Today was grocery shopping day. As I perused the frozen food aisles, the seafood caught my eye. It was the box of frozen fried fish “country style” that took me back to my college years, and Wilkes 2-In-1 Fish Palace.


In college, my friend and roommate came home one day telling us about a fish place she had heard about at work. She had heard it was the best fish you could ever eat; the only catch was that it was in a sketchy neighborhood. The place was called Wilkes 2-in-1 Fish Palace. We weren’t sure what the 2-in-1 meant, but we were going to find out.

After a little more research, we decided to give Wilkes a try. Because of our insecurities about this shady neighborhood, we decided to go as a group. You can imagine the surprise of the Wilkes 2-in-1 Fish Palace patrons when 3 separate cars of out of place college kids pulled up.

It turns out Wilkes was a tiny space in a rundown strip mall. When we walked in the door we were greeted by a greasy counter top with several women….and children behind it. As they took our “order,” we noticed that there really wasn’t anywhere to actually eat in the place. There was a small room where the front counter was and another room off to the side, but the door was covered by a bed sheet. There were sounds of more kids and a TV behind the sheet. On the walls were drawings done by kids and Bible verses.

We learned from the homemade signs on the walls that the kids in the “fish palace” were home schooled. By the misspelling and grammar issues of most of the signs, it’s safe to say they weren’t home schooled well.

Directly behind the counter was the kitchen were we watched the women prepare our food, all while a small child crawled on the floor around their feet. Our to-go boxes were filled with fried fish and spaghetti (strangely enough) with a white slice of bread slapped on top. We got an overflowing box of food for only $7.  The spaghetti was literally spilling over the side of the box.

We paid, said thanks, and left, learning that being in the “fish palace” for only minutes left our clothes reeking of fried food.

In the end, it was the best fish we had ever eaten. We got more than enough food for a great price. I think we ventured back to Wilkes at least one more time before graduating, but each time we made sure not to wear any fresh smelling clothes because we would immediately have to change upon returning home. We also never figured out what the 2-in-1 meant in the “Wilkes 2-in-1 Fish Palace.” Perhaps fish palace AND school? Fish palace AND……?

Back at the grocery store I smiled remembering Wilkes. I bought the frozen “country style” fried fish, but I won't be making spaghetti to go with it.