Maricque’s Bar

Simply the best! There is nothing even close to this place! Fish fry was phenomenal!

Excellent perch and onion rings! The only complaint is that they did give me any utensils for eating!

Would have been 5 had the parking lot not been so small and the establishment itself. Even though it was packed we didn’t mind the wait to be seated. Other than that the food was very good. I had the double Pike and my wife had the single Cod. From our first bit of the fish to the last it was definitely some of the best fish fry we’ve had. Didn’t like the cheese curds very much because they had a burnt taste to em, but the fries made up for that. Overall it was a great experience for our first time there. We WILL be back.

Love this place! It’s always packed on Fridays for the fish fry which is delicious and highly recommended. My grandparents used to come here a lot. I like the dim lighting and they sell candy bars up at the bar. Win!

Get em bone in!!!

I started going to Maricques back in the day when I was in high school and the drinking age was 18. Perch back then was terrific and it hasn’t changed at all. Love the fish, bread, tarter sauce. No more smoke either. You can’t get a better perch meal in Wisconsin.

I was mandated to meet here for a family event, organized by people who had never been here. One of the trashiest places I’ve ever had the displeasure of visiting. Bad service, greasy food, poor lighting, rotten smell, creepy people. A two hour punishment, I will never come back.

ok – would have given 5 stars, but for two reasons – 1. they dont do smelts all year around — come on, just because it wouldnt be fresh is no excuse. 2. no old style.
other than that, someone from work took me there for wednesday night fish fry. seeing that i have moved out of the midwest and really missed these, i was turned into a very happy camper that night. got some of the fish, and a couple leinenkugel’s so it wasnt a total bust. yes, the atmosphere is upper midwest tavern, but what the hey – we aren’t there for the atmosphere, but we are there for the fish, the beer, the camaraderie, the sheer enjoyment of fish fry.
and yes, i will definitely will be back!
hopefully during smelt season.

Great Friday fish fry. No frills, but great perch. I will now extend my Packer weekends to include Friday just so I can make it to Maricque’s. service was great — our waitress even showed us how to debone the fish. It was very good this way but would take me all night to eat em this way.

Best fish fry in Green Bay! This place is a bar that serves fish (only on Wednesdays and Fridays … Booyah on Sundays) otherwise they do not have a food menu. The service is a little slow, the old fashioneds are strong and the perch is so yummy! Just try it and embrace the dive-​bar setting!

I always make it a point to come to Maricque’s every time I’m in Green Bay, and usually on the first night I’m there if it isn’t too late (and especially if it’s Friday), as the fried perch, walleye, northerns, and lawyers can’t be beat.
While the atmosphere at Maricque’s is nothing to write home about (dark wood paneling, mica-​flecked acoustic ceiling tiles, weird googie-​era stonework somewhere), and yes, you might be surrounded by screaming children from time to time, there is absolutely nothing pretentious or contrived about it. Maybe they could sell you more beers if the servers were slightly more attentive to the folks who come to Maricque’s for fish, but every time I’ve visited this place however long I waited was worth every second.
Sure some of the patrons smell so strongly of cigarettes that it sometimes seems like someone is smoking inside the bar. You might not like whatever sporting events are on the monitor and you might not like having to wait a while for someone to deliver you a lemon slice from the bar to dress your fish with. Maricque’s is the kind of place that Time Forgot, that you might see in the movie «Fargo,» and that retains its originality just because everything is so stripped down and the menu is straight out of the 19^th century. And while some folks look down their noses on places like Maricque’s because you can’t get a mircogreen salad with crusted goat cheese and sherry vinaigrette and a nice syrah to go with your fish, and there is no Sriracha on the condiment cart (there is no condiment cart at all), their ilk missed a few vital things about the place and its style.
First, Maricque’s is a very human joint. It’s not trying to get a Michelin three-​star ranking. It just wants to drink its beer and watch its sports, like 98% of the rest of Green Bay. Screaming children are practically fixtures in bars across the upper Midwest, and usually their nice and practical upper Midwestern parents tell them to «shut up» when they get out of hand.
Second, Maricque’s is a bar, and doesn’t call itself a restaurant because it’s not a restaurant. Yes, when the foodie revolution finally hits Green Bay they’ll serve their own house-​made landjaeger and pickled eggs or do up a whole tapas or sausage sandwich menu for happy hour, and they might end up with some mustard and malt vinegar floating around the place, but they already provide a homemade tartar sauce with the fish, and that ought to count for something. Plus, all the fish they serve is locally caught, and I would not be surprised if the butter and onion that come with the pumpernickel rye bread (as well as the bread itself) were locally sourced also.
Third, Maricque’s does one thing REALLY well, and that is frying fish. Too much other crap going on might detract from what should be going on: beer, fish, bread, butter, onions, and good company. Which brings me to my next point.
Fourth, beer IS the condiment you’ve been missing, and it’s been right under your nose all along. Nothing is more Wisconsin than fried fish and beer, except maybe brats and Belgian trippe and beer, Montmorency cherries in Door County, blind robbins and beer, and limburger/​onion/​mustard sandwiches and beer. These combinations all endure because they work, and if you understand Wisconsin culture, you understand why beer can be an excellent condiment for many foods (or moods… or moments). Butter and onions are ubiquitous everywhere in the state, and boiling brats in beer, butter, and onions before you grill them is da bomb (and something the locals will teach you).
Last, if you understand Wisconsin culture, you understand why there don’t need to be utensils and the only shiny things in Maricque’s are the TV screens, the video games, and the flecks in the ceiling tiles. Wisconsin folk don’t need all that gobbbledygook – they enhance their surroundings through the use of an ancient yet surprisingly efficient technology: spontaneous oral language-​mediated human interaction. It’s realtime, and usually there are no software compatibility issues, nor does it require a download from the app store or Wi-​Fi.
So what if the scene inside Maricque’s on any given day looks like it could be 40 years old and that somehow a rogue time capsule has hijacked and translocated your corporeal being? If you want to taste the whitest, flakiest, crispiest, and freshest of the animals that swim in Lake Michigan, you have to give Maricque’s a try. Make sure to ask them what the freshest thing on the menu is, and remember that since the fish are caught nearby, the kinds they have on hand at any given time may vary (lawyer season is my personal favorite, but the perch are ALWAYS good). Sneak in your own mustard, lemons, or malt vinegar if you have to, but enjoy the opportunity to have your frame of reference readjusted so that you start paying attention again to the honest and simple things in life. Beer, fried fish, good friends, Amen. And yes, the unboned fillets have the most flavor.

