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Fish Type: Cod     Price: $13.00

Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.

Fish Score: Fair
Potato Score: Good
Tartar Score: Good
Bread Score: Poor
Miscellaneous Score: Good

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Comment: I’m not sure I should really even review this “Fish Fry” because it really isn’t one, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. I got roped into trying Granite City (in the West Towne Mall) on a Friday and figured I should try whatever fish they happened to have. While they do not have a “Fish Fry” special, they do offer fish and chips as well as a pan fried walleye on the everyday menu so I figured it might be okay. It turns out GC is very similar to any other place offering fish on the everyday menu; usually when the Fish Fry is not on special it is nothing special, and this stuff fit the bill.

We arrived around noon and were seated in the yuppie-ish restaurant immediately. The servers and hostess were very nice and prompt which gave me a good feeling initially. The kitchen looked spotless and gleamed like a pearl deep in the heart of the mollusk that is Granite City. This gave me hope that if the food wasn’t great at least it would be “clean”. Between the cod and the walleye I chose the cod and had it in front of me in about 15 minutes.

The fish and chips runs about 13 bucks and is served as three thin filets. They were coated in a thick beer batter which had little taste and really masked the fish underneath. While the fish itself looked like it was flaky at one time by the time it got battered and fried it no longer was. While it wasn’t mushy, it was well on its way. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be but when put up against a wafer thin battered “Fish Fry” it just doesn’t compare.

I went for waffle fries as my side and they were decent but the seasoning was very sporadic like someone took the season salt and just dumped a couple piles on them randomly. There were a massive amount of them which was nice, but when they don’t taste great is getting more really better? Me thinks not. The tartar was actually pretty good as far as tartar goes which was somewhat surprising as I half expected some sort of dilly mess.

Since it is billed as a fish and chips instead of a true Fish Fry you don’t get any bread or slaw for your $13 which I think is kind of ridiculous, but whatever. There were basically no sides whatsoever which really focused all my attention on this fish which was probably not a good thing for GC.

Overall, there is just no way I can recommend this as a Fish Fry. While it wasn’t bad, and the place is decent (although kind of fakey) it just lacks anything that makes a Fish Fry great. The food was not up to snuff and the sterile environment left me wanting some character. While the fish wasn’t great the other food looked good and I would probably be willing to come back and try something else someday.



www.gcfb.net/menu1_appetizers.cfm
72 West Towne Mall
Madison, WI 53719

(608) 829-0700