Papa's Fish & Chips — Restaurant in England

From the cheerful greeting when I arrived right up until I left, everything about my first visit to Papa’s was pretty much 10/10. The restaurant itself is spacious, nicely cool, immaculately clean and when I arrived at 1730 on Saturday was not too busy, in fact I had a choice of tables. The toilets are also spotless and obviously regularly cleaned. Table service was impressively polite, professional and efficient. Sophie looked after me so well that I was surprised to learn that she was new to the hospitality business. This demonstrates a successful blend of natural skill, good temperament and the excellent training which was apparent in all the staff I encountered. Now to the crunch, the food: I am quite a big chap with an extremely big appetite and when I arrived at Papa’s I was so hungry that I contemplated starter, main and dessert but after a chat with Sophie I decided on the Giant Haddock and a pot of tea. My tea and bread and butter was served very promptly by a polite and cheery young man soon followed by my haddock which was indeed “Giant” and looked and smelled fantastic! Perfect crispy batter, beautifully cooked, fresh tasting fish accompanied by delicious chips and mushy peas. Not greasy in the slightest and I must say that after many years of enjoying fish n chips all over the country I would definitely award Papa’s a 10/10! Even the pot of tea was good so I ordered another to wash down the last of my meal . Even with my appetite I could not squeeze in a dessert but was tempted by the menu. I was also impressed by the menu options for my vegan and vegetarian pals and family members so will be returning with them very soon. Thanks Sophie and the young fella who served me, thanks to the chef and thanks to Papa’s keep up the standard...

I wouldn’t normally be so harsh but I’m very disappointed in the service I received. I ordered gluten free fish and chips. My order came to £19.35. When I travelled to the takeaway, I was told that they were not doing gluten free and had tried to contact me, but apparently couldn’t get in touch. They said I would need to provide them with card details for a refund. I did. But I didn’t receive any refund for this. A week later, I rang and was told they couldn’t process the refund because the manager wasn’t in. I rang again the next day and someone wrote down my card details, but I still didn’t get a refund. I rang again, and once more, my card details were taken but no refund came through. I then used the contact form on the website to get in touch, but got absolutely nothing from that. Now, three months after my original order, I still have no refund, no apology and no contact. I must say that I have previously enjoyed the food and had never had an issue. But this problem has really ruined Papas for me and it’s such a shame. In order to try and get my money back, I’ve had no choice but to contact my bank and class it as “fraud.” It’s a shame they didn’t just make an instant refund like a normal professional company would. I can’t order again for fear of them stealing my money once more. Sad to say, unless they message and resolve this, they’ve lost a customer.

I’m happy to change my rating once they get in touch and give me my money back, but I doubt that will...

Thurs 27th March 2025. My friend and I arrived at a less than half full restaurant and were left waiting for more than 10 mins for someone to come over to us and take us to a table. We were eventually rushed over to the raised area and we were seated at a table facing the main road by our server who never looked at us or even smiled. Our order was taken by a different server who again neither acknowledged us nor smiled, so, so far not impressed with the service. We ordered the medium haddock and chips with a slice of bread and one of us had mushy peas. When the food arrived the fish was on the small side and there were a bout 5-6 decent size chips with the rest being small and very scrappy. Again our server was less than enthusiastic and again no smile serving our food, although he did ask if we needed anything else, we asked for tomato sauce which failed to arrive. I like to have a good shake of salt & vinegar on my fish and chips but I could not taste the vinegar and would not like to say it was watered down? The bill came to just over £30 which I rounded off to £35, as bad as the service was I always like to leave a tip. But again when we went over to the small bar area no one was in a rush to come over to take our money so we just left it on the bar and left. We won't be going back to Papas and I've had better fish and chips at a motorway service station, instead I'll visit my local fish and chip shop for better service and quality and pay...