Winner of 2016 Fish Fry Challenge

4^th Annual Fish Fry Winner and final thoughts

As this year marked a change for the geographic area that we have been doing our ‘challenges’ in, it also marked a big change in our overall experiences with the fish fry’s.  Overall, this year’s challenge left us leaving establishments fairly disappointed.  This year was also very hard with deciding where we should go for our fish fry.  There were definitely a lot of choices, but it was shocking to see how much fish fry’s went up in cost for what you all get.

Here were the overall results for the Fish Fry Challenge:

These are listed by weeks and the number we gave each out of 10.

1.      Rhody's, Dubuque, IA :  7

2.      Hideaway Acres, Benton, WI: 8

3.      1847 Stamm House, Middleton, WI: 6

4.      Village Bar Supper Club--Kieler, WI: 6

5.      Bluff Lake Catfish Farm, Maquoketa, IA: 9

6.      Red's Supper Club, Cuba City, WI: 7

7.      Country Heights Supper Club, Hazel Green, WI: 7

Our 4^th Annual Fish Fry winner for the 2016 season was Bluff Lake Catfish Farm in Maquoketa, IA.  It was clearly that best fish, sides and overall price. And it was located in a beautiful, unique area which helped with the overall experience. 

Thank you to all who joined us for our fish fry challenges this year, as we had a great time with everyone who came out! Hopefully our reviews gave you a little better insight into what different options are out there for fish fry’s, and we encourage you to try someplace new!

Week 7 Review: Country Heights Supper Club

Week 7 Review: Country Heights Supper Club, Hazel Green, WI

You know how you drive by a billboard advertisement for a restaurant and you say "we should try that place!".  Well after years of driving by the billboard, we finally made our way to the Country Heights Supper Club in Hazel Green for our final fish fry review.

Because there was a pretty important basketball game going on that evening, we decided to go early to check out the fish fry.  When you walk into Country Heights its like you're walking into the 1970's.  Everything seemed to be exactly what was there in the 70's.  We had made reservations for just us two for 5:30 pm, and when we arrived there were plenty of tables open.

Once we got seated at our table, our server came over fairly quickly. The Friday night special was the AYCE Pike fish fry for $11.95. The AYCE included the salad bar and a potato. We both ordered the Friday special and decided to head to the salad bar before the crowd got there.

This salad bar was one of the largest ones we've seen yet.  It had numerous items to choose from, as to where I can't even remember everything that was there! Some the items on the salad bar were: coleslaw, toss salad (with numerous toppings), potato salad (2 different kinds), pasta salad, noodle salad, macaroni salad, cheese & crackers, dinner rolls, and soup.

In order to try everything that I wanted to try on the salad bar, I had to go up a few times.  Overall, only a few items really made an impression on me.  The lettuce and toppings available were all good and I really liked the salad dressing.  The dinner rolls tasted fresh, and I enjoyed the cheese spread and crackers.  The coleslaw was pretty good, but not exactly the kind I like.  The big negatives of the salad bar: all of the 'salads'. The potato salads, the pasta salad, and the macaroni salad were all terrible. Terrible to where I almost could not even stand one bite. They all tasted as if they had too much vinegar or were just plain old.

Dinner time! Our server brought out a good sized portion of our AYCE Pike fish, as well as my potato choice, which was a baked potato.  The Pike was lightly breaded and fried almost perfectly all over. It was not very thick, but had a good taste and flavor.  The tartar sauce was once again exactly the kind I liked and really paired very well with the Pike.  The baked potato was cooked perfectly and tasted very good as well.

Our server had stopped by our table periodically to check on us and refill our drinks, and was very accommodating to all of our needs.

Overall comments/rating: the salad bar turned out not to be as outstanding as it could have been; the fish was really good, but did not exceed the greatness of some of our previous fish fry's.  With this being an AYCE, with full salad bar for only $11.95, it was priced very reasonably (compared to others we've experienced).

