The Varne Fish Bar in Shepway

Our all time favourite fish and chip shop! When we drive down from London and The Verne is our first stop.

My wife and I fancied a fish and chips lunch , it was Friday after all , and also fancied a drive to a beach . So after a Google search we set off from south east London to Greatstone and earmarked the Varne fish bar for the lunch , the reviews were very good . The reviews were not wrong . Very friendly staff and the fish and chips was delicious . The chips were perfect and the medium cod was filling enough coated in a lovely crispy batter and no skin to worry about . The large cod must be enormous . There’s a good choice on the menu if you fancy something else too . We shall definitely be visiting again . Thoroughly recommend.

Was staying at the Romney Sands holiday park for a 4 day break. Although I was a little disappointed that they were not open on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, I bought some food from here on Wednesday, and they were really good. They have also resisted putting up their prices, so they are good value also. Have been here several times throughout the years. **Update 12/6/2024** Back again for another break. Went there again and found that the food was really good again. Still the best in the area, and disappointed that I had to wait until Wednesday to experience their food. Prices have gone up, but they are still cheaper than the others in the area. **Update 11/09/2024** Back again for some more quality food, and it's still quite cheap. This time, there was a bit of a wait, probably down to their reputation, being very busy. They now have a system where you can either wait inside on one of the couches or wait in your car. They give you a tag that bleeps at you when your order is ready, so you can pick it up. I've never seen anything quite like it, but it does work, so I mustn't grumble. The only downside, which is beyond their control, is the number of roadworks just between the shop and the Romney Sands Holiday Camp. Will be back again!

Just had fish and chips it was absolutely beautiful. Never tasted fish and chips like it.Lovley white fish and plenty of it and the chips are lovely. Just the job with 2 pickled onions.Tried all the chip shops in this area and the Varne comes out head and shoulders above the rest.We will be back.

After experiencing our first fish and chip meal some months ago we enjoyed it so much we take regular drives out for more of the delicious fish and chips . No where else comes close ,we are about to pay a visit today Mmmmmmm my mouth is watering already 🤤😊

Very welcoming and friendly environment with good food.

Excellent fish and chips good prices

The worst curry sauce and chips I’ve ever had curry sauce taste of anything with greasy and awful and old

Absolutely exctatic to find a gluten free chip shop. My wife is gluten free and have never had one since she was diagnosed. Lovely and fresh food and very friendly service!

The best fish and chips iv had in a long while

The best chip shop in Kent. We drive 45 minutes to get here when we want fish and chips. Love it

Best fish and chips in Kent... cooked in beef dripping, well worth the 45 ninute drive. Super busy, but everything cooked to order.

The only issue is the service, if busy and you only want a sausage and chips to go and it’s sitting there cooked, then you have to wait your turn, ended up waiting 20 mins for the people wanting cooked fish.

We've tried almost all of the fish and chips shops from Folkestone to Dungeness and this is by far the best, lovely lady taking our order and excellent quality food. Ten out of ten.

Excellent food and value for money best fish n chips in area. Only place to eat fish n chip's. Staff lovely and friendly too

Best rock and chips in the area

A friendly fish and chip shop that does much more. Beef dripping cooked chip! Well worth a little detour but check to ensure it's open

We have fish n chips from the varne every week, best chippie by far, barry and Julie are really friendly nothings to much trouble. Generous portion size all freshly cooked worth the wait. Only chippie we use

The best food around, very good prices too and always fresh

Nice and polite staff. Food is cooked nicely every time me and my partner go ☺️

Best chippie in new romney in fact the only decent one We use this often and never been a problem,chips done in beef dripping are great,staff very friendly and prices are reasonable As said only decent chip shop around here as rest are really bad ,so I got one am grateful to the varne for good food Highly recommend to anyone

When travelling down from Oxford and holidaying in the Greatstone area, I always make a bee-line for this smashing fish & chip shop. Loads of food to choose from and last weekend’s large cod & plaice was excellent. Lovely light batter and brilliant chips too. Back later in the year for a week - see you then!!😋👍🏻

Excellent quality fish and chips and great value for money. We live nearby and have fish and chips from The Varne about once a week. The chips are always freshly and perfectly cooked, as are the fish, and both are generously portioned. Nothing is too much trouble - we always ask for our fish to be lightly battered, and Barry or any of the other staff who are cooking that day always succeed in getting the right amount of batter on the fish and cooking it to perfection. All staff give excellent service. Our thanks to all of you at The Varne

Best GF fish and chips around, yeah you may have to wait sometimes, but it’s because everyone gos there well done The Varne 👌

Haddock, and rock is always sooooo fresh… the chips are cooked to perfection, very friendly staff. Can call up and pre order your food.. does get very busy so sometimes bit of a queue. But always worth the wait.

My favourite fish and chip take out. Especially love the burgers and their festive boxes at Christmas are insane!

Best fish and chips around very happy with my rock and chips.

Lovely fish n chips as usual. Thank you

Great value for money especially OAP fish n chips

Was staying in Romney for a few days as was recommended this fish shop and I must say the food was so nice we went back the next evening

1st time trying this fish and chip shop would highly recommend, very friendly food was delicious

Friendly team and amazing foods.

