Fish Type: Walleye Price: $14.00
Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Fair Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Poor Miscellaneous Score: Good |
Comment: I hate not recommending places. I want to like every Fish Fry I eat and I want them all to be great, but I also understand places have a desire to be unique and to stand out from the crowd. I applaud these efforts when they work, but sometimes they just dont, and The Spots Fish Fry just didnt.
The Friday Fish Fry at The Spot is what Id call a fancy one. Its not the typical beer battered cod, or even a lightly breaded perch; its pan-seared walleye, and not even a full piece. For $14 three small chunks pepper the plate equaling roughly 1/3 of a total fillet.
The soup du jour is clam chowder and anticipating that the fish might be skimpy I grabbed a cup. It was clearly house-made, but not great by any stretch of the imagination. The fish followed shortly after and featured a light, flour breading. It was extremely delicate and wispy definitely fork food rather than finger food. While the flavor was decent there just wasnt much of the fish to love.
The petite portion of fish needed some help, and the aid came in the form of a stupendous tartar sauce. It was clearly made in-house and had a uniqueness that is rarely seen. It was sweet and peppery with a great twist that kissed the silky fish ever so gracefully.
Two thick and fluffy potato pancakes with a pleasant texture beefed thing up somewhat, and while they lacked the traditional oniony flavor, they were a very classy rendition nonetheless very well executed. The cakes are accompanied by a homemade mango apple sauce that was a very nice addition, although the mango didnt really come through (which is 100% fine with me not a fan of mango).
A vinegar-drenched, red cabbage slaw was basic but beautiful at the same time. If you dont like vinegar slaws you wont like this one, but I love the pungent stuff so it gets a pass from me. No bread came along which shouldnt get a pass from anyone, especially me.
Mildreds was one of the first places I fell in love with in Madison and Im glad to see its rebirth in the form of The Spot. While Mildreds was straight-forward, microwaved sandwiches on pita bread their unique flavor combinations were endearing. I hoped The Spot would take a cue from its predecessor, but they may have jumped that shark with their Fish Fry. While its definitely an attempt to class up a classic it works on some levels but not all as the portion is too small regardless of the quality of the preparation. The potato pancakes are good, but again small by all standards. The tartar is aces, and the slaw gets the job done for vinegar devotees, but foo-foo rarely wins in Fish Fry and this one might be a little light in the loafers. Overall, all we dont recommend this Fish Fry and lamentably so.
www.thespotmadison.com
827 E Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 251-7768
