Buoys Plaice Restaurant & Takeaway — Restaurant in Fareham

My review is based on the ‘customer experience’ I received this evening. I have visited Buoys Plaice once before and was really pleased, so hopefully this is a one off.

Ordered click and collect, picked up my order and when I got home sadly the large cod was terrible. Dry, chewy, way overdone and possibly left out too long getting dry and, honestly, really not edible.it went in the bin. It looked visually as it tasted and really should not have been sold to a paying customer.

I wouldn’t usually call but on this occasion I genuinely wanted to provide feedback as this should not have been served to a customer - I hope it was isolated but wondered whether they need to check the other cuts in the heater etc. The guy I spoke to handled the call well, apologised and offered to put a credit through the till & pass this feedback to the boss. I will add that I didn’t once ask for a refund and even said as much at the beginning of the call. I wanted to provide feedback in case they needed to check other bits of fish. Even still, this was a nice offer so I thanked him.

I received a call around 10 minutes later from another person who I felt was immediately accusing me of something and started by saying “you know you wanted a refund”. I was clear in that I didn’t ask for any sort of compensation but was offered a refund by the first person I spoke to. She continued to tell me that they only way I was going to get a refund was by sending them a photo as proof. Once again, I told her that I had not asked for one, this had been offered by her colleague and that I wasn’t going to take a photo of a piece of fish that was now sat in my rubbish bin. The call was then ended, clearly with nothing else to say, no apology etc.

The rest of the meal was fine. My daughter had a kids cod, which was cooked well.

I’m sure this was an isolated experience, but sadly I was just saddened by the way this...

So disappointed. Have been coming here for years. But the standard just keeps going down and down.

Chip bap was a cheap bun with 5 chips in it. Rip off.

Asked for salt and vinegar on chips. Nothing on them. Tasted bland.

Also, the family size chips have been removed for some time, which gives me the impression they are trying to squeeze as much money from us as possible. I understand business is business, but no excuse for ripping off customers with such small portions and bad quality.

Unfortunately, this is the last time me and my family will be using Buoys again.

**UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO OWNER.

I remember buying family size chips a few times at Buoys. I even asked the girl behind the counter how many scoops of chips is that. The answer was 3 and a half.

I am telling you - the brioche bun my daughter was served was flimsy and felt cheap. A fresh crusty roll would be a better option.

You have avoided the fact it only came with 5 chips at 3.50p. This is robbery. Looking at some of your other reviews this has come up before, but again, you take no responsibility or care enough to rectify the issue.

You also avoid answering to the fact our chips had no salt and vinegar and tasted bland, despite the fact the ticket stated we asked for salt and vinegar on it.

What has happened to this place? Not only is the food smaller and tasteless but the management has no customer...

Ordered food, than was aked whether I eat in or out and when I said we eat in, I had to pay something around 50% more. I was not happy, as there is no information about it on the price list. There is no information anywhere that tables are considered "restaurant" and you have to order items from separate menu. I felt tricked, not the best customer experience. Food was OK.

Edit regarding response: The only signs with information are those saying that it is not allowed to eat food brought from outside. Which doesn't make it feel like a restaurant (have you ever seen such a sign in actual restaurant?). Also the menu on the wall where you serve has no information that the prices are only for take away. When you ask people whether they want to eat in or out you also don't inform that the prices are different. When I asked where that information is available I was served the menu with higher prices. Yes, the menus are on tables, but comparing menu to price list on the wall is not the first thing you do when you enter a fish&chips shop. It was unclear for me and the price difference was substantial, hence my annoyance. For which I apologised in the end, as your policy is not your...