The Food Shop in Harlow

Had this once got food poisoning never again. What Chinese shop is a fish n chips shop too

Portion too small to worth the price ! I would post the picture of it but It does not let me do it...

We ate fish & chips, we got a very large fish, which was very well prepared, the meat was soft and crumbly. The fries were also delicious. We will come back another time.

If you want chippy, go elsewhere tbh, also the Chinese is very poor. Special chow mein just dumped with a load of soy sauce, absolutely swimming in it.

Used to be my fave Chinese for years. Was very disappointed with yesterdays dinner. Gave us icky belly’s.

I've ordered from the shop for years and always have delicious food. what made it extra special is the wonderful delivery driver turned up dressed as santa and gave the kids a present each. how thoughtful! couldn't recommend more. x

Ordered a special chow mein, it was almost all noodles with a very very little else. Chow mein had a weird dirty flavour. Nothing special about it. Rib portion was laughable and they were dry as a bone no pun intended. My wife's fish and chips were awful also. One to AVOID!!!!

I order regularly sometimes chips/Chinese. Either meal is enjoyable. Portion sizes are good. You must have cash to order.

Always good customer service & good quality food. we are a fussy family and love every plain and have a few veggies etc and they always get it right! Been going here since I was a kid and i’m 22 now! Defo recommend :)

This shop use to do really nice food , but unfortunately it don't look or taste like proper Chinese food anymore , I gave it another go after about 8 months to see if it had improved, No No No see pic this was supposed to be Singapore rice noodles looks more like chopsui with veg and bamboo shoots and it's so bland :((

We ordered the other day the girl that took out order sounded like she didn’t know what she was doing, took ages for her to sort our order out and when it turned up it was wrong but as it take too long to reorder we just ate it, then next day my wife was I’ll with possible food poisoning , there food has gone down hill so bad now, will not be ordering food from there anymore , wouldn’t recommend one bit , there are other Chinese restaurants in Harlow witch are much better than this place, food is mostly always over cooked over spiced like they don’t know how to cook , was a great place years ago but now it’s a disgusting place to buy from ,LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!!

Very horrible chow mein tonight. Chucked 3 lots straight in the bin

Amazing place, just wish they took card payments :)

I can’t believe in the year 2023 they still only take cash. They must lose a lot of business cos not everyone carries cash.

Decent food, good portions consistently. Staff are always in a panic. Annoyingly they ask for my name & telephone number every time i do a collection order. even though im on there system.

They changed the food. Curry sauce that used to be best in harlow is now unrecognisably disgusting. Chips taste like cardboard. You get 4 ribs instead of 5 or 6. Crispy beef tastes of garlic. Everything has gone so downhill its disgraceful.

PLEASE BE WARNED ABOUT THIS PLACE. DANGEROUS AND CARELESS!!!! I HAVE ORDERED FROM THIS PLACE A FEW TIMES NOW WITH NO PROBLEM UNTILL TONIGHT WHEN I BITIN TO A SMALL PEACE OF GLASS. I RANG THEM STRAIGHT AWAY CAlMLY AND EXPLAINED THE SITUATION THEY SAID THEY WOULD GET SOMEONE OUT WITH A REFUND AND TO COLLECT THE LEFT OVER FOOD AND THE PEACE OF GLASS THAT WAS IN THE FOOD WITH A REFUND AN HOUR LATER THE SAME DRIVER RETURNED WITHOUT EVEN BRINGING THE REFUND. AND WHEN I CALLED BACK I AGAIN CARMLY BUT FIRMLY TOLD THEM THAT I TOLD TAT I COULD NOT BELIVE YOU HAVE SENT THE DRIVER BACK WITHOUT THE MONEY SHE SAID WE WILL BRING IT TO YOU TOMORROW I REPLIED IM STILL HUNGRY HER REPLY WAS "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT YOU COULD HAVE MADE TOUR SELF SOMETHING EAT" AND WHEN I REPLIED "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO YOU SHOULD HAVE SENT THE MONEY BACK WITH THE DRIVER AND IM NOW GOING TO LEAVE A REVIEW AND MAKE SURE THE PICTURE GOES ON SOCIAL MEDIA" HER REPLY WAS "I DEAL WITH DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS LIKE YOU ALL THE TIME AND BE CAREFULL WHAT YOU SAY." WHICH TO ME IS A THREAT I REFUSED MY REFUND!! THAT PEACE OF GLASS COULD HAVE ENDED UP IN A YOUNG CHILDS MOUTH. SO ORCER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The kitchen uses too much vinegar far too overpowering ruins the enjoyment smells strong taste strong. They use too much garlic in their food overpowering and raw Orders are always wrong, however the staff are always happy to rectify quickly.