In the end we are giving this AYCE fish fry a 7 out of 10.  If the salad bar options had been better tasting, then I would have rated it a lot higher.

I definitely thought the overall atmosphere was "far out" and if you're wanting to have a supper club fish fry, with a salad bar, this place would be worthwhile to check out as it's very reasonably priced for what you get. 

Week 6: Red's Supper Club, Cuba City, WI

Week 6 Review: Red's Supper Club, Cuba City, WI

One of my father's favorite places to go out to eat (when he was forced!) was to go to Red's Supper Club.  Since we're back in the area now, I wanted to be sure we did a review for their fish as I had eaten their fish dinner a long, long time ago and remember it being good.

I had made reservations for our group of 6, but because we had arrived around 6:30 pm, we really wouldn't have needed to have a reservation. Once we were settled in to our table, we were welcomed to large relish tray, bread basket, and dressings on our table.  Our server came shortly after and took our drink order and notified us of the Friday night special.

The special for the night was the AYCE seafood buffet, which came with side salad.  On the buffet was: roasted potatoes, fried cod, broiled cod, pike, frog legs, crab cakes, shrimp/veggie kabobs, and steamed veggies.  All of this was for $15.99.

About half of our group got the seafood buffet, and I was of course excited to have a little variation on the typical 'fish fry'.  Our side salads came out shortly after we ordered, and I wasn't a big fan of the french dressing on the table.

Buffet time! For my first round of the buffet I got the roasted potatoes, frog legs, fried cod, broiled cod,pike fish and crab cakes.  The fried cod had little to no taste with its breading, and was a little tough; the broiled cod was a little dry, and I really didn't care for the crab cakes. The frog legs were....interesting, but not terrible. The pike wasn't bad, but didn't have much flavor to it either.  The tartar sauce was exactly my favorite type of tartar sauce, but it still didn't make the fish taste much better.  Now you're probably thinking that I'm going to end my review here, but like I said before, this is a buffet so there are 2nd chances!

I went up for my second round, and they had just put out fresh fish. The broiled cod was outstanding this time! Had great flavor and was not dry at all.  We also were able to try the shrimp kabobs which were also made to perfection! I loooove shrimp, so this was a welcomed addition to my fish fry challenge.

Our server had stopped by our table periodically to check on us and refill our drinks, but the entertainment of the night came when she cleaned off our table and accidentally spilled the whole stack of plates down my back.  It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, as I didn't get completely covered in food but it did hit me pretty hard in the shoulder.

After the repeated apologizes from the waitress, we shared a grasshopper.  It was a great way to end the meal.

Overall comments/rating: the broiled fish, tartar sauce, and shrimp kabobs were wonderful and really helped bring the entire dinner up a rating.  And it was nice that we got to go up again to try more fish as the second time around was a lot better.  The salad was mediocre, the potatoes really had a stew flavor to them that I didn't really care for, and our service was fine, but not excellent.   For what you all received, the price of $15.99 seemed a bit high, but since it was a seafood buffet, I wasn't surprised, and I left pretty full.

This fish fry was hard to come to a conclusion on the rating as it was a buffet that had more than just fish.  I won't lie, as the shrimp really did help make the experience better, but in the end I've given Red's Supper Club a 7 out of 10 as the fish (and tartar sauce) was excellent!

If you're looking for a classic supper club experience, Red's Supper Club is definitely a place to check out. 

Week 5 Review: Bluff Lake Catfish Farm, Maquoketa, IA

Week 5 Review: Bluff Lake Catfish Farm, Maquoketa, IA

This week we traveled to the middle of nowhere for one amazing catfish meal.

Family had recommended we try Bluff Lake as they have an abundance of catfish.  Bluff Lake sits just outside of the Maquoketa Cave Park in a valley and can be (was) extremely hard to find.

