Bankers Restaurant

I’d heard great things about Bankers, unfortunately my experience wasn’t so.
The staff were moody — though I do feel bad as it was a miserable rainy day, so I don’t blame them! But we were left sopping wet at the door, if it wasn’t so wet outside we may have left and gone else where. My cousin also wanted to try famous Brighton Fish & chips on her last day.
We ordered the standard portion of fish and chips which was MASSIVE (thats a good thing!) and some mushy peas. The chips were great! I love fish and chip chips! Sadly, the mushy peas were cold and very very bland, to the point I probably put a bucket of salt in them!
I was expecting a deliciously fresh fillet of cod, unfortunately it was definitely not fresh at all. I ate a tiny bit of it, didn’t want to make a fuss so, politely asked to take it away and put it in the bin outside!
I will go back for the chips though.

Fish was ⁸⁄₁₀ – the breading was great. Chips ⁶⁄₁₀. Curry sauce ⁵⁄₁₀
One thing I didn’t realize right away is that the prices are different on two sides of the restaurant. Cod and chips are 6.50 on one side, 10.50 on the other. Curry sauce is 1.35 at the takeaway counter, but 1.65 at a table on the other side of a short barrier (too expensive for a bit of sauce in either case). There’s a small park with benches across the street if you get takeaway. If you want ketchup, ask someone on the dining side to hand you a squeeze bottle, and squirt some on the side, unless you want to pay for the little packets.

Bankers is awesome! It’s the place to take visitors from around Britain and from abroad. It oozes all that is best about old fashioned English food. They serve tea with the main course, they serve brown bread and butter, they have a platter with prawn cocktail and smoked mackerel pâté, they offer a special seniors meal for £5.95 (Cod, chips, mushy peas and a cup of tea or coffee). The servers have been there for ever. The fish is always fresh, the batter is crispy, the chips are fat and the right mixture of squishy and crispy. Bankers is never disappointing!

Good chips, crispy fish batter, and staff friendly. Only ate in the takeaway bit, and the service could have been a little quicker, but the food was of a good quality and not overly pricey.

Had the fish and calamari here today witch made me ill !!!
I would change the name to xxxxkers not bankers

The fish is fairly good, nice and crispy but oh my. The chips are the worst kind, soggy, oily and just not vey appetizing. So I only buy fish and mushy pea every time I go and I do agree that service is very poor indeed.

Have generally found this to be the best fish+chip restaurant in Brighton. For take-​aways, it is slightly over-​priced, though. Nice range of fish & extras on the menu not normally found in ‘run of the mill’ fish+chip places.

Two visits, two dodgy stomachs. Certainly not fresh fish. Be careful.

Awful quality service and dreadful chips!
This place has gone downhill dramatically in recent years.
I don’t go into Bankers that often as the quality of their chips is not that great and are usually far too greasy and taste like greasy re-​heated chips.
But today (Saturday 10^th July 2011), I was craving a bag of chips, so decided to pop in. I was greeted by Ms. Misery herself the most miserable of counter staff i have had the misfortune to encounter in recent years! She has a face like a wet dishcloth!
So I ordered my chips and what arrived looked like an undersized portion So i politely asked if she could top up the portion as it looked under What I got was a rude and miserable reply No I can’t If you want more chips then you have to buy a large portion! How f’ing unhelpful it would have been no skin of her arse to chuck a few more chips on top.
Absolutely disgusted by this service I voted with my feet and asked for my money back and left.
I will never set foot inside this place again. Well done Bankers you have just lost yourself another customer.
Avoid.

I was told that fish and chips and the seaside go hand-​in-​hand in Brighton, so when in Rome…
I ordered a medium fish and chips for takeaway. I couldn’t get over how big of a bag I was carrying down to the seafront. The cod was cooked quite well and I devoured the entire platter. I’m glad I got takeaway, though, since the restaurant looks it leaves a lot to be desired.

One of the best fish and chips places in the world.
Service is just lovely.
It lost 1 star because food quality declined since my first visit.

Having taken a taxi ride up to Bardsley’s, after hearing raving reviews from everyone, only to find it CLOSED — we went to the next best thing.
Bankers is a traditional chippie and a half, with a takeaway counter, and a restaurant that literally hasn’t changed since the 70s.
The plastic laminated menu is packed with fresh fish and classics like mushy peas, whitebait and pickled onions. I’d been craving scampi for days, so went for that. It came out with *proper* chip-​shop chips (thick and still with the skin on), and I piled on the salt & vinegar.
For £8 a head, it’s not the cheapest chippie, but the food was great and the fish fresh as you like. Michelle had the aforementioned whitebait, which she said was gorgeous (though I didn’t try as it’s not for me).
You don’t go somewhere like this for classy table service, you go for the fish, and this was great quality through and through. I might be inclined to just order from the takeaway counter and sit outside or on the seafront next time though…

Over the years Bankers has become a bit of a Brighton institution, as its fresh, traditional fish dinners provide sustenance for many local regulars. Not surprisingly Brighton is full of fish restaurants, ranging from the premium, silver service places down to the greasy, seafront places. Bankers sits in the middle of this scale, being neither outstanding nor terrible. It does simple fish and chips using fresh ingredients and cooked without too much grease. You aren’t going to get mugged but don’t expect Michelin star quality.