Usually use this establishment for Chinese takeaway food only which has always been good and has always been ready for collection after ordering by phone. Fish and chips are an option. Cash only payments and a large free car park immediately outside.

In two day they put the price up by 1£ very disappointed

Lovely food apart from long dark hair in my chicken balls

Best Chinese food in town by far

Never disappoints ! Ordered an F2 as a solo diner, tonight, it was perfect, very hot, cooked to perfection and tasty! Really hit the spot. I have ordered a variety of set menus from The Food Shop in the past and I can report it’s one of the best Chinese takeaways in town. Not on the usual apps but that’s not a bad thing… Would highly recommend.

It’s always a delight to order a takeaway from the food shop. They always get the order right and the food is delicious. The best in Harlow

Ordered for this evening a chicken Chop Suey and I have to say the chicken looks like Salmon and absolutely no taste just tasteless and well over priced I stick to the new Harlow at Maddox Road cheaper and much better food

Ordered food, which was told would take an hour, phoned after an hour to be told the driver had already left, half hour later still no food. Order was cancelled. Poor service

Food was delicious, quickly prepared and lovely presented. I asked about a vegan option that staff were very helpful and there are vegan options available. Mushroom chow Neón was made with fresh mushrooms and was delicious. Generous portions and a big bag of prawn crackers provided. I would highly recommend this takeaway and will be visiting again

Been using these for over 10 years initially ok. Today served us hard fatty chicken and hard rice. Called to complain and they wasn't at all botherd offered no solution will definitely not not use again. Will now find another place for a Chinese.

Do not order prawn toast. It is like the prawns shell and all have been crushed and made into prawn toast. They could do with shelling the prawns first 🤷🏼‍♀️ Apart from that , everything else was delicious!

I have just received a delivery that I placed this evening and 1 of the dishes have come wrong, ordered special chow main and received special fried rice. called back to advise one of the dishes have been sent out wrong only to be told do not eat the special fried rice we will send out the special chow main but it will be min of 30min wait along with an additional 90p charge and that there's nothing else that they can do. I let them know that I order from there at least twice a month and now because of an inconvenience caused by sending out an incorrect dish you want me to wait 30mins and also charge me an extra 90p to which she said yes. I advised that this would be the last time that I would order from them to which they did not care. I then advise them to pick up the special fried rice and refund my money for the dish. I am currently waiting for the dish to be collected. This has cost them £4.50 to collect a dish and my repeat custom when they could have just said were really sorry we will send out the correct dish. To add insult to injury the chicken in the chicken curry was slimy and cold which was not eaten and the fried rice was clumped together like boiled rice. Very disappointed with the customer service as this was a regular place that we ordered from. It will be zenz in old Harlow from now on.

Myself and my partner have ordered from a few places in Harlow and have to admit this is the best for Chinese!! Have some trouble with the delivery drivers every now and then but when don’t you lol overall a good place

Drenched in Grease. Such a shame the chow mein was nice but this is disgusting. Please AVOID. Won’t give you another Penny!

The food was cold and very old. The servers took money and wrapped my food with the same gloves. With Covid 19 they should change gloves or have one person taking the money and one person serving. Money has so many germs. The shop will not do card transactions???

My aunt treated my partner and I to Chinese as we have going through a rough time, we also had had Chinese for a good 2 years. We have never had food from here before but we both thoroughly enjoyed our food! Will definitely get food from there again!

