Anstruther Fish Bar in Fife

Always busy, an hours wait for a chippy!

With the trip from Tillycoultry. Great fish and chips, loads for the money. Well worth the visit. Lovely by the sea.

Seriously over priced and over rated , fish was tasteless and greasy , waited over 30mins for pure disappointment

After waiting for one hour we eventually got a table You would believe with the long wait that the fish would be exceptional!! Staff are disorganised but most importantly the fish is terrible as it is merely a small piece of fish in a crumbly and terrible texture batter with dry haddock somewhere underneath all that batter. This fish and chip shop is still being publicised in its glory days of 2007 when it was publicised by its royal visits Owner needs to look seriously at the quality as there are other fish bars in Anstruther which is better

Overhyped and expensive. Before coming to Anstruther we received multiple tips to go and check out the Anstruther Fish Bar, the "best" Fish bar in Schotland. I'm so sorry, but this is - in my humble opinion - not the case. We didn't have to make a reservation, first come, first serve is their way of working. Which is fine by me but you do have to stand in line (30-45min in our case). We ordered fish and chips, but the fish (haddock) and the chips where both overcooked (or fried). When you exit the restaurant you walk through the ice cream shop (clever marketing). When we received the bill my jaw just dropped and I knew I totally fell for a really big tourist trap.. Please find a better place to dine when visiting Anstruther, there are so many more options with a much better price. So it's a no for me..

We were staying in Fife and had heard about this "famous" fish and chip shop. We decided to go to Anstruther and get takeaway fish and chips for our tea (we had our dog with us). We joined a fairly short queue (took about 20 mins), and they cooked our fish to order. We were really looking forward to eating these. However, we were extremely disappointed/disillusioned with the offering. The chips were OK, but the fish was terrible. It was nearly all very greasy batter with a small thin fish fillet inside. It certainly did not warrant the price tag of £11.20. It would have cost £15.20 to eat inside from a cardboard box! It would appear this establishment is a "tourist trap" and trading on previous good reviews. If you are tempted to go here...think twice!!

Lovely fresh fish and chips, service good. Very busy restaurant with dine in tables or takeaway available.

I was really disappointed with the fish the staff was very good but the fish no taste at all was a lot of oil still on the fish

Great fish and chips. There was a long queue for a takeaway but we waited 5 minutes and got a table with a sea view.

Driving through Fife we decided to stop in Anstruther for fish and chips. This restaurant has a reputation for being one of the best fish and chip shops in Scotland. I ordered two portions of haddock and chips to take away. The fish was cooked fresh and the two portions were large, delicious, and served hot. The batter was crisp and it was a great experience.

Long wait for food - Felt rushed after being served. Service was average at best

We ordered a takeaway and encountered quite a long queue. The fish was a bit dry, although a generous portion of chips was provided. It was just standard fish and chips, and probably not worth the long wait.

Fabulous. Been twice this week and the the best fish supper I’ve eaten. My wife isn’t a fan of eating out and she really loves this place too. Good meal every time. It’s always a massive queue out the door but we were seated quickly both times and the service is great. Thoroughly recommend this place.

Good fish and chips. Should never be described as a restaurant when you are eating off cardboard plates. Staff are friendly and efficient.

Absolutely love the Fish and Chips here, it really is delicious

Drove for 50mins to get there and the famous fish and chips didn't disappoint batter was excellent Defo go again

I never actually went inside but sat and ate my fish n chips outside and I must say I'm very happy with my food as I asked for plenty of salt and vinegar and they were just the way I like them, and the batter was very crispy, so it was a very good

Delicious fish and chips, selection of ice cream/ sweets all under one roof. Staff were all welcoming and friendly. Service was quick. Will definitely be back

Had great ice cream from there connected shop

I've had better from here in the past. Service was also fairly slow. Will te review when back in the summer.

