Sanford and Sons Fishmonger — Local services in Waitematā

Be careful and do not rely on getting your order... ever!

2 weeks before Fathers Day I ordered 3 dozen oysters for Fathers Day online from overseas as my parents are still back home. I did this so as as to have plenty of time. Something really nice to say thank you to my Dad.... at least I thought

Friday (prior to Fathers Day) when the delivery was to take place comes around, nothing received and no word from Sandford and Sons. At lunchtime I call them to see what is going on but every call is straight through to answer phone. I left 2 messages and no response. Then they are closed overt the weekend. Monday comes around and still no word from them, I send them an email and leave another message on the answer phone. Finally on Tuesday they come up with some lame excuse basically trying to blame everyone but their own incompetence. I am then told I will have them on Wednesday. Wednesday comes and goes and again no word. then finally on Thursday night I get a cancelled order by email and I am back where I started.

They call themselves a Kiwi company. yeah right and never again will I have my time wasted by their incompetence.

The service is simply appalling. They could of at least had the courtesy to let me know what...

Very disappointed that our Christmas Eve fish never turned up and was charged for. Had text in morning to say it was being delivered then nothing. Rang to say we hadn't had the usual tracking number sent through and was assured delivery would definitely be there by 6. Despite leaving phone messages and e mail had no correspondence and no fish. Finally rang courier who told me they had missed packing alot of orders as he had been getting inquiries too. They never packed or sent our order st all.. By 7.30 despite assurances it was obvious it wasn't coming after speaking to courier. Desperate dsah to supermarket where everything had sold out. Ruined our Christmas and made it very embarrassing to have quests arriving and no fish. No word or reply to messages or e mails so 2 days and they haven't apologized or refunded money. I am pretty appalled and won't be ordering again and neither will any of our guests after we had to explain the reason there was no fish. . My advice is to not rely on sandfords for delivery despite e mail and text confirming it was on the way.. shocking...

Visited Sanfords once more, as I wanted some fish heads for stock.

Picked up a nice 3.5 kg kingfish head for $10.00.

After cleaning it up, there was enough meat on the flaps for me to smoke them to make some pate, so a win all round.

Great place to get fresh fish.

Crayfish, at $152/kg no thanks!

I visited Sanfords to pick up some squid tubes and octopus, they have a great variety range of fish on display.

They also fillet fish while you wait.

However as a fisher myself, some of the filleting was not that great, as I also picked up a couple of fillets of snapper for dinner. When I returned home one of the fillets was mutilated, and it still had bones in it! So I guess it depends on who fillets it at the time.

That aside, on balance the fish on display is great, and Sanfords is a great place to get really fresh fish.

Crayfish if you can afford it, the prices are a real rip off.

Car parking if you are lucky to nab one are great, as you just plug in your car plate for a couple of hours free parking while...