Week 1 Review: Timmerman's Supper Club, East Dubuque, IL
I was excited to start our 5th year FFC at a place I've never had their dinner. I've gone for their famous brunch many times, so I had high expectations for their All You Can Eat Fish Fry.
Timmerman's is what I would call a classic Supper Club. Dimly lit eating area, with a large circular bar, that's highly encouraged to sit at prior to your meal, or afterwards.
Due to it being a Friday night, I made reservations well in advance for 7:00pm. We arrived right at 7pm to a very full supper club, and busy staff. We were told they were a bit behind in schedule, but they would call us to our table as soon as possible. This wasn't a big deal to our small group as the bar had seats available. We sat at the bar and consumed our beverages while taking in the iconic supper club atmosphere. After about 15min I went back up to see how much longer our wait was going to be and they had about 4 tables to go before us, so we went back to enjoying another beverage. At about 30min after our reservation, with many hunger pangs, I went to ask when our table would be ready as we had been waiting 30min past our reservation time and they said we were next up.
After about another 5min we were escorted to our dinner table, and as luck would have it we were placed right by the window which overlooked the night life of the City of Dubuque and Mississippi River. It was a beautiful view, even if it was dark outside.
Shortly after we were seated our server greeted us and took our drink order while we looked through the menus. I knew what I was getting, and was eager to start my AYCE Fish Fry. After we received our drinks, but had not placed our dinner order, our server brought us fresh corn bread. This was the best corn bread I have ever had. It was sweet and melted in your mouth. A great to start off the evening dinner.
Our server was very polite and took our orders promptly, and didn't give me a look when I asked for extra tartar sauce. I ordered their Friday Night All You Can Eat (AYCE) Fish Fry special. It included AYCE fried Cod, soup or salad and a potato for $16.00. I went with the home-made clam chowder soup, and baked potato.
We received our soup & salad right away, along with fresh rolls. The home-made clam chowder was very delicious! I was very happy I had ordered it as some home-made soups have a twist on the original, but they kept to the original ingredients and I finished the cup of soup in record time. I must also comment on the rolls--they were warm and light and very tasty. I only wish they would have offered us more than just the four for the table. But I liked that they didn't give you a huge basket that you end up wasting.
I was excited to start our 5th year FFC at a place I've never had their dinner. I've gone for their famous brunch many times, so I had high expectations for their All You Can Eat Fish Fry.
Timmerman's is what I would call a classic Supper Club. Dimly lit eating area, with a large circular bar, that's highly encouraged to sit at prior to your meal, or afterwards.
Due to it being a Friday night, I made reservations well in advance for 7:00pm. We arrived right at 7pm to a very full supper club, and busy staff. We were told they were a bit behind in schedule, but they would call us to our table as soon as possible. This wasn't a big deal to our small group as the bar had seats available. We sat at the bar and consumed our beverages while taking in the iconic supper club atmosphere. After about 15min I went back up to see how much longer our wait was going to be and they had about 4 tables to go before us, so we went back to enjoying another beverage. At about 30min after our reservation, with many hunger pangs, I went to ask when our table would be ready as we had been waiting 30min past our reservation time and they said we were next up.
After about another 5min we were escorted to our dinner table, and as luck would have it we were placed right by the window which overlooked the night life of the City of Dubuque and Mississippi River. It was a beautiful view, even if it was dark outside.
Shortly after we were seated our server greeted us and took our drink order while we looked through the menus. I knew what I was getting, and was eager to start my AYCE Fish Fry. After we received our drinks, but had not placed our dinner order, our server brought us fresh corn bread. This was the best corn bread I have ever had. It was sweet and melted in your mouth. A great to start off the evening dinner.
Our server was very polite and took our orders promptly, and didn't give me a look when I asked for extra tartar sauce. I ordered their Friday Night All You Can Eat (AYCE) Fish Fry special. It included AYCE fried Cod, soup or salad and a potato for $16.00. I went with the home-made clam chowder soup, and baked potato.
We received our soup & salad right away, along with fresh rolls. The home-made clam chowder was very delicious! I was very happy I had ordered it as some home-made soups have a twist on the original, but they kept to the original ingredients and I finished the cup of soup in record time. I must also comment on the rolls--they were warm and light and very tasty. I only wish they would have offered us more than just the four for the table. But I liked that they didn't give you a huge basket that you end up wasting.
Dinner is served! Dinner came in a fair amount of time after our soup & salad, and they remembered my extra tartar sauce! The AYCE fried cod started off with 3 pieces of moderately-heavily breaded (fried) cod, and my baked potato on the side. I dug in to my fish right away. The breading (on most areas of the cod) was crisp and had a light seasoning. Paired with the outstanding tartar sauce, I was happy! The fried cod overall was quite good; however, I had a few parts of the breading/cod that were a little tough. Again, the tartar sauce was outstanding and just the way I like it. I had a few bites of my potato, which was cooked perfectly, but focused mainly on eating my fish. We did order one more piece of fish, that I didn't quite finish, which was still good quality considering it was the 'next round' of AYCE fish.
Our server: she did an excellent job of serving and taking good care of our table needs. She was very nice, though quiet. The overall environment was very supper club-ish which I really enjoyed and added to our experience. Having a table near the window was a great bonus!
Overall comments/rating: the fried fish was overall very good, even with some of the tougher pieces. I didn't mind the moderate to heavy breading as it was crispy. The tartar sauce was spot on for awesomeness, and the home-made clam chowder was a great start to the meal. The additional surprise of the sweet corn bread really made an impression on us as well.
Some of the downsides: for being a supper club, I was a little surprised they didn't have a relish tray on the table as that would have been a nice addition. The price of $16.00 for an AYCE fish fry is fairly comparable these days; however, the fact that they only had soup/salad and potato made it a slim meal for the price compared to other AYCE fish fry's in the area. You're definitely paying more here for the level of restaurant quality.
Some of the downsides: for being a supper club, I was a little surprised they didn't have a relish tray on the table as that would have been a nice addition. The price of $16.00 for an AYCE fish fry is fairly comparable these days; however, the fact that they only had soup/salad and potato made it a slim meal for the price compared to other AYCE fish fry's in the area. You're definitely paying more here for the level of restaurant quality.
Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10. Fish was very good, tartar sauce was great, but the overall price for what you get was a little steep (in my opinion).
Would I go here again for AYCE fish? Most definitely.
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