I ate here for the first time on my birthday, which wasn't actually planned. The place I originally intended to go to had NO parking, so I was totally lost on where to go. Then I remembered Merchant as I'd passed by it countless times. My husband and I got there and it was packed, but that's to be expected on a Friday night anywhere in Madison. We were told it would be a 45 minute wait and headed to the bar. I had a drink, which doesn't seem to be on their online menu anymore, and damn it, I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It consisted of gin, champagne, absinthe, and a cucumber-mint syrup. Very tasty, though the cucumber-mint syrup was very subtle, I would've liked for it to have stood out more. Our wait ended being closer to 15 minutes, which was nice, as I was half anticipating an even longer wait because of the crowd.  \n\nOur server was named Cecilia and she was extremely helpful and informative about the menu and answered any questions we had. To start off we ordered some Sassy Cow cheese curds with buttermilk ranch which was made in house. They were awesome, I'm really picky about cheese curds and the ranch was great. I also ordered a cup of cauliflower soup which came with a slice of thick toast. It was really good for just being toast, not sure if they also made it in house or sourced it from a local bakery. The soup itself was good, I spent most of the time trying to figure out what spices were in it, as it reminded me of Indian food. For entrees I ordered the grilled pork loin, which consisted of Fox Valley Berkshire pork, roasted fingerling potatoes, broccoli and garlic, sherry whole grain dijon vinaigrette (totally copied that part off the menu, ha!). The pork loin was cooked perfectly and incredibly moist. If I had to make any complaint about the dish, it was a little heavy on the pepper, but I was still very pleased. I also had a High Violet to drink along with my dinner, and honestly, I don't remember everything in it, but I believe there was vodka, star fruit, and strawberries. My husband, being the burger guy he is, got the Classic Burger which consisted of house-ground sirloin/short-rib patty with aioli on a brioche bun with side of lettuce, pickles, onion, fresh tomato. You can also add cheese, bacon, or a fried egg for $1 each and he added all three. WOW, that burger was ridiculous...I almost regretted ordering my entr\u00e9e when he let me have a taste. He topped that off with some Ale Alysum Hopalicious. Because it was my birthday, Cecilia was kind enough to offer me a dessert. I chose the gelato, because I had no idea what to choose. The flavor, which varies, was a salted caramel gelato with dark chocolate shavings. It was the perfect ending to our dinner, and I truly felt like a glutton by the time we were out of there.\n\n\nOverall, the experience was very pleasant and I would gladly go back again. I'm eyeing the cheap date night they have on Tuesdays. The drinks were  a little pricey, $9 and $11. but it wasn't too bad considering the quality. I will definitely recommend!