Johnny Mac's Plaice in Tendring

I phoned up and tried to order a 1/2Lb berger with extra cheese and a pineapple ring, back in the day we called it a Hawaiian burger. I was told they couldn't do that, baring in mind they sell pineapple fritters, I was told that the pineapple rings are frozen and thaw out when the fritters are cooked. Am I expecting to much for them to figure out if they put a frozen pineapple ring on the grill with the burgers it will thaw out by the time the burgers are cooked. Their stupidity cost them a £30+ order. This place and especially the girls on the phone are going down hill rapidly

Haven't used this place for a while after it went off the boil, but decided to place an order because of the good things I've heard recently, never rated Winkles to be honest, and the Waterside Inn's extortionate prices are not for me. Well to say I was pleasantly surprised was an understatement, had the Quarter pounder and chips which to be honest is the best I've had in Brightlingsea. Plenty of Chips for the regular price unlike some places in town, and the burger was really nice, people were pleasant, and an overall good experience. Will be ordering the fish next and giving that a bash!! If you haven't tried it lately, get yourself down there, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!!!

not very good food here, thumbs down...

Used to be much better when you could sit in and eat . A real shame that all you have now is a takeaway and a table outside

Ordered quite a few things , all cooked nice, not greasy. Nice portions for the price & the chips were proper chips. All packed/ wrapped very well & the young assistant was welcoming..

Nice and friendly staff, the food was fresh and tasty, we didn't have to wait long either. Not too expensive

Cod and chips absolutely delicious, also had chicken shish kebab from here before - perfect, couldn't ask for more. Staff friendly, promt delivery, food great.

We've ordered online for delivery 4 times now, and the service has been outstanding. It's easy to order, delivery is prompt, and the food is hot, tasty and generous. There's a high standard of takeaways in Brightlingsea; and this one is easily up there with the best. My wife and I really like the Doner and Chicken Shish wrap (with chips - shh).

Food was piping hot and generous portions

Having eaten fish and chips for over 60 years and having been in the catering trade for 40 years I can honestly say this must be close to being the worst I have ever purchased . Even before tasting the meal the smell of fish was all pervading not something that should be noticed with fresh fish . On first sight the fish seemed to be covered in an alien substance quite unlike the batter that I had expected and quite unlike any batter I had ever seen , batter that should be light and crispy and this had more the appearance of a plastic sleeve , the chips clung together as if scared to be consumed the fish apologised for not being quite fresh, and the whole was exacerbated for being fried in less than new oil. The onion rings were of a nature that can only be explained as pre-packed cheapness, a poor excuse for the real thing. Having been a customer of other Fish and Chip purveyors in Brightlingsea Mac's Plaice can only be placed a very lowly last.

Great choice 👌 great food 👌 superb

Amazing food, the workers there are so nice and overall a great place to stop at and have some good food

Nice fish and chips but a bit pricey

I have ordered many times one time the chips were not nice. I told them but not a complaint. The next time the chips were lovely but unfortunately I ordered a large middle of skate which is usually really nice. But the last time it was very small and there was no fish on it was almost like they just cooked the bones. Will be going elsewhere from now on.

Tried the newly available Doner kebabs. Very nice. Lovely thick cuts of meat. Plenty of flavour. Definitely a thumbs up.

Ordered a takeaway and the food was lovely! Delivery was also speedy - would highly recommend. Will definitely be ordering again!

Take away - great food. Took longer to be ready than said, but worth the wait!

Had to weight a long time & was over charged by £ 4 it’s a shame not as good now

We just enjoyed a budget cod and chips, burger and chips and a scampi with salad, all of it perfectly cooked and tasty, thank you

Been here a few times and have take friends from other countries who have all been utterly amazed at both the quality and quantity. Great service, great food and fair prices given the state of the British economy.

Food was very bland an overpriced for what you get . Place has gone down hill only 1 member is polite the rest just stare

Terrible food...under new ownership and the food quality has gone down dramatically...cod was tough and unmanageable. Chips were also bad. Think we'll be finding an alternative place!

Excellent food, very fast delivery. Thank you so much

Nice food. Staff could do with some customer service/phone manor training however. Answered the phone and started talking to someone else and hung up, then once we rang back and asked for the order to be ASAP, no time given just “ok” and hung up again.

Sadly, this second time I have ordered here, I gave the business a second chance, as no one gets it right all of the time. I ordered chips, dry and luke warm, chicken and mushroom pie, the pie lid was almost black in colour and all dried up, filling inside 4/5 small chunks of meat left in a dried up sauce. Curry sauce very dark, salty, and not the taste of curry sauce I've had!!!. Kebab came with no salad, or chilli sauce and mayonnaise. Well, I've never had a dry kebab without salad and sauce, I honestly mean never!!! That is standard and the way real kebab is eaten!!!. I have truly written an honest review. No disrespect meant to the owner, just honest feedback. The majority of your good reviews are based around the fish and chips. Please take note of these comments. Put salad and sauce in your kebabs, your orders will increase!! And please don't reheat and over cook food. By the way, it cost £22 + delivery for doner kebab, no salad or sauce, overcooked dried chicken pie, dry reheated chips and some kind of salty curry sauce. Sorry, you have lost my custom. I did give you second chance!!