Julie and Barry are the most hospitable, caring chip shop owners ever 👌 They’ll always serve their best and freshest products ❤️ They set their standards to the highest level and always with a warm welcome and a personal touch 🐟🍟🫘🍨 Top notch 👌

Just had lovely fish and chips from here while visiting the area. Husband liked his beef and onion pie. In fact, the chips tasted incredible! Super friendly staff too 👌👌

Great food . One of the best fish and chip shops

Excellent food. Warm and welcoming atmosphere and staff

Had a lovely dinner from here this evening. Loads of choice, best pasty from any shop I've had. Staff very helpful and friendly.

By far the worse chips ever ! Dry old chips with no flavour what so ever, not crispy or fluffy, wow such a disappointing experience and waste of £40, will definitely not be returning. If you get a chance please visit V C Jones in Whitstable as they know how to really cook chips in beef dripping..

Ok so I love eating at the Varne as I live close and love a chippy, but there was one issue. A couple of months ago me and my mum, brother and nan went to eat and the next day my nan started vomiting and we realised she developed food poisoning and had to take her home. She is okay now but won't ever eat battered prawns more usually

Absolutely lovley people great food

Well cooked and a good sized portion of chips

Another great take away lunch from the Varne today. Fish and chips for two of us and a sausage for the dog. Always worth a trio from Hastings. Excellent.

Been visiting this Fish and Chip over the last 50 years, greatvposition as you can walk to the beach and eat your food in relative peace and quiet.

Lovely, good sized, reasonably priced fresh piece of haddock and great chips. It's busy there for a reason, great food, service, staff and prices.

Excellent gluten free fish chips & curry sauce ! They couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful . Thank you , amazing fresh taste & chips to die for !

Amazing tasty fish and chips. Great choice. Very fresh fish and helpful staff. The jumbo sausage was so tasty.

Lovely fish and chips, staff was very nice. Well, it's worth the 4 mile round trip to pick it up! 👍

Had the most amazing fish and chips the staff was very friendly and so helpful I can’t recommend enough Thankyou

Rude. There are few tables. After we have ordered a fish and chips, we been told that we are not allowed to use a table as it’s for a different menu.

Just had another delicious meal at Varnes today. Crab cakes and Beef dripping chips for two, £15. We often visit here while on the coast. Genuinely exceptional food and friendly staff. They do change their opening times through the year, so check before you drive!

On recommendation we thought we would try it and now we would recommend it great fish & chips great service

Fish and chips how it should be! Great food all the time, and the chips are very special. You have to go to buy some to find out why they're soooo good. Lovely team serving who are never to busy to show their appreciation for your custom👌🏻💯

Large portions, great taste: good value for money!

Best fish and chips I've had in Kent.

Waited 25 minutes for chips sausage in batter and what was supposed to be a cornish pastie i was the man in a grey shirt no 7 was my order chips were not good or fresh i got a microwaved beef pasty looked anemic sausage in bater was ok staff not very friendly i stood there not once did they ingauge with me like it wont be long now i have been in hundreds of chippies in my time all i can say is this in the bottom 5 usell steer clear

I bought two large cod and chips and was delighted to see that their chips are cooked in beef dripping and also the prices are cheaper than other local fish and chip shops ! The menu was huge .service good and friendly but unfortunately when we got home and unwrapped our food we found the batter was flat and tasteless no where near as good as other chippies , and the chips had an odd taste and smelt funny not disgusting but certainly not nice, we thought maybe the dripping was old and needed changing? Anyway I hope we caught them on a bad and it is normally better than what we got ....but from me it's a no no ☹️

The best fish and chips and well priced. Very good service

Great food and prices. Lovely staff

Other than the wait fish was very good chips not so good some very small and of course hard but overall value for money.

Great chip shop, fantastic food and the prices are great, honestly use this place if your staying here, great selection of food and great sizes, recommended 100%

The food was delicious and value for money, the fish and the crab cake were delicious.

Lovely staff and food for our first time visit. My daughter and wife are both coeliac so we ordered both Gluten Free and regular Fish & Chips. Excellent food and excellent service, a busy place but definitely worth the wait.. Thanks, we'll definitely be back.

Lovely fish and chips the chips were cooked in beef dripping which made them that little bit better

Excellent fish and chips, always a lovely treat and plenty to eat.

Gluten Free food, just wow. What a difference it makes to have some where locally whilst on holiday to enjoy a fish and chip lunch. Lots of gluten free options and such friendly staff. Big portions and well worth every penny. Highly recommend

Friendly, helpful and lovely staff. Food and portion size amazing. Also do gluten free batter which meant my friend could eat fish and chips.

Great little chippy. Friendly owner who chatted to us in the local pub and told us about his place. They actually do gluten free fish and a few other items which is VERY rare! Fast service and reasonably priced.

Good fish and chips. Be prepared for a wait for them though.

Great service, great selection of food. The food was the best I have had from a chip shop in years! Definitely recommend.

Our son had the gluten free cod bites meal and ate every last bit. I had steak and kidney pie and chips with a battered sausage. When they are serving Korkers sausages you know they're going to be good. Next time we are in the area will probably choose The Varne Fish Bar for fish and chips.

