By Gus Saltonstall
The new Mermaid Inn location on the Upper West Side will be open by the end of summer, restaurant owner Daniel Abrams confirmed to West Side Rag on Wednesday.
Mermaid Inn was one of the most popular restaurants on the Upper West Side for 15 years, before it shut down its location on Amsterdam Avenue between West 87th and 88th streets in the fall of 2022.
A little more than a year after the closure, neighbors rejoiced when Abrams announced that the seafood restaurant would be reopening on the Upper West Side at 335 Columbus Avenue, at the corner of West 76th Street.
Originally, the new Mermaid Inn outpost was expected to open in 2023, but the site has remained boarded up and closed.
In the last two weeks, West Side Rag received multiple emails asking about a revised timeline for the eatery’s opening. We also fielded questions about posters for a “Fish Market” that went up on the construction wall in front of Mermaid Inn’s new location.
When West Side Rag called Abrams to get clarification, he said Mermaid Inn is expected to open at 335 Columbus Avenue in the middle to end of August.
“The delay was caused by New York City construction,” he said. “We took over a bank that was never a restaurant, and it just takes a long time to build a restaurant in the city.” The new Mermaid Inn location was a former Chase Bank branch.
Mermaid Inn also has locations in Times Square, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village.
Asked about the “Fish Market” posters, Abrams said: “Those posters that went up had nothing to do with us, and we took them down immediately.”
Abrams added they were were “beyond excited to get open” on the Upper West Side. “We haven’t been up here for 18 or 19 months, before that we were here for 15 years, and we’re super excited to get back to work and see our friends on the Upper West Side.”
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I guess there’s more money to be made from operating a restaurant than from operating a bank on the Upper West Side.
Kind of scary when you think of it that way.
Change of use in construction projects requires additional permits and inspections that add delays and cost. If you catch the inspector on a bad day during a TCO walkthrough, he can request additional work and push the timeline even more.
that location was, in fact, a diner in the 80s and early 90s
do you remember the name of the diner? would love to look it up!
Very optimistic timeline. I peered in yesterday and it the space was still a very raw shell.
Cherry Restaurant
Yes! Absolutely right. It was a popular place. https://www.landmarkwest.org/theywerehere/331-339-columbus-avenue/
Thank you for that marvelous link, Delphic M. I had forgotten that Putomayo was also on that corner, and that both it and The Cherry were forced out in favor of Chase, Glad The Mermaid is taking over that space.
Oh, The Cherry, of blessed memory! A strange but very wonderful combination of Japanese food and American diner cooking, with the nicest staff.
What about the other corner of that block? 75th and Columbus? That space has been vacant for 3 years now.
Typical construction and permitting red tape. This ain’t Wichita.
Can’t happen soon enough! Love mermaid!
Kossar’s took forever and now it’s a delight. This will be the same. But we can’t afford to confront how impossible it is to get things done in this city.
Red tape rollback!
The corner space has been a restaurant for years. It was Isabella’s and, for a brief time, a French restaurant whose name evades me.
Hi, WSR! Next can we investigate why all the incoming restaurants (Taim, Village Square Pizza, Moka & Co) on the west side of Broadway between 92-93 seem to have hit a indefinite snag? Been waiting months and months for them to finally open. Thank you!
Finally chase banks are being converted back to local spots. Nature is healing
“it just takes a long time to build a restaurant in the city“ – I would love to see the cost breakout here. Who needs to sign off and what fees and permits are required. We live in a great city but that city sure makes it hard to DO anything. Let’s shine some light there and spend more time on local challenges than harping about Washington. Love the rag for covering this btw.
Anyone know what’s going into the old Mermaid Inn space? Has anyone taken over that lease yet?