Fish! Kitchen (Borough Market)

This was my 3rd trip to Fish! and i was really disappointed this time. The service was appauling and the food was not as good as usual.

We were served by 2 different waiters/waitresses due to a shift change. It was early evening on Saturday about 5pm, so the restaurant was not very busy - which gives even less of an excuse for the poor service.

We were not asked once if everything was ok - the waitress was just blatantly rude!

They automatically add a 12.5% discretionary service charge - which we were not happy to pay.

The manager did not even ask if there was a problem when he came over to deal with our request to refund the service charge.

Definitely gone down hill!!! Shame!
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Natasha
4 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Monday, October 11, 2010

Contrary to other diners saying the quality has gone down hill, this place is as good as ever.
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Ben Hill
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Visit fish! at least once a month, quality of food and service has kept me coming back for years and I'm sure it will continue to do so!
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Daniel Bailey
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, October 06, 2010

After reading through mixed reviews of fish! I thought I should go and try the restaurant out for myself.

Myself and a friend opted for a busy Saturday lunchtime, the place was full when I arrived but was greeted by the receptionist quickly and told my table should be no longer than 10 minutes if I didn't mind waiting. 5 minutes later I was sat and being looked after by an attentive waiter.

The staff were very knowledgable when it came to the menu. My friend was not particularly confident with fish and all her questions were answered fully. She enjoyed her 'Choose your own' Seabass and Red wine fish! gravy as much as the most seasoned fish eater would.

Wanting to see if the fish and chips was as good (or as bad) as I've read, I opted for the Halibut as rarely do I see it used for fish and chips. My meal did not disappoint. It arrived promtly which I was not expecting due to the shear number of people seated and constantly arriving, and it truly was brilliant. The fish was perfectly cooked and of the highest quality, as were the chips. I wonder whether customers who prefer the standard of their local sweaty chip shop (as per some reviews) are not actually used to eating high quality fish?

We then decided to finish of our meal by sharing the Sticky Toffee Pudding which went down just as well as our main course. The sponge was moist and finished off our meal well.

We left with full bellies and big smiles on our faces, I'm glad we tried fish! ourselves. Highly recommended.
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Barbara Wilson
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, October 06, 2010

lunch at Fish!Kitchen

Overpriced medium size cod and chips and mushy peas at £15.95. No different to your average chippy

not quite sure how price can be justified but must be £10 for the location and £5.95 for the food plus 12.5% service charge on top
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siwhy
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Saturday, October 02, 2010

Been to this restaurant twice now, the first time the food was good but the service rubbish, this time both were disappointing. The 'pick your own' meals are overpriced and my chips looked like the bits you scrape out of the bottom of the fryer. Service wasn't good, we stood for about 5 minutes waiting to be seated, and despite 3 different waiters/waitresses walking past us nobody bothered to acknowledge us. And then impossible to get anyone's attention once seated as unfortunately our waitress spent the whole time gossiping with her colleague. Similar experience the first time round: despite there being only about 5 tables of diners in the restaurant, impossible to get the staff's attention (part of our order was missing). Definitely won't be going back to this restaurant. There are so many good restaurants with excellent staff, unfortunately this isn't one of them.
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3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Monday, September 27, 2010

This place has really suffered lately! There are too few waiting staff and hardly any seemed happy to serve us last night (Friday 13th). The food was mediocre and not as good as it used to be, and the service was very slow.

By far the worst aspect of our evening was the clearly dispassionate attitude of the staff *and* their managers who seemed intent on openly and obviously correcting every insignificant mistake. Maybe this was why the waiting staff seemed so ill at ease?

Apart from that, the restaurant itself was very comfortable and had a good selection of wine. The dessert portions were rather on the small side which was a shame, but they tasted delicious.

On the whole, I would not recommend this restaurant for the reasons outlined above. Perhaps another Fish! Restaurant would be a better option. Either way, I would certainly have a word with the general manager and sort out the bad attitude of the waiting staff.
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Tony & Anne Bradbury
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Saturday, August 14, 2010

I looked online for fish restaurants in London and came across the reviews of this restaurant in Borough Market. We nearly didn't go as frankly some of the reviews were not so good. It was the nearest to our hotel so we decided to give it a go anyway. I have to say, I'm so glad we did. So much so I thought I'd give my own review.

I was a really hot evening and was great to sit outside for a change. The market was winding down and the atmosphere was really lively. Its by a big Cathedral which is beautiful. Great location.

It was busy but we were served pretty quickly by a bubbly Spanish guy who actually seemed genuinely happy to serve us (unlike some other places I've eaten) We just had the house wine but as house wines go it was very nice, an easy drinking Italian Trebbiano. I have a gluten alergy, so sometimes that can be tricky, but the waiter seemed to know which dishes would be fine, which to avoid, and later double checked with the chef.

I opted for the 'Choose your own' part of the menu. Basically a nice selection of fish of the day, and ordered a piece of grilled halibut with some salsa verde. My partner went for a starter of smoked Haddock with a rarebit cheese on top, followed by Scallops wrapped in Italian ham with mushrooms and tomatoes.

We were both really happy with the food. Nothing fussy or pretencious, just simple, fresh and well cooked.

I know not everybody who has left a review was satisfied, but for what its worth we certainly were and the diners around me seemed pretty happy too.

Ok, its not a silver service type place, but if you like fresh fish and a really lively atmosphere then I really do reccomend it.
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Katherine Murphy
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Really disappointing dinner there last night. Had been before for lunch but the place has clearly gone down hill since then, that or my previous memory was tainted by it being my birthday.

Restaurant was half-empty but still the service was slow and they'd run out of the lobster my friend and I ordered. Entrees were nothing to write home about - the devilled whitebait probably the pick (the calamari was more batter than anything else). These weren't even finished when the first two main courses arrived, the replacements for the lobster. The waitress had clearly stuffed up but we started anyway, in the correct assumption that the other three courses hadn't even been started yet. They arrived 15 minutes later when we'd finished.

The food itself? The tuna steak was dry and tasteless, the veggies washed out. The monk fish was ok apparently, and the halibut the same.

With so many other good places in Borough Market I won't be going back.
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3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, June 17, 2010

What an utterly contemptible excuse for a restaurant. The food was no great shakes - I have had much better cod & chips from a proper chippie, and our chips were undercooked and rubbery - but this time round it was the service that was the true shocker.

Never mind the general air of "the-customer-is-an-annoyance" that pervades the place - or the forgotten drinks, the erratic food delivery. No, when I ask for the bill, I don't expect it A) to have extra phantom items appear on it, B) to have to assist the waiter in doing the calculations to split it, or C) for it to take over 25 minutes to settle it - nor in fact D) to have the waiter to storm off in a snit and leave us to settle with another waitress. We certainly removed the service charge from the bill (causing another painful recalculation exercise) and nearly walked out without paying whatsoever.

In short, in no way does this place justify the exhorbitant (£15!) price you pay for fish and chips. Avoid.
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Luke
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, May 24, 2010