Another day, another deal. Last night, I walked to the Mermaid Inn in the East Village for a 6:30 OpenTable reservation I made. I am usually hungry for dinner by 6:30. I get up early, eat lunch by 1 p.m. usually, and can definitely eat dinner by 6 p.m. on most nights. But, in the city, several restaurants offer deals in their "early dinner hours" of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m assuming that that is an "early bird special" for most people. If you are going out on the town for the night, usually you would have dinner past 7 p.m. so you can go straight from dinner to the bar or other nightlife option of your choice. Or, you go to dinner past 7 p.m. because you want to go home after work, breathe, change clothes, etc.
For me, I don't mind going out to eat on the earlier side if it means getting a deal and saving a little money. The choice for me is to go somewhere earlier that is usually out of my price range to get a great deal, or wait until later and go somewhere in my price range. Seeing as the deal ended at 7 p.m., I was happy to go to a restaurant where entrees are $19-$26 usually so that I could spend less than $20 an entree and a drink.
The Deals
The Blue Plate Special is offered every night for dinner before 7 p.m. You get a lobster sandwich, fries, and a blue point beer or soft drink for $20. The lobster sandwich and fries usually rings up at $26, and a blue point beer comes in at $6. The value of your entree is therefore $32, for a savings of $12. That is a GREAT deal. Lets say a beer is not in the cards for you though - you get a soda instead. You are still saving $6 on the entree itself, so regardless of whether or not you want the drink, you want the deal.
Mermaid Inn also has daily specials, listed on their website, but with no prices: http://www.themermaidnyc.com/index.php. All of the specials were under $20 and run from Sunday-Wednesday. The Wednesday special was beer battered, deep-fried fish, with slaw and hush puppies for $17 and if you so desire, for an additional $2, you can get a can of PBR.
I wanted to see if these deals were really worth it, and was interested in getting the best bang for my buck. My boyfriend insisted that he was there for the lobster sandwich and that what was he wanted. I settled on the Wednesday special. And we decided to start with mussels, since they were not too expensive.
The mussels come out and they are pretty good. The busboy kept changing out our mussel shell bowls, which was a little aggravating. We probably could have used just 2 bowls for the empty shells but I think we went through about 7. It was a little unnecessary. The mussels were pretty good. I would describe them as being "standard." They tasted good, and there was nothing wrong with them - but they were not necessarily anything special. However, once we were just about done, all I could think was "we really need some bread for this delicious broth" and out came a plate of bread. The timing of the bread was perfect, and I appreciated that.
On to the entrees. The lobster sandwich arrived and looked delicious, and the Wednesday special looked - small. Lobster sandwich first. Read carefully - lobster sandwich - not lobster roll. It comes on a hamburger type bun, not the typical roll you are used to with lobster. The lobster sandwich itself was delicious. I have no basis for comparison just yet (but Lure Fishbar, Luke's Lobster, and Mary's Fish Camp lobster rolls are all on my "to eat" list) but I thought it was pretty good. BF thought it did not have a lot of mayo, which he appreciated it.
The side of fries. Lots of fries! You all know how I feel about fries. I love them. These fries - nothing to write home about (or blog about?) They were fine, but they felt like a kitchen after thought. Some restaurants do frozen fries, and some make their own, and some add all of these seasonings. There are a lot of ways to prepare good french fries, and these were just ok. All in all though, if you like a good lobster sandwich, and plentiful skinny fries, eat early and throw in a beer, and you have yourself a nice $20 meal.
The Wednesday night special - the fried fish and hush puppies. I said it looked small. I was pleasantly surprised that it was very filling and really, just the right size! The fish was good, not amazing, but not too heavy. The hush puppies were really great. Had they put more on the plate, I probably would have been really happy, then felt really sick, so 2 was just enough. Although I can't say this was the best fish dish on the planet, I think that is partly because it would not normally be my choice of fish. If I could order anything, I probably would have ordered the skate wing. But for $17, I thought this dish would do, and that it did!
Some mussels, fish, bread. Kind of full. Kind of want dessert. Have not seen the dessert menu yet. 16 Handles, a frozen yogurt place, was close by. We thought about paying the bill and splitting a yogurt later. Hmm. Waiter comes over and says "here is a complimentary dessert, our chocolate pudding." YAY!!!!!!! Perfect. A little mug of DELICIOUS pudding with a dollup of whip cream. It hit the spot, satisfied my sweet tooth and saved me a few bucks.
Why did we get a complimentary dessert (the people next to us got it too)? Possible reasons:
1. Pastry Chef was out of town and they did not have a lot of dessert options, so they threw us some free pudding to avoid any dessert menu debacles.
2. Complimentary Desserts is a great way to leave a literal sweetness in the diner's mouth, and makes the diner feel good about going to that restaurant. Lets say you thought your meal was so-so. Then you get a free dessert, which you are so grateful for, and is so good, that you leave feeling a little bit better about your experience. This is a great tactic for restaurants, and really great for my wallet. I encourage this behavior.
Conclusion
I enjoyed the Mermaid Inn. The restaurant itself is beautiful, and they have two great, distinct dining areas - one by the bar, and one in the back. It has the decor of a really fancy restaurant, but sells really down-to-earth seafood sandwiches and dishes. The restaurant has great deals - unlike The Smith, that on Sundays offers a free beer with your burger, which is a good deal, here you are saving on the entree itself, and getting a beer as an addition. The fries could have been better. The mussels could have been more unique. But the service is good - and nothing was bad. And free dessert left us leaving the restaurant full, satisfied, and in need of no more food for the rest of the night, even though it was only 7:45 when we left!
Please Note: The Mermaid Inn has an Upper West Side location, and recently opened an oyster bar in the Village!
Have a delicious day!
NYCMenuGirl
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