The Friday fish fry is Wisconsin's social meal: beer-battered or breaded lake perch, cod or walleye with rye bread, coleslaw, French fries or potato pancakes and tartar sauce.
Wisconsin's Friday fish fry began in 19th-century Catholic Lent observance, when the German and Polish immigrant population avoided meat on Fridays. Through Prohibition, taverns moved beer revenue into hot food, with the all-you-can-eat fish fry becoming Wisconsin's defining social meal by the 1930s. Today every Wisconsin supper club, brewery hall and corner tavern from Milwaukee to Madison runs a Friday fish fry; Madison's Tornado Steak House, Coopers Tavern and The Old Fashioned anchor the ritual with perch and cod every week of the year.
4 editor picks for Wisconsin Friday fish fry in Madison, ranked by editorial score. All Madison signature dishes · Wisconsin Friday fish fry across every city.
The Old Fashioned ★ 4.8
capitol-square · 23 N Pinckney St, Madison, WI 53703
The Old Fashioned on North Pinckney, the Wisconsin canon codified into a tavern menu since 2005, runs cheese curds, fish fry and brandy Old Fashioneds.
Tornado Steak House ★ 4.6
capitol-square · 116 S Hamilton St, Madison, WI 53703
Tornado Steak House on South Hamilton, a block off Capitol Square, runs Madison's traditional supper club tier with steaks and the weekly Friday fish fry.
The Coopers Tavern ★ 4.4
capitol-square · 20 W Mifflin St, Madison, WI 53703
The Coopers Tavern on West Mifflin, Food Fight's eleventh restaurant since 2010, sits at the top of State Street with 28 taps a block off Capitol Square.
Schwoegler's Park Towne Lanes ★ 4.0
westside · 444 Grand Canyon Dr, Madison, WI 53719
Schwoegler's Park Towne Lanes on Grand Canyon Drive, the Madison bowling-and-supper-club institution since 1919, runs a fish fry and a sports bar restaurant.