As you come upon Bluff Lake restaurant you are immediately wowed by the view of where the restaurant sits in the valley between two large hills/cliffs.  The restaurant has a catfish pond that can be overlooked by the outside sitting area.

This place did not take reservations so we had to put our name in when our entire party arrived.  There were lots of people waiting for seats, but luckily they had a large waiting room with a bar.  We were able to get a table surprisingly quick (about 20 minutes after we got there) for our large group of 8 people.

When we were seated in the very small dining area, our server came to our table right away.  Our server definitely looked like she was extremely busy and was ready to take our order, immediately. The majority of us ordered the all you can eat (AYCE) catfish dinner. We could get catfish fillets and whole catfish, both were fried. Our dinner came with coleslaw and waffle fries, all for $12.50.

Dinner is served! Our food came out in record time! Since most of our table got the fish dinner, we had the coleslaw, waffle fries and catfish served family style.  Let's start with the coleslaw. The coleslaw was finely chopped and had just the right amount of vinegar and sugar. It was very tasty and was exactly the kind of coleslaw I like.  The waffle fries were cooked just right, and tasted fine, but I didn't waste too much of my appetite on them.  Now for the catfish. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  We have been waiting for 5 weeks to eat fish this good!  The catfish was lightly breaded/fried and we were able to get it in fillets and whole.  It was different for me to see a whole catfish in front of me, but it sure was good!  And what about the tartar sauce?  Well, first off, you didn't even need tartar sauce for the catfish as it was prepared perfectly, but the tartar sauce that was served was again, exactly the type I like. It had a mayo base with just the right amount of relish.  Delicious when paired with the catfish.

Our server came back periodically to check on us and refill our coleslaw and catfish plate, but didn't seem overly worried about our dining experience as she was busy with many other tables. After our table ate about about 20 + pieces of catfish (no joke), we finally were full and had just had the best catfish meal ever.  As we were leaving, the waiting room still had the same amount of people waiting as it did when we arrived. This place is popular!

Overall comments/rating: FANTASTIC meal! Catfish was cooked perfectly, coleslaw and tartar sauce were made to my exact liking, the restaurant atmosphere was full of excitement of everyone wanting to get their catfish and our service was mediocre. My only negative is that the only choice of potato that came with your meal was the waffle fries, which I am not a big fan of fries with the fish (more of baked potato gal).

With this being a fantastic tasting AYCE meal for only $12.50, I am going to give Bluff Lake Catfish Farm a 9 out of 10.  If the server would have been happier to serve us, and we could have had a different potato option it would have gotten a full 10.

If you're ever in the area, I would highly, highly suggest checking this place out. Not only is the catfish amazing, but the view surrounding the restaurant is pretty fantastic too.

http://blufflakecatfishfarm.com/

Week 4 Review: Village Bar

Week 4 Review: Village Bar Supper Club--Kieler, WI

Our fish fry takes us to the small town of Kieler, WI.  We've enjoyed the Village Bar on other occasions and were excited to go back to rate their fish fry.  We also were happy to have some 'out-of-town' friends join us :)

I had made reservations, but upon arrival it appeared we wouldn't have needed to, as the restaurant had the least amount of people I've ever seen in it. We were able to sit right away at our table.  Our server took a little while to get to us, but was very kind and pleasant.

We ordered our drinks and started eating the bread at the table while we waited for our server to return.  The Friday special was Cod or Catfish for $11.95. With your meal you got coleslaw, and a potato.  Each table did also receive a relish tray which included carrots, celery, cheese dip, and seafood dip.

Once our server did return, we ordered.  I ordered the fried Cod special; others at our table ordered the broiled cod and the catfish.