The fish was cooked to perfection Very nice

Never had chips cooked in beef drippings, but all I can say WOW 👌

Moved to the area Feb 2022, so can honestly say for the last 18months the quality doesn’t change 10/10 every time … well cooked & fresh food. Staff are really friendly and efficient - nothing is too much trouble. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Very kind and welcoming team who arranged tables for us and our children even though it was only supposed to be takeaway. We have been holidaying in Wales, Devon, Cornwall and this was by far the best fish and chips out of about 6 chippies we visited. Having not lived in the UK for 12 years, was great to finally have a proper, quality fish and chip supper. You can tell they value maintain high standards 👍👍💪

Just moved to the area so tried varne on a recommendation. Great value fish and chips, friendly and helpful staff. Would recommend to anyone wanting good fish.

Delicious chips and lovely crisp batter on the sausage,chicken selection box was also very tasty,lots of gluten free options as well as thick shakes and dessert options,will definitely be returning to try more of the menu and the churro loops. Staff are very friendly, definitely the best chip shop in the area.

Absolutely delicious, think this has now won best chips for me and definitely best battered sausage. Great cooked to order food and you have an electronic order ready buzzer thing. Kids had the smoo thick shakes which they really enjoyed. Good value too , can't wait to go back.

Got take-away on a Thursday, loads of people waiting (always a good sign) 2 huge pieces of Rock/Huss & large chips. Fabulous the best fish and chips I’ve had in ages, also £6 cheaper than the place in Romney. I’ll be back soon.

Good fish and chips Decent prices Chips are cooked in beef dripping

Best fish and chip shop in new Romney/greatstone I have tried all the others and they are bad,sorry but they are however these guys do great food and always a friendly face when serving It may take longer as they cook fresh but it's defo worth it The chips are cooked in dripping(not this veg oil rubbish)so are very tasty A great selection of food to take away 100% recommend only shame is they are not open more days but i can live with that

Best on the Marsh by far defo be back soon

Second visit, fantastic service and most excellent fish and chips. Even delivered to our car over the road. Another visit 1/6/2023 great as usual and a sausage for my dog. Looking forward to visit number 4

We were on a family day out at Greatstone Beach and looking for fish and chip shop with seating. Absolutely brilliant luck on finding The Varne Fish Bar. The staff were lovely, the food was excellent freshly cooked Haddock and chips, about an hour before closing not sat in hot counters. Great little seating area, I was a kid at the beach again for a special treat. Roses on the tables and in my littleun’s eyes Mermaid cutlery. I could wax lyrical about little “Gem”, the sort of place we should treasure in an age of corporate blandness, but bottom line is an absolute beauty, go if you can and thank you., Chris.

Had an amazing burger at the varne well worth its value I had my own chilli jam I had and the was more than happy to top my burger up with it, so an idea for you. Great service great food

Really nice fresh chips, excellent service and really friendly owners would go there again and again

Amazing fish, the batter is so light and tasty, can’t recommend enough

Best fish and chips in Romney marsh, lovely and clean and great service from the owner’s. Me and the wife had large cod and chips and it was very large and freshly cooked superb quality, son had the Varne burger thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just had fish and chips from the varne, I can honestly say it’s the best I’ve ever had , crispy batter tasty chips great service ,don’t waste your money going anywhere else you won’t get better than here.

Very welcoming and friendly, even bring your order out to the car 😀 Food was nice and fresh.

Lovely meal. Liver and bacon is out of this world. Fish was also gorgeous and such generous portions. Thank you 😊

Great gluten free find - I saw this as a recommendation and contacted them to make sure a separate gluten free fryer, and received a very friendly reply confirming yes a separate fryer and every day - such a fantastic thing for a coeliac to hear ! All they ask is that we called ahead with our booking, which we were happy to do. Enjoyed a fabulous chip lunch at the seaside, gluten free battered sausages, gluten free fishcake, gluten free chicken goujons and gluten free fish - all amazing and served with a a friendly service. Great postbox topper outside too xxx

Won’t go anywhere else locally , best food , always adding new ideas to the menu , lovely staff :)

Had cod and chips on Friday and it was stunning. So good we came back and had it again Saturday :) One of the best chippies we have ever been too. Chips were cooked in beef dripping, which was an added bonus and food was cooked fresh whilst we waited. Just a shame it's 4 hours away from home :(

Always delicious fish and chips. Gluten free catered for. Friendly staff.

Such a pretty little place with some tables to eat in as well and so much on offer - the fish basket amazing…oh and the CHIPS!!!!!

Excellent selection of food, delicious crispy batter. Good value.

We were on a family break and decided to try after searching and reading some of the reviews. Our expectations were blown away. The fish n chips were fab, full of flavour, and so fresh. You get alot. Some of our party struggled to finish as there was so much. The staff that served us were so friendly and helpful. We certainly would visit again if in the area. Thankyou for a great meal. Paul

The best fish and chips we’ve had in a long time. Thanks very much!

Freshly cooked to order and pick up within 15 minutes

Really good and has good Gluten free options too.