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12 reviews about Pa's Fish Cafe
Had lunch here today and ordered from the menu. The King George whiting was nice and so were the crispy chips. Apparently the fish came fresh from Streaky Bay. The meal was not large but adequate for lunch. The staff friendly and the cafe clean. Tables looked out onto Encounter Bay which provided a nice view. busy with the older generation eating in.
The location of this cafe/fish n chip shop is brilliant as its across the road from the ocean, so depending on where you sit you can get sea views which is very appealing.
We discovered this place on the weekend (Easter break) after driving around Victor Harbor and finding no car park in sight, so we took a short drive and had lunch at Pa's.
After googling this place on my smartphone and having seen words to the effect "VOTED IN TOP 10 FISH & CHIPS IN SA BY THE ADVERTISER" - we thought let's try it.
well sorry it met below my expectations!! I certainly have had much better quality fish and chips both in Melbourne (my home town and in SA). I do not want to disrespect anyone, but everyone is entitled to their opinion!
Upon arriving it was very busy with patrons dining in and customers queuing for take away orders.
We found a table ourselves and then queued for about 10 minutes to place our order. Okay ... it was admittedly busy in the cafe and we had to wait about 30 minutes for our fish and chip pack to arrive to our table.
We ordered a pack to share between hubby and I (sorry forgot the name of the pack), but it consisted of a smallish piece of butter fish, 2 calamari, 2 scallops, 2 prawns, chips, lemon wedge and tartar sauce.
Sure the fish itself underneath the oily crispy batter was delicious, (well i just took off the batter and ate the fish fillet, as the batter was not that nice in my opinion).
The chips were okay, bit too greasy for my liking (maybe its the choice of oil used?) The batter and crumbing on the scallops and calamari was a bit excessive and cooked too brown for my personal liking.
We ate our meal but were not overly impressed as being by the ocean, our expectations and hopes that we would have a delicious fish n chip meal.
Disappointing to say that there was a few flies in the dining area which was a bit annoying and concerning, I expect the obligatory flies when you eat outside during summer, but not inside a restaurant/cafe premises.
they don't sound very appealing, bad service, not a very good meal and you had to find yourself a table. at least there were good views of the ocean.
Hi MazB35, thanks for the detail, which is always appreciated. The Advertiser? Hardly a trusted source for foodies however it does make one wonder how the business in question secured such status. We doubt that a â??forty minuteâ?? wait is consistent with offering a great level of service, unless your visit occurred during a peak period. Eg. Dinnertime on a Friday night. Although slightly more expensive (and time consuming), an exceptional batter (crispy and light) can be achieved by using beaten egg whites. Let us know if you would like the recipe? Delicious! In relation to the overt greasiness, this is usually caused by the oil not being adequately heated prior to immersion. As for the overcooked seafood, there is no excuse, as â??freshâ?? seafood should always be treated with respect! (We personally believe that the reason why so many people are loath to consume calamari is because they have had a prior â??negativeâ?? experience, usually relating to it being overcooked, which gives it an unpalatable â??dryâ?? and â??chewyâ?? texture.) Thank you kindly for the heads-up! Regards, Reeces
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