The Fat Mermaid — Restaurant in Valdez

As a local Valdezian I love to support local businesses. That being said, I feel every time I support the fat mermaid it is an utter waste of time and money. I have never eaten here and left happy with my experience or satisfied with the food. Its always mediocre at best, and extremely overpriced. As for the service, Every server I have ever had has been unattentive and has almost no personality at all. My partner and I ate breakfast there this morning and it was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to this review. ( I usually NEVER write negative reviews and don't take them lightly at all) But, in this case, it's completely deserving. This morning we waited over 10 minutes just to be seated, when there were empty tables around the entire restaurant at our time of visit. When we were seated, the hostess said nothing at all to us before seating, there was no good morning, no how are you guys, not even an acknowledgment of any kind. When she placed the menus on the table, the only thing she said was, "here you go" after she had turned and started walking away. after this, our waitress who served us was almost completely void of personality and gave us no proper greeting at all. while taking our orders she asked no clarifying questions and just stood there in awkward silence expecting us to place our orders our entirety in silence. This is my BIGGEST pet peeve. The LEAST you can do is speak to your customers, ESPECIALLY when it is customary to leave a 20% tip on already EXTREMELY marked-up food. Unless there is a major change in service and quality, I will not be re-attending this restaurant. I have been 4 times in the past few months, and every time it is equally disappointing, and I surely hope this will be fixed, and stop tarnishing Valdez's name and food scene. HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND...

If you’re coming here for either a long stay in Valdez or simply a short break, you must come here to enjoy a hearty meal. When you first arrive, you are greeted with great staff who are so kind and there to help with anything you need. The building gives very “seashore” and tropical vibes and the atmosphere outside (where I stayed) is so nice.

The food is also spectacular. We got the smoked salmon dip and the crab cakes for an appetizer and a seafood platter as well as a fettuccini alfredo with salmon for the entree; they were nothing short of delicious.

The smoked salmon dish was insanely good. The dip melted in your mouth, in a good way, and tasted like fois gras but salmon. Putting it on the chips was great and tasted like nachos premium. The crab cakes were crunchy and delicious and the dipping sauce was great as well.

The fish n chips in the platter were surprisingly crispy and juicy and tasted wonderful dipped in their tartar sauce. The platter also comes with calamari, fries and garlic shrimp. The calamari has a nice level of crunch but the taste is a bit lacking and bland but all that is fine if you dip it in their calamari sauce. The garlic shrimp was absolutely delicious. It was tangy with a zesty taste but also very garlicky and I think they balanced those flavours perfectly. The fries were crispy and the seasoning was present and the overall platter was delicious.

The fettuccini was creamy and surprisingly had a balanced amount of seasoning which I think is pretty rare in small towns. The pasta was a mix of al dente and soft and it was perfect.

Overall, a great experience and I would come back for the smoked salmon dip alone. My only complaint is that it might get a little pricey. Definitely give this place a try, you...

Was extra excited to go here during a girls trip for this Mother's Day weekend. Walking up it was great. We thoroughly enjoyed the outside decors and were blown away by the floor art upon entering. We ordered a couple of drinks that were ok. The bloody mermaid (Mary) was good, though I had to add pepper to give it any amount of kick (very obviously use pre-mix). After looking at the menu, we were quite unimpressed with it. For a place called the "Fat Mermaid" we were not expecting the amount of healthy options. We decided to just share a burger and fries. We assumed since it was nearly $25, it had to at least be good. We were wrong. The patties were not seasoned at all, so just bland beef. I went to add ketchup and mustard and was confused when the mustard was a lighter color. It was organic. The Ketchup was too. To each their own, but organic Ketchup and Mustard are disgusting. The veggies on the burger were decent. We got ranch for our fries and the ranch obviously has water added to it to make it stretch further. It was horrible. The fries were delicious, but there was nothing to dip them in, so it was disappointing. The best thing about this place is the service. The server we had was fantastic and very friendly. Just enough attentiveness and a great personality.

Definitely would not recommend this place. Had a few people ask us for food recommendations over the time we spent in Valdez and cautioned them on this place and Mike's (also awful). If something as simple as a burger is terrible, I can only imagine how awful the more...