The Lemon Plaice in East Devon - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Basil Fawlty of chip shops. And that's where the comedy ends, or is it! Although we live in Axminster we usually go to Chard or Seaton for take aways as they are generally better and will continue to do so when we opt for fish and chips. We placed our order for 1 X small cod and chips and 1 X regular cod and chips, waited patiently for 20 minutes and witnessed the almost laughable service unfold. Total chaos os the name of the game in this chip shop, the order being prepared ahead of ours raised some concerns when a piece of fish that was being picked up with bare hands fell apart in to 5-6 pieces and looked quite inedible once the server had finished with it, however she proceeded to place the fish in with the chips and box it up totally unbeknown to the customer who was waiting outside. Then the confusion and chaos stepped up a notch as all 4 of the serving staff became totally confused with my simple order, namely over the piece of fish on display in the serving cabinet and at this stage each of the serving staff picked the piece of fish up with their bare hands trying to determine the weight of it and therefore whether it was a regular or small cod. I raised my concerns and suggested that if there is confusion over safe food handling and my order that I would take refund and leave. At this point the male server became rather aggressive constantly stating his hands were clean, even though he appeared to be the chap who collected the raw fish from the kitchen before frying it. his aggression became elevated as I continued to raise my concerns over food hygiene, to the point he told us to take our refund , watch my attitude and get out. If the owners of this establishment read this I would seriously advise recruiting some experienced management before your current staff run your business in to the ground.

Always superb food and the staff have a great camaraderie. We loved going there and the friers had good banter with customers and staff alike.

Seriously need to train your staff. It is embarrassing how useless they are.

Worst Customer Service Ever!! Even though I am local, I haven’t used this place for a while due to poor service last time. I had been up since 5am so decided to give it a go and pick up some food on my way home. When I arrived and there were possibly 6 people already waiting for their food, so not too busy. It took at least five minutes for me to be acknowledged which wasn’t too much of an issue. I ordered 1 cod and chips, so nothing too difficult. The customers already waiting started to receive their orders and it became apparent that another lady had not been served either. So they took her order as well some time later. Then there was a shortage of chips so us three remaining customers waited for them. No bother as they would at least be fresh. At that point I heard one of the servers ask the cook if she had a medium cod and she replied no. I didn’t think anything about it at the time as it could have been a phone order. At this point I had been waiting for over 40 Mins! Then the server packaged up the food for the customer who ordered long after I had. I continued to wait and another customer caught my eye and asked if I had a massive order to which I replied no. I asked the girls behind the counter if there was a problem and one of them said the fish wasn’t ready. I asked how that could be the case after being there over 40 mins and she replied that she wasn’t asked for it. Mistakes happen and I am fine with that, but I politely suggested that it would have been nice to have been told rather than just left waiting. The lady then replied, “well I don’t know how long you have been there” in a very defensive and abrupt way. I was in a bright red shirt standing at the front counter in her view for over 40 mins. Her comments were really poor and the other server didn’t own up at all. I asked for a refund and picked some food up in minutes down the road. I don’t leave negative reviews normally, but this has boiled my blood. Don’t waste your time, go to Seaton where the food is better and the service is 400% quicker and better. I could have driven to Seaton, ordered my food, returned home and eaten my dinner in the time I was in Lemon Plaice and I still didn’t get any food there. Such a shame as I am sure it would quite a good place if it had some organisation and staff with manners.

Fish cake and chips last night Fish lovely But the chips unable to eat I think that they are double cooked very upset ruined the meal

Popped to the chippy after a very busy day at work. Although they were busy, I was met by a lovely girl who took my order and listened to my special request. I also had a lovely chat with Ella, who was cooking my food. My food was freshly cooked and tasted delicious. Very fully and very happy.

Delicious fish & chips. We adked for small chips and got a generous portion . We had turned up late and the lovely staff opened the restaurant for us and were lovely. We'll definitely be coming back.

