Cockney Kings Fish & Chips — Restaurant in Burnaby

Cockney Kings Fish and Chips is an English style seafood restaurant chain. For this review, we visited the North Burnaby location located in Kensington Square. They offer an All You Can Eat special Mondays-Wednesdays for $11 but they also offer their regular menu as well.

There is ample parking all around the plaza so finding a spot should be easy. The restaurant is a corner shop and is recently rejuvenated or mildly renovated. We've been here in the past but on this visit, they've updated their tables and chairs. The ambiance is relatively dated but the windows make it look big and well lit. We can specifically at a non-peak hour as we know this place gets quite packed on AYCE days. The restaurant will seat approximately 60 people.

We arrived at 4:45PM on a Wednesday night and there was a sign to seat yourself. We entered the dining area and was greeted by a waitress that reiterated what the sign said and we chose our table. The waitress that sat us told us that our table waitress would be with us shortly and sure to their word, she was there in a couple of minutes. We opted for the All You Can Eat as neither of us really knew how hungry we were and for $11, this has good value. The All You Can Eat comes with a fountain drink and we both went for the Ice Tea. Note the Ice Tea isn't Nestea's and is more similar to Brisk. Our Fish and Chips took about 10 minutes to arrive and it looked great.

When the dishes came out, our waitress gave us a bottle of tartar sauce. Ketchup and other sauces/additions are available already on the table. The fish was nicely battered and hot. The taste was good but we felt like it lacked consistency. Some were fried perfectly and crisp to the bite while others were soggy and oily. The fries were not nearly as hot as the chips but were still okay. Again, some fries seemed soggy while others were better.

We ended up ordering one more plate of fish and chips. This time around, it was much better and much more aligned with what we were used to on our other visits. Everything was hot and crispy. This could be because by the time we ordered our second round, the restaurant was full and everything coming out the kitchen was fresh off the fryers.

The service was great. Our waitress refilled our drinks without having to ask and asked us each time she dropped by if we wanted any more fish or chips (or both)! After your first round, you can order just the fish (by piece), the fries, or both.

This particular visit was a bit underwhelming due to the consistency of the frying. On our previous visits, we thought it was better but again this could just be a one off. Food was good and service was great.

We'd definitely recommend Cockney Kings for their Fish and Chips (though you might want to come when it's busy to ensure...

Was my family's longflong standingfstanding and chips place. Always five stars for fish. Father's Day was a zoo. Avoid on busy days like the weekend. Couldn't even phone in an order. Their phone is not working.

Ordered in person. Waited 30 minutes in line just to place order. Told food would be 20-30 minute wait. Have been here over 1 hour 30 min. Still waiting for food.

Frustrating. Online orders are taking priority over people waiting in line. A guy who phoned in an order in advance ad 5 pm for 6 pm pickup was told he had to wait for them to make it fresh. He then waited over an hour and it still wasn't ready. He left at 715 pm.

People who call orders in are told they are not prepared until they arrive for pickup. It is then made fresh to order. What normally takes 30 minutes is taking 1-1.5 hours but the hostess keeps saying it will only take 30 minutes.

Immediate changes. Have the cashier work with the kitchen to be realistic about how long food orders are taking to be filled so customers can assess whether they want to wait so long and won't be upset.

Otherwise it makes you feel like the owner is going for a cash grab. Just be honest. We know you're busy. We appreciate the hardworking staff. Many of us long time customers would be willing to go somewhere else for an hour and come back.

Have staff text customers when order is ready.

Uber eats and other online orders should queue with rest of orders.

Front of the house staff always smiley and friendly. So appreciated. Would have appreciated staff were better at communicating how long food orders are taking as I would gladly come back another day.

So sad my 88 year old Father had to wait over 2 hours for his Father's Day meal. Still waiting.....

Recommendation: Try the Fish Counter on Main Street instead. Fresh fish, lighter, less greasy batter and tasty hand cut fries. Also has a good takeaway section. Eat in is only a...

Growing up in Burnaby, Cockney King's Fish and Chips is an institution of North Burnaby and a beloved family restaurant. I look back at all the fond memories my family and I had at Cockney King's.

I have participated in Cockney King's well-known All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) experience in the past. I fondly remember eating 5 pieces at the time with my family. These days I no longer can stomach that many. They never once tried to stiff me nor hampered my requests during the AYCE days. They kept serving at my request.

These days, I like to order the Halibut and Chips or occasionally the Haddock and Chips. The Halibut is meatier and the beer-battered coating is just the right amount of crispiness with a complimentry flavor to the white fish. I'll always come here for this. The Haddock is more salty which works well for fish-and-chips as well. However, Haddock is not as meaty as Halibut.

For this occasion, I ordered my usual favorite Halibut, but saw that they had a Red Snapper special. I added one piece of Red Snapper. My sister had the halibut and also ordered a Fried Calamari to share.

The Halibut was as good as I remembered. The coating was crispy and just tender where needed. The Red Snapper was very fishy which was expected for the fish. I would skip the Red Snapper in the future. Halibut is the tried-and-true indeed!

The Fried Calamari was surprisingly awesome! It blew my expectations out of the water. The batter was different than their fried fish. The Fried Calamari coating was crispy and light with flakey and tendril-crisps. It reminded me of my favorite fried calamari at the now closed Pita King at Brentwood. The Fried Calamari is worth getting!

The chips are good. They are crispy on the outside with tender centers. A good dusting of salt is all you need to devour these.

There's a reason Cockney King's Fish and Chips is still holding its ground. Don't miss out if you're...