The Village's Mermaid Inn Restaurant Shutters After 17 Years

THE VILLAGE, NY — In another sad loss for the East and West Village restaurant community, the original Mermaid Inn is shuttering its location on 96 Second Avenue in Lower Manhattan.

The joint that served favorites such as oysters, lobsters, salmon, old-bay french fries, and cocktails closed its door after more than 17 years in the East Village.

Mermaid Inn explained on its Facebook that its lease expired on Aug. 31, and it hadn't been able to agree with the landlord on "how to go forward both during and after the pandemic."

"We want to thank all of our wonderful guests and employees for supporting us over the past years," the Mermaid Inn wrote on its Facebook. "What began as a little 29 seat restaurant on a sleepy stretch of Second Ave grew into a place that had welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests and employed thousands of people over the years."

Mermaid Inn included statistics in its Facebook post to show how one restaurant can add to a community:

• The restaurant welcomed over 850,000 guests.
• The restaurant paid over $15M in wages to more than 3,000 employees who have worked at the restaurant over the 17 years.
• The restaurant contributed more than $2.1M in taxes to the city, state, medicare, and other government-funded programs.
• The restaurant paid over $15M to vendors for various products.

Mermaid Inn touched on various topics in its lengthy closing announcement, including saying that "the restaurant and hospitality industry has been woefully neglected during this pandemic," and that New York City has still not provided a clear cut plan for the future of restaurants.

The seafood restaurant is now gone from the East Village, but Mermaid Inn still has a location in Greenwich Village at 79 MacDougal Street, in Chelsea at 227 Tenth Avenue, and on the Upper West Side at 570 Amsterdam Avenue.

However, the Upper West Side joint is the only one currently opened.