Mermaids Seafood Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in Fayetteville

We just finished dinner at Mermaids. It was the worst dining experience we have had in a very long time. I made the reservation a few weeks ago to celebrate our daughter’s college graduation. The first clue that it was going to be bad was when we waited 40 minutes for our reservation (we had arrived early) and were taken to a large, cafeteria like room in the back with many open tables. There was a party next to us for our entire dinner that was very loud and we couldn’t hear our group over the echo in the room and their noise. There went the ambience. We sat for 30 minutes without a drink other than water or the opportunity to order anything. We became more concerned when the party of 20, that was seated after us, began to get wine and appetizers- while we had water. The food did come - and was marginal. However, the wine we ordered for dinner was finally served as we were half way through our main course. Finally, after waiting 20 minutes to pay our bill, we got up and took the bill to the front to pay - as we had not seen our server for quite awhile. Fortunately gratuity for our party of 7 was already added into the bill. We are saddened by this dining experience that was to be a special celebration. We had always been curious about Mermaids and were looking forward to the experience. We will...

Went to Isabellas because they have the Mermaid menu for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays until they open their new store in Rogers. The food was very good and I saved half of mine to take home for dinner. I asked for a to- go box from a server who calls herself Sparkles. I also asked for some bread. She snatched up my bowl of food and took it to the kitchen. We were done eating and had to wait about 10 minutes for her return. She came back with a small container of food and 3 pieces of bread. She said she had to wait on the bread. After she left our table I opened the box and the bread was cold and there was only about half the amount of food that was in my bowl. The strangest thing was that I had sprinkled a fair amount of Zatatain's creole seasoning which is red on my food. I do not believe the food she brought was mine as there was none of my seasoning on it. I am very disappointed in this experience. This was one of my favorite places for lunch. My husband had tipped her very well so I do not know what happened. If she threw my food away by mistake or dropped it she should have just told me. If I ever so back I will bring my own to go box because trust has been...

UPDATE TO THE OWNER'S RESPONSE: Whether a complimentary meal or a paid meal, the food should be quality...and no, dog food is not being harsh!

ORIGINAL POST:

This makes the fourth and last time I will ever visit Mermaids. I attended an event tonight at Mermaids and the food was, yet again, a huge let-down.

It all started with the salad - the balsamic vinegar was so incredibly sweet, it made my teeth hurt. I felt like I was eating a salad drenched in Karo white corn syrup. The main dish was chicken with a piccata-like sauce and two shrimp, mashed potatoes, and steamed carrots. This would have been a good dish if the chicken weren't so tough and the carrots hadn't have been drenched in a sugary syrup. The shape of the carrots were too uniform to have been fresh carrots & they had a spongy like texture.

My husband had the same issue with his salad, and his main course did not look visually appealing. He had the beef tips over brown rice - said it tasted like a "boil in the bag" meal. He didn't even eat it because in his opinion, it wasn't fit to eat. He said the brown rice was mushy and watery; and the beef tips tasted...