Ches's Famous Fish & Chips — Restaurant in St. John's

TLDR: terrible food, terrible service, avoid at all costs. Much better fish and chips elsewhere in St. John’s.

Terrible experience. Was excited to try the food based on good reviews. Ordered takeout, made the 3 minute drive from our hotel and picked up our 2-piece fish and poutine. The lady at the counter was packaging it as I came in. She handed me the package and I carried it out to the car as it was given to me and drove back to the hotel. Total elapsed round trip of roughly 10 minutes, 6ish minutes from getting the food to opening it in our room.

Opened the package excited to eat and found our fish completely buried in the fries/gravy/cheese. The fish was soggy and inedible. I called the restaurant to ask for replacement fish, offered to bring the food back if needed or anything and the woman (who said she was the manager after I asked) refused to replace the fish saying that she wasn’t able (as the manager) to do that and that if I wanted them packed separately I had to specify when I ordered (ordered online). She then refused to provide a refund saying I had to go through the company that runs the website for online ordering (called UEat). Not once did the manager say she was sorry we were unhappy, all she could do was deny every request and blame us for not specifying to package it separately. It was quite rude and upsetting.

I then called UEat, who were actually very friendly and helpful but of course said that they do not handle refunds or anything that it all went through the restaurant. The UEat person then put me on hold while he called the restaurant and walked the manager through how to process the refund. UEat person comes back and says they explained everything to the manager, but that the manager wasn’t able to access the refund system it had to be the general manager. The UEat person emailed the general manager filling them in and the store manager said they would reach out to the GM and everything would be refunded the next day. Great made some progress. This is all documented with a case number through UEat.

Fast forward to the next day and I get a phone call from someone with Ches’s, either the GM or the Owner not 100% sure which. Initially the person was pleasant saying they heard we had an issue with our order last night, was sorry we were unhappy and was calling to get more details. I ran her through everything detailed above, soggy fish, unhelpful manager, etc. This person then went into great detail about their packaging process and how it was impossible for the fish to have been packaged under the poutine unless it got shaken up or turned upside down (note above I carried it home the exact way it was handed to me) and again stated it was on me to request separate packing. I then asked for my money back as was promised the night before. She refused saying that they don’t do that but now offered to replace the food (which is what we originally wanted last night when we were hungry, not 16 hours later when we are about to head to the airport and fly home across the country). I explained this and was told this was the first she had heard that we had originally only wanted replacement food (store manager clearly lied to the GM/owner) and that she was sorry I couldn’t accept the offer now. She then said that they would keep my number and name on file and next time I am in St. John’s I can get my food (lol ok, I live 5500km away). She ended up getting upset saying I was being unreasonable and hung up on me. I ended up getting my money back through Visa (props to the dispute department) and...

Something is happening here in this restaurant, I have no idea what. Onion rings arrived cold, had to be sent back, were obviously just thrown back into the frier and then re-served. Meal of fish and chips were extremely DARK and unusually oily, meaning undoubtedly: the oil was old and/or the meal was overcooked. Both of us agreed that it was both, and that absolutely the oil had not been changed for awhile, accounting for the darkness of the products. While the taste of the fish was not rancid, it was far from fresh. As well, the fish itself had been advertised as fresh, which it certainly WASN‘T. It was definitely cooked from frozen. They forgot our dressing and gravy with the order, and even though we were one of only two parties in the restaurant, we were required to prove that we had ordered the extra items by showing them our receipt. We were then asked whether or not we had „really“ received no dressing and gravy after all. We then had to show them our food to prove we were gravy-less and dressing-less. I have frequented this restaurant for years, but this is the fourth time we have felt the food was just NOT FRESH. Human mistakes happen all the time, that’s in general not a problem for me, but after so long one wonders if it might be a management problem. We spent over 70 dollars on that simple meal, so for that amount of money one should receive good, fresh food. I have visited the location on Torbay Road and all was okay there. This one location must be struggling. I have no other...

During my trip, my friends & my followers told me that I have to go to Che's to try its famous fish n chips and I must order the dressing. When I first heard it, I was like "What? How does salad dressing works well with fish n chips?". Apparently, when I asked the friendly server, she told me dressing is somewhat like a stuffing with herbs and grains of onions. She recommended me to order fish n chips with dress plus gravy. Although she told me everyone has a different way to eat the fish n chips but she recommends me to pour the dressing on the fries and then pour the gravy on top of it, it was definitely a great suggestion. The server was amazing, super friendly and helpful. I was hoping to try the cod tongues, a delicacy here in Newfoundland, however, it's not in season in winter so it wasn't available. I guess I will have to come another time. The batter of the fish is light but crispy, fish is fresh, when they don't specify the fish, it's mostly a cod fish. I ordered a bottle of Iceberg beer made by Quidi Vidi Brewery and it was LIT! So smooth and so good! I highly recommend you to try Ches's...