Fish Type: Cod Price: $7.00
Overall, I would barely recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Fair Potato Score: Excellent Tartar Score: Good Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Good |  |
Comment: On a forgotten street on Madison’s North Side you will find the Locker Room Sports Bar. Deep in the shadows of Oscar Meyer the Locker Room looks like your regular hole-in-the-wall kind of place. It is nothing more that a small block building surrounded by a sea of asphalt. I never judge a book by its cover and I never judge a Fish Fry by how crappy the restaurant looks so I decided that they deserved their shot.
The Fish Fry at the Locker Room consists of 3-4 smallish sized pieces of cod for about $7.00. I thought it was going the be All You Can Eat but when the bartender/waitress came around she never asked if we wanted more so I guess it is not. Regardless of if it was AYCE or not I don’t know that I would have wanted more. The fish was very thin and was slightly overcooked which made it a little mushy. In addition the batter was good but since it was so thin it got overly crispy resulting in an odd blend with the mushy fish. 2 of my 4 pieces were thicker cuts and tasted good, but my dining companion was clear to point out that none of his were. Since The Locker Room is a sports bar I feel a sports analogy is apt; they went 2 for 8 for a batting average of .250 which is decent but not going to make a lot of major league rosters. That is unless you are good in the field. And let me tell you, the Locker Room played some pretty good ‘D’.
By defense I mean the items that supported or backed up the Fish Fry. The French fries were excellent. They were thick cut, crinkle style fries which were spot on. The tartar sauce was also very good and had a tangy zip, almost miracle whip like but not as quite as zippy. It was still a nice blend of mayo, relish and whatever else. The roll served with the Fish Fry was also just fine and tasted fresh which was somewhat unexpected especially since I didn’t even get bread the previous two weeks.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this Fish Fry. I expected the place to be a complete dump, but it is actually pretty nice and quite spacious inside. The bar was clean and the food was good in general. The fish itself was hit and miss but everything else about the meal was good which makes it a difficult Fish Fry to recommend. This one is definitely borderline; but in the end my, basket was empty, my belly was full and the PBR was cold.
1810 Roth Street
Madison, WI
