Bells Fish and Chips in County Durham

Very disappointing looks very good from outside but £18.80 for a tasteless kids portion of haddock and half cooked chips wasn’t my best experience. Below average food below average size and tasteless you be better getting some frozen Birds Eye from your local shop

The fish and chips are delicious.

Having been going to belles since is was first opened on sunderland road many uears ago I can say I will not be going again after tonight appalling offering. I understand prices are going up and portion size is reducing but seriously, £11.20 for what I got is disappointing to say the least!

Waited far too long in the takeaway section for someone to take my order.

Popped in for for Sunday lunch great choice of food and bar well worth visit

Food was nice and fresh really cheap I'd recommend the fish and chip butty

Firstly the food was excellent, the service was good but I was so disappointed by the timing in which the food was brought out. We were brought pots of tea first then a slice of bread 5 minutes later but had to wait 40 mins (from arrival) for the actual fish and chips. We could see that it was busy and it was a Friday at 6pm so we were prepared to be patient. When the food arrived we asked for the tea to be refreshed as we’d finished it 30 mins before. We were told by the waitress that she could bring boiling water out but couldn’t provide a couple of tea bags!! I was shocked because it is a reputable company which has a high turnover who refused to provide a couple of tea bags to keep its customers happy. This marred the evenings enjoyment and that’s why I felt it necessary to leave this review. Management please take note of this. I must point out this is not the fault of the waitress as she was just following instructions. It’s always best to keep the customer happy!

Love Bells,but today wanted Lemon sole, never again,love lemon sole but this was absolutely disgusting,don't know what they did to it.I couldn't eat most of it because it was slimy,talked to wait staff and they talked to chef who said they cook in butter,I cook lemon sole at home but it has never turned out like that.Dont usually complain but £17 for what I was served.........never again.Will go to Durham Bells for my meal from now on

Bought fish and chips very tasty. Wish they did a smaller portion

Nice place plus does gluten free

Great fish and chips good service

There’s always one old woman that services and she makes molasses look fast!! 20 minute wait second in queue

First time visit to Bells Fish and Chips. The chips were the best I've ever had and the battered cod was spot on.

Perfectly cooked fish and chips in a very pleasant setting. Well worth seeking out here, Durham City and at Seaham Harbour (after you've visited the 'Tommy' statue. Regular visits and never disappointed. Great service from the staff.

Excellent fish and chips but not the cheapest. it's nice they give extra batter for free to those who want it.

Lovely fish and chips. Small plates for those with smaller appetites would be a welcomed addition to the menu, better than wasting half a plate of food for those who can't finish a plate full.

We enjoyed a lovely meal of cod and chips and cheddar cheese pattie. The restaurant was spotless and the service was excellent they were very friendly, and nothing was a bother

Had lunch here today, conveniently located place near lots of different shops. Great option for a stop for food after shopping. Friendly staff, clean guest place and delicious food. Thanks to the lady from Ukraine for the great service. Will definitely be back again.

Shocking, if I good give no stars for service I would.

Can’t believe it took us 7 years to find this wonderful Fish & Chip rrestaurant. oMG! Beautifully clean, friendly efficient staff, nothing too much trouble. When the food arrived - well it was perfection. Light crispy batter, chips crisp on outside soft inside, not drowning in fat or pale and sick looking, even the butter spread on the bread easily, and a pot of tea was Ringtons good tea, not some mass produced tea dust. We will return every Friday now. Thank you so much

I've eaten in at Bells in Durham and at Seaham before, this was my first visit to Framwellgate Moor. The food was excellent. I chose beef lasagne which came with pieces of garlicky ciabatta, salad and chips. I saw the fish and chips going to other tables and they looked as good as I'd expect in Bells. And the service was friendly and professional. Yes, I'm a Bells fan, but they are so good.

Lovely friendly staff, plenty of seating, and decent menu. Decent prices. Ordered three starters, two drinks, Fishcake and Chips, and Fish and Chips for just over £50. The fish was my favourite, soft and flaky with crisp batter, cooked to perfection!

Lovely chip shop plenty of parking and shops near by

Me mother both had cod and chips we sat in restaurants it was well worth it many thanks 👍

Frish fish Closes early at 20.00

Great parking, I had take out. The staff was friendly

Spur of the moment decision to try here as I had an hour lunch break. Very bright and airy venue, staff were all very welcoming and helpful, and the food, well, best sausage and chips I've had for a long time. The chips' portion size was great, along with 3 tasty battered sausages. I chose a portion of mushy peas as my included side and opted not to have the offered bread and butter, just because I wasn't sure I'd have time to eat everything anyway. The young lady who served me was very quick and efficient, happily helping me through my confusion that the sausage and chips came with the added extras for no extra charge. The food arrived quickly and seemingly fresh out of the fryer. The chips were crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. The sausage was nicely battered, not soggy or greasy at all. The peas were a very tasty addition, as was the little pot of batter scraps (which you have to have with chipshop chips, no idea why southerners see them as a waste byproduct). Spending around £16 for everything, including a drink, great value for money. I will definitely be heading back again.

