Fish Type: Haddock Price: $13.00
Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Good Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Good Bread Score: Poor Miscellaneous Score: Good |
Comment: When you first hear your wife has a Food Fight gift card, you think sweet. When its Friday and your wife says lets use that Food Fight gift card I have tonight, you think awe crap, Im going to blow a Fish Fry at Food Fight spot. The Food Fight family of restaurants actually has good food in general, but for some reason they just cant seem to get Fish Fry right.
The Craftsman Table and Tap seems like a place that should be able to fry a piece of fish, but either theyre overthinking it or they really dont know what theyre doing. Regardless, they never seem to get it right. They always have fish-n-chips on the menu, and this Friday their special was Tilapia which tells you something right there.
Since Tilapia isnt a traditional Fish Fry fish, and it doesnt fry very well in my opinion, I just stuck with the $13 haddock fish-n-chips. Previous experience with the daily haddock didnt give me the highest hopes and that trepidation was quickly realized. Two small pieces of fish make up the portion and are home to a beer batter that is actually really tasty. The batter did soften a little on the underside which made the cornmeal-based coating a less crispy, but the seasoning made it work - save for the moment when the fish slid right out of its home. This coating is definitely not a clinger.
Lots of house-cut fries come with the fish, and while I love house-cut fries this batch was practically all nubs and slightly over-fried. If youre going to cut your fries in-house you have to use long potatoes and these clearly were not; sure, they tasted fine, but I needed to have the pinchers out the whole time to get at them.
The tartar was good but not really memorable and no bread comes with the fish-n-chips (as you might expect). The slaw didnt look fresh nor did it taste crisp, but at least the flavor was there.
While I basically knew what I was getting into by going to the Craftsman on a Friday it was no less disappointing when the food didnt deliver. Overall, we dont recommend this Fish Fry and will make sure the next Food Fight gift card gets used at Montys or maybe DLUX.
www.craftsmantableandtap.com/
6712 Frank Lloyd Wright Avenue
Middleton, WI 53562
(608) 836-3988
