THE VIEW BAR AND
GRILL
The bar and
grill formerly known as The American Legion had been calling to me to sample
their fish for years. Usually I would
drive right by on Highway 16 on my way to work and wonder things like, “Man I
want some fish fry” and “work sucks” and “Fish sounds good, but, really, I just
don’t want to go to work”. Finally, one
soggy March night, I was going to realize my commuting fantasy. I always assumed The View stuck to the usual
walleye, cod and bluegill stock.
However, as I investigated this place through the interwebs, I found
they’re also quite famous for their smelt fry.
Any place ballsy enough to serve
smelt, and expect people to willingly eat it AND pay for it, must have intense
confidence in their ability to prepare food.
Set up on
the bluff over looking the marsh, The View didn’t really stay true to it’s
name. In the dining room there were no real sweeping views of the marsh, or
even windows large enough to see outside.
In fact, it’s a very Spartan set-up in the dining/banquet hall (Which makes
sense, being that this is an American Legion).
"I love fish friiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeessssssssss...and blogs about them"
The entire place is basically painted over
cinder blocks reminiscent of my elementary school cafeteria. There was a separate bar area that looks more
pub-like than the bare bones dining area we were seated in but I will leave an
investigation of that area for another visit.
The waitress was great, willing to put up with my parties’ opinions
about Tinder, craft beer and high school sports while throwing some sass right back
at us.
Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet was forgetable. In fact, so forgettable, I barely remembered I had one.
One thing I
really liked about the food here is that quantity was easily controllable. The options were two-piece, three-piece, and
AUCE. Perfect for all hunger levels. I
went with the three-piece cod. For the
size of the fish, three pieces were plenty to get you full. There wasn’t a whole lot special about the
batter or tartar sauce; average quality really.
Normally I’m an AUCE guy, but this place also had an extensive salad
bar.
There are many ways to measure the
value of a salad bar; diversity of toppings, pasta salad variations, variety of
leafy greens (spinach vs iceberg), amount
of meat, quality of aforementioned products, etc, etc. Here at The View, the salad bar can be
measured in feet. The bar itself is
probably 10 yards long and provides a quality selection strictly based on the
probability of finding something agreeable in such a large space filled with
food. Choice of potato were battered
French fries or baked potato.
BOTTOM
LINE: Nothing special at The View bar, it’s just an average quality fish fry
for an affordable price.
Update: Pub side. Still get salad bar, waitresses still
cool. Fish and potato still, *meh*, but
decent.