We were up visiting family, and they brought us to this fish restaurant for our evening meal. I had scampi and my husband cod, both with chips and salad. OMGoodness, our meals were excellent! Our server was very pleasant and chatty. A speedy service, with piping hot food! Could not recommend high enough!

Fish and Chips were beautiful my son had the Lasagna which he loved

Great fish and chips and friendly staff. Very efficient service.

On entering we were quickly seated and then were ignored by staff! When finally we could order food it arrived quickly and was delicious.

Lovely food, great service and a nice restaurant. Food reasonably priced

Excellent fish and chips, courteous, friendly, and efficient service. Easy car parking.

By far the best fish and chips I've ever had, and I'm fussy!!!! The gravy was amazing. Kids meals were also enjoyed by the kids

Absolute nightmare...hardly any fish on the fish or fish bites. Chips are either brown or raw because of way cook food and queues. Cook to order but always a queue so ypu have to queue fir 20 to 30 mins to order and always only 1 till on. By tome you order you then have to wait another 20 to 30 mins fir food yo cook but if you've bought curry or gravy the girl on till puts it up so cold when get food. People getting agitated because it's not really fast food. Staff are not very pleasant, witnessed a long serving member bullying a new starte while waiting 40 mins for food..I did report it. It's our local but just had enough of having to wait 40 mins to an hour to get order.

This shop has gone right downhill. Staff demoralised my wife and the service is always slow. I will not be returning in the future.

Fantastic fish and chips, huge portions. Quality service

Ordered cheese patty and chips, couldn't taste any cheese. Patty was over powered with garlic powder. Thankfully chips were ok, but won't be ordering cheese patty again!

Didn’t dine in, ordered take away. Nicely packed and food was okay. Would have been nice to get some sachets of salt and pepper to help with the taste. Especially for those that may not be living around the area to have access to such condiment. But it was okay.

OK but have had much nicer fish and chips elsewhere £1. For hot water to top up the tea pot Never been charged any where else for extra hot water. What a rip off your having a laugh !!!

Great fish & and chips could do with speeding up the service.

Poor fish quality, cold mushy peas.

Dined in here today with family (4 adults 2 kids) fish & chips were excellent and staff were really good crack. Kids meals are good value - £8 for chips and two decent sized pieces of battered fish, peas or beans, a soft drink and an ice cream that comes with a white chocolate fish and chip. Definitely recommend.

All the staff are very polite...friendly food fantastic...so welcoming..best fish shop in the North east

Great takeaway fish and chip place. Easy to find and always really quick with your order. It's now our go to. Sometimes the fish is a bit small but that's just me being greedy!

Great service and food as usual. Keep up the good work 👏

20 minutes wait to order fish and chips haha staff laughing around

A really disappointing experience. We've eaten at the Durham city restaurant several times and decided to try the Arnison centre one. We arrived and ordered fish and chips for 3 people and then proceeded to sit waiting for 40 minutes while other tables were served despite having arrived after us. After 30 minutes we were told our food would not be long, and then in the next 15 minutes a further 3 tables were served. We eventually asked to just pay for our drinks and were told the reason for the delay was because we had placed a special order. We ordered 2 haddock and chips and 1 cod and chips so not sure how that could be classed as a special order or how it could take 40 minutes to cook! We definitely won't be back!

Things are changing here, steak pie is not the one that used to be served. Portions are smaller pricing has gone up. Bells go back to where you please.

Took awhile to be served . Fish was dry and rubbery

Fish overcooked and chewy, chips hard,dry and greasy, very disappointed.

Bell's has to rate as one of the best places for fish and chips in the North of England. They are so fresh and tasty. No soggy chips hear or over fried fish here! The batter they use leaves the fish especially crisp and light. We have eaten several times at their restaurant and can say we have never been disappointed. The restaurant is laid out comfortably and is airy and sitting without feeling on top of one another. With car parking next to the restaurant. Well worth a visit.

Really enjoyed the meal, service excellent prices reasonable. Young girl who served us could do with more instruction on beer service, asked for draught but got bottled, still enjoyed it so certainly not complaining.

