Lakeside Fish & Chips — Restaurant in England

Awful awful awful service. We booked a table of 6 for 7.30pm on a Thursday night. Upon arrival at about 7.35, we waited to be seated, during this time there was a slight disagreement between a waiting staff & kitchen staff in front of us. I don't actually think they had reserved a table for us due to us being seated on a table that wasn't set up, no cutlery, napkins & side plate. So once seated we were left for around 15 mins by the waiting staff, finally someone comes to take our order they start of by saying what would you like to eat, no drinks had been ordered yet, so I said can we order drinks first, then food. The waiting staff didn't seem fussed at anything they were very blunt, didn't smile once, just awful. So drinks arrive around 2 mins before the food, the Pepsi costs £2.25 from a can. Once the food arrives my girlfriends tarter sauce arrived with a hair in it, so she asked for another pot, no apology given. The cod & chips with curry sauce was tasty hence my star. My girlfriend had fish cakes she managed to get through half of her meal before having to get up her self to ask for another tarter sauce due to the hair, don't think they were going to bring a new one unless she chased it. Not once did they come over to offer my drinks or see how the meal was, they all just walked around very grumpy, the 3 ladies in black dresses I'm assuming are senior staff were so miserable. They were going round with bread rolls to tables, we were eventually offered a bread roll after 4 of the 6 had dinished by then no one was wanting one. Again the lady in black dress didn't seem to care and just walked away. We saw the chef use the tongs for the bread rolls to move something from one plate to another then put them back in with the bread rolls, it was not a bread roll he was moving. So once we had finished we quickly paid the bill and left. We raised our concerns to the staff but they didn't seem to care and just said 'oh sorry'. The whole experience was awful, we felt so uncomfortable we didn't even wait to bring out my sister's cake, as they were so miserable. When we asked for the cake they had to wipe of sauces from the box as they just put it my the sauce station.

Lastly as we were leaving my Dad saw the chef remove something from a cooked piece of fish and just flick it away, they caught eye contact and he smiled and laughed as in to say I shouldn't of done that/that shouldn't of been there.

All in all food tasted okay, but service well there wasn't any service it...

Lucky I've given 2 stars as I think 1 star was appropriate but the waiter at least was pleasant. My mum wanted to have lunch at Lakeside as she hasn't been there for a while so we took her there for her 89th birthday. I have been here numerous times for business lunches but not for a little while. As soon as we walked in I felt something was different in the restaurant. Firstly the drinks order wasn't asked for whilst we chose our food, this was normally done. We ordered them with our meal order. Within a few minutes mine and my mums food arrived. I would say the fish had been sitting in the warmer for quite a while and not cooked fresh. When you are paying £15.95 for fish and chips you expect to get freshly cooked food. And as for the weight some fish inside the batter would have been good! My husband ordered fish cakes. Five minutes after our food arrived my husband was still waiting for his. He had to go to the bar to get attention but when he asked where his order was the lady didn't apologise, went to get it and when she brought it over, without an apology, my husband commented that he could see the plate was sat in the warmer but no one had brought it over. We were shocked at the response from who we presumed to be the restaurant manager. Extremely rude and not once did she apologise for his meal not coming out with ours, just that it takes longer to do fish cakes........ Maybe if the other 2 meals had been cooked freshly they would have all come out together! If I hadn't had my elderly mum with me I would have spoken out but I had to assist her out of the restaurant and my husband paid. This morning I have seen the receipt. If I had seen they automatically take a 10% service charge I would have insisted it be removed. Neither the service or the quality of food deserved a service charge. I will now be telling my work colleagues not to go here again or to take our visiting directors who have enjoyed eating here in the past. Gone way down hill. We are locals not visitors and we will be passing our disappointment on to all our...

This review was written in July 2022. Scroll down for an update. With so many 5-star reviews, I felt I had to visit this place whilst I was staying in Poole. I have to say that I was rather disappointed. As I just wanted a quick bite to eat, I chose the all-day deal. The house white wine was excellent, but the fish and chips were fairly ordinary and the batter on the cod could have been crisper. The fish did not have the "freshly caught" taste and texture, that you sometimes get at seaside resorts. The coleslaw was fine. I was persuaded to have a dessert: three scoops of excellent ice cream, served in a sundae glass rather than a bowl, as stated on the menu. The only problem with this was that I received a lot of pistachio on the top, followed by an average size scoop of chocolate orange, and only a small amount of vanilla on the bottom. The waiting staff were pleasant, but service was rather slow. Finally, I was brought white coffee when I had ordered black. I didn't really want to wait for another cup to be made, and the coffee wasn't great anyway. The best thing about the restaurant was its lakeside location and the fact that the tables were spaced out. It cost me at least as much as it would cost for a similar meal in London, but the location probably justified this price. I may return to try some other menu items, like sea bream, my favourite fish, or the catch of the day, which was hake.

Updated I revisited in April 2023. The staff had changed and the service was a lot better. The only problem was that I had to ask for the wine, as it did not arrive with the fish. The wine was not as good as last time but very acceptable. The batter was crisp, but the chips were still indifferent. I was thanked by four members of staff as I left the restaurant. This time, I felt that the meal was better value: possibly because of the cost of living crisis the prices seemed lower in real terms. My only disppointment was that there was no "catch of the day" on the menu....