Blessing's Tavern

I once went here for lunch about 6 years ago because I had heard people say they had the best french fries in the capital district.  On that trip I ordered a burger with fries and decided that there was nothing special here and made no plans to return.

Well, today I tagged along with three others who planned to have dinner here after an earlier meet-up.

The place is not large and had maybe four TVs showing a playoff game.  They also have Quick Draw and a jukebox.  I was told, this time, that they have delicious soups.

The two soups that I tasted, a butternut squash and a Cuban black bean, were excellent.  

If I had stopped there I'm sure I would have given another star.  But I decided to try another recommendation from a member of our group who was immediately recognized and welcomed by staff when we entered.  The Fish Fry was pointed out as being on the daily menu board along with Meatloaf  and both were recommended.

The Fish Fry was possibly the worst that I've ever had.  It looked like one of those frozen, pre-portioned, perfectly molded, shaped and sized pieces of fish that is heavily breaded and longer than the typical hot dog bun.  The darkness of the breading should have been a hint that it was overcooked in the fryer.  It was very dry.  The bun was also very dry and hard as if it was already stale and had been heated to soften it.  The chile sauce helped a little.

The Fry came with Fries and they were still nothing special at all.

Other dishes that I saw but didn't try were the meatloaf with  mashed potatoes (looked quite substantial and half of it went home), some type of a wrap sandwich which looked ok, and a Chef's Salad that also looked quite large and ended up going home with the person who ordered it.

Beers on tap were mostly main stream American, but they also had Bass, Saranac and Shock Top (a Belgian style distributed by Anheuser-Busch).

I'm not including any pricing since I never saw the bill.  There will be nine more meet-ups - I probably won't be attending them all.