Tom's Place

This is where the well-to-do locals go for a "bit of rough". They would not be seen dead in a real chippie,or caff, but as it says Tom Aikens on the place, it makes it ok to go for these people. Unfortunately the laugh is on them, as the food here is dire compared to most chippies and caff's .The Aikens empire is basically charging these customers triple or more of what it would cost to eat a much more "honest" version of the same meal in a chippie or caff. He knows that these people would never venture to Bethnal Green Road to the magnificent Pellici's cafe for instance ,where the food is great, and there is no smell of grease and where nothing costs over £6. So if you want to spend a lot of money for poor(sic) fish and chips, come here. If not, go east!
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c.Elder
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Friday, July 04, 2008

Had a great lunch with my family at Tom's Place today. Apparently the menu has just changed so there were lots of alternatives to fried fish. I had tartare (ceviche really) of mackerel with avocado which was amazing followed by salmon and blood roanges, again excellent. These were great dishes given that it was a hot sunny day and full fish and chips would have been too much. I then went for a raspberry ripple ice cream which was made with fantastic homemade vanilla ice cream plus a serious jammy ripple. The staff were really friendly. I'd definitely go back.
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Mark Wilkins
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, May 10, 2008

A really terrible disappointment. If I was writing a review for a fish and chip shop I'd merely criticise this venue for being over priced, but it pupports to be a restaurant and it fails miserably. The menu is incredibly bland-it's basically fried fish to start (unless you have a chip butty), followed by er, fried fish and chips. I chose the lancashire fish pie to start which was a lump of fried fish in batter. It was so tasteless that I had to cover it in salt, then empty half a bottle of vinegar and about the same amount of Tomato ketchup before it tasted of anything.The main course of cod and chips was perfectly acceptable with good quality chips and not totally unreasonable for £11 given the area but the wine is just something else. IT'S ALL (and I mean all) English wine. Tom, you're surely having a laugh! We all know that English wine just doesn't really work-our selection was one of the cheapest at £17 per bottle and could reasonably been pored over the lancashire 'fish pie' to give it flavour-or over the fish and chips as a substitute for the vinegar. The decor is just awful too-naff tinny chairs and cramped little tables. If you sit opposite the wall you have to watch stomach churning videos of fish being caught in the North sea-Perhaps like the wine this is to add to the 'britishness' of the place in some macabre way.

I felt sorry for the staff who were very nice, but couldn't help feeling that they looked sheepish with embarrassment at the fare on offer. Such a disappointment was it we opted for another bottle of 'wine' to cheer ourselves up. Final bill-£37 per head. Like most of the other reviewers I won't be returning.
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Jimmy
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Disappointing in general. The fish portion ( I had cod ) was greasy and small. Fries were over fried. Not worth it. Nothing to do with Tom's Kitchen.
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Mara
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Went last night to have some fish & chips. Could not have fish because it is fried in beef drippings. Opted for sardines to share with DH. Lukewarm sardines on marmalede!

For mains I had spaghetti Vongole - horrible, gritty, full of sand. DH had bouillabaisse - warning:"Do not order".

Utterly awful food. Spent £60 on one of the worst meals in my life. Not coming back ever.

Sonja
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Sonja
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A disaster. We turned up for take-away, on a wet Tuesday.

Chaos inside, a heavy smell of stale frying oil in the air. Price for fried cod alone was £11-50 each, chips extra.

We were told the wait for take-away would be 20-30 minutes.

It won't work.
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Nick
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I guess we had high expectations for this place, given Tom Aikens standards (we really like the food at "Tom's Kitchen" and "Tom Aikens"). However this restaurant was a great disappointment. We had Scampi, Pollock, Cod and Onion rings. All 4 dishes tasted the same. The batter was too thick and too oily, and you could not taste the fish at all. Thank god for the tartare sauce, that was very nice and allowed us to eat some of it..

Only good note was the ice cream and the coffee.

Definitely we won’t be coming back
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Benedetta - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, March 03, 2008

Don't believe the hype!

Nothing I ate in this place was worth the effort of picking up a knife and fork. The sardines on toast with shallot chutney were the equivalent of eating warm jam out of a jar. The much trumpeted gurnard was a total disappointment - a forgettable bit of fish in soggy tasteless batter. Ditto the chips. And £20 got you five bits of overcooked scampi in a disgusting crumb coating with a child's portion of chips. I don't have anything bad about the mushy peas, but nothing good either. The vanilla milkshake was ok.

The staff were really sweet and friendly, and there were lots of them, but service was poor and inattentive.

This place is an embarassingly smug self-satisfied ego-trip. Steer clear.
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AK
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, March 02, 2008

Couldnt agree more with this more - the decor, the food, the prices, the smell - i thought i had come to the wrong place!

I went on Weds night with a group of girlfriends and seriously what a joke this place is! Shame on you Tom, i expected so much more from you. None of us will be back.
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LIMEKILN - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Saturday, March 01, 2008

Not too convinced. Nothing as such was bad but if you are going to do an upmarket fish and chip place then I reckon it should be done all the way, not just fancy a few things up and have a big name backing it.

I had the sardines on toast with a sweet onion sauce, it was good. The chips (that cost £3 for a bowl) weren't too bad but not of the quality I was expecting, maybe my fault for having higher expectations.

The crowd there was rather similar to anything you will get in the area, a few yummy mummies and some well healed couples, atmosphere was slightly odd for a fish and chip place.

Would I come back? probably not but then if I was walking past and very hungry, then I probably would.
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John
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Thursday, February 28, 2008