Fish Type: Lake Perch Price: $15.00
Overall, I would highly recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Excellent Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Good |  |
Comment: Most days the Villa Tap is just a bar, the unassuming tavern on the corner like youd find in most any Wisconsin town. The local watering hole doesnt appear to be anything all that special and a lot of people probably just whiz right by on their way downtown or to the mall. Most days of the week its not a destination for the masses then Friday rolls around.
On Friday their parking lot overflows and chokes the residential streets to the South and West of Packers Avenue. Inside the tiny bar things get cramped and wait times for dinner get long. What could be the cause of all this chaos? Is it just people cutting loose after a long work week? Is it superb happy hour specials? Is it the friendly bartenders that people just cant wait to tip? Well, maybe those things are a part of it, but the Villas Friday Fish Fry special is definitely the catalyst.
Eastsiders flock to the bar like mosquitos to a bug zapper and with good reason - Chicos has some of the best fish in the city. Even westsiders seem to come out of the woodwork for the delicious lake perch, walleye, bluegill, and cod. While Chicos claim to fame is the perch, the same breading graces them all so there is a consistency no matter which you choose. The filets are always fried to perfection meaning they are never dried out, or greasy. This is the result of a true fry master at work.
The number of fillets vary based on the size in stock, but our recent trip yielded six perfectly-seasoned perch which formed a tantalizing teepee atop a hefty handful of freezer fries. The fries, while not unique, are fried as well as the fish and make for an unassuming accompaniment.
Ensuring the fish is all it can be is an idyllic tartar that pushes the nearly perfect perch a tiny bit further up the ladder. The best tartars are thick, creamy and zesty, and thats Chicos mix in a nutshell (although not literally in a nutshell, that would be weird, its in a cup).
Of course, no traditional Fish Fry would be complete without some coleslaw and a roll, and the Villas duo come before any of the fried goodies. The roll is as basic as the come, not made in house (its a bar not a bakery), and not unique in any way (it doesnt need to be), but it gets the job done. The slaw is also straightforward, a Sysco standard if ever there was one, but again, it just does what it supposed to do. These are the table setters, the equivalent of the one and two hitters in a lineup, and their job is just to get on base and let the big boppers do what they do. Runs are scored at the Villa, you can bet on that.
If a dead horse has ever been beaten, weve taken it to new levels with our love of the lake perch at the Villa. We know it, and we dont care one bit; this stuff is simply outstanding. Overall, we highly recommend this Fish Fry and will keep coming back as often as is humanely possible.
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2302 Packers Avenue
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 244-9627
