even though most of the time pretty inexperienced & lazy (probably over-​worked & underpaid)
–Upstairs for relaxed lounge & heaps of outdoor seating
–Clever graphic designs /​branding
Yay for a cool place at Crown though. Ordinarily I dislike Crown but this makes the casino bearable.
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