Finnigans — Restaurant in London

Let me start by saying I am a fish and chips snob. I grew up in a small coastal town in Scotland where the fish you got in a supper was very likely landed that same morning. It was caught, cleaned, filleted and fried within about six hours; so fresh it is hard to get it wrong. My benchmark for fish and chips includes (amongst others) the Anstruther Fish Bar, East Coast in Musselburgh and Alanda’s. All three are consistently rated top of the tree across the UK for chippies, and these are my default. I am, and I admit it freely, an arse when it comes to fish and chips. I try chippies wherever I am, from the revered beachfront huts in Tynemouth down to back-street outlets in Eastbourne (and a few late night venues in Glasgow - that’s not for discussion today). I have been known to prattle on about how it is impossible to get good fish at any non-coastal location, since freshness equals quality. Finnegans in Sutton has shut me right up. It was cooked to order, so I had to wait about eight minutes. I wandered back to my hotel with low expectations. This is a high street chippy in a very down at heel location. Sutton is lovely; Sutton High Street is a bit rough and ready. But the food was brilliant. Hot and crispy fish with no greasiness, delightful well-cooked chips, and plenty of both. My feedback is simple: don’t worry about adding the lemon. Lemon and vinegar are traditionally added to counteract the grease associated with deep-fried food. Yours is so well cooked that the addition of acidic condiments is simply not necessary. Second, and a very personal request, please investigate adding chip-shop sauce to your repertoire. In and around Edinburgh, we don’t do salt and vinegar, we do salt and sauce. A good chippy sauce is enough to elevate mediocre food to a higher plane. Add it to your menu and I’ll get your logo tattooed on my chest. If you want a good example, the sauce at the Anstruther Fish Bar is as good as any I have tried. And they sell it by the bottle… I will definitely be back, whether you add sauce or not. Ps. The only reason I can’t give high marks for atmosphere is that I couldn’t take my order and go sit on the harbour to watch seals and dolphins...

So I’ll start with this, my Nan & I didn’t even eat in here. We’ve never tried their food because of a few reasons. We planned to eat in here after we did some shopping, we arrived & the shop smell that filled the air was an old oil smell like it hasn’t been changed for a long time. It was terrible and I didn’t enjoy breathing it in. We sat down and ordered, and we were told it’s 10% charge more on the price to just sit down in there to eat our food. We wasn’t impressed with the prices for a start. My Nan made a point of the 10% charge being unnecessary so the waitress walked off, after being told by my Nan that we’ll give their food a try regardless of their extortionate prices and pointless dine in charge. We sat there waiting for more than 10 minutes, waitress returned to us asking if we wanted our food or not, They hadn’t even begun cooking our food despite being given the go ahead. They told us it would be a long wait so we just decided to get up and leave. The place was empty, there were only 2 customers sitting together and on my way out I had a glance at their place and the food looked less than average for the price. The menu prices aren’t clear, things that come with chips aren’t stated or made clear in the menu. The place had an awful smell and quite frankly we are glad that we didn’t waste a single penny in this place. The atmosphere was bad, the music in the background was bad. We were just annoyed the minute we sat down. I couldn’t believe the prices of these dishes considering I’ve seen cheaper fish & chips with better quality and better taste/smell in more run down shops without the fancy music and fancy vinegar pots. Don’t waste your time or money in here, how this place even reached 5 stars from ANY customer...

Firstly I've got to say this is all an issue of price for me I only bought 2 large portions of chips and although they weren't fantastic, they were ok. I weighed the chips on my digital scales and got just over 500g in each portion. This is about 50% less than what I usually get from my local chippie in Essex Now for what upset me. £11.20 for 2 undersized large portions of chips. I know we have experienced massive food inflation but my local only charge £4.50 and give me 50% more product. I think at these prices this place is ripping off their customers. I can get a 25kg sack of potatoes for £16 from my local farm shop so I'm not sure how they can justify charging £11.20 for 1kg of chips I've just moved to Sutton and this place is already on my...