The Mean Fiddler — Restaurant in New York

While enjoying a night out with my friend, i suggested we go to the mean fiddler to get some drinks. Ended up on the woo woo first since we had never been. We entered, sat at the bar with no problems, nobody mentioned our clothes or any dress code. When my friend decided she wanted something sweet we decided to go over and see if the mean fiddler had anything sweet.

When we went to the bouncer (bouncer in the second picture) to check our IDs, we got turned away because of slides that we have on. This is not the first time that we had been turned away, the first time we only had a picture of our ID and we were informed those were not accepted. Which we understood and left.

Before we continue the story i would like to mention me and my friend are both black women. Back to today, when we went and we got turned away, we left and tried to figure out the next spot. When i glanced back, there are these group of white girls who had on SLIDES and every single one of them showed a PICTURE ID.

When my friend went to the bouncer to ask why they were let in and not us, he was stumbling over his words and couldn’t give us a clear answer but did say something of them working there?? The questions he was asking them was not the questions you ask your coworkers. It’s the question you ask any visiting customer. He also was telling one of his white coworker who apparently is the Owner ( I think his name is Pat) of the establishment that we must hate black men???

Anyways we tried to go back to the woo woo to speak to someone because it was clear the bouncer had an issue with us and when we tried buzzing in, they had denied us access.

Once the security guy (guy from first picture) from the woo woo came out he was also confused on what the issue was and went to speak to someone. Because again we had caused no issue, got a drink, tipped the bartender and left even making jokes on how we will be back.

Once he spoke to the mangers which ended up being the bouncer from the from the mean fiddler. He basically started acting weird and not letting us speak and just said that he’s following his mangers word and we aren’t allowed back in. He also stated how if we were men then this would have been resolved quickly but we are pretty girls. I’m sure he meant that he would have resolved the issue with violence… I honestly don’t know what he was trying to say with that.

It’s crazy how this establishment and the bouncer for the mean fiddler is so willing to bend the rules and policies for your white customers. The main issue isn’t the policies they have but bending them to only apply to black peoples apparently.

If you’re a POC avoid this place like the plague. It’s obvious we are not the demographics they are...

Booked on Resy for a Saturday early afternoon Christmas brunch for two. Mean Fiddler is located right around the corner from 8th Avenue, off 47 st. There's an outdoor seating with the name of the establishment, making it easy to find. We walked in 30 minutes early for our reservation (12:30 arrival, 1 PM reservation) but the hostess sat us with no problem. They opened at 12, so only 3 other tables were occupied when we arrived.

The inside was very very Christmas Grinch festive, super cute. Christmas lights, garlands hanging around, blow up Grinches when you walk in and hanging up. Ladies bathroom was clean. They have high seating tables and regular seating tables, tables a little small to hold the food/drinks, but doable. We sat for the 90 min bottomless brunch, $25 for that in addition to whatever entree you pick. The menu is available via scanning the barcode on your phone.

They gave a free round of green tea shots as soon as we sat down, and those shots were delicious! They were on top of making sure we had drinks throughout the 90 minutes. We tried strawberry and passion fruit frozen margaritas, the naughty Santa margarita, the Mango margarita. Our favorite was the mix of strawberry and passion fruit frozen margarita, they gave us two small pitchers of this so we could refill our drink easily. The drinks came with grinch decor and mini candy canes. They also gave us holiday costume glasses to wear, since we were celebrating a birthday.

For eats we got the grilled chicken wrap that came with fries, the mean Fiddler nachos, and steak quesadilla. The nachos were great, had jalapeños and a spicy kick in the white sauce. The wrap was tasty and the quesadilla good. Quesadilla portion was pretty small for $22, but the rest of the eats were decent sized. They brought two more green tea shots and rang an alarm/shouted out our birthday towards the end of our visit, which was great. They give you time checks when you're running close to the end of the bottomless.

Our waitress was Katy, she was pleasant, sweet, and had a great Irish accent. The music was great as well, a mix of 80s and 90s/early 2000s, just up our alley. When Katy was busy the other waitresses made sure to come check in on how we were doing.

They include automatic 20% tip with bottomless brunch, paid just under $145 for two people which is fine for a midtown location and non stop drinks for 1.5 hours. Would definitely visit again and...

My partner and I were very pleasantly surprised by this place. We sat at the bar before seeing Six (which was excellent). The bartenders were very friendly. I ordered a mocktail, which the bartender graciously made and which was just juices - it was ok. But my partner had 2 espresso martinis and said they were very tasty. They smelled wonderful.

The real pleasure of this experience was the food. We ordered appetizers (Small Plates and Pub Grub menus).

First, the Irish Curry Fries (Small Plates menu). The yellow curry is exactly what I remember from a trip to Dublin and satisfied a craving I have had for nearly a decade! My Indian partner was also pleasantly surprised with how much he liked the curry lol. My only desire was that the fries would be thinner - they are thick cut, which can be useful to spoon up the curry, but I prefer thin and crispy for this dish.

Second, the Fiddler Nachos with steak (Pub Grub menu). I almost didn't say anything to my partner because it seemed so crazy and basic, but he was the first to say so and I was happy to agree: Are these the best nachos I've ever had?! Possibly. The steak was soft and cooked just fine for the dish, chopped into bite size and not strips. There seemed to be a creamy cheese dip that had a nice flavor, and was not just cheese sauce. There was also real cheese, melted well. The guac and other additions to the nachos were tasty and fresh. But best of all, ALL of the chips stayed crispy and 0 were soggy. Perhaps the only thing I'd change is, if the chips are made in house, give a generous finish of salt when they come out of the fryer, and a good squeeze of fresh lime all over the dish right before serving. It would make all the flavors stand out a little more.

Finally, we also got the Potato Crusted Chicken Tenders (Small Plates menu). As someone who only eats gluten free, this was a delight. Crispy, tasty, juicy, big portion, and the honey mustard was fine too - but nothing too special.

All in all, a great experience and if we are around there before another show, we may...