Wendt’s On the Lake

Love love love their fried lobster bites and perch combo! Vinegar based coleslaw was very good. Save room for ice cream drinks!

I find my self in Fond du lac a few times a year and and I take in the area eats and drinks and I stopped here. After reading all the reading all the reviews for the perch fish fry that’s what I would have.
The place is a little dark but it was nice on the inside with a great long bar. The place is right on the lake with seasonal out door seating. The place is multi level with the lower level looking out to the lake with big windows. The upper level has the bar and nice high tables and chairs.
The staff was very friendly and chatted me up about the place and provided great service. I told here I was here for the Unilocalers talk of the perch fish fry. The perch comes in three levels depending on how much Perch you feel like eating and I chose # 1.
My #1 Perch came with four fillets, potato wedges, coleslaw and a soft dinner roll with butter. See my pictures.
The perch fish fry came out fast and hot before I could get all the pictures. The coleslaw was very sweet and watery. The potato wedges were fresh and hot but not seasoned. The perch was very good with a light crispy breeding. The perch had a mild flavor and had a nice flakey texture. The roll was fresh and soft and my water even had a lemon wedge. I don’t know if anyone has said anything about the tarter sauce, I almost never use tarter sauce on fish but I did today because it was very good.
Over all I had a great experience and I enjoyed the perch fish fry, I can see all the good Unilocal reviews. I would like to try the beer battered cod on my next visit. This is definitely a two thumbs up.

Delicious perch! Loved the outdoor picnic tables. The inside can get packed very quickly. If the weather is not good and you can’t sit outside, expect a wait. Cash only.

The perch was good. I’m not sure it was amazing. It is your average bar food on the lake place. The place is dated a bit inside but everything looked clean and tidy. Restrooms were clean as well. We came here for lunch on a Wednesday. We had a perch sandwich and a perch wrap. Both were good and the fries were really good. Cocktails were good as well. I would recommend for a inexpensive meal with good service and a decent view.

The fried perch was amazing! Well worth the wait. Atmosphere is wonderful. Service was slow, but the largest Airshow In the world was in town, so that explains it.

Great view and good food. Came in at 2pm on Friday. Older crowd but not too bad. I had the grilled chicken it was good a juicy. I had the shrimp cocktail for a app. Cash only !!!

This is some real good food on Lake Winnebago! The server Haley did such a great job. She was attentive and commentive (does that even make sense, «commentive»? I don’t think that’s a real word). But she was amazing!
I had fried cheese curds, which were just some of the best cheese curds that I’ve tasted. Then came the fried perch and the braised country ribs. While I’m not a fan of braised ribs, they were good. But the fried perch and cheese curds were what really hit the spot! Oh, and the waffle fries… I highly reccommend those!
Keep in mind, they don’t accept credit/​debit cards (in order to «keep prices down») so be sure you have cash with you!
Come here for lunch or dinner while fishing on Lake Winnebago, you won’t regret it!

It was outstanding. The perch was excellent. The prime rib was excellent. The service was extremely friendly. The portions were more than sufficient. Everything was fresh and flavorful. Worth going out of your way for!

Best perch on the lake. The wait is worth it. Call In orders are another easy option for Friday night.

$ 10 for country ribs that were incredible. How do they stay in business? Maybe it’s because they are cash only? But with clean restaurant on the lake with an incredible view, I expected to pay double.

Wendt’s is a very friendly place to eat and drink. They have awesome tasting perch and unbelievable deep fried lobster.

One of the best fish fries in the area when it comes to perch! The reviewers are not joking when it comes to the restaurant being very busy on a Friday. We thought we may beat the crowd by arriving at 4:30 pm and still were met with a 30 minute wait. The people of the area though make the waiting experience great with good conversation to pass the time. The restaurant does, as others have said, require cash/​no cards. The lake perch dinner is the best that I have experienced with just the right amount of batter. Very moist and flaky fish is also complimented by a non mayo based coleslaw which gives a spin on the traditional slaw you find in other places. We also had the smelt which was good as well (but this has a more fishy taste if you aren’t in to that taste you may want to pass). The one fish that is not available I noticed in our visit is Walleye… very popular fish for the area but maybe just not available at the time. The service was also excellent with the staff being very attentive despite being very very busy. Highly recommended stop!

Good food. Don’t forget your cash because they don’t take credit or debit. This place was recommended by friend and was spot on. Fried lobster was delicious.

Nice place with friendly people. We read that the fried perch on Friday’s is suppose to be wonderful. It was average at best. An off night? French fries were very good.

