URBAN SEAFOODS — Local services in Christchurch

Ordered take out on Christmas eve. Got the tarakihi, gurnard, and fish of the day with a full order of chips and Kumara chips as well as a filet of fish for my daughter to try. Got up to the counter and waited a few minutes for the man to acknowledge me, he came up and asked what I wanted so I started ordering but he abruptly shifted his attention to a just entering g customer.. Confused, I waited but he went back to his fryer station. Came back to me and completed ordering. Told me it would be 10 minutes.

While waiting in and outside the restaurant, I kept smelling a strong odor of lamb. Finally I asked the two people working there and they claimed it was the Indian restaurant next door. I thought it odd as Indian restaurants don’t have such a pure lamb smell as the spices are more prominent.

After more than 15 minutes of waiting, we get our food. The chips were both pretty skimpy for full orders but both were crispy. The fish were all put in the same container so we didn’t know which was which. But the pieces on the bottom were impressively greasy. After tasting the first piece, I realized it tasted like lamb. I’m pretty sure they rendered lamb fat in addition to the beef suet they use as a fry oil. I like lamb and thought it was a novel flavor but my...

I rung ahead and ordered. Today's order to try was A battered sausage. 1/2 Dozen Mussels and 1/2 Scoop of Chips. Food here is delivered on a cardboard tray in a paper bag. Food does cool quickly. The chips were crunchy, little under seasoned and a bit fatty. A good helping of chips. The Mussels were the smallest Mussels I have ever seen. They were tiny. A little fatty too. The sausage was generous and the batter was thin and crunchy falling off when eating it. Got a free small tomato sauce. The guy that took my order was the same guy who greeted me when I arrived. Very pleasant young guy with great customer service. Keep it up. I was the only person in store. I feel I will try again to see if today was the normal or perhaps an off day. ...

Urban seafoods have really lowered their standards since opening. I have given them a few chances now but have been disappointed in my last visits. Scoops always seem to be very small. Burgers are way over priced. Payed $8 for a "Hawaiian" burger which was half the size of my hand and had a very small piece of pineapple in the middle. It is unfortunate as they are my local so I may give them another shot down the road UPDATED: I went back again tonight for the first time in months to see if things had changed.. got food poisoning! I think it was the crab sticks. They were all mushy and the fish was falling apart. Way too expensive and they have their reviews posted up from Facebook page as if they...