I had fish and chips for the first time in absolute ages, I now wish I didn't bother, waited 35 mins, ordered medium cod and chips, ended up very little fish loads of over cooked batter, and just 33 chips , of which half were over cooked rock hard and inedible, avoid absolute rip off 😡

Repeat customers when holidaying in the area, great fish and chips and big portions too. Staff are always friendly and efficient.

Usually eat from here when visiting family and it's usually really nice but our food last night was absolutely revolting. Put a phone order in for collection at a set time only to silll be waiting 40 mins later (might I add some of my food was sat in the hotplate waiting to be wrapped so it had been sat there a good while) then when most of it was wrapped there wasn't enough chips so the food had to sit for another 10 mins on the counter waiting. The cook was obviously not coping with the amount of food needing to be cooked, our food consisted of over cooked cod, undercooked chips and most of it was cold may as well ripped up a £50 note and threw it away. But I will add it wasn't the normal cook we usually have..

I can't believe your prices 11 pounds for a cod and 6 pound for a large chips the quality of you food isn't good enough to be charging these prices and even if there were 17 pounds for a large cod and chips? Really

Don't bother absolutely rip off food absolutely terrible chips well more like a handful of 3 DAY RUBBISH

Beautifully cooked, nicely wrapped, good price. Lots to choose from if you don't fancy fish Will be back

Very good, very tasty fish and chips, also good value.

As a local I have used this chippy a lot ..but tonight I have probably had the worst bit of fish I have ever had .. large cod ..... tiny fish in 90% rock hard better so greasy I have been sick it has even caused a argument between me and the wife because I would have thrown it back at them terrible can't believe how bad it was ..not sure if we will ever use again wife just said it was £20.90p now I am even more upset

The best fish n chips we have had in a long time. Freshly cooked, as on holiday we ate “in”which was clean and tidy. The staff are so friendly and couldn’t do enough. Regarding the price, yes probably a little expensive but certainly got what we paid for and what is cheap nowadays.

Large portion of chips £6! My jaw hit the floor. Other seaside towns have large portions at the going rate of £4.50. For our local town and it being half term seems really to much of a stretch. I voiced my concerns and got attitude from their fb page, the two girls behind the hill were full of attitude too. Such a shame, I really started enjoying the food here again but standards have dropped. The roof also is leaking and looks like it may cave in at any point.

Lovely fish and chips. Little bit of a wait but then that's freshness guaranteed. The portions are massive so while it looks expensive it's well worth it. They do an oap special as well and the dining area is now open. Highly recommended

I gave a terrible review in 2018, but have been several times in last year or so. Medium cod cooked perfectly, moist with nice crispy batter. All cooked to order now, wait time of 10 mins but well worth it!

First and last time visiting here. After looking at the menu online I thought that’s good value so decided to pick up dinner for the family on the way home. When entering the premises I noticed the post it notes covering all the prices with a steep rise. However, with today’s climate, gave them the benefit of the doubt. I wish I hadn’t. Total lack of communication between staff which meant wrong food items being paired up in boxes. Paying £8 for what I can only say resembled a fish finger, that was covered in that much grease that the bottom of the box it came in disintegrated before I even got home. The chips undercooked and again swimming in grease, which was handy as they could baste themselves as I had to finish cooking them in the oven. We all persevered and found that everything that was battered left a bitter rancid taste in the mouth so after a valiant effort by all, gave up and threw it in the bin. I think that will be the most expensive food waste caddy I will ever put out for collection.

Very good fish and chips! Little more expensive but still good.

Good service but the worst pie and chips ever.

Good fish and chips, friendly staff

Fab chips, & lovely staff! Easy to park in the car park over the road. Our first visit and only for chips this time but will be back.

awful service got half our order wrong and missed out 3 portions of chips

Ordered 9 meals over the phone. A very clear conversation. Only 4 meals we collected were correct. 4 x cod and chips didn't have any chips! The plain burger had cheese and salad. Once we were home and realised how much was incorrect I called, no answer so couldn't resolve and a few of us are still hungry. Terrible service. We'll go to Colyton next time.

