The fish box — Restaurant in North Island

Holiday here in Taupo, heard this was a very good fish and chip shop so we sampled a lot off the menu. We got the fish of the day plus snapper those were amazing, meat pattie has the bestest batter I have tasted it was thin and crispy the consistency was perfect I’ve never experienced this before. Potato fritters had the same lovely thin crispy batter that was heaven In your mouth. The kids had the two small hotdog and two chicken nuggets and chips and drink box which was $10 each a huge bargain and kids loved this. Crabstick was lovely, squid rings were good, chips were lovely and crispy and were the best chips we have had in awhile donuts were great as was the banana fritter. With friendly staff, good pricing and also fast at making the order we were very pleased in this order. We brought a lot and spent $122 with some food still to eat hahaha 😝 Too good lol. Bonus is you can order and pay online and then go in which we will do next time but we went in and ordered, either way can be ordered by internet or in the shop. 10/10 for fresh food best fish and chip shop in Taupo. Oh right sorry I didn’t take pictures I ate my food. We most likely will order again before we leave and I’ll take photos then and do another review. Thanks again, also it was 5 minutes from where we are staying so super close...

Ordered online. Everything went according to plan. Food was nice. Overdone beer battered chips meant they were wonderfully crispy, the salt and pepper squid was tasty but perhaps a little soggy, the brie was great and the potato fritters were amazing! The only let down really was the fish. We ordered Terakihi, and what we got was very definitely not what was ordered. Very much more like Hoki in flavour and texture. Pretty disappointing.

EDIT TO ADD: Called in as requested as per the reply from The Fish Box. The person behind the counter (owner?) got very heated very quickly. He didn't listen to what I was saying, talked over the top of me and yelled at me, told I was wrong and that they don't serve Hoki. When I asked what the fish was, if not Hoki, the owner couldn't answer me. The "fix you up" offered was more fish, which, after the last meal, I wasn't too willing to accept. It might have just been a bad day or a busy day for them, but that's no excuse to treat customers who were being very polite with such disrespect! I won't be returning.

I suggest purchasers check their order and do a taste test perhaps before...

We called in for a lunch offering to eat on the lake shore nearby.

The menu is extensive with lots of choice.

The staff member we engaged with when ordering was quite off handed. Our order was of little importance to him, and we clearly weren't encouraged to return by any enthusiasm on his partt. All he wanted was the order and the money.

Our order was presented with the chips in one boxed container and our fish in another.

On opening, it was clear that both had been removed quickly from the oil and placed into the boxes far too quickly. Both the fish and the chips were very oily. Quite underwhelming and honestly we got a disappointing offering that didn't taste great. Especially for the price.

I suspect this in not normal by the accounts of others in this forum, but you need to know that in this particular case we got a quick deal from a disinterested member of staff who simply let the side down on so many fronts. You guys have much to improve and I invite you to do much better. Unfortunately my summary of this experience in one word is...