Downey's Fish and Chip Restaurant in Sunderland

Wouldn't even give it one star!!! I have been a number of times now to the one at the stack and stopped myself giving feedback as was hoping it was a one-off, but unfortunately not! The girl behind the desk has zero customer service skills. She is too young to be that miserable. Never gives you your full order, and the waiting time is ridiculous. We ordered from three vendors and finished our food and were still waiting for one kids' meal from Downeys. Even questioned about the remaining of the order and was told they didn't have them available!! Will never go to this venture again! Actually witnessed other families complaining, too - shocking!

Not the best fish & Chips but the service was even worse. I ordered a kids meal for my grandson when I went in, ie sausage and after serving at least 9 people before me she realised that she had forgot. Kids meal doesn’t come with a toy although it’s stated and she couldn’t have cared less. All in all CRAP …….

Ate in the restaurant area. Ordered fish & chips and pie and chips. Waited over half an hour for food - no sign so asked the waitress where our food was. Said they were busy - which they were not. Food arrived 5 minutes later - think they had forgotten about us. Fish and chips ok, pie and chips was dreadful - left most of it. Stomach felt queezy for several hours afterwards. The waitress did her best and was trying to do the work of 2 or 3 staff. We usually go to the Downeys in Seaham which is always superb. Why is the one at Roker so poor?

Nothing ready on a weekend at lunch time, poor service but the food was great. A handful of people in the queue saying the same thing and were ready to leave.

food was alright but staffs attitude was disgusting! wanted the paying customers out of the shop, were very blunt and abrupt when taking orders and were visibly displeased with having to deal with customers altogether.

All staff had a Terrible attitude, tried the restaurant first and told they were full despite tables being free so went to the takeaway instead chips were dry and scampi over cooked on mine , they advertise kids meals with a drink and gift had to ask for the drinks as we weren’t give them and no gift. 7 people out of 9 ordered food and no one enjoyed it .

7:30 on a Friday evening and they had nothing left. Not a god way to run a business really.,,................................................... ................................................................

Fantastic freshly cooked plaice!! Lovely food all round, in fact. Easy wheelchair access to takeaway. Friendly staff. Highly recommend and will visit again

We have been getting fish and chips here for a few years now but never again ,got fish and chips to take away the fish was half the size it used to be and the chips were nothing more than scraps

I've never felt so disgusted at the attitude of staff members in my life. My partner and I decided to go here (after much debate at the extortionate prices). I enquired if the did chips with cheese, to which I was rudely dismissed by the large fryer with greying hair, stating that "do we look like a pizza shop, love." Will not be back, no surprise there was no other customers there with this type of service. Dissmissive and sexist.

We planned to eat in with family who had come to visit. I rang ahead in the week to check the restaurant opening times (this isn’t clear on website) as we wanted to sit in. We were told the last sitting was 5.30-6.00. We arrived at 5.45 and were told the restaurant was closed. The staff didn’t seem to know why this was. So we had to get a take away. As we left somebody was eating in the restaurant. The take away was luke warm and didn’t seem very fresh. Previous eat in experience has been great but this was disappointing.

Confused about prawns masquerading as langoustine! Said they had no prawns then served them as langoustine but obviously not as they had a week before.

Food was tasty, had a small box of chips. Unfortunately… that’s the only the good thing. The portion (even though ordered a small) is RIDICULOUSLY small. The woman on the counter could’ve smiled and should be put through customer service training as it was very poor service. Overall, chips were nice, service is rubbish.

Soggy batter and fish had a wet slimy texture to it, luke warm chips, dried out peas obviously been kept warm for a long time. The cooking oil needed changing as the after taste was horrid. Service was poor at best. Had to ask for cutlery and wait 5 mins as food was getting even colder. Toilets, well.... Give em a clean! Very disappointed and can still taste the oil hours later. Waste of money!

Good quality freshly cooked fish and chips and pea fritter. Nice food in a box to take away or eat in.

Fish and chips were good, but on examination of the bill...50p for hot water!!! Ridiculous...... won't be going back... joke!!