Loved it!!! We had Burgers chips + cod and chips fed all four of us for under 40 quid with some to spare and was really tasty ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Delicious Cod and Chips. Very generous portions considering we ordered the medium! The fish was juicy and freshly cooked and the batter light and crisp. The plentiful portion of hot chips were fabulous. The chap who served us was very friendly too. I’m not sure what all those negative reviews are about! 🤷‍♀️ Definitely recommend this plaice 😉 You won’t be disappointed 👌

chips are lovely - however super expensive and the large is somewhere else’s small. two chips and a drink came to just under £15. slow service. two stars because of how unbelievably expensive it is

Slow service. Filthy uniforms. Polite staff. Fish was very heavy with batter. Portions great. From a value perspective not bad but pre order ask for lightly battered and ignore the dirty uniforms.

Service was a shambles, the poor girl at the front was run off her feet. So much so that an employee who came in for food of her own ended up jumping in and serving! The prices are outrageous for what you get and the time you have to wait for your food. We waited 35 minutes. The curry sauce was in the tiniest little tub and at £1.75 you’d expect more than two tablespoons of it. The cod was super chunky and tasty but apart from that, not worth the money. A shame because they have the monopoly of the area but very underwhelming.

Terrible service and ridiculously expensive. £6 for a large chips and £11 for a large cod is daylight robbery. The 30 minute wait was also rubbish

The food is good like most times depending on who is cooking but very happy

Bought some sausage, chips and burger here last night and apart from me and my partner being hammered from too much alcohol the food was great. Apologies to the staff if we were talking like washing machines.

Great staff, lovely lady owner 😉 great business model, yummy F&C and burgers to die for next Door!

Happy with everything chips were lovely would use again.

Probably the worst fish and chips I have ever had, they came by recommendation, I chose haddock, most fish and chip shops cook it well you wait, the fish was so soaked in fat , and even the fish in side the batter was saturated with fat, just warm chips shivered up, chuck it all in the bin

I saw the cod freshly cooked which was encouraging but the chips were obviously a sad result of the remnants sitting in the tray for ages. Shame as if he had cooked fresh chips I would have given a decent review.

Absolutely disgusting food, chips where burnt and just vile

Food was ok, but unfortunately it was served by someone with hands as dirty as a coal miners, a bit off putting.

Fast, friendly and fresh. What more could you want

Absolute awful customer service , i was the only female amongst appx 10 male and not all came in the place before me, I waited half hour and the last one to be served. The owner seemed to think it was funny , I didn’t and would never recommend to anyone.

Excellent fish & chips , nice staff shall be a regular customer 😋

Quite possibly the best fish and chips I've ever had. The owner and staff are really friendly too. It gets a bit busy at the weekend but that's largely due to the great food, so well worth the wait! I highly recommend this plaice.

The Lemon Plaice is a rip off. I am a Tourist in the area. Paid for large cod, small cod, large chips , 2 mushy peas and a ketchup and wanted salt and vinegar on them. Got back to our hotel. No mushy peas, no Ketchup and no salt and vinegar at £23 for that. Don't go!

We come every year for my birthday, for the last 10+ years, and it never disappoints. Owner is lovely, and so is her team. Can't wait to be back in Axminster for another portion of gigantic chips and delicious fish

Great friendly staff lovely fish and chips will definitely come again Thank 🐪xx

Very nice fish’n’chips. Service with a wide smile and quick as well. Will use them again if I will have a way around again. No picture as I starved as hell and smash all straight away!

Great food and friendly staff. Will be visiting again.

Very fresh Cooked fresh in front of you. Good sized portions. Thank you Lemon Place for your hard work keeping us fed !!!

Took a while to find whilst on holiday but very tasty

Fish was fresh but overcooked and chips a bit on the thin side although plenty of them. I've had better from there.

Horrendous service. Came in with only two other people in the shop, but took 30 minutes to get a cod and chips.

