Mermaid Oyster Bar Visited 5/14/10 3.5 Forks

Mermaid Oyster Bar 79 Macdougal Street, New York, NY

I have been to Mermaid Inn in the East Village before and loved it, so I figured I would try another in their chain for dinner with my dad.

The menu itself is pretty small and from what memory serves me, it was pretty similar it to the Mermaid Inn menu. I was bummed that I apparently missed Blue Plate Special which was a Lobster entree and beer for $20 before 7pm and $1 oysters at the bar. I will definitely keep this place in mind if I am looking for something to eat before 7pm.

We order 6 oysters as an app: 3 West Coast Fanny Bays and 3 East Coast Wellfleets ($2.85/each). They were all really really amazing. Very plump and fresh tasting. I preferred the Fanny Bays since they were bigger and juicier but they were both great and I would have loved nothing more than to just sit there and order oysters all day long. For a meal, my dad and I got the lobster sandwich ($26) and Dan got the fish tacos ($18). While I love a good lobster sandwich, this one was in between a brioche bun that was too buttery and I generally prefer it on a hot dog roll. But the actual lobster mixture was pretty decent, you could definitely tell there were chunks of lobster...there was a good helping of mayo, which personally doesn't bother me, but it might turn some off. The old-bay seasoned fries were a good addition to the meal.

As for the fish tacos, there were 3 of them and while they were pretty good, there was a bit too much red cabbage at the bottom of the taco that overpowered each bite. I generally think paying that much money for tacos, you should get more than 3 because you are undoubtedly still hungry afterwards.

The cute thing about the Mermaid chains is that for dessert they offer you a free small cup of chocolate mousse with whip cream, which is always appreciated. Total bill $109 (without tip) for 3 people.