£21 for lukewarm fish and chips where they get the award winning from I don't know absolute crap food and service

We decided to call in for a chippy tea. There was only one other couple in the restaurant at the time. As we walked in we got told to sit there a table for two as pointed.. (no greeting of any kind as we walked in) we ordered 2 cod & chips pot of tea and a can of coke. It would of been nice to have been offered glass since we were sitting in a restaurant. The fish and chip came and nothing else to say apart from they were absolutely delicious. Hot & freshly cooked. My partners plate was taken away before I was even finished. Then the waitress didn’t even come back for mine and we were the only people in by then. With car parking I felt £35 was a bit steep for a chippy tea. Ok for a special treat. A little staff training wouldn’t have gone a miss either.

Actually used take out. However a small error was made but after a fone call and a revisit I was given excellent recompense and service. The 2 gentlemen couldn't have been more apologetic. Excellent service and food. In this day and age it made a refreshing change.

The cod and chips were disgusting the chips were all chip ends and the fish batter was slimy inside. For a price of £22 it was pretty terrible. Will not be going again.

Visited Downeys in the Stack with family. The stack itself is fantastic, buzzing with thankfully lots of choice with food. The two staff a manager and much younger girl seemed to hide out the back. Two counters inside and outside. The restaurant inside was empty and queues of people at the counter outside. The Stack subsidiary of Downey’s was Badly managed with my mother in her late 70’s waiting waiting over 20mins mjust for a portion of chips. The rest of the family had ordered food from 3 different suppliers and purchased drinks had food cooked and eaten before Downey’s could even provide one portion of chips! Poor service, in the end just asked for our money back and left the 10+ people still waiting for their order. Would 100% go back to the stack but wouldn’t bother with Downey’s.

In 58 years on this planet, I have not had Fish & Chips as good as theirs. I had Large Cod and Chips that were a real great sized portion. The fish was done to perfection with beautiful light batter. Price was within normal range however value was absolutely unbeatable..I don't mind paying top prices when you get great value and quality. Well done guys..I'll be back.

Popped in a couple of times whilst on holiday in the area over Xmas. Both times, mistakes with order and service could have been better. Fish bites were very good Steak pie look just like a Morrisons pie but 4 times the price. Very expensive for what it is, and having visited the Seaham branch over the years, much prefer that restaurant.

We booked in advance as it was Sunderland Festival of Light and so wanted to combine with tea out. We went to the Marine Walk branch of Downey’s to dine in. Food was nice although a number of things advertised on the menu were not available and server did not apologise for this just bluntly informed us . Server was disinterested, mumbled at us and quite rude; it was quite clear we were a bother to her. Server forgot some of the things we asked for ie; water, chicken nuggets were brought out with chips and peas when I specifically asked for only chicken nuggets with bread and butter. Servers were all fairly young and stood congregated behind counter on theirs phones - not a good image.

We have been to Downey's on many occasions and the food has always been perfect. We went again tonight and yet again the food was flawless. The staff were friendly and welcoming, asking how my day had been. I would like to just add that it was not just their counter staff, but the chef behind the fryers too, that took the time to have a chat. There is just a really lovely atmosphere in the shop that makes it an absolute pleasure to go in. So if you are looking for amazing food and a kind smile, Downey's is the place to go. I would 100% reccomend them. For me they score 10 stars.

Wow what a lovely find on the sea front cafe style takeaway at the front & a restaurant comfy style at the back. We had fish n chips Cheese & also corned beef pat also curry sauce. Love you can get 3 sizes of portions everything was delicious & the service was superb!!!

Went here with my fiancée, her brother and our niece for lunch on a Sunday. As we entered, there were a few serving staff stood around at the bar, but it was about a minute before anyone came to see to us. We were then told to wait 10 minutes for a table, as there were no tables for 4 available (although all of the two person tables were free, maybe two of these could have been pushed together?). We waited, and sat down after about 10 minutes. After a while our orders were taken, and we got our drinks. After about 20/30 minutes, my fiancée and nieces food turned up, although my niece was missing her beans. We were then told that the two cod and chips we had ordered had been given to a takeaway order by mistake, and that we would have to wait for our food to be done again. After another 10 minutes, the rest of the food arrived, including the beans for our niece. The food was nice, but the service was pretty poor and slow from start to finish, and for some reason the restaurant only had very blunt fish knives, instead of actual knives (which weren't very useful for our niece, or us trying to eat battered fish with them). Redeeming quality was that the restaurant knocked the late items off the bill.

