Pelican Fish & Chips

Someone from this business manages this listing.

645 reviews

#1 of 2 Restaurants in Sticklepath££ - £££, Seafood, Fast food, British

+44 1271 345605+ Add website

Hours

Mon

12:00 - 20:30

Tue

12:00 - 20:30

Wed

12:00 - 20:30

Thu

12:00 - 20:30

Fri

12:00 - 21:00

Sat

12:00 - 21:00

Improve this listing

What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

4.5

645 reviews

#1 of 2 Restaurants in Sticklepath

Travellers' Choice 2023

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Local cuisine, Seafood, Fast food, British, Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options

“Service with a smile & excellent fish & chips perfect”

“Lightest crisper batter on cod ever.”

“There was a good choice on the menu although we all plumped for cod or haddock.”

Special Occasion Dining, Groups

“We have been to North Devon for our honeymoon, over the Christmas period.”

Location and contact

1 Oakland Park, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2BZ England

+44 1271 345605

Improve this listing

Can a vegan person get a good meal at this restaurant?

Yes

Unsure

Details

Manage this business?

About

Number 1 in the UK! Passionate about the food we serve, we are very proud to hold the award for the Best Fish and Chip Restaurant 2018 and voted one of the UK TOP 10 Fish and Chip restaurants by Fry Magazine! MSC certified and holders of the NFFF Quality award we also gained a gold award from Taste of the West for the local sourcing of our ingredients. Family run and family friendly with hospitable and knowledgable staff, great menu choices at value for money prices we offer top notch fish and chips in a stylish contemporary setting. A warm welcome awaits!

CUISINES

Seafood, Fast food, British

Special Diets

Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options, Gluten Free Options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner

FEATURES

Takeout, Reservations, Seating, Parking Available, Validated Parking, Free off-street parking, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Accepts American Express, Accepts Mastercard, Accepts Visa, Free Wifi, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service

Contribute

Write a review Upload a photo Ask a question

We perform checks on reviews.

Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews

Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.

When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.

Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.

Learn more about our review moderation.

4.5

645 reviews

Excellent

433

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Patricia2709

Bideford368 contributions

Always hits the spot for us.

Feb 2020 • couples

Great friendly and efficient staff even when really busy, THE BEST fish & chips with wonderful light and non greasy batter, with proper chips. The grilled Skate wing catch of the day was cooked perfectly too. We have to stop ourselves from returning too often! 😋

Written 16 February 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

xtinac1988

Leicester96 contributions

Not quite “award winning”

Aug 2020 • couples

For the “award winning” fish and chips we were expecting, we were a little disappointed, however, the fish was lovely and it all had clearly been cooked to order. Due to the indoor seating being closed currently, we ate ours at the back, on the picnic benches. I think the ketchup sachets could be changed as they are way too small and customers should be asked how much salt and vinegar they would like as we would have preferred much more.

Written 20 August 2020

Louise J

Fazeley11 contributions

Enough wrapping for 10 portions

Mar 2021 • couples

On arriving the lovely girl taking the orders was extremely organized and polite. Noticeably every time a customer had used the card machine and left her station she throughly wiped the machine and the table, and sanitized her hands. I did tell her it was the first time I had seen this done to this standard ‘ever’ huge well done to her. The ordering and conveyor system did seem to run very efficiently. Had a little bit of a wait as ordered 2 x mini fish, chips and curry and they were cooked to order. Perhaps mention this when ordering as frustrating standing in a queue and the people who’s orders were taken after you got their food before me. Strangely the chips were wrapped in 2 sheets of paper each and both fish were also wrapped in 2 sheets separately AND the curry sauces were also wrapped in 2 sheets. So in total for 2 mini fish, chips and curry sauce. A total 10 sheets of paper used....at one point it felt like we were playing pass the parcel trying to open and eat our food. Once we did ope it all I can honestly say one of the best fish and chips we have ever tasted, fresh and crispy fish and damn good chips. As a suggestion tho you could supply bigger forks as was impossible to eat the fish with the small forks. All in all well worth a visit x

