Russell's Fish & Chips — Restaurant in Wychavon

I almost never write bad reviews as I have empathy for small business owners struggling in this economy, but the experience here was just so terrible that I felt compelled to write one.

From the moment we entered the restaurant the unfriendly, almost passive-aggressive nature of the staff was noticeable. Not a single smile in the room.

At this point we would have regretted coming if not for the fact that we had eaten here about 4 years before and the food had been fantastic. However, when the food arrived, we quickly realised this was no longer the case.

The fish and chips quite frankly looked like a reheated ASDA ready-meal, and the chicken bites were tiny, oily and repulsive. The sort of thing you see on 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'.

The peas that used to come as standard had now become an over-priced add on, taking a plate to 20 quid.

It's rare that I don't finish a bowl of chips but I simply couldn't in this case. The whole thing made me feel sick. In our group of 3 not one of us enjoyed or finished the meal.

I see other reviews have said the restaurant changed hands just a few months ago, and I can only conclude the new owners either have no experience in running a respectable eatery, or any interest in doing so.

The toilet was also extremely dirty even though they had only opened 5 minutes before.

The price was unbelievable. Three dishes of, essentially, fast food, with no drinks, came to 50 pounds.

I had a look at other reviews and I see a lot of people are feeling the same way. From the TripAdvisor responses from the manager, I see they have no desire to change and would prefer to respond with passive-aggressive and strange comments. Take a look for yourself if you're curious.

It's a restaurant that deserves to go out of business which is really sad as it used to be wonderful.

This is the harshest review I've ever written and I feel bad doing it, but hopefully it will prevent someone from coming here and having the same experience we did.

Worst meal I've...

Visited Russell’s fish & chips bar as we had a dog. The weather wasn’t great and we decided to sit outside on one of the 6 empty tables. After ordering two takeaway portions of fish & chips and battered Sausage (if you can call it that) & chips, we decided to sit down and eat our £25.50 meal, which is quite expensive in comparison to other Cotswold fish & chips shops. At no point does it say on the window dogs are welcome or there is an extra charge for sitting outside, eating from a box. After a few minutes we were told we couldn’t sit there because apparently eating outside is classed as eating in. When my partner went into the shop, the rude lady behind the counter was really unhelpful and when challenged on why weren’t able to sit on the tables, we were then told about the extra fee and that dogs were welcome inside. she seemed to shrug us off. Had we known about the difference in pricing and that dogs were in fact allowed in the restaurant, we would have paid the additional fee. The battered sausage was awful, probably the worst I have had after eating in so many fish & chips shops in the uk. As a result of ourselves sitting outside, it would only attract more customers, so this policy really is confusing and at no point communicated until you are sat with your food.

I would recommend eating elsewhere - for a more...

This is one of the best hotels we have ever stayed in.|OK, technically it is a restaurant with rooms, but who’s quibbling?||We were extremely lucky to have chosen their feature king size room.|It is extremely spacious with a very comfy Super king bed, separate seating area and a large bathroom with a walk in shower and freestanding bath. ||The “smart” TV wouldn’t win Mastermind, but we did manage to get iPlayer, which is a lot better than in most hotels.||Oh, the room also has an excellent air conditioning system over which you have full control, this really proved its worth with temperatures getting into the high 20’s during our stay. ||Breakfast was of very good quality with excellent ingredients, a decent choice and portion sizes.||All rooms have access to a small lounge area with honesty bar and fridge with real milk!||All the staff were very friendly and helpful.||We ate in the restaurant one night and I will do a separate review of this.||Parking is available behind Russells and is shared with the Co-Op, but we had no difficulty ever finding a space.||Would we go back? Definitely - in fact we are already roughing out our next Cotswolds adventure. Batsford Arboretum and Cotswolds Falconry...