Where to begin with Maricque’s Bar… If you enjoy a way over crowded atmosphere, poor service, screaming kids, an hour wait for food (never mind the hour it takes to find a seat which is seat yourself, AKA fight for it), and extremely overpriced food then this is the place for you. I know that is it supposed to have some of the best Walleye in the Green Bay area, but seeing as a standard plate (3 small fillets) is $ 10 (with no sides) for the money I would give it no better than average. Honestly I would prefer Lorelei Inn’s fish 10 times over Maricque’s simply for the fact that I can sit down and not be bumped into by the same overweight extremely rude waitress that seemed to find me on every path to deliver food. I understand that the restaurant is extremely popular on fish fry Fridays, but a revamp of the seating arrangements, waiting staff, and bar staff needs to be done in order to keep this place a float. As for the food, yes the Walleye was very good; delicate fillets in the perfect amount of batter and not the slightest bit greasy, but again I just can’t justify the price for what you are getting (and by the way a beer is $ 4.50, in Green Bay that is ridiculous, and on a Friday evening around 5:30 it should be happy hour which definitely does not exist at Maricque’s). So if you are an absolute diehard fish fan then Maricque’s may be your place, but if you are the average foodie in Green Bay then this place is a 1 and done at best.

I’ve been coming to Maricque’s for literally my entire life. It’s a generational thing, having been preceded by my parents, grandparents, and great-​grandparents. You know they’re doing something right to have been open that long.
Put simply, there is nowhere on earth with better fried fish. Since I don’t live in Green Bay, I’ve looked, and I promise you there’s nothing. The fish is so good that you don’t need real plates, any silverware, or any sides. It was a major incident when this place started serving french fries, and don’t even get me started on their new fried chicken ways. In my day, you had to carry in anything that wasn’t fish, and a relative (by marriage, thank god) did just that. 10 of us eating fish, and 1 eating a foot-​long sub sandwich from Zeppelin’s (RIP!)
Anyhow, don’t eat the chicken, don’t order fries, just order the perch. It was caught that morning and comes out either boneless or with bones. Grandpa swears it tastes better on the bones, but it’s twice as much work to eat, and this fish is delicious either way. You get 3, 4, 6, or 9 fillets (a single, single, double, or triple, confusingly enough), homemade tartar sauce, and buttered pumpernickel rye bread with a slice of sweet onion on top. Eat it all, even the onion. This is a bad date restaurant, unless your date has great taste.
Everything tastes even better now that it’s not smoky in the place — once upon a time there was a cloud halfway to the floor. And about the wait — just deal. It’s not like drinks are expensive, even by Green Bay standards. And they have awesome vintage arcade games!
This place is an absolute Wisconsin classic. It hasn’t changed (except for new TV’s) in the last 20 years, and I think the owners and loyal customers wouldn’t have it any other way. What are you waiting for? Just go already, wontcha?

Best fish fry/​perch in Wisconny! Hands up or down!

great fish and ambience!
the owner must be making a killing and his clientele must all be loaded too because they were all bitching about Obama’s taxes. (um update on my weird fish/​tax rant. no taxes went up under obama, not even for the rich)
anyways, good fish.

Great place to expeirence traditional Wisconsin fish fry. No frills, paper plates, no silverware, etc. Just great perch and old school bar environment.

Maricque’s is one of the most amazing places on Earth. .the kind of place that you have to try before you die. An unassuming dive bar in the spotty North side of Green Bay, the place is transformed to a bustling pit of activity with lines around the block on Wednesday and Friday nights when they have what many consider to be the best fish fry in Green Bay — or the whole world depending on who you ask.
I’m allergic to fish and, let me tell you, it was damn tempting to eat it anyway but of course I didn’t. Instead I drank some beers as my Father and Brother inhaled thier plates of perfectly fried perch. The only food this place serves is fish (and booyah on Saturdays) but even if you don’t eat fish you should find somebody who does and take them here. It’s an unforgettable experience and you get the feeling you are witnessing something that is increasingly rare these days. . a true local institution. A place where people dredge themselves out in the sub-​zero temperatures to sit elbow to elbow with thier neighbors and eat some serious comfort food.