250 times I have called and no answer at all ? Happens all the time I call the place up . I am not happy at all

They forget parts of your order a lot of the time, They brake the law by not accepting card payments

Just brought fish and chips for the family , cost me £29.10 and it was the most disappointing fish and chips I have the misfortune to ever eat. Chips were dry , fish obviously had been kept warm from lunch time , batter was hard and crispy and the fish was dry and chewy . I will never use them again , and advise any of my friends to never use them . Total waste of my money. 😡😡😡😡

Outstanding! Polite and friendly customer service. Mouthwatering food. Great deliver service. My favourite take away and now my regular. I recommend you try it!

Looks nice inside and plenty of staff, the Chinese I ordered was tasteless and the service was slow, waited 40 minutes standing outside and they couldn't be bothered to apologise to their customers for waiting.

The best Chinese for sure! Very good chips too!

The food is quite good nice and hot

Just picked a takeaway up and got home and put it on the plates give my husband he’s food and there was 3 big long heirs in it and I rang them up and told them about it they asked did I want to reorder it no I don’t because I won’t be eating from there again they need to be closed down rotten do not eat from here !!!!

really nice Chinese food and also does fish and chips here

If I could give a zero rating i would! Absolutely disgusting food, chips were brown and covered in a greasy/oily residue, Savaloy skin was dry like paper, Sausage in batter burnt. Definitely the worst food I've ever had from a takeaway.

They do battered hamburgers just saying.

I cannot believe the state of the food , absolute crap service especially from the older Chinese lady if I could give 0 stars I would never go again food taste disgusting ...

I've tried so many meals from the food shop and never had any issues. Good food and friendly staff :) 5 stars from me!

Horrible food I ordered the Yankee burger and it was disgusting and poor quality Last time I go there!!!

Ordered 2 currys 1 chicken dish 3 rice Last week 1 rice did not turn up. Then today 1 curry 1 rice no show. Took 20 mins to get through to see what had happened to rest of ordered Told us we did not order it and can get another out. But charging us again and could have discount for inconvenience. We have already paid. Support local. No won't be ordering again. If the staff listened and paid attention. You would of got it right

I have been using this takeaway for a few years now, only because it's local! The people taking your money aren't friendly, they just take your money and then look behind for the next customer. If you go there on a busy day check your order, my orders have been, on many occasions, wrong, and the orders weren't that big. My main complaint is consistency with the taste of the food. From the changing taste of the soups (which is normally ok) but never the same from week to week, to...if you can believe it! The taste of the curry sauce. If you order boiled rice make sure it's not to eat alone, as on many occasions mine wasn't very moist, sometimes it's dry and sometimes a little hard. Their chips! Order a large potion if you want a sensible amount of proper size chips. If you order regular chips about half the potion will be small, off cuts and hard bits. They have only once given me free prawn crackers (unlike others I've tried who are happy to do this) for placing a large order, but this one off was on top of the potion I had already ordered and paid for! I didn't need two potions! Their prices are a bit above other Chinese takeaways I've tried in Harlow, but then, I believe they've raised them three times this year. Finally... Don't bother complaining to the boss about anything! I wanted to complain a couple of times but he won't come out from the kitchen! He just waves and I believe is saying "I'm too busy to talk"! I wouldn't recommend this takeaway to my friends, but I will still frequent it, because I can get to it without using my car.

I was a regular customer, how ever last week I order chilli beef and chips with curry sauce and chicken balls, was very nice until I choked on a staple,, yes a metal staple was in my food....

Can be hit or miss in terms of greasiness of food

Food excellent,little cock up with order but soon rectified by them, thanks great food and very hot and tasty

Often have takeaway Chicken or Sausages and Chips lovely portions

What a fantastic Chinese as usual delivered in quick time, food still really hot, and flavours and meat consistency amazing, thankyou

Oh my God it was better than usual, not only food arrived so quickly but hot and full of flavour, thank you so much

Looks like a very nice Chinese takeaway which also doubles as a fish and chip shop. We enjoyed two fish and chips meals and a pie and chips. Nice portion of chips, lovely fish, pie etc. It's an easy 4 stars, will revisit but can't comment on the Chinese side of the business but no reason to be concerned. Good control measures, cash only. Outside could be an issue for the young.

Hard to find an actual chip mostly all dry crispy end bit. Some people might like that, but I ordered a portion of chips. Savaloy was even dryer than the chips. Overall very disappointed, will not go again.