There are two things you must know about Wendt’s. First, they have elevated frying to an art form. Seriously. They can fry anything, and it will be fabulous — hot, crisp, flavorful, and most importantly, not at all greasy. Fried cheese curds, broccoli bites, perch, shrimp, lobster (yes, you read that right — fried lobster)…they do it all, and it’s fabulous! We hear one of their secrets is using day-​old donuts as part of the batter. Whatever they’re doing, it’s working!
Second, you should not go on Friday nights. Yes, I know, that’s traditional fish fry night. But I’m not from around here, so I’m bucking the rules. Friday night at Wendt’s will yield you an hour-​long wait, a seat in a loud, crowded dining room, and very curtailed potato choices (fries or potato salad only). Saturday night, on the other hand, offers their special expanded menu (prime rib, scallops, fried lobster, ribs, and twice baked potato, among other options), and most importantly, they will take reservations! Lately I’ve taken to calling on Saturday a few hours before we want to eat, ensuring that our window table is ready when we arrive. Our server actually recognized us last night, so I guess we’re becoming a fixture…
Now, food-​wise, just about everything is excellent. However, we have found a few items that are not quite as good as the rest, so pass on the regular fries (not super exciting, get the twice baked instead) and prime rib (a bit hit or miss, in our experience). But don’t be afraid to branch out and get more than their famous perch — they offer combination plates, so you can try several items.
I have to admit, we haven’t tried a lot of fish fries since we’ve lived here, but I’m going to go ahead and name Wendt’s as the best anyway. We make sure to bring each and every one of our out of town guests here, and we’ll certainly continue coming ourselves too!

Anybody who lives in, or even visits, this part of Wisconsin for longer than 15 min would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the Friday fish fry phenomenon. It is as deeply ingrained in the culture here as beer and cheese curds. Just about all the local restaruamts have their own iteration of it, with only a few that really stand out from the rest. Wendt’s sets the bar incredibly high with their fried perch, and I have yet to see it equaled.
First off, the location is quite lovely. It is right on the water and enjoys a picturesque backdrop for your evening of dining. Since I am coming from Oshkosh to get there, it is a short and enjoyable drive down what is colloquially known as lake road. This is a pleasurable drive best undertaken with the windows down on a nice day.
If you plan on doing it up in traditional fashion and want to visit on a Friday, be prepared to wait for a table. How good this place happens to be is far from a secret to locals and even many tourists, and as such, it is packed like a high school kegger on the weekends. If you can handle outdoor dining on a picnic table under a tent out back, your wait time will be mitigated significantly.
They have a ton of items to choose from on the menu, but fish fry is the name of the game here, and what I would highly suggest you order. The Perch dinners come in 3 different sizes to accommodate all appetites. If the place is packed then you should be prepared to wait at least a half hour for your food, but your wait will become a distant after thought after you try the fish. It is simply fabulous. It is golden brown on the outside, flaky and hot in the inside, and robust in flavor. Yum!
I am not a fan of coleslaw, so you will have to ask somebody else as to it’s quality, but people I am with always rave about how good it is.
If you are looking for fried fish, Wendt’s is the best I have ever encountered here.

Always good. Get the smelt and perch.

My brothers and I stayed in Fond du Lac while attending the Harley 110^th anniversary party. We enjoyed the perch on Wednesday. We enjoyed it so much, that we went back for more on Friday. This is the absolute best perch that I’ve had in 40 years. I have had many fish fries and nothing holds a candle to Wendt’s.

Have been twice while visiting from Madison. Most locals I know in Oshkosh highly recommend this place. It’s a gem. (I’ve had fried seafood in shacks throughout New England and being a Madison resident, have certainly had my share of fish-​fry!)
Perch — first time it was very mediocre… fish was limp and bland. Second time it was very good. Maybe the first time was an off-​night.
Ale shrimp — fantastic both times. Light batter was very delicious and their cocktail sauce was great.
Stuffed shrimp — delicious both times. Seafood-​cheesy filling was great.
Fantail shrimp — mediocre, won’t order again.
Poor-man’s lobster — OK (broiled cod in drawn butter). Probably won’t order it again though it was OK.
Battered-​fried lobster (Weds, Sat, Sun only) — delicious! Fried lobster dipped in butter. You had me at butter. And a great way to serve lobster that I assume is frozen — can’t taste the difference when it’s fried!
Criss-​Cut fries — pretty good. but I’m always a fan of waffle fries.
Potato skins — not the TGI Fridays style hollowed out potatoes. It’s literally the shavings of potato skins and fried. Pretty good and unique. Served with sour cream.
Cole slaw — very refreshing as other reviewers say.
Garden Vegetable sampler (fried green beans, onion rings, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccili croquettes) — very filling and good, though a bit of an appetite waster since the main star is the seafood. Only order if you’re with a large party!
Drinks — iced tea and lemonade were both served from bottles /​cans — a bit surprising for a place like this.
Service — staff were friendly and decently attentive…
Ambience — by the lake, kinda dive-​y, very small seating area, bigger bar area. windows with lake-​front view are visible from most seats.
Overall possibly my favorite place to eat when I’m in the area.

I was here a year ago, and again last week. Both times were great. They were pretty busy, but service was good. Perch: great. I have also had the cheese curds (great,) veggie plate (hard to find in Wisconsin, it seems,) «poor man’s lobster» (broiled cod, decent,) and shrimp (pretty good.) Oh, and fried lobster (a little weird but good. Dipping something fried in butter…)
I will definitely be back. It can get pretty busy during the airshow, and I’m sure on Fridays too. Oh, bring cash– no credit, though there might be an ATM.