Salt and Malt Chew Valley in Bath and North East Somerset

Been here plenty of times and it’s been fairly decent, not deserving of it’s rep but fine. This time the chips were very disappointing - hard and crispy. Left in too long? Reheated? Not sure. Great curry sauce (always) and fish.

Not dog friendly. Unfortunately didn't get to try the food as there's no dogs allowed indoors and we'd just walked 30 minutes to get here in the cold rain. They gave other dog owners bin bags to sit on outside, but they were cold wet and miserable and leaving. It's 3 degrees C and had been snowing earlier. In the area, every pub and cafe seems to allow dogs, so I've got used to not checking in advance. The restaurant was completely empty. I was offered takeaway only. I'm heading to one of the pubs instead. Just wish I hadn't bothered walking to here first.

Too expensive Their takeaway coffee cups are too small, their prices however have gone too far higher than reasonable. I avoid as much as I can.

Food was nice and staff very kind however, there are very few vegetarian options on the menu and anything veggie that is fried (halloumi or falafel for example,) is fried in the same oil as the sausages and fish according to the waiter. A bit surprising in 2024 but it's still great food and a nice location

We went today and it was awlful. Staff didn't come to table .it was nosy

A real gem. Prompt service, a delicious range of food, and a lovely setting.

Only had a coffee to takeaway which was quite expensive considering the cup was only half full

Good quality food and attentive service. The place was very busy. The only downside was that during our meal they took one of the tables away for another party

A very busy restaurant which showed how good the food was Coffee - very nice. Food - Had fish and chips. Shared with her indoors 'cos the people on next table had a whale and chips!! Ours was just enough and very nice. Staff - Very pleasant and helpful. Overall a nice experience

Excellent all round and very popular.

Love it here in any weather. But no dogs allowed

Grate food but a little expensive, but food was lovely and quite large portions

Fish fantastic chips not so Good tendency to recook until bullet hard which creates hard little bits but it's the way most places are going. good beer and staff.Wifes falafel salad brilliant.

After a morning walk around the lake. Stopped of for lunch. Freshly cooked fish and chips. Food great staff lovey. Definitely recommend 👌

Excellent fish and chips and not particularly expensive. Location is good too. Only reason I’ve not given 5 stars is because the vinegar was tasteless: more like water!

Nice fish n chips by the lake ... what more do you need?

Again those barriers need to be addressed when visiting this place. Treated differently and felt uncomfortable Skin colour shouldn't matter

Limited choice. No sandwiches or light meals. Expensive.

Excellent takeaway fish and chip shop. Great service and beautifully cooked food. Great to sit in the car and eat and watch the local ducks hunting for scraps

This is in a wonderful location! Views of the lake and it's a good starting point for the various walks around the lake BUT they are being just a bit greedy with their pricing. We had coffees with the Cinnamon swirl bun. They sell the bun for £4.20 but buy it in from Cakesmiths (Bristol bakery) for £1.69. Why can't they content themselves with just 100% profit - which would mean they would sell the buns for £3.38. It just seems greedy to me.

Absolutely gorgeous takeaway halloumi and chips. Best curry sauce too sweet, spicy and rich. A welcome treat after a long walk

I tried the chip shop and the staff are lovely and the chips are very good. Try the fish cakes they are very special!!👍😀

Food was very nice, as was portion size, service a little slow but because of the quality I wouldn't complain 😉

Great location. Great Food. The service at breakfast was poor. The grumpy and rude manager was more interested in drinking his own coffee. Younger staff trying their best.

Perfect fish and chips.Crispy batter,nice & hot & with lemon and not too long to wait.Arrived after 18:00hrs so no car park charge.Sat on a bench with a view of the lake 😊

Had a fantastic day at the craft market selling my handmade ceramic pieces. Thank you very much for having me.

Great setting with lovely views. Staff are always very friendly and food is delicious. Well. worth a visit

I’ve being going to Salt & Malt for years, so appreciate the standard & have always accepted “ you get what you pay for”. However standards have notably slipped & it wasn’t worth the extra. Lemon garnish has gone & TINY portion of chips - Paid for as “large cod & chips”. It’s notably gone down hill when it used to be the best. :(

Fantastic gluten free fish and chips

What a shame!... I had good memories of this place but it's all carparks now. Gone is the dirt path by the lake where you could feed the ducks. you can't even see the lake. The Ringo car parking is a nightmare. Best go somewhere else :)

Nice fish and chips! A little pricey though. £23 per person.