The staff are very friendly and the food was lovely. Would highly recommend visiting for lunch or tea if your in Axminster

Me and my partner was in Axminster and ended up following our noises as the smell was amazing and the food was not a disappointment plus lovely staff

Travelled fifty miles to this attractive looking chip shop today. The sausage appeared underdone and when asked would I like salt and vinegar I replied yes lots please which she didn't do resulting in dry and unseasoned lunches. It was nearly 1 45pm the girls were probably busily thinking of finishing up and she would have forgot to give me the drinks I paid for if I hadn't reminded her.

Very expensive. Average quality.

It's overpriced AND portions are ridiculously small and inconsistent. The regular chips and large chips had the same amount, both had less than half a box of chips in, and the quality wasn't great. I would sooner drive an hour away just for some chips before going back here.

Very busy Great hardworking staff Would definitely recommend

My fiancé ordered some fish and chips from here last night and I asked for chips & cheese with cod, I noticed that the fish came in a box but the cheesy chips didn't, I personally think it should of been the other way around because it just looked so messy, there was barely any cheese on it and if there was it was stuck the paper anyway, I didn't really want to sit there picking paper out of my dinner especially after the prices aswell, just a waste!!! 2 ⭐'s because the fish was amazing but the rest let it down

Quality service 5 star lovely people very friendly beautiful food

Great local chippy, very friendly staff. Always good food

Orders cooked to order so my fish was piping hot with nice moist flakes and right amount of batter. Chips nice size and nicely cooked through. Happy with that! Also open to 8.30pm which is a much better time.

Good food and friendly people; prices a bit high, could do with more burger options like chilli topping. Nowhere to wait in bad weather but food is generally cooked within 10-15 minutes with several pubs to choose from while waiting. Probably go there once a month on average.

Lovely staff.Friendly and helpful. The fish was cooked fresh for us so we had to wait a short while but it was well worth the wait. Enjoyed the meal no end. Highly recommended

Usually delicious food and friendly staff. Seems to have gone a bit downhill this summer mostly I'm guessing, from the new young staff. Kinds rude staff and smaller portions. One day a couple of months ago I turned up 15-20 mins before close just after some chips, and was told they had turned everything off and weren't serving, so that totally ruined dinner. Hopefully these are just temporary problems but it has put me off going as it's been worse each time. Edit: I've been back recently and it was really great, generous portion and lovely staff, so I hopefully take it back.

This has happened so many times, called up placed a order they say a time we go down to get the food and not ready to be picked up. So had to wait 20 more minutes again after they taken my money. Poor organisation need to sort staffing out.

Food is nice. Service is slow and the amount of food is not worth the price they charge. I had medium cod and the fish looked like a child's portion. 2 meals came to more than £20. I'm not sure I'll be returning for those prices. Better chip shops in surrounding town.

Good service, got an order for every Saturday for the in laws, food is freshly cooked and very tasty

Great Chip shop and excellent young ladies with great customer TLC..

Brilliant, delicious food and excellent service, staff so polite .

I thought the fish was good. It was not greasy and it had crisp batter. The chips were not greasy, but I got the impression they were not as freshly cooked as the fish.

Food was ok, found it expensive for the size of portions (very stingy!) Greasy and all stuck to the wrapping paper. Not sure I would return.

Make sure you check your order and you are happy to wait approximately 30 to 40 minutes for your order. I was refunded my order after complaining.

It's a fish and chips. So you know what your getting. Very respectable, better than a lot of fish and chip in the area.

Beware at 2030 a large portion of chips turns into a small portion !!!!!! ..... Very disappointed probably will not return here

Fantastic chips, even does battered Mars Bars!

On way home from Bridport and were looking for a good fish and chip shop. We were not disappointed. If we are near Axminster again will definitely having fish and chips again👍😄

Probably one of the worst fish and chips I've had, overcooked fish in a puddle of old cooking fat. My wife was actually I'll after eating some of the food. Give it a wide berth.

We passed through Axminister on a day out at the sea and decided to purchase fish and chips, the fish was extremely oily and the chips were all squashed together in a mash, the worst fish and chips ever.

