Mermaid’s Garden

Priced to give over the top fish experience and failing to do so. I tried several times and probably won’t come again. Other fish store in he area for the price are more professional or cheaper stores get you fair return for your money.

This is my neighborhood fish store, and I shop here pretty often. I am always extremely friendly, have pointed out that I share mutual friends with the ownership, and honestly, I get so little love and friendliness from the owners. They also seem completely irritated by the presence of my 4 year old daughter. I am also a small business owner, and I am grateful for every dollar of support that I receive from my loyal neighborhood customers. I have spent easily over $ 1000 here in the past year on very expensive seafood. I am not saying it’s not worth it, and I don’t believe these folks are minting money. But a smile recognizing a returning customer or a «nice to see you!» would be appreciated considering I shop here quite often. I think anyone who opens a storefront without warm people skills, should run an online or wholesale business. When I get home with their fish, it just taints the experience of cooking my meal and knowing that my loyalty isn’t valued. Honestly, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I plan to explore other options for fresh fish, because I just don’t feel like these guys like having me there.

My search for a seafood shop to buy fresh tuna steaks ended here and it was the right choice. Yes, pricier than average (about $ 6/​lb more) than whole foods, but you’re paying for convenience and the beautiful shop.
Onto what’s most important: the tuna. as soon as I opened the packaging, I took a bite. Sushi grade, beautiful color, tasted awesome. I would recommend !

Great experience — nice aesthetic and good selection but prices can be absurd.
Surprised that they charge twice as much per pound for a fillet than buying a fish whole.

Stopped by hoping to get a clam chowder or a crab soup. «Settled» for the fish to go. It smelled so good I had top open it up a taste it. I drank it all before I made it the 6 blocks home. Yum! Buttery, chock full of fish and potatoes and flavor.

It’s quality fish, but super pricey and yet not necessarily as fresh as you’d like: a lot of this stuff sits around. The fish stand at Saturday farmers market at grand army plaza way better quality and value. Wish we had a real high volume high quality fish counter.

My diet is supposed to have more fish than ever before. I don’t know much about cooking fish, so I got their fish cakes for something quick. YUM.
It is true that the personnel need better people skills. After selecting the fish cakes, she rushed me to the register even though I was also looking at fresh fish fillets.
Were they offended I had canned tuna from next door? With the frequency of fish consumption I require, it can’t always be from their quality but limited supply.
My guess is that without competition, they don’t feel the need to be nice.
Their fish products are great though. (I also liked the soups).

Looks like a great place, and like it is such a gem in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any white fish when we visited a couple weekends ago. Had to go to the regular grocery store. I look forward to coming back here regularly and also updating my review. The seafood here looked fresh and delicious.

This place could have been awesome.
There aren’t any other fish markets in the area and the store itself is so conveniently located.
But I won’t be going back.
First off I went recently when the temp was 90+ degrees and the inside of the store was warm– which really turned me off.
A warm fish market on a hot NY day?
Weird. And kinda gross.
Second the woman at the counter wasn’t helpful and came off as really pretentious and condescending. I’ve recently decided to transition to a pescatarian diet and I had questions– which I didn’t even bother to ask. She just seemed completely disinterested and annoyed with the fact that she had a customer to attend to.
At that point I just wanted to leave.
I was really hoping to like this place, what a shame.

The fish mongers of mermaids garden call themselves «fish consultants». They strut around their all white cavernous Prospect Heights storefront with white noise indie rock blaring and serious expressions. Pretension much? But crack away the fakery and pretentious exoskeleton and all that lies below is a business run by people who have no idea how to treat customers or be good community members. Case in point– I ventured over there a couple of weeks ago to buy main course fish for our Passover Seder. I was really stressed out and nervous and could have used a compassionate hand in picking out some good food — a «consultation» if you will. especially from a store owners who call themselve «seafood consultants». Alas, I should have realized that this sort of attention is reserved corporate clients only. The woman at the counter showed little interest in really helping me and the guy behind her was even worse. Their fish is expensive to say the least! But sustainability and supporting small local businesses is important to me, so I said what the heck! I was nervous about spending over $ 40 on fish especially since my wife had been there the day before and spent $ 60 on other fish to make her gefilte fish. I saw that the Snapper was over $ 20 and the mackerel was about $ 16. We usually do not spend more than $ 15 a pound on fish. I told the woman behind the counter what I wanted to do with the fish and asked her if mackerel would do as well as snapper for what we were planning (baking with tomatoes and onions). She responded with a «too cool for school» air, stating that any fish would do for my plan. Thanks! I bought the mackerel. Before leaving the store, I called my wife who said that she had no idea how to cook mackerel and I attempted to return the fish (since I hadn’t even left the premises). The lady said sorry no returns. What followed is crazy! I sat outside as my wife tried to negotiate a return on the phone. After sitting there for a while, the lady came out and took my mackerel! Then she sold me more fish at a $ 15 discount on a $ 65 order. When I returned home I learned that in fact that was not the deal my wife had made. She had told my wife that we could keep the mackerel if we bought new fish at a small discount! I hope the staff of Mermaid’s Garden had a great mackerel dinner that night on our tab. God knows there are probably people who work there who have already been ripped off by these merchants and who could have used a free meal. Sorry it’s gonna cost Mermaid’s Garden weekly business from my family. Stay away Prospect Heights.