My wife and I got cod and chips here for our dinner after a drive down from Scotland, and although I wasn't over enamored by the food she quite enjoyed hers. We had to wait a bit whilst they cooked a fresh batch so my...

Service was fine. The fish was nice but the batter and chips were a little under cooked and as a result were quite greasy. The menu only had alcoholic drinks on it, not soft drinks options. However they do service tea, canned drinks if you...

Best fish and chips for a VERY long time and nice to sit by the sea if you takeaway. Service could have come with a smile (the two young girls clearly didn't want to be there) but the food was amazing so we bypassed their...

Very, very disappointed. We ordered 2 chip butties, 1 sausage, a large curry sauce we asked politely for batter and plenty salt and vinegar. Not sure if they forgot batter, salt and vinegar or what and the potion size would of been appropriate for a...

We opted to eat inside as the weather was threatening to rain. The restaurant is bright and clean and tastefully decorated. There are toilets for customers to use. Service was a little slow in the restaurant and we had to keep calling over if we...

Went last night for fish and chips ,cold chips and small fish;girl serving didn't know what she was doing ,not worth the money

….. service. Staff seemed flustered and a bit brusque. Portion sizes seemed to depend on who served you and there should be a notice up (in our opinion) if something isn’t available, as opposed to waiting all that time waiting to be told they had...

Went in there today for lunch sitting in Ordered large cod with chips Tasty - however compared to usual fish and chip places the large cod was certainly not large - would be at best medium but in many places small size Not happy Maybe...

Absolutely one of the best cod & chips we have possibly had the service is second to non the cleanliness is outstanding. The staff are so polite and nothing is too much trouble great customer service We were so happy with the restaurant one night...

We called in the takeaway Sunday about 1.30pm 27/2/22 after waiting about 15mins we were told no large cod was available, the fish was nice but the chips were really awful, not worth the money.

Decided to go into the restaurant on a cold day. No milk available for a hot drink. The food was good but really wanted a cuppa with it.

Called this week,the young man who served me was incompetent and honestly ignorant.The fish and chips were ok

This is now the second time we’ve had a bad experience here. Although less that 15 people were in the queue, it took almost 40minutes to cook our fish and chips. When we eventually were served, the fish wasn’t great at all, and tasted over-fried....

Visit take away weekly and always satisfied especially with the smaller portions but used restaurant today first time since refurbishment and was very disappointed with changes to menu and don't think I will use restaurant again but stick to take away which is excellent

We were going to go to Downey's in Seaham but couldn't get a nearby parking space, for love nor money. So we had a short drive up the coast to Roker. The restaurant appeared to be closed but the takeaway was open and we enjoyed...

Went to downeys fish and chip shop, I come from cleethorpes where there is great fish and chips but this fish and chips where Excellent. *****

Small fish and chips 4 quid. Can't go wrong. Really plenty to fill us up. Best I've tasted also. Lovely place

Really impressed with Downeys. We visited last Saturday on a sunny busy day. Staff spot on ensuring Covid regulations adhered to and coming to take your order for fish etc Really good value for money as they do a small portion of fish and chips...

The food is always good, never let us down, but the customer service seems to get worse each time, the girls stand around talking and on their phones rather than taking orders when the que is half way up the street!

Came here last week. We Queued outside due to covid restrictions and it being school holiday week, it was busy. Staff came outside to take orders so service was smooth and quick. Lovely food, well priced, great value for money on the kids meals.

Not sure if the two workers were tired after a long day but the customer service was appalling! The blonde female who works on the counter had a terrible attitude - no please and thank yous to say the least! - she barked at customers...

