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Mermaid Inn, Oyster and Shellfish Specialists at East Village, West Village, and Upper West Side


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Brought two of my younger colleagues to dinner here last week. We were looking for a casual spot that was fairly lively and had good food. One of my colleagues read somewhere that the Mermaid Inn on MacDougal was something of a "baby bernardin", so off we went.

First of all, the notion of comparing the Mermaid Inn to Le Bernardin, baby, toddler, adolescent or full grown version is crazy. Totally different set up and vibe. This is a casual restaurant with a bustling oyster bar that makes a solid effort to turn out good seafood dishes at a fair price. Our group started with "escargot style" lobster knuckles, charred Portuguese octopus and blue crab tostada. The lobster knuckle escargot were really interesting - the kitchen used a very deft hand with the garlic so as not to overpower the knuckles. I'm a sucker for any charred octopus, and this rendition was good - the hot peppers in the dish were reminiscent of Peasant's "Polpo en Purgatorio", although Peasant's version of charred octopus is superior. The tostadas were a miss - for whatever reason we didn't find a whole lot of flavor in them.

My main was a yellowfin tuna with sauce gribiche  - seared rare as requested and served with some local asparagus. My colleagues also enjoyed their meals, but the details have been lost toi time at this point.

No dessert, but with the three entrees, three appetizers and two bottles of sancerre (blanc et rouge), we had a great time and spent well less than expected for a "nice-ish" dinner out in NY, especially for a menu featuring seafood. While our experience was at the MacDougal location, you could do worse than happen by here or one of the other locations for a quick oyster fix or casual meal.

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We were regulars at the East Village location years ago when we lived nearby.  Their oyster happy hour was hard to beat, they served a more than decent lobster roll, and I remember really digging their skate wing entree.

Do they still serve the little ramekin of chocolate pudding at the end of the meal?

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13 minutes ago, Keithstg said:

We didn't get any chocolate pudding on our visit - although could have just been our table.

Hmm.  It was always part of the meal when we used to go, and was served with the check.

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On 4/27/2016 at 11:58 AM, JoshNE said:

Hmm.  It was always part of the meal when we used to go, and was served with the check.

This could be the work of one chef or one GM at one specific location; rather than being a chain-wide rule.

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Went to the village location for dinner.  The lobster knuckles escargot style were delicious - albeit not quite as meaty as actual escargot.  The buttery sauce is great for dipping the accompanied grilled bread.  The pasta with clam sauce was meh - too lemony (I don't use lemon when I made pasta with white sauce).  Tasty broccoli rabe.

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