Sadly times, and staff change things. I wrote a review a few years ago, when I had nothing but praise for this takeaway. How different today's experience was. I had set up a regular order for plaice, and chips, for a very elderly couple, after week two, I was told they had no record of that. I decided to phone the order in weekly, to insure the food was ready for collection on their behalf. Some six, or so weeks later, I am told today, by a rather surly young lady, that they don't accept lunchtime orders over the phone. I pointed out, I had been phoning my order through for many weeks. The response was we are busy, and you'll have to come in. Rude, and discourteous, and leaving a vulnerable couple without their food order. Time to take our trade somewhere else I feel. So unprofessional. Very disappointing!

Always takes a long time to prepare food there's no reason to take so long even if you preorder expect a 20 minute wait past you preorder time often rushed and undercooked chips and the staff has poor hygiene

Great local chippe becoming a semi regular haunt since moving to the area

Finally found a fish shop that sells Rock. It was reasonably priced and well cooked. Will definitely use again.

Freshly cooked, lovely fish and chips, staff were extremely friendly too

A hot bank holiday Monday and our preferred go to chippy in Seaton was closed, so we opted to go inland for our evening tea. Easy to find, but with a long queue to order, and then an even longer time to wait for it. The team were working hard but seemed overwhelmed by the volume of orders and were clearly trying to work through a backlog.Fortunately when arrived our order was hot enough to be still warm enough having travelled back to Seaton to eat. Chips and sausages were delicious but my wife and son weren't overly impressed with the batter on their cod. We still are as much as we could but disappointeďly couldn't eat the final layer of chips as they'd all become stuck to the wrapping paper.A decent meal for a decent price but not sure I'd go again.

Had to wait ages!! Food tasted ....well let's say not good at all! It was like the chips were from lunch time....battered sausages were awful and after that they still forgot my curry sauce!!!! Won't be going back

Very slow service and hardly any fish inside the batter!!

These guys obviously don't care about their reputation. I phoned up to collect, turned up on time and was greeted rudely and then told to wait outside for it to be wrapped up (waited a further 10 minutes). I got the food home and what a disappointment, I had 2 standard cod when one was supposed to be large, batter was soggy and there was so much oil the bottom of the box ripped when I picked it up. We ordered a large chips and the amount we were given was less than a standard, it filled half a box and sadly wasn't enough to share. Me and my family regularly use this fish and chip shop but it's gone completely down hill which is shame. We won't be going here again.

These guys obviously don't care about their reputation. I phoned up to collect, turned up on time and was greeted rudely and then told to wait outside for it to be wrapped up (waited a further 10 minutes). I got the food home and what a disappointment, I had 2 standard cod when one was supposed to be large, batter was soggy and there was so much oil the bottom of the box ripped when I picked it up. We ordered a large chips and the amount we were given was less than a standard, it filled half a box and sadly wasn't enough to share. Me and my family regularly use this fish and chip shop but it's gone completely down hill which is shame. We won't be going here again.

Great service good fish and chips.

Awesome local chippy with great staff and service

Real decent fish and chips, never a bad meal and staff are lovely

Freshly cooked food....well worth the wait, cod was delicious. Social distancing organised, Thank you

The service is very good the staff very friendly, the quality of the food is excellent, although i live in devon, i still travel a distance to come here and i can assure you, its well worth the visit.

The service is quick and the fish is delicious 😋 😋 😋

Fish and chips hot and really tasty. I really enjoyed my dinner. Lovely staff. Would definitely recommend lemon plaice.

Great chippy, and dealing with the restrictions with good humour and efficiency

I quite often use this fish and chip shop when I down that way but went in this week and the chips wasn't there usual standard the fish was good but I ended up chucking the chips away

Fish portions small. Old oil used to fry! You smell it in the shop and the fish and chips are not golden but more brown. It doesn’t matter if you pre- order or queue you still have to wait 30 minutes...you would think this was a good sign ...don’t be fooled! Won’t be using these again unless they improve there food.