First timer! We had family visiting from out of town and decided to grab breakfast together. There was a wait with about five parties ahead of us, but I was honestly impressed with how quickly they moved through the list. We were seated in less than 10 minutes on a busy Saturday. I tried one of the featured breakfast sandwiches, the Breakfast Denver Sandwich. It was $13 and honestly delicious. For the price, though, a side of hashbrowns or fruit would have been appreciated. The biggest reason I'm leaving 3 stars....service. I genuinely felt bad for the wait staff. They were trying, but were so clearly understaffed, especially considering they advertise they recently renovated their space to add more tables. It took over 10 minutes for us to be greeted, or offered a drink. Once our order was in, our waiter tried to be attentive, but simply couldn't keep up. Would I give Merlin's another chance? Sure. We thought the food was great. But, I wouldn't go out of my way, or rush back. read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - The Breakfast Denver Sandwich - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

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Service fine. Ambiance like any other family restaurant- I thought a salad would be safe. Quite literally the worst salad I've ever had. Croutons were stale the rest was mostly just lettuce. read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

Good food, & great service. This is the first time that I had been to Merlin's. My parents live in Princeton and had stated that it has been in the community for years. We took them there for dinner on their anniversary and were not disappointed. The food was good and well prepared. My wife loved the fact that they serve breakfast all day. We were especially impressed with the attention to detail by the server due to my Mother requiring certain dietary needs. Overall, great place to go and eat, we will definitely be going here again. read more

Can be very hit and miss! Food has come out cold and service extremely slow, Ordered senior chopped steak and it was horrible no gravy just a hamburger patty and Mash potato, frozen veg it was almost inedible. read more

I stopped for a quick late breakfast, noticing the sign on the door said they would be closing by 11:00 am (since it is Christmas Eve). It was 10:20am, and the place was PACKED. Merlins is a family restaurant with breakfast all day plus lots of other options. I was seated within minutes. Knowing I would have to be quick, I ordered the Bennie Skillet, which is a layer of hash browns topped with English muffin, your choice of ham, bacon, or sausage, plus 2 eggs over easy, and your choice of cheese sauce or hollandaise. I chose bacon and hollandaise (duh!). I didn't wait more than 5 minutes and the food was delivered, piping hot. It was tasty and my waitress was quite lovely and attentive. I only subtracted one star because the bacon and hash browns could have cooked a bit longer (bacon was chewy in a couple of bites and no color at all to the hash browns). I highly recommend this restaurant, the people are fantastic, and it's an obvious beloved place due to how many patrons there were. I also got a caramel roll to go (it was the last one available) since they were going to be closed for Christmas, and I didn't want the bakery items going to waste. The waitress scraped every bit of extra caramel out of the pan for my to go roll, so I gave her an extra tip on the tip. Go support Merlins when you are in the area, and even if you are not in the area, it is well worth the drive. read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Bennie skillet - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

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Unbelievable lack of awareness of customer service. Unable to run a buffet and take orders of the menu at the same time . Entire team practiced eye contact avoidance exceptionally well!! Not the first time . read more

The service was amazing, the food was perfect, the overall location is very clean. I'd certainly come back, many more times.

I love Merlin's restaurant. Always great friendly staff. Food has always been so good. Nice atmosphere. Hope it's around for a very long time. Sunday brunch is the best around. read more

Really good food! Prices were affordable with decent size portions. Place was clean and comfortable. Service was exceptional! read more

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I love this restaurant. I am a fussy eater because of allergies, but I always find good food here. Also, there aren't a lot of salad bars around any more. Theirs is lovely. Service is excellent and atmosphere homey. read more

Price are up a lot compared to menu pics. $8.99 vs $12.50 Good service and food. Bacon is very thin, but they give you quite a few pieces and it's tasty Hash browns were above average French toast thick, but fairly average Eggs cooked just as requested I'd recommend this place read more

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Please never order the canned corned beef hash they serve. It's an insult to pay almost $15 for the worst corned beef hash you'll ever taste; they should remove it from the menu. read more

The service was good the atmosphere was fine but the Reuben sandwich was not good. The meat was stringy and totally hard to eat. I couldn't even cut it with my knife. The waffle fries were seasoned, it made them taste like the curly fries at Hardie's, I didn't like them. It was very disappointing. read more

Great place to stop for lunch on the way to Mille Lacs Lake. Cheap, good food, nice employees. read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Blt Sandwich - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

Food is good, wait staff is friendly.....but twice recently "don't have ingredients" to make something. We drove 24 miles for the Tequilaberry Salad only to be told there was no cauliflower to make it, It is two weeks later and we called in advance to be told "we don't have all the ingredients to make it". They should take it off of the menu! read more

The food here is not as amazing as it once was. I got steak and eggs which was nothing to write about. The steak had no flavor, a piece of meat that wasn't done to my liking. The service was not good. She came to the table maybe once. The only thing that was very good was the cappuccino.! Not a. Very good experience. read more

Sometimes wait times are a little long weekend mornings but the wait is always worth it. Eggs taste farm fresh and everything tastes in house fresh. It's just great and waitreses are nice too. Some of the seats need to be remodeled because they were really cracked but overall the food is just awesome. Sausage biscuit gravy skillet is really good. read more

Felt existing reviews were unfairly harsh. I had a veggie skillet with cheddar cheese which comes over hash browns; everything tasted fresh and homemade. Kids meals were generous and the kids loved it. Coffee, adult entree and two kids was under $30 (even with inflation adjustments on the updated menu). I also wasn't up-charged for milk with my coffee instead of lame creamers. This is a really great diner and it's clear the locals love it, service was just fine. They have a light staff and do things like serve you your own personal coffee carafe for refills. Perfect. If you're expecting a saccharine waitress to chat you up while refilling your mug every 30 seconds I guess you'd be disappointed; the staff is very polite and efficient and that's all I require. read more

