Fish Fryday at the Copper Bottom Bar & Grill in Silver Lake- 09/25/21
Friday Fish Fry at The Copper Bottom Bar & Grill in the Antiochian suburb of Silver Lake, Wisconsin. Missy and I decide to sit outside since the crazy south winds cannot reach the waterfront seating area. Thank you, wind-blocking Big Ole’ Building! The menu looks good with its mixture of sandwiches and high-priced fare. First, admire that view! Awesome. Second, where is my drink? Ahhh, an Ole’ Fashion sweet Makers Mark coming up! Service is just wonderful as our server is funny and attuned to our every need. I get the $13.99 “all you can eat” Fried/Broiled Haddock special with tater’ pancakes and Clam Chowder whilst Wifie gets a fried chicken buffalo wrap with tots’. 2 sips later and our food is here! Wow. That’s fast. Unfortunately, speed isn’t always a good thing. My food looks great but Missy receives a baked chicken wrap... not fried and with no buffalo sauce! Our server is shocked and handles the situation quick enough. Meanwhile, Not wanting my wife to eat alone; I hold off on eating the food that lays before me... for like 1 second!!! Hey, it’s all you can eat - I can just order another plate of fish to eat when my gals’ food arrives. Which I do. Diving in, here’s the good news: Coleslaw is yummy and did I mention we had an awesome view? I did? Well, hate to say it but that’s it. Wishing I could just say thanks at this point and do a mic drop but truth be told, our meals were not that special. The flavorless fry coating seems to be just flour which makes for a tough cut with a KNIFE, let alone a fork. Crunch Factor: Zero. Nothing. Can it be a negative two? Dang, the inside of the fish is also a touch chewy! Missys' food arrives along with my second plate of fish. Baked haddock this time. Wowsa, herbs blanket the top so that’s all I taste, and guess what? Yup, a touch chewy. I kinda’ feared this was coming. My heart dropped from the very get-go after trying the pancakes when the food first arrived. Undercooked and with little flavor. A straight-up breakfast pancake if I have ever seen one. No onion, chives, or potato flavoring and a touch raw in the middle. To be fair, I only ate 2 or 3 bites before shelving it. Needed another minute on the griddle in order to try more than what I did, for sure. Missys' wrap is okay as it needs more blue-cheese dressing, desperately so, and her tots are on the verge of being undercooked. Gotta have that big crunch with them small tots. Jealousy sets in as people around us are getting the appetizers, which look AMAZING! Next time, sticking to appetizers and drinks. Sorry for the harsh words but Thank You Copper Bottom for the good view and the friendly wait staff! You’ll knock it out next time. Note: the inside is GORGEOUS and the outside seating area is a delight.
