Unfortunately the lunch experience I had today was very unsatisfactory indeed.

The chicken pasta was very dry and to top it, all the parmesan cheese which is never chargeable in any restaurant in London, was extra at £2.00, shocking.

And last but not least I found that we couldn’t have a WOW card discount on the £7.50 menu which is very misleading so I will never visit your premises again, and obviously I will not recommend it to anyone.

Had the misfortune to dine there with my family on 08.01.2012. Over priced out of the packet food which took an age to arrive. The biggest joke was if you ordered a steak (£18 – £24) you had to order the chips as a side! I should have followed the three parties that came in after us, sat down briefly and left, obviously disgusted with the prices. Still, you live and learn. My advice – AVOID.

Generally a disappointing experience. Lunch time service was sub standard with a waiter that could not understand us. We had to repeat every item up to 3 times with the waiter still getting it wrong.
Because we work locally we always try to support businesses in the area, but we also try and make use of lunchtime specials. Upon entering we asked the waiter if the 2 for 1 lunchtime special offer is still valid to which the waiter assured us it is. He then showed us on the menu which dishes we were allowed to order to make use of the special. Unfortunately when it came to paying the bill we got told quite rudely, “No, special not valid” without any further explanation.
Must confess, the piece of battered Cod I had was definitely not worth £15 and this is the 2rd time in a row were the overall experience left us less than happy and quite out of pocket.
So far they failed to honour any of the specials advertised and we will definitely not be going back.

Very good restaurant in London; I went there with 2 friends and we ordered mussel pot, cherry tomato crostini and ribs. Mussels were fresh and very well presented in a white ceramic pot, the fresh cream and white wine sauce was really delicate. My friends liked both crostini and ribs. The presentation of both platters was impressing: the rack of glazed ribs was huge and the crostini were really colorful and well garnished. Mozzarella on crostini was very high standard and tasted really fresh. Good value for money and also good veg options.

Best ribs in town! Meat perfectly cooked, excellent coleslaw. The staff informed me that they use only fresh potatoes for their fries, hand cutting them every day to serve the best product.
My companion got the thick chips, and you could tell the difference with some chips served from frozen in other restaurants.
Absolutely love it, very friendly manager.

We from the Institute of Directors love the Mermaids Tail, our Christmas party last year was made very enjoyable by the quality of the food especially the Fish & Ribs and the friendly staff. There will be a party of 9 going tomorrow 20th Oct 2010 for a retirement party and our retirement girl specifically requested we go to The Mermaids Tail and no other as she enjoyed her last visit To top things off at the end of the year we have chosen and yes you've guessed it The Mermaids Tail

Rude staff!!...unfortunately had to walk out, due to poor service and staff members rolling their eyes simply because I requested salad instead of chips. Went across the road instead which was a delightful place.

Firstly when I entered the restaurant i noticed that restaurant itself is so beautiful expect those cheap table cloths, that ruined the whole beauty of the restaurant and made it look so cheap. Receptionist told me I will need to wait for a table around 2-3 minutes, although I noticed that there are a lot of people waiting already. around 10 minutes later I was seated. Menu is so ugly that i can say that mc`Donald menu looks better. I had to wait for food for 1 hour although we just had medium cooked steaks salads and chips. Food comes and all I see is this guy in black uniform bringing a huge tray with our food. There is no place for him to turn around and as I understood a waiter should have helped him because this guy tried calling one of them, to take the plates from the tray and give it to us. But no, guy in black uniform has no hands as he is holding the tray and waiters are just standing around next to computer talking with other waiters. So somehow he managed to hold this very heavy tray in one hand and gives out the plates. What kind of teamwork is this? Of course if I wanted some mayonnaises for my chips I had to ask, but since no one ever check on us there was no one I could. To pay for food you had, is so difficult as once You ask for bill you have to wait for 30 minutes an then to actually pay it another 10 minutes to pay by card. the whole experience is just awful! they try to serve too many customer not even considering that there is no space, tables on the front is so squeezed next to each other that it is even hard for staff to move around. I would understand if they could serve so many people properly but since they do not have enough staff and the once they have are doing double job I am not surprised about the service. Wouldn't it be better if they serve less people but properly,who like to sit down and enjoy the food without being asked to move in as they want to pass. Most would probably come back as the food is so nice, but...

I am allergic to wheat and eating out can be difficult but when Visited London two years ago with my husband I found I could eat at The Mermaids Tail. The have gluten free fish on the menu and to-date they are the best Gluten free fish and chips I have ever had and when we visit London again this June we will most definitely be visiting The Mermaids Tail for a meal.