First time visit 👍👍👍 We had the fish bites and they were excellent. Q. Would we use again ? A much definite YES 👍👍🎉

Great food however the lady on the till needs extra training in my opinion. Overcharged from different menus but we let it go as it didn’t make much of a difference to the meal, even the chef was confused when she had mentioned the price....

Superb Haddock and chips, freshly cooked to order and done to perfection. It means a bit of a wait, whilst they are being cooked but the end result, is well worth the wait. We sat and ate them in the comfort of our car and...

As part of my daughter and I tours around seaside locations, we decided to stop at Roker. We stopped for chips at Downey’s as we saw it was an award winning chippy! We spotted Downey’s and it’s claims in the window meant we had to...

Was told by a friend that this was the place to go and boy they were right. Freshly cooked 3 fish bites with chips you could have 6, glad I chose 3 as that was plenty. Would definitely recommend the staff were friendly

First visit to the roker shop and safe to say i will not be hurrying back. First the service from the young blonde girl was awful, might help to crack a smile and gave me half my order with no apology after. Not enforcing wearing...

The staff (girl) was very rude, she just shoo us away until we said that we want to buy some food. The mushy peas looked gooey and brown, the fish was very oily and we had to pay extra for 4 mayonnaise. The chips were...

Chips were delicious and fish was nice better than there Seaham branch staff ok in this strange climate.

Chips were greasy and tasted like dirty oil , staff extremely rude , will definitely not be back , massive improvement needed

I went here on a cold, rainy Wednesday and being pregnant really craved some chips. The chips were delicious, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They had plenty of salt and vinegar as i requested and I haven't stopped thinking about them ever since! Cant wait to go back and get some more! Amazing!

Had a trip to roker today with my girls for Chips and fish, glad we chose this establishment as it was delightful

We went to Seaham for a change from Saltburn on a Friday Saltburn was our favorite place for Fish and Chips especially for the Haddock but not any longer, Downeys of Seaham in future will be our place for our haddock. What can i say the batter is out of this world done perfectly and the chips excellent . When we called the restaurant was not open due to Covid 19 but no problem we will eat them in the car, the cartons we got them in are really good they are seperated down the middle well about 60/ 40 so chips lay in the 40 area and the fish lies in the 60 area. Chips kept separate from the chips brilliant thought. The service was good and friendly and if the que got any length a chap came out of the shop went along the que asking did anyone want fish, now this was a good idea.Overall we rate this shop at the top of our list for sure. From Coulby Newham where we live it is 30 miles about 40 mins in the car for us if it was a hundred miles i would still go well worth a visit folks for quality and perfection. P.S. see you next week.

Was here yesterday for fish and chips to takeaway hubby had extra large fish which was massive I had normal but that was big as well I asked for lots of batter and that’s what I got absolutely delicious and staff are lovely and friendly

We used the takeaway, as the restaurant had just closed. Everything was freshly cooked. Service was good and the staff were well sanitised. The price of fish and chips was very reasonable and the portion sizes were decent. It was also nice to see that both the fish and the chips were well cooked and had some colour to them. I hate those anemic specimens dished out in some establishments. Our meal was excellent and we look forward to going again, when things get back to normal.

Rude staff. Say no more - maybe have a word with the staff in your store dealing with customer orders. It’s their job to provide customer service.

Was here Friday with hubby we just got a take out he had fish and chips which was massive portions I had Hal and half which was fish and scampi also big portions lots of batter too which I love staff are friendly and helpful

Probably the worst service I’ve received in a long time. The tea arrived but without a teaspoon - I had to ask the waitress to bring one. She brought the food, we had no cutlery or serviettes. This waitress has a talent for avoiding eye contact with the customers so I had to wait at the counter for a few minutes while she dealt with a delivery man. When she finally brought the cutlery I had to point out that the beans were missing. It was only at the end of the meal that we realised the bread and butter hadn’t materialised at all. When I pointed all this out when paying the bill I was told “we’re very busy”. There was no apology. The food, by the way, was good. I suggest you get a takeaway!

Visited on a Saturday. It was very busy so we were pleased we managed to get a seat right away. Took a little while to get served and the food arrived very quickly after but this was as to be expected. The staff were friendly but not massively attentive and didn’t seem to check up on ours or any other tables. Food was pretty average and the portions were large. Would return just to see if things are different during the week.