Keep forgetting this is here. First visit today, about 7AM. Extremely picky eater I am. They nailed it. Coffee, terrific. Service, A+. Araea was my servers name. She was so friendly on a Sunday Morning. I ordered a veggie omelet and it was perfect. With all the fresh veggies a lot of the time it gets runny. Nope! Hash browns, perfect portion and crispy. Overall, great place to eat alone or meet friends/family. Clean, comfortable and temperature perfect. Highly recommend. read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Veggie omelet with swiss, crispy hash browns, wheat toast, coffee and water. (my Cholula) - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

Good breakfast and friendly service. I also found that I got into the place quickly.... It was a little difficult to find, but it is a hidden gem! read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Country Steak & Eggs breakfast - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

Cute country atmosphere, lot cabin feel. Great customer service, the sweetest waitress. The food was fantastic, hearty and filling! Definitely a go to! read more

Put name on list, waited and they never called our name! Went up and asked how much longer and they skipped us! Just brutal! Terrible service to not check both waiting areas of people waiting :( read more

Went for breakfast. Omelet was not great, eggs tasted like processed eggs, pancakes had burnt item from not cleaning the grill.x

Crazy busy, crazy slow, good was ok. I wish I had gotten a cinnamon roll. They were huge but I choose to eat healthy instead.

They are going extremely downhill fast. Service is getting horrible. I get prices are going up because of inflation but that's not a excuse for lack of hospitality. Portioning is smaller for more money. Been going here for years sad to say this. BIG L MERLINS go to longsiding station on the weekends they have good prices for breakfast and big portions read more

We ate there today with friends of ours and the food was fantastic!! Our server was very pleasant and attentive!! We will certainly come back!! I think that this will be the "GO TO" in Princeton. All under one roof!! Drinks, Coffee, Breakfast and Dinner! read more

Whenever I come to princeton I eat at merlins. The service and food are always very good

Fine menu, great service, nice value, superb food! Old fashioned style cafe that was relaxing and unhurried to eat.

Ok. I know that walking in at noon on Saturday with a family of five means there could be a wait. That's ok. But it was 1:45 between the time we showed up and when we left. Drinks were slow. Food arrival was very slow. Waitress hadn't bothered to bring us silverware or ketchup so more waiting for those. It's a little thing but the ketchup comes in the little plastic tubs instead of a bottle. Irritating. On the plus side, the food was good. Not anything special but above average. I understand why the locals eat here but if you're road-tripping, there's a Dennys in Elk River. read more

Great food and always friendly, the parking lot is always full and you still get seated and served with a smile everytime.

We mapped this out on a RV trip. Got there 33 minutes before 2 pm. Walked in and were told "we are closing at 2 and we don't serve a group this big so close to closing. " I said "we are a family, not a group. " It was my husband and our 4 kids. Apparently this "family restuarant " doesn't cater to families. She was also counting the till when we came in. So apparently she had plans and no customer was getting in the way of that. It makes you select a star. Which is the only reason I selected 1 star. I hope the owner sees this. read more

Great food and family setting. If you like pancakes, and are hungry, try their Big Stack. If you can finish it, you get a free T-Shirt that says you ate the Big Stack. They have other options for the number of pancakes that you want as well. They also have some great malts, my favorite is their chocolate malt. If you're lucky, you'll also get the metal mixing cup as well with the what couldn't fit in the glass that it comes in. Aside from what I just described, they also have some good steak options among other things. Check them out online and look at their menu for a full list of what's available. read more

Great food! Cinnamon rolls are amazing! Highly recommend for an awesome meal!!!!!!!!!

Great breakfast and lunch spot with excellent variety. This is not a small town greasy spoon, rather the pride of a second generation family business serving good food with friendly service. read more

Went here for breakfast this morning and was blown away! I had eggs Benedict and it's the best I've ever had. The eggs were done perfect with a nice big piece of ham, and the hollandaise was excellent. My wife had one of their omelette's and said was very good as well, the thing looked like something you'd see on Man vs. Food almost, needless to say she only polished off about half of it. They have a deal called "The Big Stack" Now I didn't see it but supposedly they're huge pancakes and if you finish them, they take your picture and put it on the wall and give you a t-shirt too, another Man vs. Food reminder here! Weird. Not sure how lunch and dinner are here but judging by breakfast I don't see how it could be too bad. Service was fast and friendly! Would recommend if you're ever up in the Princeton area for some weird reason. Plus, when their sign is on the side of a semi trailer, you know it's going to be good! read more

Merlin's Family Restaurant - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Princeton, Minnesota

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The best giant giant cinnamon rolls ! They now have a drive thru and the inside of the restaurant looks better then before.

The parking lot was full so you know it's going to be good. I decided to try something I've never had before. Country Fried Steak. Delicious. Coating was crunchy under the creamy sausage gravy. My friend had eggs, hash browns and half of Belgium waffle. She devoured it. Lol The wait was a little long but they were obviously busy. read more

I like Merlin's... we always like the food and the service is good. I recommend this restaurant as a favorite of our family.

They just added a drive thru window which is wonderful! Makes their services super easy and convenient! They also have great food and customer service. read more

Service here was awful. Waitresses did not pay attention to the customers. Forgot what our drink order was. This was during weekdays lunch hours, when people's time is limited. I've been coming here for years but will be going elsewhere from now on. read more