St. Sava was an interesting fish fry. There were some good parts and some bad parts – like any fish fry. I somehow had it mixed up in my mind with St. Francis DeSales when it came to the location. I drove down Broadview and did a u-turn once I hit the Seven Hills border. I had been concentrating on finding it on my left side when it was on the right. Luckily I hadn’t gone far at all, and I was able to almost immediately pull onto W. Ridgewood and then into the parking lot. I followed another diner to the Hall entrance on the left side of the building and then followed the signs down the hall to the fish fry.
I got there at about 4:15 or so to beat the crowd. I got in line, where I was greeted by a friendly lady in Serbian and then in English. There were two dinner choices – fish and some Serbian dish called Bakalar. She explained to me that Bakalar is a dried cod served with potatoes and lots of garlic. I wasn’t feeling that adventurous, so I paid for a fish dinner, took my receipt, and sat down at a table. There were plenty of seats to choose from. I sat with a very nice couple from Parma. Apparently, there is also a fish fry at St. Sava Hall on Wallings Road that offers a bit more selection (fried shrimp, pierogi, more sides than just fries and cole slaw). The food runner greeted me at the table and grabbed my receipt to get my food. I bevvied up to the bar, thinking I could get a soda. Nope! I had to buy a ticket at the cash table. That was not clear at all. Everything runs through the cash table. I spent $12 on the dinner, $1 on the apple strudel, and $1 on a can of soda.
Once I sorted out my beverage situation, I came back to my table to find a vegetable soup and a bread roll waiting. Here is where the first hiccups started. The soup was awful. There was NO seasoning in it – not even salt and pepper. I asked one of the runners for some butter, and he informed me they had no butter because it was Lent. What? Not even margarine. So bring your own butter to slather that delicious roll with.
Onto the main dinner. The fish was a thing of beauty – definitely the best piece of fish I’ve had this season. It is a 6 oz piece of cod that is battered and baked, and the fish inside was flaky and moist. I enjoyed a nice sizeable forkful each bite. The fries were quite good as well – nicely fried with a crisp outside and a soft inside. The only con from the dinner was the cole slaw. It was a vinegar-based cole slaw, but it didn’t even taste like vinegar. I added salt and pepper to it from the table, and it didn’t help. I ate two bites and left the rest.
The pièce de résistance of the meal, however, was the apple strudel. I ordered it on a whim for an extra $1.00. That strudel was divine. It is wrapped up like a burrito and seems like it was flash-fried. The strudel pastry shattered with each bite, and the filling was delicious. It tasted like a cross between strudel and baklava. I swear it had honey in it. I would come back again just for the strudel. If they improve the soup and the cole slaw by adding seasoning they would have a solid fish fry. Don’t be shy. A little seasoning goes a long way.
Contact info:
St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral
6306 Broadview Road
Cleveland, OH 44134
(216) 749-0064
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Eats 