Beach Fish & Chip Shop

When we arrived at the restaurant the staff behind the counter were hostile which was really unwelcoming. I asked for gluten free cod, which for some reason was tiny in comparison to the regular gluten battered cod. My daughter's food took until we had finished to arrive so we asked to take it away, which seemed to be a big inconvenience for them and they actually made several sarcastic remarks. To add to all of this, the chips tasted like they'd been cooked in 4 days old oil so we probably ate 4 chips out of the mountain of stale old chips we were given.

Excellent. The man there knew in detail about cross contamination and allergens for gluten free. He reassured me of steps he took to avoid allergens... Without me having to ask! This is really good and rarely ever happens! Food is delicious and very reasonably priced 🌟

Stopped here as I saw that they did gluten free fish and chips. We were a group of 8, so we knew trying to get a table for us without reservation might be tricky, however the waitresses were really helpful and managed to squeeze us in on 2 tables. The 2 waitresses where very efficient and despite that we could see that they where rushed off their feet, they both gave great customer service. We ordered 4 regular cods and chips with 1 being gluten free. The 3 normal fish and chips came out first before the gluten free came out after a short wait. At first look, the gluten free fish had no batter, it was a fillet of cod dusted in rice flour and deep fried. The fillet was a very thick piece which looked nice, unfortunately due to the thickness the thickest part of the fish was still not cooked through (the fish wasn’t flakey and still opaque and stringy). I mentioned this to the waitress who took my plate away, and unfortunately this is when the visit took a turn. A man (assuming the cook/owner) comes to the table, shoves the plate in my face, starts ripping the fish with his hands telling me “look it’s cooked” and telling me that all his fish are fresh and that he cooks all the fish the same amount of time and the same as the others (meaning the regular fish my family where eating). Before I could even say anything (and slightly shocked at his attitude) he storms back saying he will cook it again this time well done! (I was also shocked that he literally wasted a whole plate of food by tearing it up with his hands! I would have continued to eat the chips/peas while the fish cooked!) If it wasn’t the fact the rest of my family was half way through their meals I think I would have told him not to bother! I felt sorry for the waitress's as I could tell they were clearly embarrassed and it was a shame as the customer service up to that point had been excellent. As a person who grew up and worked in the food industry with parents owning a fish and chip shop and several takeaways I know how hard it is and will only say something if there is something wrong that could actually give me food poisoning. My concern is that the chef is cooking all the fish the same amount of time, and not considering thickness of the fillet - this is something that a good chef takes in account. Another point is that there is a difference for cooking fish that is for takeaway vs served straight away. When fish is wrapped in the paper, the steam continues to cook the fish so having fish just cooked is okay as it will continue “cooking” if it’s for a takeaway. Also, the consideration that the gluten free fish had no batter, the batter as it cooks also helps steam the fish and keeps the heat inside, helping the fish to cook. The combination of having a very thick fillet, there was no batter on the fish and it was served straightaway unfortunately was probably the cause of the undercooked fish. I was also not questioning the freshness of the fish, however having use to teach cookery and having food hygiene qualifications, any food not cooked thoroughly increases the chance of food poisoning. Unless fish is sushi grade where fish can be eaten raw, there is a risk which I prefer not to take. It was a shame that our meal ended up as it did due to 1 person as the service from the waitress was good and the size and quality of the fish was also good too. Would I go again?…unfortunately not after I was spoken to in that manner, it left a unpleasant taste in my mouth.