The food came out different to how I asked for so I asked for it to be changed and the waitress was so rude! She brought it back now cold and slammed it down and said I had to have it how it came, I protested and the waitress was rude yet again. She smirked when we paid to and the food was awful. £35 fir cold awful food with the worst service I have ever had. I would give -5 stars if I could.

Excited to try the restaurant for the first time, especially when I realised the menu was more extensive than the takeaway one. No reservation and seated but told we'd have to sit at one of the small tables without any real explanation as to why. Only two of us but there were at least two duos sat in the more comfortable booths so wasn't clear why we weren't given that choice (no reserved signs on display). Decided what we both wanted quite quickly then waited 10 minutes while sporadic new arrivals continued to be seated. No indication of any interest in our table after that time so decided to go to takeaway side instead. Unfortunately meant we didn't get to try the lemon sole we fancied. Cod and chips tasty as always and takeaway staff courteous and friendly. Disappointing first impression of the restaurant though.

Fish platter not worth how much they are charging.

Great service. There was 8 of us so a lot of work but staff were lovely and helpful. Food was delicious

8 adults (covering 3 generations) enjoyed a great evening here, and that wasn't all down to the company. Attentive, patient staff, (nothing too much trouble) tastey food, nothing fancy but all good. Ok some items on the menu were sold out, but we did rock up at 7pm on a Friday night. Not to be recommended was the veggie curry, cold temperature and uninspired, but everyone who had traditional fish and chips style choices was well satisfied with their selections. Puddings good value, and if you like liquorice then the blackcurrant and liquorice ice cream was superb.

Good food, good atmosphere, good service.

pricy but very good fish/ chips and other items

Extremely disappointing! Ordered 1 haddock and chips with curry sauce, and 1 cod and chips with tartare sauce with both. Food came relatively quickly, however curry sauce was on the wrong plate. Haddock and chips were fine, however cod was more batter than fish, chips were anaemic, and no tartare sauce. We asked a waitress twice for the tartare sauce and were told someone would bring it over. We finished our meal without anybody checking if our food was ok and had to go to the bar to ask for the bill, as 10 minutes after we’d finished our meal we were still sat there with no acknowledgement from the numerous staff working. Upon receipt of the bill, we weren’t asked if we’d enjoyed our meals, or if everything had been ok, but we were just presented with the card machine asking if we wanted to pay a tip. We told the waitress that we’d asked numerous times for tartare sauce and been ignored, and she said she was looking after the other side of the restaurant and the ‘other two’ were trainees and she’d have a word. So overall we paid the best part of £40 for average food and abysmal service.

Excellent cod and chips as usual. The quality of food speaks for itself and the service here is always fantastic, in our last visit we arrived quite late in the evening but were still greeted with a smile and warm welcome. Would highly recommend Bells for a proper fish and chip experience!

Massively overpriced. Nearly £16 for corned beef pattie and chips twice. Not worth anywhere near that. Been a few times and not worth the money in my opinion.

Food is great. All freshly cooked.

Meal was dry not what I expected service was as indicated, meal I would have preferred gravy My negative comment was when we ordered tea we requested an additional pot of water we were advised that that would be a pound. No tip!

Excellent fish and chips. The young lady fitted us in as we hadn't booked. We weren't disappointed

We had take away. I had the fish and chips my wife does not eat all the portions so she got a child's meal which she found very funny but it was enough for her and she enjoyed it. We would deffo do that again

Best fish and chips in the area.

Service was good but chips were average, lots of black bits on them.

Love the food here. Bit pricey but worth it for a treat.

Went in today. Ordered 2 haddock and chips. Started eating fish then noticed our chips were anaemic looking and some of the bad bits had not been cut out. We were told that we couldn't have any more chips but they could take both plates away to recook. All we wanted to keep eating our fish and have some fresh chips provided. The Supervisor refused saying it was not Bells policy to do that. I also asked about the black bad bits on the chips. She said that nobody would see that. I asked who was responsible for quality control but she said that that is how they are served and nobody would see the black bits if they had other chips on them. We were not offered anything so I asked for the cost of the chips to be removed from the bill. She agreed but will still paid £28 for Haddock and a pot of tea for two. Will never return. This is the second time at Finchale Rd, Arnison we have had awful service. Bells have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds to set up this place but it is quite clear it is not being managed properly. Never again.

Awful, the waiter was full of flu his nostrils were bright red and as he was taking our orders bringing out our food he had a hanky In hand and blowing his nose. Gross, now a few days later I’m now poorly! Thanks!

