I had known about The Plaice ever since moving to town a few years ago, and since I like fish and…read morechips (and puns), I've been meaning to check it out. But since it's nearly a kilometre from the nearest bus stop, I had to go sometime when I had a car. As it happens, last night, I had the car, the time, and the hungries, so off we went.
Given the name, I would have expected fish to form a more prominent proportion of the menu, but there were a couple of choices. We both ordered the fish and chips, and, since I was really hungry, I ordered the potato skins, too. And we both ordered chocolate milk. (Okay, granted, maybe not the most common of beverages, but that's what we were both in the mood for.)
Our server brought the chocolate milks first, and apologised that they had just run out of milk, so there wasn't enough for a full glass each. (Yes, they mix their own chocolate milk, instead of buying the already mixed stuff. Extra points there.)
Then she brought the potato skins. I used to work in a place that sold potato skins. They used to scoop out most of the inside of the potato, and then threw it out. They didn't use it to make mashed potatoes, or potato salad, or anything. I liked the skins fine, but that waste bothered me. At The Plaice, the "potato skins" are basically baked potatoes cut in half. They do seem to scoop out a little bit before adding the cheese and bacon, but even if they don't repurpose what they scoop out, there's a lot less waste. (And they use real bacon, not bacon bits.) The "skins" were very nice, and already I was willing to forgive them for a less than brimming glass of chocolate milk.
Then, another server brought the fish and chips. (Our server had disappeared. We didn't know if she had gone on break, or finished her shift, or what.) The fish was terrific. The batter was perfect, like Troll's on a good day. The chips were cut fresh, not frozen out of a bag. (I'm really beginning to appreciate that. They're so much better that way.) The little scoop of coleslaw was also of the better grade.
I asked for a ginger ale, and my sweetie asked for root beer.
When we had nearly finished eating, our first server appeared again, and told us that she had just gone out to get more milk, and asked if we would like some more chocolate milk. I was impressed. I suppose they needed milk anyway, since it was fairly early in the evening, but it was still better service than I was expecting.
So I'm giving them five stars, but this is only provisional. Clearly, it's imperative that we return as frequently as possible to make sure that this very impressive meal wasn't a fluke. It's the very least we can do for our fellow Yelpers.