Came here on a cold blustery February afternoon. It was warm and inviting. Inside it’s well laid out and clean. Family booths and nice big tables. The food is awesome. Well cooked , plenty of choices and delicious. Main point for a family is it’s really reasonably priced. Especially the kids menu. Recommend

Visiting the seafront with family.We understood it would be a wait as there were 7 of us anywhere we went. Got to downeys which all of us have visited before numerous times and hand no issues. Was told they could seat us but would be separated, which was more than fine.Food lovely. Prices fine. However the reason for the 3 stars was the stinking attitude of the 2 girls serving. 1 with dark hair in a bun was stood doing nothing for most of the time we were there. The small, slim girl with blond hair in a ponytail who was taking orders had a disgusting attitude. Didn't see either crack a smile once when we were in..... No customer service between the pair of them. Don't think they realise when they are talking and pulling faces at the till, you can see them in the wall mirrors!Won't be coming back unfortunately as the service has put us off.

We went about three weeks ago the service was that bad the man frying had to offer one customer their food for free, the assistant was not serving people in the right order then decided she didnt want to do that job and some other young girl started serving with a mouth full of chewing gum, not very good in a food establishment, we come here often and the service and food has gone down hill the chips were all scraps.

Lovely staff lovely meals would highly recommend but it does get busy if you want to eat in and the prices are very competitive

The Wife and I where visiting the UK for Xmas to visit our family and whilst walking along the beach we came across this nice little café. We used this cafe for breakfast for at week and we where not disappointed. Dave the Chef cooked the breakfast to a high standard. The Staff are very helpful and friendly. They have a good range of other meals and are all priced at a good rate.

Appalling customer service in the restaurant. This company is so busy serving their take away customers leaving their restaurant (seated) customers to wait and wait and wait for their meal. Worse still in our party the 4 adult meals arrived first leaving a young child wondering where her dinner was. It took several minutes more to arrive. I did complain and was told they were exceptionally busy and yet the customers in the takeaway side were being served. It is simply not good enough - we will not visit this restaurant again.

Had fish an chips there were lovely hot crunchy batter and lovely well cooked chips yummy well worth the money happy to help staff and will defo go back gets the thumbs up from me

Decent fish and chips at the seaside in Sunderland. Not the cheapest in the region, but a good sized portion.

Every Tuesday we have the pleasure of my sister in laws dog and take the opportunity most weeks to treat ourselves to the best fish and chips on the seafront!

Ordered “ Cod and chips”. The texture and flavour was in my opinion not cod. Tasteless.

First of all, why would you deny a customer to stay and eat inside when there were plenty of seats available? Had to eat outside, the food had absolutely no salt in it and it was really oily, no napkins, knife, fork nor salt were given, had to ask myself for those. The girl serving us was not friendly at all. Not coming back.

My friend and I called in on a damp drizzling Monday lunch time, mainly because our first choice eaterie, Fausto's, was full. Were told we had to wait for a small table....the large window tables were vacant and the sea front was pretty empty. After 15 mins, we were shown a table and placed our order. The tea arrived.....then nothing.....for 35 minutes. Despite the lack of customers, they had lost our order. With time running out on my parking ticket, we left...From what I could see the food looked good, but I won't be sampling it as I won't be going back...

My husband {who is a pensioner and disabled} called into this place as we are regulars at their Seaham restaurant. Even though the place was empty apart from one of the cushioned seat tables, but when we were told to wait to be seated and then offered a small table, I asked why we couldn't sit at one of the comfortable seats and was told they were just for groups of four, I and my husband were very disappointed seeing the place was empty and there were plenty of other seats. We left and went to a a fish restaurant that was only a third of the price and food was excellent. This is their loss and staff should be taught how to use their common sense.

The wife and I entered this almost empty restaurant and were told to wait to be seated. The young girl then showed us to a little table with little wooden seats, the wife asked if we could sit at the more comfortable seats and the girl said no they are for parties of four, even though the place was empty. we left and I thought well I'm saving myself about £30 as fish and chips are 10 and 11 pound each and then there's drinks to buy I can't understand the logic of these people to be happy to lose business.