The worst chips ever seen ,a big pile of greasy mash .took them back and they blamed the potato .so it appears it is fine to sell you low quality chips providing you don't complain .freshly cooked cod but not fresh fish very dry.I will not be returning to the food shop for any takeaway again.they did refund money for chips.

First off all I have had two different experiences with the food shop in Harlow, one being the Chinese and another being a take away battered sausage and chips with a curry sauce.Firstly the Chinese, we rung up on our way to collect and I clearly stated my order and the girl who took it read it back and all was correct.My partner went in to collect and we noticed one of our dishes was missing which wasn’t good, we did check to see if we had been charged and we hadn’t and didn’t want to wait for the dish to be cooked as the other food would have gone cold. So we weren’t to impressed! When we got back the food was not up to scratch! Would not return! Secondly I decided to give the place another go as I thought it could have been a one off, this time I went to order a small battered sausage (only one size) as I got bluntly told the same with the chips where I was again bluntly told only a small or a large,and a curry sauce! I was charged £5.70! This is a crazy price! The chips and curry sauce were fine but the battered sausage was dry! It would have been nice if the staff were friendly as they weren’t in this case! NOT RETURNING!!!!!

Paid £43 including £5 delivery! 2 dishes came wrong and in order to get correct order 30 minutes later they wanted the 2 dishes back! So no idea who received our food next.. the food we did get that was correct certainly wasn’t worth it. used a couple times but after all this won’t be using again.

Need a day off work order f I'm here friendly staff butter you up take ya cash ( tax avoid) give you good poisoning in a bag

Friendly staff doesn't make up for food poisoning and three days off work because raw poultry

Ordered from here last night and got food poisoning from the satay chicken ,disgusting you could serve raw chicken , 2nd time in two weeks. I will be taking action

Food was an hour late the duck was overcooked it wasfreezing cold what a waste of £27 In the circumstances 👎🏼

Beef and Ginger with added beans and vegetables enjoyable lockdown. Stay at home

Cannot trust a "cash only" takeaway, tax avoider #HMRC.

This is the worst Chinese food I have come across in my entire life. The Beef Udon was just pieces of beef and boiled udon noodles sitting in this horrible sweet sauce, noway was this wok fried. Same for the prawns Udon. No garlic, no soy sauce, nothing! Totally bland and Both only half filled. I had to throw everything in a colander, wash all that horrible sauce off, and wok fry it with onions, garlic, ginger, white pepper, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and someChilli paste. Salt and pepper ribs was absolutely bland! Battered soggy ribs with bits of spring onions. Had to remake that as well with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, 5 spice, chillies. Will never buy from there again

Just spent £33 on Chinese food and it was bland I'm so angry it is the worst Chinese takeaway ive ever had. If it wasn't getting to late for my son to eat I would of taken it all back I will never order from here again.

Always a friendly face, good food, recommend

No meat on there ribs charge £5.50 For a bag of bones tonight and my prawn chowmeine was burnt. there menu has got so bad almost everytime I'm ordering its not concistant anymore we did like it here, now we are eating alot of salt lately...why the salty Chinese ?? the portions have got tiny for the price we are now paying Dont bother to get a pancake roll i made em come collect it last time as nearly needed a crain to collect it . I asked if they would eat it as they are totaly inedible. My reply no they dont eat the chinese.?? its massive and like concrete they have also removed all the ingredients from them. Cheap and nasty flavours where's the quality gone in the food and flavour of your food it's got so bad Liberty for a £30 meal making it the last time.

Very overpriced and they also charge £1 for delivery. Also, the prices online are incorrect. (They seem to put up their prices every 6 months). Giving 2 stars as the delivery girl was nice and friendly.

CASH ONLY. NO RECEIPT for paying the cash, after asking several times. Average to poor food on this occasion.

Sorry to say the Chinese food we had from The Food Shop at Staple Tye in Harlow was very bland & tasteless, & the sweet & Sour sauce that we can buy in a supermarket has a much better taste to it.We thought we’d get a Chinese takeaway in for our Anniversary dinner but sadly this takeaway is one that we won’t be visiting again as our Chinese meal tasted as though it had just been reheated & wasn’t that hot at all.It’s a real shame but we couldn’t recommend the Chinese food from here.

