Fish Type: Cod Price: $8.33
Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Fair Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Poor Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Fair |
Comment: What can you say about Azzalino’s? I really wanted to like this place. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but was convinced that it had to be nicer than Bennett’s used to be. I arrived at Azzalino’s at about 12:45 and was somewhat surprised that there were not more people around. I took one of the open seats at the bar and waited for the bartender/waiter/cook/probable owner to finish the food he was making for a take out order. I waited a good 15 minutes before he finally had the order finished and was able to get me a drink. I would have been long gone if not for the fact I was meeting a fried there for lunch. The “help wanted” sign out front probably should have read “help needed” as this guy really could have used someone to take a few tasks off his hands. Nonetheless I stuck it out and ordered some fish.
There are basically three fish options for Fish Fry on Friday: Cod, Walleye and Catfish, although the owner was sure to include Salmon, Tuna and some other stuff as well. I ordered the cod which costs $8.33 and comes with French fries and a choice of potato salad or coleslaw. The fish was served in three massive chunks and tasted fairly decent but was very heavy and pretty greasy. I could barely finish two of these monsters much less three. The French fries were straight cut potatoes which were nothing special but still good. The tartar sauce was store bought and although there were two options, Beaver and Kraft, they didn’t make it any better. Store bought tartar sauce just does not cut the mustard.
The potato salad was also just okay and I assume not much better than the slaw would have been. Maybe the best part of the Fish Fry was the roll which was basically a grilled hamburger bun with melted butter, which isn’t saying a whole lot but still tasted good.
Azzalino’s is actually a pretty decent looking little place inside. All the tables are made from old barrels and along with a few other touches they do add a “Speakeasy” ambiance to the place. Overall there is simply no way I could recommend this Fish Fry especially with all the other great ones out there. It is too bad to because the owner or whoever was working that day seemed like a really nice guy but just is not on his ‘A’ game when it comes to the Fish Fry. Oh well, win some, lose some.
www.azzalinosspeakeasy.com/
416 Park Street
Madison, WI