I don’t even know where to start. I guess I’ll offer the positive comments I can first: the fish is great; and, although it is expensive, I don’t mind paying a little more for sustainable and responsibly sourced food.
Alas, the business owners are there to take the neighborhood for all it is worth. Hence, I cannot recommend them for anything beyond boycott and would welcome and support any community-​minded competitor. There is more than enough room for you, if you are considering opening a fish market around here. Come on over! The duplicitous folk at Mermaid’s Garden do not deserve our business; and they certainly do not appreciate it.
In two days my husband and I spent about 165 $ on raw fish from Mermaid’s Garden and received only two thirds of the fish. Truth!
When I arrived on Thursday to buy 3 lbs of fish for my gefilte fish and asked if they might grind it for me, they informed me that they had made an executive decision that morning not to grind fish for anyone. Way to ensure your neighborhood clientele has an even more stressful holiday weekend! Fine, not the end of the world, I think, though it’s not too much to expect from a real fish market. But when I asked if the man behind the counter might skin one of the two kinds of fish I purchased, he sighed and performed as if he were doing me a huge favor. This is not a full service fish market, in case you were wondering. I’m not sure what it is, perhaps a last resort for people who have failed at everything else.
After spending about $ 62 on ingredients for gefilte fish there, I didn’t feel great. But I felt good enough to send my husband back the very next day for fish for our main course as we were hosting a Seder. I asked for snapper or some other easy fish to bake. Before leaving the store, he called to tell me that the woman behind the counter recommended and sold him mackerel. I was not pleased. Apparently she told him we could treat mackerel the same as snapper. I asked him to ask her if he could exchange the mackerel for snapper and just pay the difference even if more expensive, since he was still inside the store. I reminded him to remind the owner, because that is who was there both times we were there, that I had just bought three pounds of fish for gefilte from them yesterday and we were buying another 3lbs today. I figured any decent business person who knows the first thing about fish and cares about the neighborhood would take the opportunity to build trust and would feel badly about selling mackerel to someone who wanted something like snapper. Within 3 minutes or less my husband calls back to say, «The woman in there doesn’t want to talk to me. She basically laughed in my face, said the fish loses freshness fast, and there is nothing she can do now that I have paid for it.»
So, I called and tried to reason with the owner about the situation and our business. At this point, we have spent almost 115 $ there in 2 days and my husband is carrying around fish I have no idea how to cook or serve. It wasn’t pleasant. The storeowner reacted much like a spoiled college sophomore on the phone, but after I reminded her how much business we represent (always entertaining, never eating meat other than fish) we struck what seemed like a deal. It wasn’t a great deal, but enough to keep my business and stop me from writing this review: the owner refused to refund the mackerel, but said she would sell it to us for what she paid and give us the mark up difference toward a new purchase. Unfortunately for her business partners and our whole neighborhood, the owner is deceitful and did not honor even this deal. She is not to be trusted. Instead she took the mackerel that my husband bought for $ 50 and change and sold him $ 62 worth of snapper for another 50 bucks and change. Only when my husband returned home did I realize that he paid over 100 $ for 3lbs of snapper. This is why Mermaid’s Garden does not deserve your business. One thing is for sure, the thieves over there are taking fish to slimy new depths! Mermaid’s Garden is a great place to recommend to your worst enemies if passive aggression is your thing, but a place to avoid if you care about the neighborhood.

I really really want to like this place more than I do. I’ve shopped here 3 times. The fish is delicious but super pricey. I wouldn’t mind paying more except the other day I got a bag of mussels and half of them were dead when I went home :(I asked the guy at the counter when they had come in but he wouldn’t reply… The mussels that I did cook were super meaty and delicious… I just wonder if the high price keeps a slower turnover?
Yesterday I wanted salmon, but walked out when I saw it was priced at $ 35/​lb…
As a daughter of a clammer… I JUST WANT TO FIND GOOD FRESH SEAFOOD!

