Aquarius Ruislip — Restaurant in London

DON'T ORDER ONLINE FOR COLLECTION.

We ordered online from the Aquarius website (not Just Eat or Deliveroo) for collection to save some time as it was Saturday evening. It wasn't busy when I arrived, but I still probably had to wait for about 5 minutes or so, which wasn't a big problem.

While I was waiting though, somebody came in & asked for a Chicken & Mushroom pie. No too unusual, and they happily got their pie. Chicken & Mushroom happens to be my favourite & something I would definitely have ordered, but the only pie available to order online was Steak & Kidney, which I don't like, so I got a battered sausage instead (it was OK, nothing to write home about).

In my disappointment, I looked at the rest of the menu to see what else they had that wasn't available to order online. Before I could find anything, I noticed something worse - the prices in the shop & online are completely different. For example, two of the things we ordered were scampi and medium chips. These are £7.50 and £3.80 respectively in the shop, but £8.20 and £4.20 when ordering online.

I'm used to Deliveroo & Just Eat charging different prices & adding service charge (and I never use these for that reason), but I ordered direct from Aquarius OWN website & went to collect the food myself! There is no justification for charging more.

I asked why the prices were different & was fobbed off with something about "they charge more for processing" (whoever "they" are?), or something like that. They already charge a 'service fee' of 50p for ordering online, as well as a 'bag fee', but there is absolutely no mention that the prices are higher or the full menu is not available online.

Food was OK, no better or worse than any other chippy. Only went here as our local one closed & this is the next nearest, but will be going...

My fanciful connoisseur review, scored out of 5 on an evening visit.

Atmosphere was clean, well lit and welcoming. 5/5

Ordered regular chips, battered sausage and savaloy. Price was very fair and no skimping on portion size. 5/5

Chips had pleasing mild buttery flavour and were moist but did not taste soggy or soaked in fat. Not over cooked or undercooked, just right. Cut to good size. Well salted but slightly lacking vinegar. 5/5

Battered sausage was jumbo sized. Thick batter was not crispy but slightly soggy. Meat flavour was not underwhelming but would benefit from pepper seasoning, batter had mild but good flavour. Would have preferred more crisp to the batter but would happily order it again. 4/5

Savaloy was a good sharing size. Flavour was lacking unfortunately and seemed faint. Skin did not have that characteristic crack when biting into. Texture of meat similar to a frankfurter. This being said my wife hates chip shop savaloy but was happy with the mild flavouring and softer skin so this may be personal preference. 3/5

Other notes;

Parking is hit and miss, during the day Victoria Rd is notoriously full of traffic, in the evening you might get lucky straight outside or a local side road.

Customers were of good stock and friendly to staff.

Would recommend this take away and will be visiting again...

I decided to try this place again after many years of not being around the way. I also waited for a few visits before I made a review. The Chips are just average and have been well over cooked, both times being way too dark. The saveloy is a family favourite so has been tried both times too, only for the same result. The saveloys were split, edible but no pride in the food. The service is a very strange one. Whether you telephone your order in advance (once ordered approximately 20-25 minutes before) or walk straight in and order. You a left waiting for the order to be cooked and prepared. Upon paying I have waited over 10 minutes for two portions of chips and three saveloys both times. This is a long time for such a small order. Being served by the same member of staff was helpful. It gave me a chance to analyse behaviours towards other customers that was there and how I treated. On both occasions I noticed good customer service and empathy with some customers. Whilst this lacked the basic manners of please and thank you at times. It showed that staff picked and chose to treat different customers differently. Awful customer service. No manners and dropped the food on the counter like it was rubbish. Very unlikely that I will be using this place anytime soon. Much better places to get my fish...