The best fish and chips ever. No grease.on the plate. Huge portions. You will never come away hungry. Great service. Very pleasant and professional staff. Eat in, take out or have it delivered. You won't be disappointed.

It was a lovely place the portions were huge even though we only had regular not large.

Stopped here on a bit of a whim and so glad we did. The staff were so lovely and attentive, they really went the extra mile. The food was delicious and the prices very reasonable. We couldn't fault it.

This is the second time I've tried this fish and chip shop; honestly, I'd say it is the worst fish and chip shop I've ever been to. Both times nothing was fresh, and I ended up throwing half in the bin. I'd recommend you avoid this chip shop. The food is disgusting and overpriced.

The most amazing fish and chips I’ve ever had in my whole life. Fish was exquisite the batter was done to perfection. Would recommend to all my family and friends.

Food was good and reasonably priced

Fish and chips at Brightlingsea were usually good, but not always. The food here was excellent, and thanks for that. We had spent the day at a beach hut, and wanted a nice fish and chip supper to finish off the day, and this was very good. It was worth the drive up from the seafront to get it.

Staff are polite & friendly. The food is lovely

Best fish and chips In England I go there every time when I get out of school and get chips the staff there are also just as amazing As the food you can also ask for halal food

Great food , good service. That's all you need to know !

Called in here for a meal whilst visiting the local area, The restaurant is clean, the staff are very friendly and helpful, and they also do gluten free batter so my partner was happy too. We would definitely recommend this place and would visit again if we were in the area.

Never been here before but stopped after a day at the beach. Wow. Just wow. Amazing food, massive portions, lovely staff and a great place to eat inside. Thanks so much!

Sausages was nice but chips were not nice. Don't know wot happened usually really good

Just had a bank holiday (Sunday lunch) at this amazing place, staff and food brilliant, friendly and helpful very accommodating as we were a party of nine! Portion sizes great all round very tasty 👍🏻

Since new owners took over food quality has gone downhill

Beautiful food and amazing service 👌

Had a lovely family day to day the food is top class and they can’t do enough for you thank you for making our day a good one

Warm & welcoming atmosphere. Lovely food.

My wife and I eat here regularly and make the pilgrimage from Suffolk, worth every mile, food is, without fail consistently good, hot and will be visiting again this evening. Staff always efficient and friendly, can't wait. If only they opened a restaurant in Sudbury!

I have been past this restaurant many times on the way out from Brightlingsea and never gave it a thought as the fish & chip restaurant by the slip way is shut. I had the all day breakfast and the wife haddock and chips. breakfast contains sausage egg bacon beams mushrooms tomatoes hash browns and chips plus toast, all for £6.50!! Great value as was the fish and chips. This restaurant is also licenced for wines and beer so will have to give it a go one evening. All the staff were very good and got to meet Mac the owner, your a gent! I would recommend this place every time.

Great food and really friendly staff

Very friendly staff and the best spam fritters ever. Thanks guys.

Cod totally over cooked chips burnt with no potato in them - awful

Lovely fish and chips. Highly recommended.

We visit fish and chips shops all over Essex and Kent whenever we can over our free weekends We visited Mac's Plaice on 1st January 2023 and have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the huge cod and chips we ordered to eat in. It was served with a large fresh salad, the fish was big and cooked perfectly. The chips were very nice as well. Special mention to Jordan who looked after us during our visit. We will definitely be visiting again very soon!

We visit fish and chips shops all over Essex and Kent whenever we can over our free weekends We visited Mac's Plaice on 1st January 2023 and have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the huge cod and chips we ordered to eat in. It was served with a large fresh salad, the fish was big and cooked perfectly. The chips were very nice as well. Special mention to Jordan who looked after us during our visit. We will definitely be visiting again very soon!

Mac’s place is without a doubt my the best fish and chip shop I have ever tried. Extremely friendly staff, great food and great prices. Cannot recommend enough. If I could give six stars I would. Legends

Really delicious all day breakfast and kids meals. Owners are lovely and made us feel so welcome. We’ll definitely be coming back!

1st time ever used as visiting here....absolutely gorgeous...can't fault it at all...so hot fresh and tasty

Used to eat here all the time. Like twice a week. Misunderstanding with order. The amount we spend as a family would expect them to sort it out. Did want to... won't be eating here again...

Excellent fish and chips with wine also available and good friendly service.

Stopped her ad hoc whilat working in the area and wow, the fish and chips are soo tasty, fresh, hot and simply put possibly the best I've had. Really friendly staff I highly recommend this... Plaice!! What a Great fish n chip shop.

Good quality food at a fair price...Staff are friendly and engaging too!

Superb chippy. The picture shows a medium cod, which was practically falling off the plate it was so big. Perfectly cooked as were the chips. Lovely little appetiser thrown in too.