We went here after walking from Marsden Grotto. We sat inside and both ordered fish and chips. The food came and was really good. The fish was freshly cooked and the batter was crisp and the fish was white. Chips and mushy peas were good too. Glad we didn't order the large version of the meal because the standard size was plenty. Would come again. (senior citizens - over 60 - get a 10 per cent discount on some of the meals)

There is no doubt the location is great, right by Roker beach and pier. We sat inside and had a great view.

Fish was cooked fresh and was delicious - crispy batter and tasty fish. Chips were cooked ahead of time and piled high waiting for customers so they were hard, dried up and unappetising. Stick with the fish.

We had supper with friends....fish & chips were piping hot & tasty. Initially the staff were somewhat cool, however they warmed to us after a while. Lovely position on the attractive seafront.

Looking forward to some fish and chips with the family after a seaside walk on Father’s Day. We always come here. Disappointed today.

The chips I just got served at marine walk are disgraceful, went straight in the bin, shocking. I live local and this is not the first time I've had poor quality food from this place. Today was my last visit.

Party of 8, we called before to book and were told they didn’t do bookings.

Called today for lunch and had a little wait for a table which wasn’t an issue.

I thought given the investment in new premises here the quality would be excellent. But if an anticlimax unfortunately. Expensive which is ok if the food lives up to the price. Unfortunatly that wasn’t the case.

Often go here but yesterday was disgraceful Staff moody, I had to asked to be served Had to ask for drink that I ordered Fish portion was a lot smaller then previously had here I will think twice again before going back

By chance we came across this place. We had the dog with us so got takeaway and sat outside at the tables thoughtfully provided. Haddock in a beautiful light crispy batter. Chips beautifully cooked. Friendly staff. value for money. A lovely venue on a gorgeous piece of northern coast. Hope to come back soon. Xx

Been here today for tea for a treat we had fish and chips which were delicious massive portions and I asked for batter which I got plenty of and the staff are lovely and friendly

My lovely wife visited this chippy for lunch after a bracing morning stroll along Roker beach. We were impressed to see that it was recently rated among the top five fish and chip shops in the UK by Absolute Radio. So expectations were high. But I'm pleased to say they delivered. The cod and chips were really good. Nicely cooked fish, crispy batter, decent chips. Nice curry sauce too. The portion was large - we shared a single portion and that was plenty for lunch. Eat in or takeaway & grab a bench overlooking the beach. Well worth a visit.

Great place - very clean, really friendly staff and good value. My family and I loved our visit here. The food was top standard, very hot and fresh... so good that I'd say it was the best fish I've ever eaten! Lovely sea views from the restaurant too.

My wife and I often have a carton of chips when we come here to give the dog a good run about on Roker Beach. Good tasting chips. We haven't used the restaurant section, but have at another Downeys in Seaham, and it has always been good, so no reason to think this will be any different.

Fab fish and chips here,always well prepared and really enjoyable. Always had excellent service from the staff and always had great food.

Had takeaway fish and chips today, we were really looking forward to them as the fish was freshly cooked and looked lovely, but that where is ended being nice.

Visited the take away part of the restaurant for a quick bite to eat, have visited before a couple times and never been overly impressed but due to it being ‘award winning’ and having good reviews I have given it a few chances however still can’t figure out what awards they’ve been winning seeing as they can’t even get chips right ‍♀️ sausages weren’t bad and curry sauce was nice but the chips were just dreadful, most of my portion of chips were completely brown and not even edible. Also staff were quite rude when we went in young girl sweeping right in front of the door and in our way, woman had said to her ‘can’t you see you’re in the way’ smirking whilst the young girl replied ‘well i don’t care I’m cleaning’ and they both laughed, I mean I think they were joking but tbh standing with my pushchair I didn’t really find it funny. No more chances now absolutely will not be back.

Good fish and chips. Lovely view. Some good choices on the menu. The sharing platter is huge so be warned.

My family had talked about this place so I was very keen to try it on my resent visit home.