Merrill's Best Restaurant

Merrill does not do culinary fireworks, and thank God for that. This is a town where the all-you-can-eat Friday fish fry at Z's Fork Horners shares the same economic gravity as the best gas prices at Cenex, and both are treated with equal seriousness.

You can pivot from a wood-fired pizza at Red Eye Brewing Company, where ingredients are traced to their local farms, to a gas station hot food case that the staff defends like a family recipe, and both feel like the correct decision. Auntie Ray's buttery prophecies are a solid starting point.

Here is the honest list, in full.

Auntie Ray's Coffee House

Highlights
Worth every minute
Homemade pastries daily
Cozy workspace and meetings
Friendly, speedy staff
Indoor and outdoor seating

Auntie Ray's Coffee House is the kind of place where the clock seems to pause just long enough for you to remember why you left your house in the first place. The homemade pastries arrive daily, like small, buttery prophecies fulfilled, and the staff moves with a speed that suggests they have secretly replaced their blood with espresso. Worth every minute, I noted, while staring at a cinnamon roll that had clearly achieved enlightenment. Both indoor and outdoor seating exist, which means you can enjoy your coffee while observing either the interior or exterior of your own thoughts. Cozy workspaces and meetings happen here, though I suspect most meetings are just conversations about how good the coffee is.

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Geiss Meat Services LLC

Highlights
Only place for beef jerky
Skilled cutting and friendly crew
Community supporters, always giving back
Convenient retail store relocation
Quality products, dependable service

Geiss Meat Services LLC occupies a peculiar and noble position in this town: it is the only place for beef jerky, which sounds like a small claim until you realize how much of human history has been shaped by people hoarding dried meat. The skilled cutting and friendly crew make the whole transaction feel less like commerce and more like a briefing from a benevolent cartel. They relocated their retail store, which was convenient, and they continue to support the community in ways that suggest they understand reciprocity better than most philosophers. Quality products and dependable service are the baseline here, but the real takeaway is that you will never accidentally purchase jerky anywhere else again. Consider that a warning or a blessing.

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Z's Fork Horners

Highlights
All-you-can-eat Friday fish
Delicious loaded sampler appetizer
Great drinks and fried foods
Quick food service
Solid prime rib cut

Z's Fork Horners understands the sacred ritual of the all-you-can-eat Friday fish, which is perhaps the closest thing Wisconsin has to a religious observance that does not require a hat. The loaded sampler appetizer arrived looking like a small city of fried things, and I made significant progress toward urban renewal. Great drinks and fried foods coexist here in a state of mutual respect, and the service is quick enough that you never have to stare at an empty plate for long. The prime rib cut was solid, which in the world of prime rib is about as good as it gets without requiring a mortgage. The food comes fast, almost as if the kitchen knows you are only here for one thing, and they are right.

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Westsider Diner & Lounge

Highlights
Patriotic murals honor veterans
Staff welcomes dogs with water
Burgers and seasoned fries shine
Wisconsin jambalaya packs flavor
Service superb from start

Westsider Diner & Lounge features patriotic murals that honor veterans, which is a welcome change from the usual diner decor of laminated menus and vague stains. The staff welcomed my dog with a bowl of water, proving that they understand the true hierarchy of customer service, which places canines above all humans. The burgers and seasoned fries shine, and I mean that literally in the case of the fries, which had a glistening quality that suggested either oil or enlightenment. The Wisconsin jambalaya packs flavor in ways that confuse the geography but delight the palate, combining the state's dairy heritage with the spirit of New Orleans. Service was superb from the first handshake to the final bill, and I left feeling both patriotic and well-fed.

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Red Eye Brewing Company

Highlights
Locally sourced, clearly labeled ingredients
Wood fire pizzas and house-made burgers
Helpful staff, welcoming sleek atmosphere
Great beer and creative sides

Red Eye Brewing Company operates with a transparency that borders on aggressive honesty, labeling every ingredient with local origins like a botanical garden that also serves beer. The wood fire pizzas and house-made burgers are excellent, though I found myself distracted by the fire, which is always doing something interesting. The staff is helpful and the atmosphere is sleek in a way that makes you feel like you have stepped into a future where everyone is moderately successful. Great beer flows alongside creative sides, and the whole experience feels less like a meal and more like a short film with good sound design. If you want to know exactly what is in your food, this is the place. If you do not, well, ignorance is also a side dish.

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Bootleggers

Highlights
Beautiful lake views
Longtime customer favorite
Premium pricing point
Great waitress service
Anniversary dessert gesture

Bootleggers presents itself with the confidence of a place that has been a longtime customer favorite, and it has the lake views to back up that audacity. The premium pricing point is not a deterrent but a filter, separating those who want a nice evening from those who want to argue about the price of a martini. The waitress service was great, the kind of attentive professionalism that makes you feel like you are the only guest in a very busy restaurant. They even brought out an anniversary dessert gesture for a neighboring table, which made me reconsider my life choices. The food was fine, but the view was the real entree, best enjoyed with a drink and a sense of gratitude that you are not the one cleaning the windows.