This takaway section of the cafe was highly recommended on social media. We visit3d twice and thought it was operated.. I stress that we only had takaway and noy food in the sit down cafe. We tried both cod and haddock on different days and scampi both times. On both visits we has crushed peas, tartar sauce and curry sauce. I have to say the fry on both days was variable and never quite right. Scampi: slightly under fried the first day and quite overcooked the second day. So, more flavourful on the fist occassion than the second. Fish: Cod was lovely and batter thin and crispy, but again slight under fried. On the second day Haddock which was pretty tasteles and the batterover cooked. Chips on first day were tasty and perfectly cooked but sadly were pretty awful the second I would guess say either blanched twice or refried from chip box - really awful, sad and the taste stale. Crushed peas: perfect, fresh and tasty on first day, older and pretty bland the second. Tartar: excellent both days. A really good homemade sauce. Curry sauce: perfect, well spiced.and.really nice.curry flavour on the first day, but overspiced , and.bloomin salt on the second - uncomfortabley hot spice which drown the flavour.of the chips etc. So, really hit and miss! Overall, the best I can give honestly is a 3.5 out of 5. I think the fact that they have a monopoly on sales of food and drink on this lakeside site has made them complacent and this is reflected in the qualityand the overpricing for a takeaway venue. I have also to say that although this whole site comes under the same name, they seem to be separate businesses! This can be seen also in the difference in facilities also. Takeway customers get grotty picnic council type benches in an are.which is scruffy and dirty that surround the site. The sit - down customers have a fenced-off seating area indoors and out with decent seating and kept clean, but not made available to the plebs (excuse my language, but that is how it feels). There is also a kiosk built on to the outside wall selling drinks, both soft and alcaholic, but again far too pricey..like being at a festival! Service at both was unengaging. Photo attachedof second day food. I left chips peas and scampi from this batch. We won't be giving them a third chance sadly. Sorry Salt & Malt, you need to treat your customers and your ingredients better than this

Great place and good curry sauce. Has amazing customer service especially from that one ginger kid.

We had battered halloumi with chips, curry sauce and mushy peas. Was one of the best things I’ve eaten this year. We were taken away on a taste adventure. What a delicious meal!!

Staff extremely pleasant, efficient and courteous.

A really lovely place. Lunch by the water

Friendly staff, lovely fish 'n' chips. Quick service, separate window for coffee and teas etc. Great surroundings for eating outside on the picnic tables.

The service left a lot to be desired, as did the food. When presented the bill was incorrect, and I had been overcharged for my food.

Fish and chips in a lovely setting. I had Haddock. Whilst take away is available we didn’t use it. Service was personal, not over powering and very polite. We took Oscar the dog with us and ate with table service on benches just outside the restaurant. Highly recommended.

We had a really enjoyable meal. I had the beef burger and my friend had cod and chips. The food was simply fare, but perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. Our waitress Lucie was warm, friendly and efficient. Her smile was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Highly recommended.

Avoid the curry sauce, basically onion soup, worse I've ever had, sausage was absolutely ridiculous in size for £2.60, complete rip off, Visited on 16/8/2024, will never waste another £ in this place, busy or not no excuse for what we were served,

We purchased a takeaway order of fish and chips to take on an anniversary picnic. However we were disappointed our order wasn't correct when we reached our picnic spot. After emailing Salt and Malt the manager Tom was quick to resolve the mistake. He was polite, friendly and showed us excellent customer service. Tom is a credit to Salt and Malt along with the other staff who make the best gluten free fish and chips we've ever eaten. Thank you again Tom.

The best fish & chips that we've eaten for a very long time. We also had a shared starter of Dublin bay prawns. So fresh & very delicious. Highly recommend this delightful place by the side of Chew Valley lake. Very popular with good reason.

Really lovely staff. Very friendly. We had some nibbles between the table after our walk. Everything we had was delicious. The children had a meal from the children's menu and they ate everything. Toilets were very clean and so was restaurant. We sat outside.

We came as a Nordic Walk group. The lake and countryside around was perfect in warm sunny weather. The area is beautiful for walks. The best part ending the long walks was the fish and chips at Salt and Malt. We ate on the benches outside. The cod fish was the best with crispy batter. The chips with curry sauce just perfect. Will come back again.

A fairly odd set up. You go to a window and place your order and pay. Then you go to another window to wait for your order ,which they got wrong several times while we were there. Not sure we will be going back there anytime soon

A lovely picturesque setting next to the lake. We had the takeaway fish and chips and a few pints that split up the cycling. Really liked it.