Dinner is served! Our dinners came out in record time.  My cod dinner came with coleslaw and a baked potato.  Let's start with the cod.  I got three fairly decent sized pieces of cod.  The cod was extremely fried and had a thick coating on it.  The parts that weren't so thick did taste good, but not great. It did have way too much breading on it and it really took away from the taste of the fish.  I tried the broiled cod and it OK as well, but not great by my standards.  The tartar sauce was one "flavor" below what I typically like.  It tasted like it had a little too much of a sour taste to it.  It wasn't terrible, but really didn't add much to the taste of the fish.  The coleslaw had a little too much liquid to it and not the flavor I like, but again, wasn't terrible.  My baked potato was a little overcooked and dry, so not that appetizing.

For dessert we had to order a grasshopper, because well, we were at a Supper Club and it only seemed right. The grasshopper was even better than our previous one, and was a great end to the meal.

This fish fry definitely was not all that I had hoped or expected it to be.  I have eaten fish here before and remembered it be much more tastier than this time. The relish tray was nice addition to the meal, but really did not impact my overall ratings on the meal.

Overall comments/rating: the fish had more breading on it than I would have liked and was a bit more greasy than it should have been; the coleslaw had a little less flavor and more liquid to it than wanted; and the potato was a little dry. For what you all received, the price of $11.95 seemed a bit high.  Our service was acceptable, as she was very pleasant to us, but a little slow.  The dining environment was nice and we of course enjoyed our company.

After careful thought, I have decided to give the Village Bar a 6 out of 10.  It was hard for me to give it such a low rating because I have had their fish before, but because I know it could have been better, I gave it a lower score from my experience.

I would, however, highly recommend going to the Village Bar as they do have great food at decent prices, and has a great Supper Club feel to it. 

Week 3 Review: 1847 Stamm House

Week 3 Review: 1847 Stamm House, Middleton, WI

This week's fish fry takes us back to our previous home of Madison, WI.  We were visiting family & friends for the weekend and decided to do our fish fry in the area.  The Stamm House is a Madison area favorite that was renovated and changed it's name to "1847 Stamm House".  A few years ago we went to the original Stamm House for a fish fry--and liked it--and thought we'd try the new 1847 Stamm House's fish fry.

Of course since we were back in town we invited some very good friends to join us for our fish fry.  And they assisted me with my review.

I had made reservations earlier in the week just in case they were busy on a Friday night.  When we arrived it was really great to see that they kept the original stone walls that gave it a very upscale-rustic feeling.  The restaurant was very beautiful and had a really nice bar area.  Our table was ready for us upstairs, right at the time of our reservation.  The restaurant was fairly full, but not overcrowded.

When we arrived at our table I was surprised that it was so dimly lit.  The others in my group didn't mind, but because I'm judging everything, I made note of this.  It was a very nice dining area with great light fixtures and wall art.

Our server arrived quite a while after we were seated, and I really can't say much about him as he really did not make an impression on us, as it appeared that he didn't care to wait to on us.

We ordered a bottle of wine while we reviewed the one sheet menu.  The Friday night special was the Fish Fry for $16.00.  You could choose from Lake Superior Whitefish or Line Caught Cod.  Either could come baked or fried.  With your fish comes diced potatoes, coleslaw and tartar sauce--all items were house made.   I chose baked Whitefish, and the rest of my group chose fried cod.

Dinner is served! My Whitefish came out looking too beautiful to eat, alongside it was diced potatoes and coleslaw in a cute little glass jar.  The Whitefish was outstanding! It had just the right amount of flavor and spices to where you actually didn't need tartar sauce.  And as you know, you never hear me saying that!  But let's talk about the tartar sauce. The tartar sauce had a sweet taste to it with just the right amount of mayo that made it actually very good. It was unlike any tartar sauce I've ever had, but I actually really liked it.  The potatoes were cooked perfectly.  And now for the coleslaw...it's very hard to describe the coleslaw. To me, it was very dry, tossed with a light vinegar.  The rest of our group seemed to like it, but me, not so much.  As my group had ordered the fried cod I was able to try the cod.  The cod had a breading that I described as tasting like funnel cake. Seriously, the breading on the cod tasted so sweet to where I thought it tasted like funnel cake.  The group didn't care for the sweetness of the breading, and neither did I, but it wasn't terrible, just different.

