The Mermaid Inn

We had the pleasure of enjoying the company of one of our friends who is coming into town for work. This restaurant is conveniently close to the Highline and was also near their hotel. I vaguely recall that this is a very popular seafood restaurant down in West Village, and it had been on my list for a number of years. Surprisingly, they opened another location here, and we thought we’d go check it out.

Ambiance

The restaurant is located on 10th ave in a pretty busy area with lots of cars and also close to Chelsea Piers. The restaurant is on the “half” upper level of a building, and it’s decently roomy inside. It could get a little loud at times, but on a Sunday night, the noise level was pretty good.

The service was pretty fast, and the prices were very good for the value.

Food

The Tidal Wave ($16 - left) came with rum, passionfruit, ginger, and lemon. This was pretty smooth, and the ginger flavors were subtle.

The Mermaid pilsner ($8 - right) came on tap and is from Brooklyn, NY.

The New England clam chowder ($12) came with oyster crackers, bacon, and fingerling potatoes. The clam chowder here was pre-split between me and my partner, so it looks deceivingly small. The clam chowder was a nice texture with strong hints of bacon throughout.

We ordered 18 oysters for the 3 of us:

• 9 chunu ($3 per oyster) from Eastern Shore, VA. This was pretty good and fortunately not salty at all. It had a slight brine, sweet, and earthy sea finish.
• 9 silver fox ($3.25 per oyster) from Green Point Harbor, NY. This was petite and with a very light brine. It’s definitely just subtly saltier than the chunu, but it was also pretty good.

The wild yellowfin tuna tataki ($32) came with hijiki, avocado, toasted sesame, daikon, and ginger ponzu. Both people that ordered this were surprised by this dish. The tuna itself was of excellent quality and very fresh. However, the salad bed that it sat on was strange in that it was overly sweet than what was expected. They were expecting the salad to have a more citrus type of dressing, but only strong sweet sensations came out of it. This was a very recent new entree to the list, so maybe the restaurant has a few more tweaks to do for it.

The chatham cod ($30) came with cauliflower puree, english peas and nueske’s bacon brown butter. The cod skin was perfectly crisp, and the meat was very tender, warm, and moist. The cod skin was lightly seasoned, and the bacon brown butter and the cauliflower puree were both an excellent combination for the cod. Overall, I thought this was very delicious, and I really enjoyed it.

The complimentary chocolate pudding was given to us at the end of our meal and was quite delicious. It was perfectly sweet and decadent.

Final Verdict

The Mermaid Inn at this location was surprisingly mostly delicious and is an excellent seafood restaurant to check out if you’re in this Chelsea neighborhood. They also have a happy hour that looks pretty good if you’re into cheap oysters.

Yelp Jabs

I’d say it’s a bit loud, wouldn’t recommend for 1st date since you would here more if others conversation but yours.

We arrived on a Sunday night at 6:45 PM, and the crowd levels were good. If you’re planning to do a date night, it would be wise to go against the grain and go on an off-day like earlier in the week.

Seating was really close together. Really close. We still in a pandemic!!

Unfortunately, this is the case with many restaurants now. If you’re not comfortable with close seating, it’s best to avoid this restaurant.