Fish and chips were overcooked and the large fish was not very big. Chips were disappointing too. Not chunky thick cut but mediocre at best. Expensive at £12.50 when it didn’t meet our expectation's. 😞

We ordered a large cod and chips and I thought the size of the fish was poor for a large and certainly expensive for the portion size

Food was lovely a little pricey but it was nice some of the staff were friendly but one didn’t speak English well and came across very rude because he couldn’t understand what we were telling him

Very friendly staff and great service. Stopped by for lunch during our walk around the lake. Enjoyable stop over.

What a beautiful setting to have a lovely little cafe/restaurant/chippy such a peaceful area and a great stop after a long dog walk. Lots of space outside for a puppy to relax. The bacon and sausage sandwiches were loaded with product in a delicious bun, and their cakes were so moreish we came back twice. My only thing would be the coffee isn’t very strong so if you like a strong coffee then get an extra shot!

Quite a suprise to find this little gem. Food all local and cooked on site, no ding food. Waitress very friendly

Had fish and chips and scampi and they were absolutely delicious not forgetting the fact of a great service.

Lovely . Good food friendly staff.dog friendly and very popular.A lovely way to spend a relaxing day.

Beautiful dine in by the lake side. Place is lively cool and they have outside seating with lake view. Its romantic on a rainy day. Not much food options but will surely recommend the place for it's ambience.

Best for Fish and Chips takeaway And good for sitting at the restaurant with family and friends

Pre ordered the fish platter. It arrived looking beautifully displayed however the prawns and mussels were tasteless so may have been frozen. The crab consisted of mainly long legs so skinny you couldn't retrieve meat. There was no crab meat from the main body! Only bits which were OK were the oysters.

Very nice food would recommend, quite a long wait though

Worst fish and chips ever. Fish was full of water as though it came straight out the freezer and wasn’t cooked properly

older lady hostess was bizzarely rude to our group the other day after we asked a question "about how long would the wait be for a table for four?" we received back a sneer and a "i dont know. how should i know?" and more or less shoved us out of the restaurant. as a hostess... isn't that the first question you should always be able to answer for your patrons? it was definitely a busy afternoon and if you're full for the day it's fairly simple to politely say that you're booked out, no big deal. but to be incompetent and rude on top of it all- yikes. the stars are for the takeaway and other staff members we chatted to, they were absolutely wonderful!

Fantastic seafood platter and curried cod burger was amazing eith sweet pickled red cabbage and coleslaw. Best meal out in ages

Great fish and chips and mushy peas! Good location good views

Nice cafe to rest and have a bite /drink with views of the lake

Lovely food lovely location, plenty of seating but yes get very busy.

Fab little restaurant in a lovely scenic setting. Came here for cake one sunny Saturday afternoon which was lovely and despite being busy service was very quick. The fish and chips also looked delicious

I have NEVER before left a bad review for anything however the takeaway fish and chips that I purchased today I'm very very sorry to say we're probably worst chips that in my 58 years on this planet that I have ever had . The fish itself I will say was delightful however the chips were bland , dry and rubbery . Such a shame as it was a belated Mothers day present .

Today we had Fish and chips from here, it was fantastic. Would definitely recommend to anyone.

Lovely quiet spot to enjoy some chips. Crispy and fluffy on the inside - what more do you want? Lots of seating available outside with a fantastic view.

Very nice place for a nice family stroll

Very good quality Fish snd Chips. Fish obviously very fresh. Chips, lovely.

Food was really nice - soup was lovely but can't eat bread and it came with a large amount of bread. Would have preferred a bit more soup for the money.

Good fish and chips overlooking Chew Valley Lake.

Review is for the takeaway next door to the restaurant - very friendly people, delicious food and served quickly. Have had a couple of takeaways from here now and have never been disappointed!

Take away chips and kids sausage and chips. Great quality well cooked and reasonably priced

Some of the best fish and chips ever. Really good chips, excellent home made tartare sauce, tasty peas which aren't mushy or sugary, really good ice cream from chew valley cows!. And beautiful location in nature. Could have done with a few more picnic benches. Good parking. V disability friendly.

Been here many times over the years and it never fails to dissapoint Love sitting out with a view of the lake in the sun with some fresh fish, hand cut chips and a locally sourced cider There is also a playground for children to enjoy as well and you can go for a nice lakeside walk after

A last-minute decision to make a pit stop on a Sunday afternoon after arrival at Bristol Airport. Was exceptionally busy with it being a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon, but takeaway service was speedy, food was excellent, and a family of four all ate with drinks for £40. Plenty of food, staff were very helpful, and the picnic sections were immaculately clean. It's definitely worth a visit, and I would 100% recommend the curry sauce. Thank you.