With a queue outside the door for both the restaurant and take away I had high hopes for the fish and chips. Alas it was a complete let down . 2 small bits of fish with a rubbery batter and chewy dish cooked with chips lacking in the key ingredient, potato. A video plays on a screen as you wait showing fresh potato being peeled ready to be made into delicious chips, alas that must be somewhere else because what we got resembled chips from a frozen food supermarket. They were fried to the point of being hollow. The chippy claims to be award willing but it's from 2019 and clearly standards have dropped. With it being right in the harbour front and a few miles from pitenweem you'd think they'd get the best of the fish but seems they get the dregs.

Really one of the best fish and chips restaurante I’ve been. There are two options: eat in or take away (around 18:30-19 cue is almost 30 mins). I suggest take away and sit in front of the harbour.

A great chip shop and definitely worth a visit if you are visiting Fife.

Always a great meal from here as a holiday treat. So fresh. Portions have reduced a little but they were always too much and was wasted. Now is perfect size for a decent appetite. Plus ice cream after is always needed.

Really nice and recommended for the quality of food, service and a truly beautiful structure.

I have to go here every time I am in Fife. Delicious food. Occasionally busy but worth the wait

Yes, you've seen Gary Eats and Rate My Takeaway sing its praises. You've read all the bumph online about its unmatched next-level marvellousness. Yes, your expectations will be through the roof before you order. But sister, believe me, you will experience the most astonishingly fizzy, crispy, delicate, and unreal batter you have ever seen wrapped round a slice of haddock in your measly little life. You will be blown skywards from your sandy wee sandals when you experience the melt-in-the-mouth succulence of that freshest of all the freshest of fishes. And the chips? Crunchy, fluffy, perfectly cooked in beef dripping, as though teleported through time from a more advanced civilisation. Tartare sauce? INCREDIBLE, SANDRA. Fish and chip perfection exists. It's located at the Anstruther Fish Bar.

It must be cool to hate this place nowadays or something. Really shocked at some of the negative reviews. I would urge anybody to ignore those. I personally was blown away by the quality and flavour of the fish supper I had here on my recent visit. Being from Edinburgh where a quality fish supper is like trying to find hen's teeth I really appreciated the quality of the fish and the crispy batter and chips.

Although the food was very good, having to wait up to an hour is not ideal, so try to avoid busier times, especially at weekends

Food was ok, bit over hyped, fish was good, chips were just ok. Took over 30 minutes to get served, and for one supper and a single fish with a can of Fanta. It was 20 odd quid so not cheap, for that price and I don't think I'm being tight, is good food, not ok food. If I want mediocre/ok food that fills a hole I'll go buy McDonald's for over a tenner cheaper. Live up to the hype Fish bar. 🤷🏽‍♂️

As good as they say queue was out the door. It’s a must if you’re passing.

Great fish and chips,put front on a scorching sunny day. Can not ask for more

This is one of the best chippies I've been to. I sometimes take a day trip to Anstruther just to go here. It's always mobbed for a reason.

Massive queue a 45 min wait but fish supper was ok

We visited today after seeing so much of the hype for this place on social media. We were really looking forward to it, which perhaps feeds our disappointment. We queued for 45 mins (around 4pm) which was somewhat expected. We paid £32 and ordered two large fish and chips, two rolls, a curry sauce and two cans of pop - definitely on the more expensive side for humble fish and chips but we figured it’s famous, it’s bound to be worth it…? it wasn’t! Firstly the large fish wasn’t a large fish it was two small fish fillets which would have been ok if we actually could have found the fish! The ratio of batter to fish was 70% batter to 30% fish, if we managed to get a bit of fish it was over cooked and dry and had no flavour. The batter its self was certainly ‘crispy’ so much so that it was too hard to eat in some places. The chips and curry sauce were a 7/10 (and the only reason it got a two star instead of a 1) . Hardly the best in Scotland, I wouldn’t even say the best in Fife. We would have returned it if it wasn’t for the massive queue! I will definitely be more wary of trusting social media hype of food spots any more!

The fish here is delicious with a tasty, crispy batter and the chips are amazing. I took my Canadian relatives for a wee treat and they loved it. We visited just before the lunch rush, so we didn't have to queue too long, but we have queued here before for over half an hour and it's always worth it.

THE Best fish and chips I had in the UK.