I took one of their cooking classes over the weekend, it was a class on how to prepare fish stews. I’m so glad I took it. At first I was hesitant to sign up because I was concerned that the class would be either for a complete beginner, or someone at a more advanced level. Instead, the information presented by the chef Mark was a perfect balance of lots of good information, not too much or too little, while he performed a 90 minute cooking demonstration of 3 different stews. At the end of his cooking presentation, we turned around to find a table set with dishes and silverware so that we could sit and eat what he had just cooked. It was a fun, delicious, and informative way to spend 2 hours on a cold Saturday afternoon. It was definitely worth the price and time. I just wish I lived closer to their store, but that’s life.

I am so, so thankful that Mermaid’s Garden exists. My husband and I are both pescetarians and before Mermaid’s moved into the neighborhood our only fish option was from the back of DNY (smelly, scary fish). As a result, we ate out a lot and limited our home-​cooked meals to vegetarian options. Now we are able to cook at home so much more frequently, and we’ve been able to experiment with all types of new fish and seafood, all of which have always been fresh and delicious. Plus, the staff is super helpful and friendly. They help us with what quantities, storage, preparations, or any of our other curiosities about fish. We’ve also gotten some of their sides, which are also tasty. The fishcakes are especially good, as are any of the seasonal frittatas.

This place is great. All types of high quality seafood. I’ve ordered tuna steaks on a couple occasions and they have been very fresh. Very convenient to have a great fish market in the neighborhood.

This is the best seafood market I’ve ever been to. The space is immaculate and the staff have an incredible understanding of their product, where it comes from, and what to do with it. The seafood I’ve bought there has all been amazing and very reasonably priced. My only suggestion is that I hope they improve their signage so it attracts more foot traffic; I’d walked past it many times without realizing what was inside. If you care about truly fresh fish from sustainable sources and live anywhere in the city, it’s worth the trip.

I’ve been there about 4 times and twice the fish was excellent, fresh, and delicious. The other two times the attendant either tried to give my wife fish that didn’t appear to be fresh at all and another time they gave me a mahi mahi filet that had already turned. I should’ve known better before agreeing to buy the filet but I didn’t. However, the attendant DEFINITELY should have known better. I brought it home to my wife and she threw it out. The other time was when my wife tried to get some white fish for ceviche and the attendant recommended a fish that didn’t look fresh at all. My wife had to decline and select another kind. Don’t like how they’re trying to sell the fish that isn’t the freshest.
All in all when it’s good it’s good, when it’s bad, pay attention.

I’ve been meaning to check out Mermaid’s Garden and I’m so glad I did. The seafood is super fresh — way better than anywhere else around. The staff was also super knowledgeable and helpful — which is really important when you’re trying to decide what type of fish you will like and how to cook it.
The prepared foods and take-​out lunch items were also great. I’m got this breadcrumb and shrimp cake with squash and it was fantastic. They also have a great selection of special sauces and gourmet cooking ingredients.
And did I mention all their seafood is sustainable?! 5 stars. I will be back.

Two unrelated people in my life were raving about this place so I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.
Seafood buying can be fraught with peril. Shrimp is almost always imported from Southeast Asia, and filled with antibiotics and other garbage, farmed salmon is rife with PCBs, unscrupulous dealers dye farmed salmon pink to make it look wild, and then there are all the environmental damage we’re doing to the fish and the planet.
So Mermaid’s Garden — you walk in, you can feel good about what you’re buying. It’s fresh, it’s sustainable, and it tastes really freaking good.
On that note, the rainbow trout. Boy oh boy. So good. Do yourself a favor and pick up a fillet. Throw it on a hot pan and 6 minutes later you have a kick-​ass dinner. Easier and faster than cooking a frozen burrito and you can check your New Year’s Resolution to eat healthier off the list.
I’ll be back to this place weekly, I imagine.

If Mermaid’s prepared Their prepared food is pretty good. The tuna meatballs have a intense lean, almost steak like iron taste and a semi firm texture. They are delicious hot or cold, plain or part of a sandwich or dish. I topped them with some smoked muzz from Caputo’s Fine Foods, and it wasn’t bad at all, if I say so myself.
The smoked octopus, while not really tasting of smoke, is season well enough and not overcooked. The mix of beans (fava?), a little vinegar and herbs make it a well deserved snack or small meal.
I also bought a package of Sunburst Trout Farms cold smoked trout — wow! Amazing taste and complex flavors. I asked (before I tasted it at home) if the trout was treated with InstaCure. They assured me it wasn’t and it certainly tastes that way. I haven’t tasted smoke on fish like this since Peggy’s Come, Nova Scotia back in 2005. I would put this up against any of the popular smoked salmon stores in NYC, no hesitation.