This Fish Fry was definitely different than any other fry I've been to for my reviews.  I would not call this a "fish fry" as it was more like a fancy fish dinner; by the display of food and the very different ingredients within each food item. 

Overall comments/rating: the Whitefish (baked), was amazing and I highly recommend it.  The potatoes were very good, but the coleslaw, by my standards, was not up to par.  The price of $16.00 was a little over the top in my opinion for a fish fry and the items you receive, but after experiencing the environment of the restaurant, it is very apparent that they are looking at the new 1847 Stamm House to be more of an 'up scale' dining experience.  Service was acceptable as we got our food and drinks, but our server really did not try to get a better tip and frankly didn't care.  The dining environment was very pleasant and really beautiful.  The dinner company was once again GREAT as we really enjoyed everyone's participation in helping me review the dinner.

This Fish Fry was really hard to assess appropriately as it really wasn't anywhere close to a traditional fish fry.  I decided to give it a 6 out of 10.  The Whitefish was good, but because this fish fry really wasn't at all what I'd expected (or hoped) I really have to judge it against the others we've reviewed.

I would definitely recommend experiencing 1847 Stamm House, as it really was a nice dining experience. But if you're looking for a "fish fry" experience, it really isn't the place to go. 

Week 2 Review: Hideaway Acres, Benton, WI

Week 2 Review: Hideaway Acres, Benton, WI 

For our 2nd fish fry of the season, it was suggested that we head to a Wisconsin supper club.  This supper club was one that I used to visit yearly to celebrate my aunts birthday, so it brought back some great memories. We had some good friends join us for the dinner, so the company was very pleasant.

When traveling to the Hideaway, be prepared to drive right past the entrance, as it's literally "Hid-away" among the trees.  It actually was a very neat place for a supper club.

When we arrived the place was fairly empty, and turns out, we wouldn't have needed a reservation.  The Hideaway was definitely your more traditional supper club with dining area, bar, and dance floor.  It was extremely dated, but quaint and had a very old fire place in the middle.

Their Friday night special was Cod for $12.95.  With your fish you got a potato and one trip to the salad bar.  Our server was a young woman (perhaps in High School), and she was very nice and accommodating to our drink and dinner orders. 

The salad bar consisted of : three kinds of soup, toss salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, cheese spread, and a dinner roll.  The soup choices were none that I typically like, so I skipped those, The toss salad was pretty good, but surprisingly they didn't have shredded cheese available.  The coleslaw was runny and didn't have good flavor (by my standards), and the pasta salad was different, but not terrible, just didn't have much flavor either. 

Dinner is served! The Cod dinner was four nicely sized pieces of lightly breaded cod, and the baked potato that I chose.  And of course, a few sides of tartar sauce.  The cod was excellent! It was lightly breaded and cooked perfectly.  The breading had a light seasoning that didn't overpower the taste of the fish.  The tartar sauce--amazing!! Just the way I like it. So this, of course, made my fish taste even better.  I was able to eat three pieces of my fish, and then took my potato home.

Because we were at a supper club I knew what I had to order for dessert--a grasshopper!

We ordered two grasshoppers for the table. The grasshopper was pretty large and one would have been enough for four of us.  It didn't have as much of a mint flavor that I usually like, but it was sure tasty! And a great way to finish off the dinner. 

Overall comments/rating: the Cod was very good, salad bar was mediocre, tartar sauce--outstanding! The price of $12.95 was reasonable, but could be seen as just a bit overpriced compared to other fish fry's.  Service was very good, environment and dinner company was entertaining, and the grasshopper really helped bump this fish fry review to an 8 out of 10.

If you're ever in the area on a Friday night, I would definitely recommend stopping by the Hideaway for a cocktail, dinner or a grasshopper. 

