Fish Type: Walleye Price: $15.00
Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Fair Potato Score: Excellent Tartar Score: Good Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Good |
Comment: You might see the big, red not recommend above and think we hated this Fish Fry we didnt. Things just didnt work out this time around.
Usually hotel lobby restaurants pay lip service to Fish Fry. Sure, they have one, but they usually dont take it seriously Twist clearly does. Twist has walleye ($16), bluegill ($15, and cod ($12) on Friday which displays a commitment to having unique offerings and something for everyone. They all come with a soup/salad option, a potato choice, some slaw, and ciabatta roll.
The soup/salad will precede the fish along with the roll. The chowder is a little watery and very sparse on the clam. It tastes fine, but so much of chowder is about texture and clam quotient and this stuff just didnt divide correctly. The ciabatta was dense and very alluring...one of the highlights of the meal to be sure.
We were early so the fish came relatively quickly, but there was pretty much no one there so I am curious how it would be if they got busy. The walleye looked the part, but was below average to say the least. It was a beer battered rendition, which isnt a deal-breaker on its own, but the batter got saturated with grease on the thick side while remaining crispy on the thin side. It was an odd dichotomy and pretty unappealing. The fish itself had a strong flavor and while I often talk about the enchanting musk of the walleye this was more of a Preferred Stock stink that an alluring Armani. It was skunky and just a bad piece of fish if I had to guess.
Whereas the fish missed the mark the potatoes hit the bulls-eye time and again. The Russet Fries come frites-style in a big cone with a ton of seasoning. In addition, the singular potato pancake was great and had a nice blend of seasoning all its own. While it would be nice to have some apple sauce or syrup and another cake the lone wolf did well on its own.
The fish would have been hard to stomach on its own, but the tartar made it manageable. It was thick enough to cover the imperfections with the fish and had a good zip that shifted our focus. It did all it could do as the soggy walleye needed it badly.
The slaw was of the creamy persuasion and plentiful as all get out, but was just so-so. A real take it or leave it rendition.
This is a tough one. Twist is a new place and theyre trying to class things up a bit which seems to be working for the most part. As near as I can tell I just got a crummy piece of fish which sucks, but does happen from time to time. Overall, we dont recommend this Fish Fry, but are willing to give it another shot in hopes of a better piece of fish next time around. There is potential here that one bad piece of fish cant destroy.
twistbarandgrill.com
6617 Odana Road
Madison, WI 53719
(608) 833-0110
