Watford, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “Great fish ’n’ chips” are the hallmark of the Andreou family's fixture (also with a Bushey Heath offshoot) which marked its thirtieth birthday with an expansion not too long ago. Nowadays, they do gluten-free Mondays too.

2024 Review: “The fish is always fresh and the staff are friendly” at this “good local fish ’n’ chip place” that has been a fixture in Finchley for three decades. “Best fish and chips in London?” – probably not, but just what you want in your neighbourhood.

This family-run chippy in Finchley Central is known for its “reliable food” and is “very busy at weekends”. Founded in 1998, its menu features Turkish small plates alongside a choice of fish delivered fresh from Grimsby.

A photo of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s visit is “proudly displayed on the wall” of this Muswell Hill institution, and fans say “the best player ever to pick up a snooker cue is bang-on with his choice of North London fish restaurant!”, acclaiming “fish ’n chips that goes down a treat”, and has done for more than half a century. It was sold by its family owners in March 2024 to a national group with plans to spin it out as a brand – fingers crossed its appeal survives!

Simon & Jacinta Bradley’s “reliable neighbourhood restaurant” near Swiss Cottage station is one of the capital’s stalwart local champions, offering an unfailing combination of “well-presented dishes, friendly service and well chosen wines” for 32 years and counting. “Rarely busy at lunchtime”, it’s also a “very useful pre-theatre restaurant” for those heading to the Hampstead Theatre around the corner. Ratings, though, remain capped by those who view it as “a venue that’s convenient but dull”.

2024 Review: This modern fish ’n’ chip shop in Dartmouth Park is “a nice, healthy (and non-smelly) alternative” to the classic old-school chippy, with “good-quality” fresh fish.

First-time guests are “massively surprised” to find “really inventive and tasty cooking” – especially “seafood with a twist” – at this family-run Crouch End local. It’s a “lovely, romantic spot”, too – although “it can feel cramped and noisy when busy”.

Tom Conran’s lively Bayswater favourite celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and remains “a wonderful spot for a long lunch, starting with Guinness and oysters”. There has been no need to update the Irish pub theme, which is as fashionable as ever (as witnessed in the recent launch of The Devonshire off Piccadilly Circus). The artless cooking is “foodie” but straightforward, with seafood (oysters, whelks, cockles, crab or a pint-of-prawns) the top pick. Top Tip – tiny, cute first-floor dining room, with a separate menu.

“Watch the barges and ducks slip by as you eat a decent dinner” at this “lovely location on the canal” in Little Venice. It’s a “romantic choice” without doubt, especially in the summer, and a reasonably gourmet one too, praised in particular for its “well-prepared fish”.

2021 Review: Mussels, prawns, calamari and other seafood by the, er, bucket-load is the promise at this “lovely local” yearling on the Bayswater/Notting Hill border – a “comfortable” modern bistro with simple-but-effective decor, serving “a wide selection of very fresh fish and seafood” (in small metal pails) that’s “very good value”. Top Tip – oyster happy hour 4pm-7pm weekdays and 4pm-6pm on weekends, when oysters are £1 each with any bottle, jug, cocktail or bucket of beers.

“Very good pizzas” are the pick of the broad Italian menu (also with seafood on display) at this Notting Hill Gate fixture, where the best seats in summer are on the large outside terrace. With a “great family atmosphere”, it’s “very much a local restaurant, and all the better for that!”.

“Just love this authentic busy Chinese!” – Since 1978, this “bustling” linchpin of Queensway has won a huge following and is a “favourite Chinese” for many Londoners. Despite its grungy, ’70s-tastic interior and brusque service, it’s actually known for high-quality seafood: in particular, lobster and noodles with ginger. That said, its ratings were more middling this year, on the back of some who say “the positivity this resto attracts continues to puzzle me”; or who find dishes “solid but uninspiring”. Top Menu Tip – “We always eat exactly the same things: salt and pepper asparagus, lobster with ginger and spring onions, Peking duck, chicken with dry chilli and ginger… because they’re so damned delicious; and fantastic value!”

2024 Review: “A wonderful display of fresh fish on ice” (“including the biggest scallops with the coral attached”) greets diners arriving at this “unique Italian” in a quiet corner of Kensington, whose “cooking is precise with a light touch”.

“The food is always good” at the Marylebone flagship of the Royal China group, while the “well-spaced tables, attractive presentation and attentive service” contribute to a somewhat more stately atmosphere than at other branches. It is, though, “pricey”: “it feels like the same food as Royal China but costing 30% more”.

“You know that you’ll get a decent meal” at these “unpretentious” ‘Fishmongers & Restaurants’ in Covent Garden, Marylebone and off Piccadilly, where you can buy retail from the wet counter or proceed to eat in at the adjoining dining room. “A wide variety of fish and seafood can be cooked to your specification” and “it’s the perfect place for some nice, simple cooking”. Any drawbacks? The food is “good but rather unimaginative”; “ambience is a little lacking; and the service level is not as good as could be”.

A “brilliant location on the Thames” near Barnes Bridge can’t mask the reality that this venue from the high-profile TV chef “doesn’t live up to his reputation”. Some reporters do hail it as a “go-to” for “imaginative” fish cooking, but for far too many diners it’s “living on the Stein name” with “overpriced” food that “lacks edge” and whose “relatively high score for ambience only truly applies if you get one of the tables by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river (fabulous on a nice day)”. In summer 2024, it was announced that the family are seeking a central London site for the brand – to cut the mustard in the West End it will need to be a step up from this one.

This “cosy and welcoming Marylebone” wine-bar/restaurant from sommelier Xavier Rousset is “perfect for an unrushed evening”, combining “charming service” and a menu of “excellent Mediterranean (mostly Italian) dishes done really well” with a “specialist Rhone wine list that’s a real treat”.