– Eddie Merlot’s Lounge – North Scottsdale Dining –
Last month, I wrote about our first visit to the new Eddie Merlot’s restaurant which had opened its first Arizona location in North Scottsdale. Last week, we decided to try out the lounge for dinner this time.
Eddie Merlot’s large lounge consists of a bar with lots of additional table seating. We went mid-week around 6:30 and the lounge was bustling with activity and quite full, but we were able to be seated right away. Since it was a nice evening, we elected to sit on the patio.
When dining in the lounge, you have the option to order off of the regular menu, the lounge menu or a combination of both, which is what we did.
The lounge menu consists of several options with smaller portion sizes and some more casual, but high-quality offerings. There is a snack section, a burger and slider section and a small plates section.
We decided to try a variety of items from the lounge menu and supplement them with some items from the dinner menu. We started with the House-Made Potato Chips, which did not last very long and can also be ordered with blue cheese crumbles, and the Sesame Calamari. The Sesame Calamari was prepared tempura-style and came with three dipping sauces. It was served in an edible rice bowl, which our non-calamari eating companion and appreciated and sampled. We also ordered the The Merlot Iceberg Salad, which was a wedge salad that came with pickled onions, eggs, bacon, tomatoes and more.
For our entrees, we all opted for small plates from the lounge menu. Two of us had the Tuna Nicoise, which was a play on a traditional Nicoise. Seared tuna, fried onion strings, olives, tomato and egg came placed on a bed of spinach dressed with an excellent tarragon vinaigrette. The final dish we ordered was the Vegetarian Gnocchi. The freshly-prepared gnocchi was paired with spinach and mushrooms and was placed on a sweet corn beurre blanc. Both of the small plates we sampled were excellent.
If you are looking for an excellent meal with a lot of flexibility on the offerings, you should definitely visit the lounge at Eddie Merlot’s.
More Information:
Eddie Merlot’s
23143 N Scottsdale Rd,
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
– In the Silverstone shopping plaza
Phone:(480) 699-0480
Website
The lounge opens daily at 4PM