I had been looking forward to coming here when heading to a kids play class one day with my friend. We decided to sit inside and we ordered staff were kind of friendly. We sat down ordered. Food came relatively quickly I asked for vegan mayo and was answered with I’ll check but I don’t think so and also those chips aren’t vegan. They are cooked in the same fryer as our sausages etc. so it depends how strict you are. No where says the chips aren’t vegan!!!! You wouldn’t think to ask because they are potato it’s natural to assume they are vegan. So for me I have a meat/fish intolerance aswell as being vegan/gf so it’s not just a choice for me. So the weirdly rude but trying to be polite waiter said ok upto you, you know how intolerant you are. I decided not to eat the chips and left them on the table. So whilst my friend ate I saw what looked like a confused and frustrated waiter pace past a couple of times glancing at my pot of chips just sat untouched on the table. Finally he came back to clear the table and sighed and said shall I just remove these from your bill? They really should say the chips aren’t vegan it’s not cool to just assume people will know or accept it. Being vegan isn’t always a choice for some people. If you’re going to offer gluten free which I hope includes frying in their own fryer not with other battered fish…. And say the heat from the oil will remove the gluten nonsense, they should say not vegan. Tbh I didn’t ask this I just assumed but I will ask one day out of interest if I’m passing about the fryers. Oh and the price for the tiny pot of chips was ridiculous I feel we might have gotten more for our money on a take away portion. We paid and then both us mums struggled out the door with two prams whilst four employees stood a metre away watched and continued chatting.

Chips very good. Scone very good.

Amazing service, especially from Lucas Pikey

Get out and about in the chew valley Fab

Lady staff was very rude to us ! Disappointed.

Asked if we could grab some drinks at the bar. Ended up being directed to the coffee shack outside. I'm not quite sure why

Great lunch in a great location.

What can I say about this place we become a regular customer but staff are excellent we often have good quality food at a good price coffee lovely the view is beautiful we will be going back again lovely fish bacon egg sausage bark all mushrooms I will be going back again soon

We have been going to the salt and malt takeaway for years now and always been some of the best ever! With big long fish with bright golden crunchy batter! But yesterday I asked for large cod and it was definitly small cod as the guy was able to put them all in one box,I asked if it was large and the guy told me yes but the oil shrinks the fish....hmmmm Also their award winning batter was gone and now is more like a coating. Very disappointed as we really look forward to going to the salt and malt for high end quality fish and chips. Also the price has gone up but they are serving much smaller fish and advertising it as large. We will be going back in a few weeks time to see if things have gone back to normal,if not I'll be having my money back. I don't mind paying whatever they want if they can get it back to how it used to be,they shouldn't be buying in smaller fish, advertising it as large and charging more. Us regulars will notice this. Get it right guys as you had probably the best fish and chips around.

Very pleasant venue, friendly staff and good food

Very good quality. The fish and chips were the best I have tried anywhere. Really good quality with the great atmosphere including the kids playground.

Best Battered Sausage in Bristol. Also do lush cod and chips.

Very tasty fish and chips. Wish there was an option to add more vinegar. There are no bottles on the counter. It was lovely to sit outside in the fresh air to eat them.

A really lovely place to visit on a warm day. Took a stroll around the lake/reservoir plenty of places to sit and rest. Wheelchair accessible including the path around the lake and public toilets. A cool playground for the kids and lots of wildlife to see.

Loved it. Food great. Have booked again.

Good food at a great location with friendly staff

Had dinner in the restaurant last night and the lads serving us were friendly, attentive and polite. The mussels were delicious.

Amazing food, chips are always cooked perfect and recommend the chip shop burger.

Lovely place to take a walk then have a bite to eat. Table service is great. Staff are lovely. Prices are very reasonable.

Delicious food on a lovely sunny evening, but very disappointed that on our last meal out together before our baby arrives, the staff messed our order up, didn't apologize after we received one of our meals 15 minutes after the other, and then when we went to pay and explained that this had happened and we'd had to eat separately, they just said "sorry it's probably because we're quite busy ... " Not really good enough.

This is a car park where you have to pay unfortunately machine was broke and you could only pay by app. We had coffee and cake coffee great coffee cake very dry Lovely view of chew valley lake

Nice fish and chip restaurant. Would have been nice to have a few more choices but the quality was very good.