Fish Type: Cod Price: $6.50
Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Fair Potato Score: Excellent Tartar Score: Good Bread Score: Poor Miscellaneous Score: Good |
Comment: It had been quite a few consecutive Fridays at Wilson’s so I decided I needed to change it up a bit this week. Instead of having the same old, same old on the East Side, I ventured towards the square. There I found a couple friends, and The Argus Bar & Grill.
On Fridays the Argus offers up a Fish Fry special for lunch that is not on the everyday menu. It consists of two pieces of fried cod, with homemade French fries and coleslaw for $6.50. The portion size is not huge but is fairly appropriate for a lunch.
The cod was decent but not great, I believe it is the exact same fish they serve at the Glass Nickel on a daily basis. The fish itself is good but the batter they use seemed very polarizing, people either loved it or hated it. It is a very firm batter that forms a “shell” over the surface of the fish which makes it difficult to cut with a fork. However, if you are a true Fish fry lover and grab it up with your hands, the extremely stable batter works in your favor. Depending on what you are in to you may love this kind of fish or hate it, personally I like my batter lighter and flakier.
The French fries were homemade and quite delicious, although fairly scarce. They reminded me somewhat of “Hub’s Fries” that I used to get at the county fair when I was little, although they were not quite that good. “Hub’s Fries” are a 10; these were about an 8, which is still pretty good. The coleslaw also looked homemade and was good. The tartar sauce was just fine although it took our waitress a little bit to get everyone at our table a round. There was no bread served which was kind of a let down.
Overall this Fish fry was decent but not great. It is almost recommendable but not quite. The fish just didn’t do it for me. Probably partially because it is so similar to The Nickel and I stopped getting it there for a reason, there are simply better alternatives. The Argus shined on periphery items and if they gave you some kind of bread with lunch it would certainly help. As it stands the Argus is okay, but I can think of other places downtown I would recommend first if someone were to ask.
123 E Main Street
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 256-4226