Long wait for food that was ok but nothing special. Wouldn't go again. Was Monday march 31 so not the height of the holiday season.

I've seen so many clips on You tube about the fish bar that I had to try. I enjoyed the meal, but was it the best ever.... no.

Great fish and chips. Great service. Fun place.

Great food from friendly people at fair prices.

Ordered a battered haddock supper and a battered prawn supper. We managed to get in just before the teatime rush (just before 5pm), but still had to wait about 15/20 mins for our food. Was worth the wait though as it was excellent! Staff were very friendly too.

Best fish and chips I've had in years. Really busy but service was quick and with a smile.

Lovely good served quick no long queue

Award-winning chip shop on the front in Anstruther. All the staff were super helpful. Take away, dine in. They catch and process the fish and fry everything in front of you. Fresh, tasty, the batter is fantastic x

Got fish n chips ...wasn't 💯keen on batter but was good apart from that

Friendly staff love this place we travel 120 miles to have the best fish supper great 👍

Had takeaway food. Had to wait in the queue but was worth it as the food was fantastic.

This chippy used to be the best around, but I visited recently with my family and it was extremely sub par. The fish was more batter than fish and it was pretty greasy. Very disappointing, especially considering the price

Great food and fantastic portion size!

This was quite honestly the best fish and chips I have ever had.

The restaurant offers the best Fish & Chips in the world. Awarded for the most years in a row

Asked for 2x homemade tartar sauce (£2.40 each) with our 2 fish suppers, told they're big do I not just want the heinz packet one. Said no we were happy to have the homemade. Never came with order, had to go back in and ask for but only given 1

Love this chip shop. Best in Scotland

We live in Newcastle and saw this takeaway on YouTube Rate my take away and we decided to drive up my wife got Haddock and chips I got chip buttie and two sausages on there own and they where fresh hot and very tasty nice crispy batter and not greasy a very nice chip shop in a beautiful harbour town worth the drive stunning views on the way and beautiful fish and chips

Easily the best chippy in Fife. See YouTube and try the coleslaw. Fabulous! Nuff said.

Was about 45 minutes queuing but by the time it was our turn the order was ready and almost instant, wonderful

Absolutely fantastic- fresh, hot, delicious food. Friendly service - loved the place!

Bit of a wait but the food was top class! Well worth the long drive up.

Fish was very fresh, chips were great. Unlike many fish and chip restaurants they have haddock, monkfish and sole. Also the haddock can be battered, breaded or grilled. Try their homemade ice cream as well.

1hr 10 min wait, I’d say not worth it personally, ended up with rock hard chips and went cold so quickly! Oh well! Maybe better next time :)

Everything here was terrifying and shockingly bad. Staff just couldn't care less, fish was awful served with the cheapest bread possible. I'm so angry at paying a premium price for frankly crap!!!!!

Visited here today had been a few times a couple of years ago, decided to try it again today after seeing a review on tick toc, 2 Fish Suppers for my husband and me came quite a journey well I was very very disappointed the fish what fish there was hardly any of it, it was mostly batter, I can actually say you could not even taste the fish, I love a fish supper and normally the fish is quite thick and so tasty as to some of the places I have been and tried. I do not normally post negative reviews it’s normally good reviews I post, but I have posted this because I can actually say it was probably the worst fish supper I have actually had, definitely very big let down.

Was there today.wont be back gotta be one of the worst fish suppers I've ever experienced. Hardly any fish ,all batter,which wasn't very nice. Not a good experience at all considering there prices.

Can't fault it spotlessly clean and the food was so fresh tasted delicious

Nice fish and chips but can’t see what the hype is about. Dined in. It doesn’t accommodate fatties as the table and chairs are bolted to the ground. Yanks beware. Nice and clean

The best fish and chip shop in the entire world. No doubt.

Great location, food was excellent. Recommended

When my wife and I go to Anstruther we always go here, and get a take away but this time we sat in, the fish was just as good and loads of chips, also bread and butter and a drink, on a cold day this was great, this service was fantastic.

Nice chips but the fish was VERY dry and over cooked disappointing!

