The Sea Cow

Have eaten here on a couple of occasions and had take out food another couple of times. Overall quite disappointing bearing in mind that it's not all that cheap. Service is brusque and the fish portions laughable. Even though I live relatively close-by I now drive to Olley's in Herne Hill to get my fish and chips fix. Bearing in mind the Sea Cow's proximity to one of London's most lauded chippers they really should be upping their game.
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Padraig - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Thursday, August 28, 2008

I ate here at the beginning of the month and was quite disappointed, I love a good portion of fish and chips now and again and thought this posh fish and chip shop would make a great Saturday lunch.

My partner had the mussels, which were plentiful and apparently very tasty, I decided to go for the crab cakes, which were tasteless blobs of mashed potato in bread crumbs with a miniscule amount of crab in them, and no seasoning what so ever, a plain baked potato would have had more flavour.

To top it off the waitress was the most miserable, blunt and rude person I have ever encountered in any restaurant I have eaten in, what a shame in a street that is full of good places to eat that Sea Cow doesn't think it needs to give good service and quality food to keep their tills ringing.
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Stalin - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, April 13, 2008

Let me weigh into this debate. I decided to go recently for a cheap birthday night out and was prepared to be disappointed due to the negative tone of some of the reviews.

First impressions weren't that great - I thought the interior was going to be a bit smarter and the waitress with frizzy blonde hair was quick to serve but sulky and impatient. The atmosphere was somewhat dead, notwithstanding that it was a Tuesday night. Also, I was expecting to be able to choose how to have the fish cooked but the curt response was that it only comes grilled.

However any doubts were dispatched when the food arrived. I went for a lemon sole which was very fresh, a generous size and superbly cooked. Delicious! The posh mushy peas can be recommended although I wasn't overwhelmed by the chips - a bit on the dry side and in my mind not as good as our local chippy.

I was most surprised by the pricing - £9 for a large lemon sole is pretty good value, considering you can pay close to that for the fresh version in a fishmonger. There isn't much mark-up involved here and it is a lot less then you would pay for the equivalent quality and size in a decent restaurant. On the other hand, 50p for a tiny dollop of tartare sauce is shameful.

Portion-wise my experience definitely didn't correspond to the complaints about being short changed in this department - I was stuffed by the end of my meal. On the plus side again, I was pleasantly surprised that the Sea Cow does not charge service, giving us a chance to drop a very small hint to that waitress!

I totally disagree with the last reviewer's opinion that this is "overpriced fish and chips" - it certainly isn't. This is a very decent fish restaurant in completely different market to your local chippy.
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Andrew Jones
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 26, 2008

Overpriced for fish and chips. Toilets are awful, staff just as bad.

Really disappointing. No, really.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, December 04, 2007

I have to agree with Jane. This used to be good but it has definately gone downhill. Bought kids portions recently and when we got home and opened the box I was apalled. They weren't even bite size. I took them back and complained and the staff argued that it's a kids portion. I said that as it's half the price of a full size portion it's reasonable to expect at least half the amount. What we got wasn't even a quarter. They did change them but I will not be going back again.
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Jeremy
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Thursday, July 26, 2007

Person perhaps had a bad night. I go to the Sea Cow regularly and it is always terrific in every way (and I have previous experienec in Grimsby)
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lmmcdougall
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 10
Thursday, June 21, 2007

I really don't trust the review below (21 May 07) - I went to the restaurant last night for the first time and I am eager to go again. It's really difficult to find good fish and chips in London and this is just fantastic. I had haddock and chips and my partner had some grilled fish that I didn't recognise with a beautifully complementary side salad with mild chilli dressing and salsa. We also had a really tasty simple bottle of South African wine to go with it and ended up trying the calamari afterwards, which was again lovely. We will be going again very soon. It was very good value for money.
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susan
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, June 02, 2007

am quite upset having been a regular customer when thay first opened for over a year,good food and great banter with the staff.moved away but now back in the area.can not imagine my dissapointment when i eagarlly revisited the sea cow.

completly horrible from start to finish,

food portions so small that my 2yr old would struggle to be satisfied with.

staff that so dont seem to care like we should be lucky to eat there!

tris a real shame because when they started out everything was fab from the food to the staff.looks like money is more important than quality.shame.

wont be going again,will get on the bus and go to ollies a much better experience,
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jane
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Monday, May 21, 2007

Nice place, very informal, food is fresh & cooked in sight, prices are not cheap for essentially posh fish and chips but I've had some good eats there. Only thing is, Olley's in Herne Hill is the best fish and chip restaurant in London and also better value, so this place suffers in comparison despite being a perfectly reasonable place in its own right.
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Declan James
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Monday, September 18, 2006

I went to the Seacow Fish shop in Lordship Lane, Dulwich on Tuesday 21st March. What a wonderful new concept. As you enter the shop you have a great view of fresh fish on a bed of ice to ponder over. The chalk boards have a huge list of great fish available for either eat in or takeaway, anything from fresh plaice to red snapper or swordfish were available either fried or grilled. My friend and I chose the basic cod and chips another had plaice and the other grilled swordfish. I had to wait 10 minutes which to be honest I thought it would take longer and whilst I waited I enjoyed sitting in the front area watching the people at their tables thoroughly enjoying their meal and people choosing their fish from the counter. Surely enough I didn’t wait any longer than specified and they called my name out, the chef put all the meals into individual boxes and off I went. To say my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal would be a huge understatement. The cod in batter was light and almost fluffy in texture and my friends grilled swordfish was grilled with herbs to perfection. The chips, all hand cut were the freshest chips I had ever eaten, they actually felt healthy to eat. Although people may think it is expensive, if you had this fish and chips every two weeks as a treat the price is more than worth it!! You will never turn back and eat the normal bog standard high street fish and chips again. I hope they expand all over London…!
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 03, 2006