Review
$16 isn't cheap for a plate o' perch and when I saw the portion was two large fillets instead of five to seven small ones I knew I'd been had. The fish is billed as 10-12 oz of lake perch and I should have known when they quoted that amount that something was amiss - normally you are lucky to get half a pound for that price. Unsurprisingly it was not the real deal yellow perch, and while it's not false advertising (these fish are often mislabeled or intentionally misrepresented by distributors to fool consumers) it's no less disheartening. The massive fillets had all the typical characteristics of the fill-in fish - the size, and squishy rather than firm texture, and none of the subtle fishy flavors. It is usually also "slimier" to the touch and has a sheen on the meat. The flavor is pretty bland when compared to yellow perch and necessitates a thick beer batter to mask some of these less desirable qualities - which 1313 had. This batter was thick enough, and had a good crunch, but worked much better on the "clean" tasting cod we had last time around. Next time we come it will be cod all the way.
Despite the fact there were only two pieces of fish they still dwarfed the allotment of fries. The spuds were about as basic as it gets, and pretty disproportionate all things considered.
We lauded Lucky's cod on our last visit, but felt it was weighed down by a sour tasting tartar. I'm not sure if we just had a bad batch last time or what the deal was, but this time not was much better. It was more mayo-y and had none of the less of the funky aftertaste. For us, the change was dramatic and left us wishing we'd had the cod of visit one and the tartar of visit two.
Speaking of changing things up we were disappointed to see the lovely slice of rye that we so enjoyed last time replaces by a cornbread muffin. While the crumble cake was actually as pretty good (and not too dry as so much cornbread is) it doesn't scream fish fry to me and certainly can't make up for real rye. The slaw maintained its excellence however with a welcomed diversity that must be made on site.
As Lucky's 1313 is a college bar it stands to reason they would have a college aged wait staff - and they do. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, there is definitely a noticeable lack of dedication versus servers who are in it for the long haul. Yes, our waitress was very friendly, but also didn't "hustle" or come around to see how we were doing as we got into the meal. Like I say, it comes with the territory, and while it's far from a deal breaker for me, I know there are people who would go bananas at the level of service we've received on both occasions. Of course, maybe we just got two waitresses on an off day, that happens, which is why I note it but don't put much stock in it. For me it's about the food. If the food suffers because of the service then I have a problem.
So, Lucky's 1313 has been hit-and-miss to say the least. We liked the cod, not the perch. We disliked the tartar once, but thought it was better the second time. We were all about the rye, but then were left to wonder where it went. It has been a very inconsistent couple of visits and when you're talking Fish Fry consistency is king. Overall, we don't recommend the lake perch at Lucky's 1313, but like the bar very much, and think the cod is worthy of a reprise. We'll be back at least once more for the rubber match. I think I'll wear green that day.
On Fridays 1313 feature a 3-piece cod for $10.25, a 5-piece for $12.25, or "Perch" for $14.50. Since I wasn't sure if it was real lake perch or not, I stuck to the 5-piece which winds up being a whopper of a deal at twelve and a quarter. Unfortunately, and there is no way around this, we have to start with the service. Scattered isn't the right word...absentminded maybe? Flustered? I don't know exactly, but I do know it was not good. Our college-aged waitress took our order and disappeared into the crowd - purportedly on her way to the kitchen or the POS or wherever. About 15 minutes later the fish was delivered by the kitchen, but the wife's salad didn't accompany it, nor did my tartar. Our waitress reappeared solely to take the order from the table next to us a few minutes later, at which point we caught her eye and asked for the sauce and the salad. She smiled and we felt like it would be right out...it wasn't. I was famished so I ate a full piece without tartar which, to their credit, was good even sans-sauce. I ate slow and got part way into the next before the sauce finally surfaced. Unfortunately, it ended up not being worth the wait (more on that later). The tardy salad found its way to the table around an hour later after several inquiries, and well after the gents had finished their fish and relieved themselves of Lucky's company with a trip to Greenbush and some McDonald's ice cream. To their credit they comped the salad without request to do so which shows they are at least somewhat business savvy.
Sooooooo... back to the actual food, which as we mentioned, was good. The fiver of fish was split with MFF junior and featured a golden beer batter that was substantive but didn't drown the fish. It had a smooth and creamy flavor that cuddled up to the big flaky planks of cod. The hearty pieces, two of which made for a fine fish sammich come Sunday, filled the belly with little effort. While the moderately thick batter looked like a real grease sponge there was actually almost none to be found. It was pretty remarkable really and pleasantly surprising. The best fish we've had at a Lucky's, hands down.
The portion of fries looked puny compared to the bountiful fish, but was actually not all that conservative. They were mostly hidden under the boatload of cod and while the thick-cut spuds were clearly straight from a bag they did the job. They were fried to the softer side of the doneness spectrum, which would likely turn some Fry fans off, but they worked just fine for me.
As we mentioned above, the tartar was not worth the wait as it had a bit of an odd taste. The flavor oh-so-familiar and when we saw the Kipp's truck parked next to the building we figured out why and where...the Coliseum and back in the day at Pooley's. We didn't like it there either...
THe slaw is clearly made in-house and is as diverse as the come. While this level of diversity can be a bad thing, it totally worked here. Lots of fresh red and green pepper, onion, and more were finely chopped so they didn't stand out too much from the cabbage and cream, but added a welcome change. It was incredibly well balanced and one slaw I actually wanted more of.
To top things off, a whole fat slice of real marble rye Pac-Maned the plate. It was so large a single butter packet wasn't near enough to cover it all. Remarkable.
Like I say, we've been to every Lucky's and can say this is easily the best Fish Fry we've had at any of them (despite the sloppy service). Overall, we recommend this Fish Fry and will give them another chance to prove they have the total package. We think they do and are never the sort to let one bad apple spoil the bunch.