The Seashell

Tried it years ago and it was the best Fish & Chips in town. Tried it recently and it was brilliant, lost none of it's quality. Must be tried.
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Kevin McNicholas
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, September 25, 2011

Having been to the sea shell before the makeover and swung by the hype of Time Out rating it 7th best chip shop in London a couple of years ago, I persuaded my fiancee to join me.

We went on a Friday night pre-theatre. The waitress was very polite and attentive: choice of tables, was the air conditioning too cold etc.

We ordered the cod and place. The food arrived promptly but was cold, the chips weren't fresh, looking more like they were leftovers at the end of the night.

The fish was slimy and undercooked. The Cod was grey and watery and the whole plate was cold. The plaice was just as slimy, and both bits of batter were soggy. In fact there were pools of water in the batter.

We sent the food back and explained we didn't have time for a replacement to be prepared.

After some time the manager came out and argued that in his view the fish was fine and charged us for the bill despite the fact we'd eaten very little. We didn't have time to argue so ended up having to pay half the blll, despite having barely eaten and only having had 1 glass of wine.

There are so many places that are better food, better service and cheaper.
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Gareth Turner
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 03, 2010

This venerable West London institution has been shut for several months after a fire in the kitchen. However stuck in an inevitable traffic jam around Marylebone station the other day I noticed it had re-opened. It was a firm favourite of ours when we lived in the area so having been picked up by my lovely wife and baby G after work we decided to pop in on our way home for a takeaway tea at my mum's. It can be a bit of an ordeal parking around there as you get queuing traffic from the ring road, the roads around are narrow and most London cabbies go there for their dinner. Anyway we parked up the road and leaving the family in the car I went to get our order.

It has to be said the owners made good use of the shutdown to tart up the place which was starting to look a bit rundown. The new kitchen looks bright and airy and well organised. I ordered cod for the ladies and plaice for me. I had a little wait for the plaice but that's usual. I was pleased to see that the regular clientele of taxi drivers, tourists and locals had returned. It was rumoured in the 80's that Princess Margaret used to send out for Fish and Chips from the Seashell. I've very fond memories of being taken there by my dad and queuing on a Friday for our family takeaway. I'm very glad it is still there so that I can do the same with my little boy. They have put a few tables outside which makes this scruffy part of Lisson Grove look a bit nicer. Inside is still standing room only which seems to please the cabbies.

I took the our order home and it has to be said the girls were very happy with their enormous pieces of cod. I was less happy with my plaice as the batter had come off in transit and the piece was pretty small compared to the whopping cod. The chips however were very good. All in all not bad and as Costa's Fish Bar is no more "the Seashell" remains our closest decent option for fish and chips. I do wish so clever entrepeneur would open a good no nonsense Fish and Chip shop for us in Notting Hill.
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david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, August 10, 2010