St. Gabriel's - 4711 Tamm Ave, St. Louis

Wayfinding/Greening:
(3 out of 4 Fishes)

Clear, concise signs on door for takeout and eat-in. Pay first then honor system for giving your order. Real plates! But ketchup packets and plastic cups.
Simple ordering method, pay first, then honor system for getting your food.  This is my preferred method.  Not much wayfinding, but not much is needed.  Clear, concise menu. About a 10 minute wait at 5pm, but by 5:45, the line was backed up into the parking lot (part of this was due to it being Good Friday and the fewer available fish fries to attend).  Highlight is the real plates and silverware!  Very few places have real plates.  Downside on greening was styrofoam dessert plates and packages of condiments are still used.  Also, didn't see aluminum can or plastic cup recycling.  


Food:


The best Cod so far this year (2008)! Hand breaded and big portions. Also had shrimp and kids pizza. Sides were OK, but good. Green beans and fries were simple but well done. Pasta was very good. Dessert was a cake done by a local wedding cake person - excellent! Tartar sauce was pre-packaged, but it wasn't needed for the Cod.
Cod was ranked #6, and it showed.  Hot, moist, and delicious!  Still one of the highlights.  My wife's fried catfish was also excellent.  The kids' cheese pizza was also very well done.  Much better than the typical fish fry cheese pizza.  Other entree options included bake cod, jack salmon, and fried shrimp. Several pasta choices available as choice of sides, along with fries, green beans, and cole slaw.  Like the original review, sides were good, but what really makes the food stand out at St. Gabriel is the fried Cod (and fried catfish). 

Value:


$8 for adult plates, $5 for kids. Portions were large. Dessert and drinks included! Choice of tea, lemonade, fruit punch, or coffee.
Still a good value.  $9 for adult dinners, $6 (for Cod) or $5 (grilled cheese) child dinners.  Dessert and drinks included.  So for our family of five, it was $33-$35.  Beer was $2.  We've been able to break the $30 barrier for our family of five, so maybe Value is 3 our of 4 now, but still a very good value. 
2016 prices:  $9 for adult dinners, plus a new "Pastor Plate" where you can add two pieces of shrimp to your plate.  Pastor plates are $10.   

Atmosphere:


Crowded cafeteria was friendly. Kids and adults picked up trays and cleaned tables. TV showing ESPN.
Still a very good atmosphere.  Crowded cafeteria with good buzz of conversation.  Only drawback was that some seating were cafeteria tables with the pre-sized flat seats.  The cafeteria had a TV on the stage, and with being the opening baseball weekend, it was nice to keep an eye on the Cardinals/Brewers game while we ate.  Friendly staff - my wife's catfish wasn't ready when we went through the line, but they tracked us down when it was ready.

Overall:
3 out of 4. Very solid. Great fish and breading, one of the best! Pasta and cole slaw were good.
After not visiting since 2008, I would move up the overall rating to 3.5 out of 4.  Everything a great fish fry should be:  great Cod, good atmosphere, friendly service,  well done sides, and real plates (which you don't see very often).  We had previously ranked St. Gabriel #4 best overall fish fry and #6 best Cod, and those rankings still seem to fit.  They take their fish fry seriously at St. Gabriel (a lot of staff fish fry apparel) and it shows, a great fish fry.
A great fish fry.  Still some of the best Cod around.  Real plates.  Friendly volunteers.  We got there at 5:30 and had to wait about 40 minutes.  But it was a beautiful night - 70's, so waiting outside wasn't too bad.  Plus, they brought beer around to folks in line.

Reviewed 2/22/08
Reviewed 4/6/12 
Reviewed 2/19/16

Other Reviews and Fun Links for St. Gabriel's
If you know of other reviews or links, please share via the comment section below!
Reviews
2012 - Ladue News Review
2011 - The 13 Blog review
2010 - No Meat for You blog review

Videos
2010 - KMOV Channel 4 Morning Show Video