FFC Week #1 Review: Rhody's

Week 1 Review: Rhody's, Dubuque, IA 

We started off the 2016 challenge with a local bar & grille.  Rhody's is a what I would call a 'townie' bar that also serves a full menu. The decor on the inside was not elegant, but it wasn't a dive either. 

We arrived at Rhody's ahead of our reservation of 6:30pm, and they already had our table for 7 ready to go. Due to it being a small establishment it looked somewhat busy as most tables in the front were occupied. When we got to our table our server gave us our menus and took our drink orders right away.  As we were a large, boisterous group, I was pleasantly surprised that our server was able to handle us right from the start. 

As for their Friday night special, it was just as we expected: All you can eat (AYCE) Cod or Catfish for $12.49.   Per the recommendation of one of our group members, I decided to start of the season with the Catfish. Our AYCE fish fry came with a potato side and the salad bar. I ordered garlic mash potatoes as that is not typically an item you get to choose from on a fish fry.  

The salad bar consisted of : broccoli cheddar soup-which was extremely salty, dinner rolls, macaroni salad (fantastic!), potato salad, coleslaw--a little too runny-- toss salad (french dressing was exactly how I like it), cheese spread with crackers -yum- and then a few other items that I didn't care to try. Overall, for it not having a lot of items on it, the items I did choose were all very good, except the salty soup, and runny cole slaw. 

Dinner is served! I was happy to see that the Catfish I ordered was lightly breaded and was a fairly decent size piece of fish.  It came with tartar sauce, lemon on the side, and the garlic mashed potatoes I ordered.  The Catfish tasted very light and the light breading was much better than a thick coating.  There wasn't a lot of flavor to the breading which really didn't bring out much flavor to the Catfish, but still had a decent overall taste to it.  My table guests offered me their cod to try. Umm, no thank you. The Cod was way too mushy and not crunchy how I would have expected it to be.  

And now I'm sure all of you are wondering "how was the tartar sauce???" Not good. It had a very strong relish taste to it, which didn't make it horrible (and believe me, I've had horrible!), but it was not to my liking. As for the garlic mashed potatoes--they were good. They had a good amount of garlic to where you didn't need to add any butter. 

Our server: she did a good job of coming back to check in and offered us more fish when she thought we needed it.  She didn't make any mistakes, at least not to my knowledge, and was very cheerful throughout our meal.  The overall environment was pleasant as well. 

Overall comments/rating: the Catfish was good, and if we go here again I would order it. Stay away from the Cod, or at least until they figure out how to get it crispy.  Salad bar, garlic mashed potatoes, and service gets two thumbs up.  Tartar sauce gets one thumb down--like I said, I've had worse.  Price, $12.49--reasonable for being AYCE and including a salad bar.  

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.  Catfish was good, but Cod and tartar sauce were not up to my standards. 

Week #2 location:  Hideaway Acres Supper Club in Benton, WI (recommended by friends)

4th Annual Fish Fry Challenge!

4^th Annual Fish Fry Challenge--2016! Starts Friday, February 12th

This year is special for us as it marks our 4^th year for the fish fry challenge, AND we have also changed our location for the challenge due to us moving to Dubuque, IA.  

For those of you who are new to my Fish Fry Challenge, here are basic details:

·         during the 7 week Lent season (fish fry season) I will visit 7 different Friday Fish Fry’s,  judge and rate (on a scale of 1-10) these fish fry’s based on the following criteria:

1.      Fish—quality and taste

2.     Tartar sauce (because I LOVE tartar sauce)

3.     Side dishes-

4.     Service & environment

5.     Price of fish fry—is the price worth what you get

I will then write up my review, give my rating and post in my blog.

Know of a great Fish Fry? Let me know, as we love suggestions!

Want to join us for a Fish Fry? Heck yes! Just let us know in advance (in case we need to make reservations).

For our Fish Fry Week #1 –Rhody's in Dubuque, IA