Best Fish and chips EVER, fish was cooked to perfection with amazing crispy batter and chips were so nice, thank you so much we will be back, lovely, friendly helpful staff. Great end to our overnight stay in St Andrews. Going to enter competition to try win voucher now with pics with Albert the fisherman 🎣

Was there again on Tuesday. I have to agree with a good few of the other reviews. Its just not the same now. Chips were like ones you'd make in your pan at home, the fish the same as you'd get at a city centre chippie. A shame.

Highly efficient team, we got the seafood platter and it was more than enough to feed 2 adults and 2 children under 5.The smoked haddock/haddock were exceptional - the batter was really light and airy. Skip the drinks as thought the white wine tasted like vinegar. Very efficient staff who waited on the tables like pros.

Seen numerous youtube videos about this place , so, was expecting something a little special. Unfortunately, not quite what I was expecting portion size no complaints, fish though was ok but lacked a real fresh flavoursome taste. Tarter sauce nothing special. Overall was ok, but, it's not Scotlands best chippy.

Oh my god, what can I say, I've been all over the UK and these are the best fish and chips yet, staff are always lovely too! Anyone who visits me I make sure to take them for the best chippy they'll have in their life!

Average, I've had better fish and chips elsewhere. Small portion for the price also

We've been to The Anstruther Fish Bar so many times I've lost count! All in all it's mostly positive. There has been the odd time the food (Macaroni cheese for example) has been different and therefore not nice but as I say for the most part the food is 5 out of 5! Its almost always busy when we come so bare this in mind, usually someone comes round takes orders in the line so they know who's food it is and it's always fresh. Tonight's was fish supper x 2, adult Macaroni cheese and a kids macaroni cheese with chips. Perfect portion size for the kids they shared the meal and finished it all before getting ice cream. Adults food was delicious so tasty. My gripe tonight is that I could see our adult and kids macaroni cheese were in the hot plate waiting for us. The last in front after having already placed her order asked for a macaroni cheese and they gave her our food which I think is totally out of order we all waited from the door in the long queue, we had 2 kids with us and our food would have been ready to go. I think the decision to give that customer our Macaroni cheese was the wrong decision, that lady should have been made given she placed a last minute order rather than making us wait even longer! Otherwise too notch as always

Well... I'm utterly devastated. I watched so many online reviews about this place.. Finally decided to try it out to see what all the fuss was about. Set off on a rainy, cold Scottish afternoon, and drove for 1.5hrs to get there. I was so excited for this. Firstly, there's not much parking space near it... I've got a bad back and can't really walk far, or stand for too long. We arrived at 5pm...the queue was out the door and round the corner. A girl was coming along the queue taking orders. I was absolutely freezing outside. I waited in that queue for an hour and twenty minutes... I thought I was going to pass out. Finally got back to the car with the food, and had to sit and have a good cry. And then... The food was terrible!!! The batter was oily and soggy, tasted old and dirty.. The fish was a paltry portion, and the chips were like little rocks!! The curry sauce taste like soap. Really bad... I honestly wouldn't recommend it. Best chippy in Scotland NOT!

Famous fish and chips, we went as they'd recently won an award for the best fish and chips. The food was good, but disappointingly I've had better elsewhere.

I visited this establishment off of a recommendation from a friend. He said I wouldn’t be disappointed with the food and boy was he right. The Salt-N-Pepa squid that I ordered was absolutely super cooked perfection. The waitress looked after me as I was worried that I wouldn’t get a seat inside as it was busy and I was a single Diner. But that wasn’t a problem for them. They found me a table and promptly took my order and the food was with me within eight minutes. Definitely worth a visit when you’re in the area and I can see why they have so many awards for their food and service.

Distance between tables and chairs is very cramped.

Super tasty, the tastiest fish and chips. Great..👌👍

A strut get used to be the best fish & chip shop in fife but in my opinion it shouldn’t hold that title anymore! The service was OK, the chips were good but not “great” like they used to be and the fish, ( Haddock in batter) wasn’t very good, it seemed to be more batter than fish! I am sorry to say this as it was once the best chippy in Fife!! 😬 😔

Great place to buy both a take-away or sit in their restaurant. I was really surprised how big it was inside, so many tables. All our meals were very tasty. Service was very quick and friendly. Car park just along the road @ just 70p for 2 hours.