When ever I have friends from abroad who have never visited Brighton or never eaten fish and chips, I always bring them here as in 10 years I’ve never had a bad meal.
I’m a bit fussy and can’t stand eating take away food on the move so love the fact you can sit in a nice, clean restaurant (which could do with some more subtle lighting) to enjoy my food. The fish here really is fresh and the portions are perfectly sized. The Haddock is fantastic as is the huss.
I also love the fact that the place is licensed — I don’t want to drink a can of fizzy pop with a nice piece of fish, I want a large glass of white wine — which here you get a reasonably good selection at affordable prices.
Its definitely worth walking away from the over-​crowded, over-​priced seafront places to enjoy fish and chips here.

Seasides and fish and chips usually go hand in hand. Unfortunately, Brighton seems to have more than it’s fair share of terrible fish and chip shops. There’s ones near the sea-​front I wouldn’t dream of stepping in, let alone ordering from, the smell of bleach is so over-​powering.
Luckily, Bankers is one of the few fish and chip shops that seem to be consistently good. Sometimes, even very good. It sells small, medium and large cod, haddock, plaice, scampi, calamari and fish cakes. If you’re ordering from the take-​away, they have a permanent special offer of haddock and chips for £4.99 and there’s a constant stream of customers from lunch-​time til closing time.
If you’re worried how long the fish has been sat there though, here’s a tip — ask for one lightly fried and they’ll cook you one fresh. The restaurant is okay but I’d recommend heading to the beach with your fish and chips in paper. They’ll taste much better when you’re looking at the ocean.

I’ve struggled recently with trying to be consistent in my relative Unilocal reviews. How do you rank a chip shop and then 5 minutes later, rank a 5-​star restaurant? I think the only way to do this is to be consistent in upholding the question «How does this place perform for WHAT IT IS?» Banker’s is a chip shop. And for what it is, it’s a damn good one.
The fish itself here is fresh, and thankfully not overly greasy. It is fried in a medium batter– not too light, but not so heavy that all you taste is the batter. The chips were good, although perhaps they could have been a bit crispier. And the mushy peas were great.
Banker’s will never be a Michelin star restaurant, and for those of us who enjoy a tasty fish & chips at the beach, we can be thankful for that. For what it is, Banker’s scores high marks.

Really large fish and chip restaurant in the centre of Brighton. Also has a traditional take away service if you prefer this.
I always find it disappointing that despite being a seaside town Brighton has such awful fish and chip shops. Bankers is by no means the worse (and is in fact one of the better ones) but still doensn’t do anything that will blow you away.
Menu is traditional. Prices are a little on the high side. I’ve been there a couple of times on larger work do’s and the service is questionable. Portions tend to be on the small size.
I wouldn’t dismiss it — but equally I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there.

This place wasn’t as good as I was told it would be. Its a bit over priced so you’d expect the quality to be higher than your average fish & chips place but in my opinion they charge more because they are on western road and the place itself looks quite posh, not because the food tastes better.

One of the better fish and chip options in Brighton — there are far too many tourist orientated stores which serve what seem like poor value and over-​rated food.
Bankers is not in the center of Brighton, you can either take a bit of a stroll or opt for the bus (I felt the stroll was not too strenuous so it was fine — helped to work up the appetite too).
The general atmosphere and service in this restaurant was great too, the staff took time to recommend items on the menu and even mentioned what was fresh for the day — a very nice personal touch!

This Large Fish and Chip restaurant and Take away is close to Norfolk Square and about 10 minutes walk from Churchill Square Shopping centre. It is not in the most salubrious of areas but is a good choice for Fish and Chips in Brighton away from the seafront. The Fish is actually very good but the Chips can be quite disappointing. What we enjoy most is the Deep Fried Brie and Cranberry with Freshly baked Baguette. In fact we just had 2 portions of that with side salads and a bowl of chips the last time and we were made most welcome to do that. Service is welcoming, a nice looking property, used to be a Bank, with friezes (?) on the wall depicting seaside scenes I think. Not the greatest Fish and Chips but certainly superior to the more touristy establishments. A good choice if you are in Central brighton