Eat here after searching around for a place to eat for a while, I'm certainly no "food expert" but i like tasty food with good fresh ingredients and decent waiter experience....

As my girlfriend and I entered the restaurant we were literally throw into a seat not offered any drinks and ignored.... after waiting 15 mins we were finally asked by a waitress if we wanted some drinks. Shortly after our orders were taken.

The place had an "ok" atmosphere nothing more than a posh chippy, but the staff didn't seem to care at all. For starters we got a sharing platter which was small and what i would expect at a cheap pub place not bad but nothing spectacular....

For mains i ordered Haddock and chips and my girlfriend cod and chips with a side of mushy peas....

The Haddock was quite nice, but really greasy. The Cod was probably the worst I've ever tried, rubbery greasy junk. There was also a plate full of dry tasteless chips....

Overall cost £42 for what taste like rubbish and i could have got better from my local chippy for £8....

Really bad experience, don't bother with this place.....

Experienced the Mermaids Tail `restaurant` yesterday after a touristy visit with my young family to London.

What a joke this place is! After waiting 20 minutes a waiter eventually arrived at our table and took our drinks order.

This arrived after 15 mins (bearing in mind no-one else in the place). My bottle of lager was warm and the kids orange squash (or `cordial` as they kept on insisting on calling it) actually smelt of stale fish, and yes, we know this is a fish `restaurant`.

Tried to order fish cakes (any one of three types offered), told none were available, children wanted jacket potatoes, told, none available.

Our (amended) order eventually arrived after three reminders for service and nearly 50 minutes wait (still no-one in the place).

Kids meal #1 (fish fingers, chips and beans) arrived with no beans, kids meal #2 (cod and chips)

arrived as #1 i.e. fish fingers, kids meal #3 (scampi and chips) arrived without chips, adult meal + mash, arrived, yes, you've guessed it, with no mash,

my meal (stnd cod and chips) arrived with three pieces of overcooked, greasy and tasteless fish.

After three complaints to three different waiters (all wandering about as no customers) food and drink (excl. kids beans) finally sorted out.

We left as soon as we could. DO NOT EAT HERE, IT's TERRIBLE. BETTER OFF GOING ANYWHERE, YES, ANYWHERE ELSE.

I went there with a friend this evening, and I have to say after an initially very pleasant greeting by the courteous, professional and pleasant doorman, my opinion of the service there declined thereafter. Our waitress whose grasp of the English language was somewhat difficient being either that she was from an eastern european country and had a particularly strong accent (I say this for discriptive purposes only lest the PC brigade decide to come out here on the Interweb and send me cyber death-threats) or being that it was 9.15pm, she was tired and bored and thought our patronage of their restaurant not worthy enough to even muster the faintest glimmer of a smile, let alone listen to our order which we had to repeat 3 times, all without any apology or indeed any kind of acknowledgement on her part...

Having ordered a black coffee for myself and a tea for my friend, we are presented with 2 pots of tea! With our waitress having disappeared presumably to serve other customers (-fair enough! ;)), I politely caught the attention of a young-ish male waiter and asked if he could bring me the coffee I had ordered...only to be met with a condescending glare before a very transparent plastic smile and a begrudging nod of his head and off he went to change the surplus pot of tea.

The food itself was ok, we had the skate, nothing to write home about. The atmopshere itself in terms of decor etc, very ambient setting, with classy and original decor in-keeping with the Mermaid theme.

All in all, a tad overpriced given the lacklustre level of service we experienced (£12.50 for the battered skate and chips), and relatively average dish quality, with the restaurant's main redeeming feature being the decor and the setting, but then of course this is Leicester Sq and not really somewhere you might choose to frequent for a 99p chip butty and a Coke where you say 'Hia Mate' to Sam the fishman.

Naomi Givans.

The mermaids tail is absolutely fabulous! the decor was stunning and the food simple yet divine. On both occassions i have eaten there the starters have been splendid (whitebait, thai fish cakes) and the mains even better (haddock, monkfish). All the food is really fresh and its worth keeping your eyes peeled for the catch of the day and seaside specials! 5/5

I was so surprised by this restaurant when I went last night. We didn't expect to find an upmarket but friendly restaurant in Leicester Square that we could afford so this is great.

The best things about Mermaids Tail apart from the food are the amazing paintings of mermaids that are painted onto entire walls and the stained glass mermaids in the ceiling panels when you walk in. We really loved it. Well worth a visit!