Frydays Traditional British Fish & Chips — Restaurant in East Devon

ABYSMAL, I have used Frydays countless times over the years and spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds in there as we are local but this week has to be the most shocking experience I have possibly had. We went in for a little portion of chips whilst on a dog walk, I ordered 2 small chips and a battered sausage and was roughly £11-£12 I want to say which is expensive but from previous experience worth it we usually down 40-50 per time we go so this wasn’t to bad, one of my portions was in a bag and literally less then 20 chips which was less then quarter of the bag , the second was in a box with the sausage and again less then 20 chips ( it wouldn’t have filled the old school cone of chips , it was that small I mentioned it to the man at the counter and I was told that’s a small portion, I asked for the manager as I couldn’t believe anyone could agree that was worth anything more then £1 and was pointed towards the back of the restaurant to a guy in a chef jacket , I said I just purchased this and it isn’t acceptable for like £3 a portion it’s smaller then a kids portion and his reply was yes it is a kids portion. ( the menu does not state it’s a kids portion neither does the price reflect that ) a 5 year old would have finished them in and still been hungry, I then got offered more chips as apparently it was only a few potatoes so it doesn’t matter which was clearly a sarky comment by the manager / supervisor and I made the point that you’re selling 15 -20 chips for £3 that is daylight robbery it’s the principle more then anything , by the time I got to the beachfront less then 30 seconds away the vinegar had soaked through the bag or the steam and they was falling out and the box was so empty when it was opened the sausage rolled out onto the floor ( not their fault ) my partner went back to complain again about the bag and was greeted with a filthy attitude by the so called manager who gave the the sarky comments earlier who refunded her chips after a debate in front of customers, he refused to refund the sausage and chips which was binned but fell so not all there fault. It’s more principle then anything if you’re charging £3 for JUST A POTATO then at least give a standard small portion and when someone decides to bring the abysmal portion size to you’re attention don’t then turn around and say it’s a child portion as that isn’t advertised. Literally just felt like it’s turned into a tourist trap with the hideous prices and portion sizes. Out of principle I would never ever return again due to the managers sarky comments inflated prices and terrible food there selling for these prices. take you’re money else where like the hut on the beach , real portion sizes for what you pay with a lovely man who serves you like he...

2024 update:

After abstaining from going in here for some time now, partially because of my previous & also because of the owners consistent retaliation to any form of negative feedback (which is both unprofessional & unnecessary?) thought only fare to update, I do always try to be objective & impartial in my reviews.

Really pleasantly surprised & happy to report that it's back up there where it was in my opinion...... Staff were happy, professional & attentive. Place was clean & tidy & more importantly the food was really good old fish & chips?! No complaints at all & I would consider now worth the money & we'll worth a visit if your in the area. Really glad to say this as was (as below) sad that it had gone downhill. So pleased to have it back on the list of places to visit when in the area well done to everyone there. Must just say it was pretty quiet when we were there so, hope they all maintain the standard all the time & keep it where it should & needs to be.

Been here lots over the years. This week was our 1st return post COVID etc

Food is pretty good, not the best we've had & has gone up circa 50% I'd say? I really do get that with the state of the world currently.

However, if you're going to charge top wack (we are talking higher end chain prices here now) you do need to back it up with slightly better food & certainly better service? - lots of orders were getting messed up, including ours which does happen, but they weren't that massively busy & please don't lie to cover up the error; then the bill shows the error & the cover up!.... Been around to long to not know when I'm being fed a line?! Just be honest no one will overly mind.

In my opinion the place was lacking direction from the younger staff. They needed managing & a bit of direction & leadership? Would make a pretty good fish & chip restaurant to the excellent one it was many years ago & bring...

SENIOR FISH N CHIPS £10.75 - no it’s £14.50!!

We enjoyed our senior fish n chips with great service. Outside the restaurant is an eye catching board stating Senior Fish n Chips £10.75 which was what brought us in and sit down. The very nice server asked if we wanted Hake or Cod for our meal and we both chose Cod having not looked at the menu as we knew what we wanted from the board outside. It wasn’t until we paid that we found that Cod was £14.50 for a Senior meal and not £10.75. This was not pointed out to us at the time of ordering. We felt the board outside was rather misleading and was placed there in order to lure you in. When we queried the price the server politely explained that it was the Hake that was £10.75 and was listed on the menu under the name as ‘Market Fish’. Why disguise the name? The eye catching board outside states different! We left having already paid, but after what we thought was a lovely meal, this left a rather bad taste with us and we will not be returning. It’s a shame that the management have chosen to ‘bamboozle’ us with misleading information. Next time we are going to the Fish n Chip restaurant in Sidmouth instead where we know what we are getting, and you get cod, chips, mushy peas, bread and butter and a cup of tea for £10.

It is a nice restaurant inside, but I feel the management didn’t really think things...