madisonFishFry.com

Fish Type: Cod Price: $8.00

Overall, I would highly recommend this fish fry.

Fish Score: Excellent
French Fry Score: Excellent
Tartar Score: Excellent
Bread Score: Good
Miscellaneous Score: Excellent

Comment: I had planned to try a new Fish Fry for lunch and since I had never been to The Park Side Pub in McFarland I decided that was going to be the spot. On the way there I noticed Toby’s had a sign out that said they were open for lunch. I would never have guessed that they would be open for lunch and was tempted to just pull off and forego my trip to The Park Side. Since I have been to Toby’s a number of times I tried to stick to my guns and sped past to put their delicious fish out of my mind as quickly as possible. A few minutes later I was at the Park Side. I soon realized that there wasn’t a single car in the lot and the place was in the process of being remodeled. This didn’t seem like a good day to put them to the test and since Toby’s was still fresh in my mind I whipped a sh*tty (as my brother would say) and headed back to Toby’s.

I pulled into the lot at Toby’s around 12:15 and was glad to see it was not as packed as it is on a Friday night. There were still a lot of people mind you, but nowhere near as many as you expect during dinner time. I didn’t have any company today so I sat down at the bar alone and ordered my Spotted Cow from the friendly, heavily “inked” bartender. For lunch Toby’s only offers cod and lake perch which is nowhere near the array of fish that they do for dinner. That was okay with me though because I was in the mood for some melt in your mouth cod. I ordered right from the bartender, sat back, drank my drink and enjoyed a little SportsCenter. About 15 minutes later my fish was ready.

The lunch fish fry comes in a basket which is a definite departure from how the dinner is served. The 2 pieces of cod were light and flaky as I hoped but where not scalding hot which gave a tiny bit of grease the chance to accumulate. It was still very good but I think it must have had to wait a couple minutes for the French fries which were unbearably hot. The fries were delicious but I wish it would have been the other way around: scalding hot fish and lukewarm fries = still delicious, lukewarm fish and scalding fries = less delicious. Sacrifice the fries, not the fish! Regardless, it was still better than 90% of the fish out there just not pure perfection as I have come to expect from Toby’s.

The tartar was, and always is, awesome, and helped to kick the fish up a notch. The roll served with lunch was surprisingly uninspired, but the coleslaw was good, so whatever. For lunch I don’t expect everything to blow me away, especially for 8 bucks or so. Plus, when all is said and dome Toby’s always gives you some sort of desert which kicks ass. This time it was chocolate ice cream (although it was from somewhere down south instead of Wisconsin ::eyeroll:: ).

I am glad to know that Toby’s does lunch. It actually makes it somewhat easy to get a great Fish Fry without the ridiculous crowd you would have to deal with at dinner time. Toby’s is one of the best around and although this particular visit wasn’t the best ever, a “B” visit to Toby’s is most others “A.”

www.tobyssupperclub.com/Tobys_Supper_Club/Home.html
3717 S Dutch Mill Road
Madison, WI 53718
(608) 222-6913