Beach House (McFarland)

In a word: They do the fish well here and the atmosphere is nice.

The specs: #0026
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at WiSJ, Madison Fish Fry, collected at del.icio.us;

Beth ate the fried cod and baked potato with a salad and a cherry Pepsi.
JM ate the shrimp scampi with clam chowder and a lemonade.
Nichole ate the cod fish boil and clam chowder with a cherry Pepsi.
Sean ate the fried walleye with clam chowder and pinot grigio and got ice cream and a song for his birthday.
The bill was $53, or $13.25/person, plus tip.
Sean gave the Beach House a B; JM and Nichole gave the Beach House a B+; Beth gave the Beach House  an A- (see our grading rubric).

We came early to avoid the crowd, but still saw the beginning of a bright sunset over the water and enjoyed the noisy, festive ambience as we came up with adjectives. The cod in all cases was most comestible, and the walleye grandly gustatorial. The fish in general was less greasy than the average fish fry, yet was crispy outside and moist inside.

There was an odd tendency to overdo the side dishes, however - an assmass of steamed baby carrots, new potatoes and broccoli accompanied the fish boil. The shrimp scampi was six jumbo shrimp on a boatload of fettucine with quite possibly an entire bulb of minced garlic and a stick of butter.

The clam chowder was a'ight except for some alarmingly big potato chunks, and Sean had to ask why the pinot grigio (according to the menu, "perfect with walleye!") was reminiscent of paint thinner.

Our server was excellent, and picked up on the festive occasion to lead a rousing "Happy Birthday" as she brought out a dish of ice cream for the birthday guy. We'd probably go to Beach House again for fish or brunch, and Nichole's only regret is that she didn't try a cheap Bloody Mary - or have time to check out what Beth described as a fearful decorating scheme in the women's restroom. Something about pink and brown and copper tile...

Comments

[Kate]

We visited Beach House on Friday. Highlights were the bloody mary, cheese curds, sunset, and walleye. Downers were the really long wait and the blue gill.