West Catholic: The beer was better than the meal.

If you're fishing for a good Friday night Lenten dinner in Grand Rapids, cast your line somewhere other than West Catholic High School. As lovers of all things fish and fried, we're not normally inclined to turn our noses up at a fish and chips dinner, but this one was really a disappointment.

The wait for food was pretty short, due to their 2 line buffet system, and we were excited because this one looked good on paper. The first disappointment was finding out that West Catholic does not offer baked Lake Perch, only fried. They do offer baked potatoes or fries, homemade coleslaw, rolls, deserts, and cheese pizza for non-fish-eaters.

The baked potato was good, but the fries were a bland soggy mess. Store-bought dinner rolls are the same no matter where you go, and the coleslaw was fine. The fish itself was firm and had a good texture, but was completely ruined by a tasteless batter. All in all the entire meal was bland and unexciting. And at $9 a plate, with no seconds (this is not an all-you-can eat fish fry, not that we would have wanted any more) this was an overpriced sad excuse for a Grand Rapids fish fry. Most of the people at out table didn't even finish their dinner, and even though we had a high stack of condiment wrappers (West Catholic only offers prepackaged condiments, a wasteful practice) we were less than satisfied.

We brought Brewery Vivant Solitude Abby Style Ale to accompany the meal, so at least we had something good to enjoy. I am glad we were able to support the school, but next time I'll just write a donation check and go eat somewhere else.

 

West Catholic High School
1801 Bristol Ave. NW,
Grand Rapids, MI 49504 Time: 4:30-7:30 PM
The dinners include: Lake Perch, home-made coleslaw, bread, dessert and beverage. Cheese pizza available.
Price: Adult Meal $9; Seniors & students $7' Children $5; Children 5 and under are free.
Wait: 5-10 Minutes
Parking: Large parking lot
Take-out: Available
Tables: Long cafeteria style

Held in the cafeteria

Proceeds benefit West Catholic Athletic Boosters

This week's destination

This Friday, March 2, you will find us in the cafeteria of West Catholic High School for some Lake Perch. See you there at 6:00. More details below.

West Catholic High School 
1801 Bristol Ave. NW,
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Time: 4:30-7:30 PM
The dinners include: Lake Perch, home-made coleslaw, bread, dessert and beverage. Cheese pizza available.
Price: Adult Meal $9; Seniors & students $7' Children $5; Children 5 and under are free.

Held in the cafeteria

Proceeds benefit West Catholic Athletic Boosters

St. Alphonsus - Opening Day

There's nothing quite like the beginning of the Fish Fry season. It's like the first day of school, or opening day of Major League baseball. It's a part of the year I await with great anticipation and a big reminder on my Google calendar. 

Armed with big appetites and patience (the wait is notoriously long) Chris and I, along with a few good friends, headed to St. Alphonsus  to celebrate Opening Day. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the wait was much shorter than previous years. In under a half hour (we've waited upwards of an hour before) we had hot fish on our plates. Both baked and fried are served, along with french fries, baked potatoes, mac and cheese, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and grilled cheese for non-fish-eaters.

Everything was delicious. The baked fish was surprisingly flavorful, although Chris is partial to fried (who isn't). St. Alphonsus serves Walleye, which is better than the Pollock often seen at church fish fries. While the mac and cheese was nothing to write home about, it was a good compliment to the meal. We brought Bells Two Hearted, a notoriously good IPA, to cut the greasy flavor of the fish and chips. It was a perfect pairing. 

The desert table was stocked, and the raffle tickets were $1 each, or $6 for 5 (pretty typical). Although we didn't win (do they ever really call anyone?) we felt good about supporting the Tigers. 

All in all we recommend St. Al's as a classic fish fry experience. And even if the line is a little long, there are some great old class photos to check out in the hallway, and a friendly fellow fish lover to talk to while you wait.

Check out more specific details below the photos

St. Alphonsus 

224 Carrier St. NE

Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505

Website

Arrival time: 6pm 

Wait: 25 minutes (The wait was a lot shorter this year than past years due to the newly instated separate line for take out. Hooray!)

Parking: There is a parking lot, but be prepared to park on the street  

Entrance: New entrance on Carrier Street 

Cost: $8.25 Adults, $7.00 Seniors (65 and older), $4.00 Children under 12, Free for Children under 3

Take-out: Available

Tables: Round

Update!

It appears the blog will continue under new management! Stay tuned.