Very tasty pie, others had good fish, ample chips

Every Monday I take Mum 92 for fish and chips at the Anstruther Fish Bar, the staff are so friendly and make a real fuss of her, the food is always piping hot and perfectly cooked, the restaurant is spotlessly clean, if visiting Anstruther I would highly recommend having their Haddock, it is the freshest fish you will find!! PS leave room for their delicious homemade ice cream.

Very poor quality fish and chips - dried up fish pieces and soggy chips. Tried the ice cream afterwards but this was also very poor quality. "prize winning" days are over - they seem to want as much money as possible for as little as possible. Disappointed.

Dont know whats happened but fish and chips were disgusting. Again today fish was oily, chipstoo. Time to find other place.Shame as it used to be good place.

I grew up in St Monans, brilliant chip shop. The batter on the fish was amazing and the chips where light and fluffy . Always worth the visit currently staying in Tillicoultry. Will always come back my favourite chip shop

I was there today and the customer service was horrific. The staff were not helpful at all and you were made to feel as though everything was a major effort. It was not child friendly or wheel chair accessible. I came away feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and over all in a bad mood at the lack of customer service we received. If my kids were not so hungry I never would have stayed to eat.

Our go to chip shop always loved the food until tonight, my daughters 17th birthday tea big disappointment chips fine and fish greasy when you broke some of big pool of oil all over chips can't rate atmosphere as we didn't sit in

Obviously this is one of the most popular chippy's, so expect to queue to sit in or takeaway. But was not expecting a queue of 35 minutes at the takeaway when there were only 6 people in front of me. We stood for ages with no apology or explanation for the wait. It was a bit chaotic. I used to love this place but this is a few times now I've had to leave with no food due to queues. The chippy down the street left of this one has the same fish and the staff are a good laugh.

Believe the hype. This place bangs. Fresh, sweet haddock with the perfect batter. Great chips. Perfectly cooked and non greasy. I’ve eaten in and had a carry oot here and both were top drawer. The uk benchmark for fish and chips.

One of the best Fish & Chip takeaways I have ever had. The fish was absolutely beautiful. The staff were very nice and friendly too.

Best fish and chips in the whole United Kingdom!!!

Visited restaurant on Sunday 19th January, the day after my 80th birthday. This visit fell far short of previous visits as far as actual meal concerned. My breaded haddock very dry and the chips were terrible mostly ends and scraps of potato. Where have the chunky moist chips gone??Service and cleaning excellent as usual but I felt very disappointed.

Quite awful. We stopped getting our fish and chips from The Fish Bar a couple of years ago due to the wait, price and miserableness of the staff and enjoyed the quality of the fish and chips down the road but there were only 5 in the queue so we thought we'd revisit it. It took them 45 minutes to serve us five in the queue (why does it take them so long?) and we received the scraps of the chips and two pieces of thin fish in a lot of batter. If we weren't snuck away from the high winds I would have taken it back. Never again. I think they are trading off their past good reputation and are producing food that is very poor indeed

Lovely chippy fish was fresh and delicious chips were a bit scraggy but still tasty

Enjoyed a Fish Tea with a bottle of Cider to wash it down. The chips tasted great , lovely and crispy. The batter on this fish also was tasty and crispy . On the negative side I was disappointed with only recieving one medium sized fish for £14 to eat in a cafe ... More disappointing news that the fish was slightly overdone and the care had ran out of curry sauce. I'm glad I didn't pay £2.40 for the tartar sauce as there wasn't really enough fish in my plate to warrant more than a sachet . I'm now regretting not going to the Wee Chippy on the first night now ...

It's like one of those things that you have wanted to try over the years after all the hype there have been so many great reviews of this place. However, my experience was not really so good. The staff were good , attentive, and helpful, but the fish itself the star in their show was tastless and soggy full of oil. I tried covering it in vinegar and salt, but still, my local chip shop makes much better. I'm really disappointed for a rare second time in one day.