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The Velveteen Plum

Highlights
Latin-inspired dishes, artful plating
Rooftop views of Wausau
Perfectly cooked steaks
Kind, welcoming wait staff
Clean, updated bathrooms

The Velveteen Plum is technically in Wausau, but that is a small price to pay for Latin-inspired dishes that arrive at the table looking like miniature landscapes designed by someone with a paintbrush and a vendetta against plain food. The artful plating made me hesitate before eating, which I resolved by eating anyway, because I am not a museum. The steaks were perfectly cooked, which is a claim that should be taken seriously in Wisconsin, where beef is treated with the reverence usually reserved for glaciers. The rooftop views of Wausau offer a perspective on the city that is both literal and metaphorical. The wait staff was kind and welcoming, and the bathrooms were clean and updated, which is the kind of detail that separates a good meal from a great one.

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The Pinewood | A Supper Club

Highlights
Friendly, attentive staff throughout
Great after-dinner drinks
Homemade dip and relish tray
Warm rolls worth returning for
Notable high-priced steak disappointment

The Pinewood, a supper club that understands the genre, offers friendly and attentive staff throughout the evening, from the moment you walk in until the moment you leave, which is a rare consistency. The homemade dip and relish tray arrived as a prelude, and I found myself eating celery with the enthusiasm of a rabbit who has discovered credit. Warm rolls worth returning for appeared next, and they were indeed warm, which is the minimum requirement but also the maximum achievement for bread. Great after-dinner drinks rounded out the night, though I cannot ignore the notable high-priced steak disappointment, which arrived with the texture of a rubber eraser that had been through a lot. Still, the service and the rolls almost made up for it. Almost.

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Milwaukee Burger Company - Wausau

Highlights
Snow cleared for canine guests
Warm welcome despite winter weather
Free Beer Friday adds delight
Attentive team from start to finish
Tasty food worth the detour

Milwaukee Burger Company in Wausau deserves credit for clearing the snow for canine guests, which is a level of dedication to four-legged customers that I have rarely seen outside of a dog park. Despite the winter weather, the staff gave us a warm welcome, which was impressive given that the thermometer inside my car read a temperature that made me question civilization. Free Beer Friday added a layer of delight that is impossible to overstate, unless you are a teetotaler, in which case I apologize for your loss. The food was tasty enough to warrant the detour, which is a significant statement given that the detour involved navigating roads that were actively trying to kill me. The attentive team made the whole experience feel intentional, like someone had planned for my arrival.

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Wish Steakhouse

Highlights
Attentive service from Cindy
Great food and drinks
Consistent quality experience
Knowledgeable staff recommendations

Wish Steakhouse operates with a consistency that is almost suspicious, as if they have a secret pact with the space-time continuum to deliver the same excellent experience every time. Cindy, our server, was attentive in the way that makes you believe she has remembered your face from a past life, and she offered recommendations that were both knowledgeable and correct. The food and drinks were great, a phrase I use sparingly because it is overused by people who have never eaten a bad burger. The consistency is the real draw here, because in a world where restaurants change like weather, there is comfort in a place that knows exactly what it is and executes it flawlessly. I left feeling satisfied, which is the highest compliment I can pay to any establishment.

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Cenex

Highlights
Best gas prices in town
Hot food worth seeking
Staff treat you like family
Easy in, easy out
New store, many options

Cenex might not appear on any list of romantic destinations, but neither does a defibrillator, and I still recommend having one nearby. The gas prices are the best in town, which means you can save money on fuel and spend it on the hot food that the staff insists you try, and they are correct. The new store has many options, and the employees treat you like family, which is either wonderful or slightly concerning depending on your family. Easy in, easy out, unless you stop to consider the existential weight of choosing between a corn dog and a taco. The hot food is worth seeking out, a phrase I do not use lightly, as I have been burned by many gas station taquitos in my life.

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Cobblestone Inn & Suites - Merrill

Highlights
Breakfast is phenomenal
Beds are top notch
Heated, clean pool

Cobblestone Inn & Suites offers a breakfast that is phenomenal, which is a word I reserve for geological formations, musical performances, and now, scrambled eggs. The beds are top notch, and I say this as someone who has slept on rocks, mattresses, and one particularly memorable airport bench. The heated pool is clean and predictably warm, like a hug from a stranger who means well. I cannot confirm the existence of cobblestones anywhere on the property, but the name suggests a certain commitment to lumpy historical aesthetics. If you are looking for a place to rest after a day of exploring Merrill, this will do, and the breakfast alone might justify the entire trip. Just do not expect the cobblestones to be actual stones.

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