The Mermaid Oyster Bar, Greenwich Village, New York

Selection of East Coast oysters and a shrimp cocktail

Lobster roll with fries

The Mermaid Oyster Bar is a neat restaurant in the Greenwich village. It was a very sunny Saturday noon, I basically just got up after a long night at the office and decided it was time for lunch and the New York Times. I sat down at a table, got settled in and started reading the menu. The waiter was obviously not into females and very nervous. I was kidding myself that the reason for his nervousness was my aura, but closer to the truth was that he was probably relatively new to this place. The weather was beautiful, I was in a good mood so this called for Champagne. They offered half bottles which was just up my alley. I like oysters, especially in the US, simply because you get a good selection of very different types in many restaurants and you can go wild sampling them all. I had good fun tasting the half dozen different oysters and the shrimp which the chef thoughfully arranged on the same platter. I was looking out at the lively street, enjoying the sun-filled dining room, sipping Champagne all while my tastebuds were tingling with different oysters and the horseradish from the cocktail sauce. Main course was a lobster roll with fries. Now personally I think having something as delicate as lobster served in a roll with a sauce isn’t the best use of the product. But to be fair, the bread had a nice almost brioche like quality and the fries were excellent. I still prefer plain lobster, but the lobster roll was a good dish. What I didn’t like that once I had finished my lovely lunch still enjoying just sitting there, the waiter approached me, asked if I wanted coffee, I replied that I’d like an espresso. They didn’t have that so he literally slammed the check in front of me on the table. Not a very classy way to end a 100 dollar lunch and kind of sad since the waiter otherwise did an excellent job. I do have to call out the restaurant for expertly handling this, I made a comment on twitter and within literally minutes they apologized. Now that’s customer service worthy of 2011 and something which will take another couple of years to reach Swiss gastronomy. Prices:

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Doppio (from the shop next door)