Great fish n chips as always! 😀

Great food worth the journey Unfortunately waited for 20 mins to be served , and about the same to pay the bill, staff were very busy talking at the service hatch. One couple on the next tablet were still waiting for the meal when we left, 25 mins after ordering.

Waited quite a while to be served , meals were not very hot. Took a long time for table to cleared ready for dessert even though the staff walked passed numerous times . We were ready to abandon the dessert the length of time it took to come , nearly 25 minutes later . Staff need to be more sociable.One couple got up and walked out after waiting a long time to be even better acknowledged.

Good service and food lovely.As usual in Uk restaurants no alternatives to butter or milks for lactose free foods.

I waited 15 minutes when there were only four people ahead of me and there was.plenty of fried fish visible behind the counter. I wasn’t, offered a bag to carry the two orders. When we plated the two helpings we found masses of batter so that the fish and chips was much greasier than you’d expect,

Ordered sea bass. Got Plaice. 😳

Great chip shop. Small wait which is fine especially when get nice freshly cooked food. Free parking theres restaurant or takeaway. Food was lovely. Staff very friendly.

Lovely food, lovely, pleasant staff

Friendly staff this visit. Enjoyable food. Would have liked small Fish and chips but not available.

We love grabbing a takeaway fish supper from Bells on a Friday evening. There is nearly always a queue, but I have stood for more than 15mins waiting. It's worth it anyways. Our typical order is: 1 x Fish and Chips 1 x Portion of Chips 1 x Pot of Gravy 1 x Pot of Tartar Sauce Total Price: £17.10 (ish + 10p for a plastic bag). The food is always piping hot so it survives the car trip home. The staff are always really nice, a plus for how busy it can get. They never seem to get rattled. The carpark is large and easy to access and has accessible parking spots. Never been into the restaurant portion of the building but it looks nice, the food will be the same either way.

Famous local (Local to Durham) fish and chip shop. Highly recommend for a quick bite. Service is fast and reliable, with fair pricing.

Gluten free cod and chips are the best I've ever had. Delicious

Took around 20 mins for someone to take food order. Didnt bring slice of bread with one of the meals after asking for it when we eventually ordered. No table check and food was lukewarm

Excellent fish and chips and well worth the money

Fantastic take away fish & chips - a cracking pre-Christmas treat

Visited with 87 year old dad who wanted 1/2 shandy...had to buy a pint and full lemonade which cost £5.65...staff have a CAN'T DO WONT DO attitude...asked for someone to bring the overfull drink to the table..Manager took great pride in explaining this was not her job to do this..So really you could say it's appalling service after paying £31.30 for 2 people fish and chips and a drink!!!

The perfect spot for fish and chips, with both takeaway and eat in options available! We ate in for dinner on a Friday night, which surprisingly wasn’t too busy and the service was incredibly fast. Generous portion sizes and friendly staff. Very nicely decorated in fairy lights - a definite must visit.

Always a really nice fish and chips from here very little grease just nice clean fish and chips freshly made red hot. Staff are always friendly and the place is immaculately clean. If you're a coffee snob probably opt for tea and it's not quite barista quality more of a push button machine job.

Food was excellent and freshly cooked.

Top class Fish & Chips. One of the best in the NE

Great food , great staff, great restaurant.

Fantastic fish and chips both for eating in and take out. Always fresh and tasty. Our go to place in Durham.

Best fish & chips ever really good November 29th near to the Arnison Centre.

Food was great, our first visit but definitely not our last Happy Days Thanks

What a super place. The staff were friendly and attentive, without intruding. The service was quick but we never felt rushed. The food was delicious and I loved that I could have half salad and half chips. When someone needed help getting through a door, there was a staff member there. Such a great atmosphere, and classic fish and chips. Most of all though, the service was just what we needed. You have no idea how much it means to be served with genuine attention and consideration--well done to all the staff on duty on Sat 07/10/23 lunch time.

Put at a table but waitress never spoke! Ordered fish and chips. Fish was very nice but both of us thought chips were awful. Very hard as if they had been either kept warm or warmed up!! When asked if everything ok we said about the 'hard chips'! Waitress muttered 'sorry' but that was it. Bill came as normal just over £30 for 2......not worth it. Disappointing so would not recommend.

Hard as nails chips, obviously refried and very disappointing, couldn't eat, used to be good but now 1 star takeaway class, cod was lost among too much batter, this was a second chance..you just lost a regular weekly customer, at the prices charged you would expect better. Fram takeaway 👎

Awesome place for things fish and chips and more, plus best gluten free batter I've ever had.