Stopped in here today before we hit the road back to Middlesbrough. Excellent chippy! Recommended. Though my pal asking for a chip butty in a Boro accent did briefly confuse the young lad behind the counter 🤣 I'd deffo go back if I'm ever back down that way.

Shame is I am reviewing this place after my last fish and chips from there and the chips were not as good as usual and the fish wasn't either. I have used this shop 7 or 8 occasions over the last four months and it was always superb, my favourite chip shop. I'm sure it was a one off, I will definitely use this shop again very soon and hope to improve this review.

A good, well prepared meal, great portions too.

Went on a Sunday afternoon, we had budget fish & chips & although it was cooked fresh to order, the cod was so over cooked & batter was extremely greasy, chips were fine but the fish did spoil the meal, shame because the restaurant was lovely, clean & the staff were very polite and friendly

I ordered a chicken shish kebab this evening and the meat and pitta was so lovely. But I’m sad to say that the salad let it down. There was no lettuce in there and only one slice of cucumber and one slice of tomato. If there was a bit more salad then it would have been perfect.

Fabulous cod & chips, excellent service, lovely friendly staff, whenever we feel like fish & chips, will always go there. Thanks guys

Stopped off here for lunch, food was really good and very filling, served very quickly, the owner was so friendly and we felt so welcomed here.

We always eat here August bank holiday fab food cooked fresh

Had nice fish and chips with the grandchildren they enjoyed the ice cream that they made.

The food was brilliant and filling just a bit oily

Fantastic food. Amazing fish and chips. Paid £20 for two meals but we'll worth it.

Very nicely cooked fish and chips, just right. We ate in. Friendly and prompt service + licensed to sell alcohol!

Very friendly staff, probably the largest cod and chips I ever had. Loved the mushy peas, Cajun burger was very tasty too.

This is amazing we got food on the house

I have visted Macs place a few times now. The food and service is amazing. The portions are huge. The owner is so friendly and so good with the children offering ice creams for free as well as the adults. Food was cooked to perfection. A very friendly clean restaurant. Would definitely recommend

Fantastic gluten free options. Staff very friendly and family friendly. Lovely to sit outside when the weather is good.

Best place for fish and chips in Brightlingsea, friendly staff.

Freshly cooked and fabulous. The cod was huge and I really recommend the skate, it was lovely. Friendly staff and very clean.

Rudest staff ever! In my 44 years I've never known anywhere so rude. Commented on what my children bought and how much they ate. When I phoned up to talk to them and explain that it makes someone feel self conscious about what they are eating and it's not on, the owner denied it and refused to accept or apologise. His answer was that it couldn't have happened and that his truth was that they don't have time to talk to customers. To top it, the order was wrong. Abs

Always brilliant food and very fast delivery.

Was a 5 star but has gone down hill throw most in bin was dri and bland

After a day of crabbing with my partner, decided to go for some fish and chips, ended up getting battered sausage and a battered chicken burger which were by far the best we’ve had before but were a little let down by the chips, you could taste the freshness but after asking for salt and vinegar we couldn’t tell it even had it on. Other than that the service was great, very speedy and would definitely come back to give it a second chance and would definitely recommend and upgrade to a 5* if they got the chips right next time ! Thank you !

Fantastic. We love the food there.

What a fantastic chip shop. Wonderful food. Quick and attentive service. The restaurant was great.

Excellent fish and chips and great service. Strongly recommend May 2022 Also grilled chicken was out of this world. Absolutely lovely

Very friendly, amazing service and delicious food

Gave my 4 year food poisoning and i had to wait for my my food for 5 hours and gave me wrong change short of money

Go to fish shop, fish portions and prices are generous, always hot.

Awesome place, Good food well prepared. More than the food, the service & hospitality was remarkable. 😬👍 Definitely coming back.✌️

Fish & chips bit on the costly side but its a treat

Pricey and not that great. Chips often aren’t cooked enough and place looks unclean. Can’t comment on anything other than the chips, battered sausage and curry sauce though.

Good food! lovely portion of fish and chips. ample seating capacity. Great service and friendly staff!

Just Had an very enjoyable meal lovely bit of cod and chips. Staff were extremely friendly thankyou to the chap that served me..

Very good portions. Very good prices.

Nice kebabs, lovely burgers, battered sausage and very fast delivery. Salad is also very nice and well presented. Just a tad on small side. Used numerous times now and will use again many more times. Only lived this way for 5yrs and wished I'd tried sooner Often use another place and it has bigger portions, but like a change in style here and there.

The best fish and chips place in Brightlingsea. The staff are super friendly.

First time using macs plaice and Chips cold, items missing from order, won't be using it again

Very good food, and good price, went in for the All Day Breckfast, clean tables.

Fish was burnt , chips are horrible and the kabab meat is terrible won’t be buying again.

Really nice, friendly staff who care about what they do. Top place.

Had 2 fish&chips to takeaway after visitibg family. All cooked to order and tasted great. Will visit family more often just to have more. Highly recommended