Fisherman's Bay — Restaurant in North Tyneside

This is a lovely fish and chip shop, many are too greasy for me, and serve half raw chips when the queue is too big, but not this one.... They are as popular as you expect a really good fish and chip shop across the road from the beach on sunny days. The queue goes out of the door, but the young ladies behind the counter stay smiling and work hard. Behind the friers, they seem equally unflappable and the quality doesn't suffer. If you want to sit in, you need to book. We didn't, so I can only say how nice the restaurant dining area looked through the window, I didn't go in. The prices were very reasonable, and they had a great range of meals to suit everyone, from a challenging budget to someone wanting to splash out and try something a bit different. Portion sizes are huge, so think twice before ordering large portions... I have a big appetite, but I found a small fish and chips and peas to be plenty. Take aways are served in boxes, which I always think makes them so much nicer to eat from. We sat on a bench down the ramp across the road to the lower level prom, there was one seagull paying interest but he kept enough distance not to be a nuisance and the view was lovely.... there are a few tables at the top of the ramp and they look a lovely place to eat your takeaway if you're lucky enough to find a free one, much nicer than the tables directly in front of the shop with no sea view...

Such a shame that the service was poor as the food was actually incredibly good. Waited for well over 40 minutes where everyone else prior to our arrival and after had been served. It became apparent the young women behind the counter were worrying talking about us still waiting and my husband politely asked if it was going to be much longer. The young women behind the counter answered and that was all fine until the older women felt the need to jump in and was frankly rude. She defensively spoke about how busy it was as if we hadn't been sat there observing that for 45 minutes, and then claimed we had only been waiting 5 minutes past the estimated time - an estimated time that while we had been waiting had increased THREE times!! We had even been sent a email 25 minutes prior to receiving our food asking how it was and to leave a review... This entire interaction was unnecessary and unprofessional. Adding in for us to get some drinks out of the fridge (when we had already bought and paid for drinks) does nothing to compensate for such a long wait with zero acknowledgment, apology and rude service. Despite the food being excellent our meals were effectively ruined by the experience, which looking at the lowest rated reviews is far from...

30 mins late for a collection order. Admittedly "approx" collection time but was told 2 orders were in front of ours and I counted 6 who were served before us (in between trying to keep a hungry 4 year old entertained), including 2 who definitely came in after us to collect.

Crucially, no apology for being late. Maybe need to teach front of house staff some basics of customer service (you are stood there listening to staff talking about your order, might be an idea to talk to the customer). Also missed part of the order (another basic service error) & didn't have flavour of fruit shoot ordered available (despite having plenty of stock of other 3 flavours out).

When food finally arrived will say it was very good. Despite chips being hit and miss (some great, some average). Scampi was tasty (despite missing tartar sauce) and plenty of it. Haddock was very good quality and great flavour. Kids sausage was described as "hot, scrumptious and tasty". Kids nuggets described as "delicious".

Overall, food was really good and you can generally rely on quality of product. Customer service lacking. You may struggle to get parked immediately outside if you go in...