Written 25 March 2021

belindabeese

Barnstaple22 contributions

Hair in curry sauce

Oct 2020 • family

Had take away fish and chips and curry sauce from there 2 weeks ago using the click and collect service. When we arrived home we poured curry sauce over the fish and chips only to find that there was a dark short curly hair in it. Unfortunately our dinner then went straight in the bin I contacted the pelican by email the same evening and did not get a response for nearly a week. They apologised and offered no refund. I contacted them again and asked for a refund but nearly a week later, and still no response. Normally we love going there for fish and chips but customer service is very poor. We will not be going again.

Written 25 October 2020

MartinLittle2013

United Kingdom37 contributions

BEST FISH AND CHIPS EVER!

Oct 2021 • none

WOW WOW WOW! We are locals so we tried the fish and chips from here 'OH MY GOD' they are brilliant. The quality of the fish is less than a day old from catch, yes i can tell i am an ex-fishmonger! Chips are made in house and freshly made each day! light batter awesome we used to go to Squires in Braunton but they are overpriced and very greasy. We are regulars one a week and by the way Pelican are 2018 winners for their Fish and Chips in the UK... You must go you will not be dissappointed!

Written 12 October 2021

Graham T

Winsford147 contributions

2nd Fish and chip take away

Sept 2020 • none

Firstly let me say that we visited Squires at Braunton which compared to The Pelican was overpriced and not as good. We ordered online to collect at a certain time and sure enough it was there piping hot and ready for us as soon as we arrived (unlike Squires). Not much else I can add other than to say making comparisons between the two, the food is better, slightly larger portion and also slightly cheaper. Win, win, win!

Written 12 October 2020

Mike P

Wendover80 contributions

Make sure you book

Aug 2021 • none

Really excellent Fish and Chips which were certainly one of the best we have ever tasted. The restaurant itself is of a very high standard and the staff are very professional. Even the take away service was very popular with people queuing for food.

Written 9 August 2021

Darren F

20 contributions

Very disappointed first visit

Apr 2022 • family

We waited nearly 30 mins until we got our drinks after having to wave down a very unfriendly girl 20 mins after we sat down to order our meal and drinks. The same girl just dumped tray on our table with our drinks without a word, so we had to take them off ourselves. My wife's curry came out cold and the same girl came over - no manners whatsoever and didn't apologise for the cold curry. Just took it back never told us what she was going to do about it. Mine and mums cod and chips was v nice. We are not snobs and have worked in the catering/ pub business in the past so we know how to serve and deal with customers. We don't expect silver service but we do expect some sort of good service when they are taking our hard earned cash. We won't be coming back.

Written 2 April 2022

W B

London24 contributions

Restaurant great, takeaway not so good.

Aug 2021 • family

We normally dine in the restaurant as its always excellent, but this year decide to order takeaway. The booking system and COVID controls were managed excellently and picking up our takeaway felt very safe, even though clearly busy. The fish and chips was mediocre. Fish was over cooked and tepid, clearly been hanging around for a while. Chips were under cooked, I'd say they can't keep up with volume required. We fed back our thoughts directly but the second time of ordering it was the same. Fingers crossed next year we will feel comfortable dining in the restaurant and it will be back to its best.

Written 30 August 2021

John W

1 contribution

Not As Good As It Used To Be

May 2022 • solo

Been for a few click and collect take aways recently. Prices are still reasonable but the quality of the food, although good, is a bit short of the standard back when they were winning national awards. The chips could do with a bit more care between rumbling and frying (removal of eyes and residual peel) and the batter can, on a occasions be undercooked and soggy That aside, still a nice meal. The real issue that needs addressing is the fact that customers are still kept outside to order and wait for their food which is fine in the dry but no fish and chips for me when it's raining This is the reason this is not a 2 star review. We are now supposed to be living with Covid, not running away from it. Despite this approach, no staff are wearing PPE, and there is no evidence of any regular hand cleaning taking place, making cross contamination still possible. Add to this the restaurant being packed with no evidence of social diatance surely this is just an attempt to be seen to be doing something. It is certainly confusing. My advice is to use click and collect as the food is ready at the correct time and always nice and hot. If the batter issue and access problems were not present, this would have got 4 stars, if the chips had been up to the old standard it would have been 5. Finally, the staff are amazing and are doing a great job given the additional and, in my view, unnecessary extra pressure they are expected to work under