Good Chinese food at a reasonable price and nice friendly people serving

Pretty good but pricey. That is understandable given the prime location and they staff are always pretty fast and friendly. I'd suggest lowering the chip prices, just the chip prices. Everyone knows the price for a kilo of taters so everyone can see the markup. £2.60 for a bag of chips just makes you look greedy. That mean spiritedness makes me say I'll just go home and make my own dinner 9 times out of 10.

our food arrived in about 45 minutes piping hot very well cooked and delicious will certainly use again

Absolute favourite Singapore Vermicelli noodles - The best!😋

Terrific! Our go-to fast food place.

Super food. Always tastes great. Staff polite and efficient. Shame no card machine.

Good quality food, fast service

Fish is fresh and very flavourful and chips are made well. Chinese food is also very good - particularly the king sized pancake roll. Lovely staff as well!

I've been coming here for years, right back to when Blockbuster were next door! I've honestly never had a bad experience, and I always find the staff polite and welcoming. Just be aware they only take cash.

Wouldn’t recommend, much better takeaways that offer value for money in Harlow Town. Also there is extra £2 for delivery which is not mentioned on the flyer

Good Chinese takeaway and traditional fish and chips. Black bean sauce dishes I really like. Cash only though, no cards.

We've not had a real problem with the food here until our last order. We did a big order for the family and by the time we got home we noticed that they'd put double of my partners meal in our bag instead of my order. Not wanting to drive all the way back I reluctantly ate the second portion of my partners order only to find it was swimming in grease and almost tasteless. Needless to say it ended up in the bin and we haven't returned.

Had a beef curry from here last night and it had little bits of metal in it.

Our food this time from here was amazing, dishes were cooked perfectly and we had asked for alterations to our dishes, when it was delivered within 35 minutes it was lovely and hot.little bit dearer but well worth the extra couple of quid.

Great Chinese and the fish and chips is high quality too! Always fresh and always busy. Really great service too

Something has gon so wrong with this place , it's been awful for the past 4 months or so , never use it again

Very good takeaway....I recommend anyone to try it and disagree

I ordered a rather simple meal which included pancakes rolls. When I got home after collecting my food I was sorely disappointed to find my pancake rolls were absolutely gigantic mounds of battered, soggy mess. I have never had a pancake roll which has been dipped in batter (like you’d get on a fish super) and then fried until it resembles a brick. I tried to bite into it but it was rock hard, which I hurt my tooth so I had to crack it open. Inside wasn’t much better.....the actual pancake was raw and soggy and the filling was a watery, tasteless mush.All in all, the rest of the food was ok but I definitely don’t recommend anyone to get the sorry excuse for “Pancake Rolls”; a greasy, heavy, tasteless and STRANGE food option. I almost felt like it was a joke/mistake that it was battered because surely nobody likes these?!

I had the veg chow mein, mange tout and garlic and toffee banana. Best Chinese I've had in ages and toffee banana was hard and hot as it should be!

Watched one on the men in there sneeze on thet food then carry on serving a customer GROSS!!!!

Spot on Chinese best in Harlow curry is awsome service fantastic food in genaral is spot on

Been customers for years , a couple of times they have forgotten bits but they would get them to us fast . Last week they gave us just plain boiled rice which we did order with duck and chicken curry . We called the they said the curry would take 30 mins to get to us ? The duck had already been eaten . I was disappointed we did order a small amount I asked for a refund on the curry I must say won’t order again

we ordered a Chinese from here for family and the order came to £55, we had our own duck and pancakes which we cooked at home and asked if they could sell us the spring onion and cucumber accompaniment. When we went to pick up our order they said that they could not sell us this without the duck even though they said they would on the telephone - very disappointed - not good customer service - will not be returning!!!

Food is really oily ,over cooked and clearly cooked from frozen. I was told one price when I ordered over the phone but then when I paid I was then told it was more said this is not what I was told and person behind counter that's fine don't have the food then so said can you give my monies back to me only to be told you ordered it and have to pay for it . So had to paid the extra .

take away chinese food very nice and can get very busy, but avoid the chips, the worst I’ve ever tasted.

Always enjoy food here, nice fresh fish and chips. Also the best Chinese food around. Well worth visiting