Fish Fry Interlude - Claridge VFD at Colton Hall: February 24, 2023

We had a pizza visit planned for the weekend, but wanted to first take advantage of the return of a popular fish fry on Friday night. The Claridge Volunteer Fire Department cancelled its fish fry in 2022 because of supply chain issues, but in prior years it consistently showed up on Top Ten fish fry lists for Westmoreland County so we were excited to see it back.

The fish fry is held at Colton Hall, a banquet facility in the small town of Claridge, PA (population around 600). Because of the past positive press, the fish fry draws folks from all over the county and the Pittsburgh metro region in general. 

We arrived at about 5:25 and were happy to see that the line was, while out the door, fairly short. Claridge has its order takers sit right inside the door. You order, pay, get a number, and then go inside to get drinks, grab a seat, and wait.

The menu is neither the smallest nor the most extensive we've seen, but what is unusual is the availability of both broiled fish and spicy broiled fish. The sides were not unusual outside of the option of a baked potato instead of fries, and the fried mac and cheese bites rather than macaroni and cheese itself.

Avery and Steph joined us, and they both opted for battered fish dinners with fries and coleslaw. I did the same. Chip ordered a fish sandwich and onion rings. 

One of the really nice things about Colton Hall is that they open their bar for fish fries. There are four beers on tap, three or four types of wine, and a variety of mixed drinks available. And the drinks are inexpensive: a draft was $3 and mixed drinks were $4. I opted for a Yuengling.

Then it was just a matter of sitting and waiting. When we ordered, we were told that it would be an hour or a little longer so we were mentally prepared for a long wait. Ave and Steph worked on an online crossword puzzle. Luckily Chip and I had super nice table mates to chat with. See the two folks right ahead of us in the line picture above? They sat right across from us. She was from Penn Hills and he was from Tarentum, and it turns out they are also fish fry nomads and like to try different ones in the region. We exchanged information on both pizza and fish and I made note of several places that I definitely want to try. Unfortunately I'm a social dork and neglected to get their names so I can't thank them here (but if you're reading this - thank you for the company and the recommendations!).

Our meals arrived about 70 minutes after ordering, so the original estimate was spot on. My mouth started watering even more as soon as I saw the fish. 

And I was also excited to see shoestring fries, as it's harder to screw those up than thick-cut fries.

The batter definitely gave us a Long John Silver vibe, and frankly that's pretty much what it tasted like. Down to the little crisps on the plate. The fish was thick and meaty, but the overall effect was a tad bit greasy. I also found that the skinny ends were nothing but batter without fish. The hoagie rolls were really fresh and tasty, but you did have to cut the fish to get it to fit on the roll. Which is sort of normal for most fish fries.

The fries were excellent. And the coleslaw was good but not great (I'm not certain that I would call very many coleslaw offerings great, but there was nothing wrong with this one).

But like the Moose a few days prior, the stars of this show were really the onion rings. The onions themselves were very sweet, and the batter was NOT the LJS-style batter but instead something a little lighter. They were well seasoned and absolutely delicious.

The folks across the table got their food shortly after we did - we surmised that it took longer because they'd ordered the spicy broiled fish and a baked potato. The baked potato was a complete disappointment: hard as a rock and pretty much inedible. But they said that the  spicy broiled fish was really good.

Claridge rarely disappoints, and Friday night was a yummy outing with a good selection of both food and drinks. We try to do a different fish fry each week so probably won't be back, but I'd definitely recommend it. We did hear that they ran out of fish an hour before the intended close at 8 p.m., so if you do go for either dine-in or carryout - go early!