Written 5 May 2022

joyinthesun1

Woolacombe12 contributions

Treat for my granddaughter

Aug 2021 • family

My granddaughter had been really good so I offered to take her out for her tea. She chose The Pelican. I wasn't that hungry and asked for the fish and chips from the kids menu. The waitress said they have the same on the main menu. When I looked I saw she was right, mini cod and chips but the price was £7.95. Thinking it would be bigger , I said I really only wanted a very small meal. She told me, No, it was the same. On the kiddies menu you can get the mini cod, chips, side of peas, beans or salad, pudding and a drink for £5.95. I told the waitress I would have it from the kiddies menu. She did take my order but really didn't seem happy about it. Why?? Why can't I order from the kiddies menu just because I'm an adult?

Written 14 August 2021

Steve W

2 contributions

Poor service

Nov 2021 • none

Used the take away for years but on Thursday evening, just before 6pm myself and wife went for our normal order and queued for apps 10 minutes, no order to the queued and several people pushed in front of us. Got to the front of queue only to be told they were not taking anymore takeaway orders leaving us flabbergasted and literally disgusted with the manner in which this happened. No apology just shrug of shoulders. Very dissapointed and will not be using them again . One disappointed regular customer lost .

Written 13 November 2021

J&A

Ilfracombe9 contributions

Spontaneous visit made our evening … thank you!!

May 2021 • couples

We were passing through Barnstaple on a Monday evening and decided to stop for a bag of fish and chips. The restaurant looked so inviting we decided to eat in. It was reasonably busy and we were shown to a table for 2 in a nice location. The restaurant was clean, light and airy. The staff were extremely attentive and very polite. The service was outstanding. Our food was excellent. The fish was large with light and crispy batter. The chips were cooked to perfection. We were even offered a top up of chips but didn’t need any as the portions are very filling. We will definitely return and recommend to all of our friends. We noticed a lot of the staff were very young ( under 20 ) and yet seemed very experienced and natural with all the customers. You have a team to be proud of. Thank you everybody for making our evening. John & Abi

Written 11 July 2021

Kellie P

Cheltenham83 contributions

Would return but would choose differently

Sept 2021 • family

Great service, flakey fish, but both the batter and fish was tasteless. Curry sauce was way too thick too. Rather disappointing. Also very short staffed so trying to get attention to get more chips/water was quite hard. Would go back but maybe to choose something different.

Written 21 September 2021

Sumax

Bideford46 contributions

A must

Oct 2021 • family

We had a visit to the pelican, with family from Birmingham. We were told by friends the best fish and chips in North Devon and we weren't disappointed. Our only mistake we didn't book, but the staff said come back in 40 mins. Lovely clean spacious restaurant. They also do takeaway. There was so much to choose from on the menu. We ordered cod and chips with fresh peas, a splash burger which was a fillet of cod in a bun with chips, a salmon and prawn salad and salmon and cajun spices with chips. A bottle of rose' wine and a pint of beer and a sparkling water. The food was excellent nothing was left. We also had a sweet, banoffi pie and cream, sticky toffe pudding and cream and 2 scoops of ice cream. The presentation and taste was a delight. The whole bill was only £71. If you are in the area you must investigate. Its not far from barnstaple Town. We are definitely going again. Excellent

Written 19 October 2021

…

Showing results 1-15 of 644

Best nearby

We rank these hotels, restaurants, and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.

Best nearby hotels

See all