John Dory Seafoods — Restaurant in Nelson Bay

We came out here for a nice drive away from home and to get what we hoped would be an enjoyable lunch. Instead what we received from John Dory’s fish and chips shop was average and subpar food. We had ordered the family pack which included 4 pieces of fish and 4 serves of chips, 3 crumbed and 1 battered, and an extra piece of battered fish on the side. The girl behind the counter was evidently confused as to what we were trying to order so instead of asking to repeat what we said, she looked at us as if we had just ordered in a foreign language. Upon receiving our food we found a decent BBQ area not far away from the restaurant which was the only enjoyable part of this take-away experience. The fish that we consumed was quite clearly frozen then reheated upon serving. I’m fairly certain packing peanuts would have contained more flavour than the salt-less chips we were given. The dead fish just outside the restaurant would have held more flavour than the meal...

The food was a complete disaster—like chewing through a soggy newspaper, flavorless and limp. It felt more like a punishment than a meal. Food was undercooked and when they were told about it, they redid it but pushed the orders back to the very end so you will have to wait all over again.

As for the customer service, it was like pulling teeth. The new kid was learning but the rest of the staff were as welcoming as a locked door and twice as hard to get through. Not a single smile, not even an attempt at politeness. Honestly, this place could use a lesson in basic hospitality. Disciplining the new kid on the block in front of customers is not acceptable. Spend more time training and leading instead of reprimanding and humiliating.

It’s hard to believe a place could get it this wrong, but this fish and chips shop somehow managed to be worse than I could’ve imagined. Avoid...

At 4pm on a Monday afternoon we couldn’t get fish and chips anywhere. We googled fish and chips and this place was open. We ordered the local flathead and some chips and we were told there would be a bit of a wait as the people in front had placed an order for a family pack and the girl was on her own. No problem we understand that. Well, we heRd that line about 10 times after us. We were getting. Bit worried that there was more talking than cooking. After about 15 minutes our order was surprisingly ready. Chips wrapped up, old style and absolutely the best chips we’ve had in years. The fish was perfectly battered and cooked. We had read the reviews whilst waiting and we don’t understand the bad reviews. We had an amazing fish n chip lunch. Worth...