Pablo’s Of Blackpool

Dear, oh dear. Why did I not read the Unilocal review and warn the rest of my group?
On a recent trip to Blackpool, a few of us fancied a nice Fish and Chip lunch on the seafront. After walking along the promenade for a short period, we came across Pablo’s. As we were hungry the consensus was that we would eat here. I quickly looked it up on Unilocal,to see a big 1 star review glaring back of me. I mentioned this to the group, but was outvoted, so we decided to venture in. I decided not to read the review until after I had eaten.
Pablo’s was pretty basic looking fish and chip shop. It was about half full, so seemed pretty popular. We all went for the Pablo’s special, which was cod, chips, mushy peas, bread and butter, plus a mug of tea, all for £6.95. Bargain!
I have to say, that the meal tasted good, and I could not complain about the value.
Shortly after we started eating the screaming children started. There were three family groups, spread around the place, but seemed to know each other. The children screamed, moving between the tables, with the parents oblivious. Of course our table happened to be in the middle of the action.
A man at the front of the building, that had obviously had some liquid refreshments before dining started swearing loudly. A lady at another table shouted at him saying ‘Do you mind, I’ve got my ******* children with me (* = expletive). This was followed by an exchange of flying chips between the tables, with a further expletive exchange. This was our cue to exit.
I also needed to use the rest room. To enter, the staff had to release a switch behind the counter to allow the door to open. This was my first experience of a high security toilet.
It’ a shame that a decent fish and chip meal was let down by the clientele, but they really need to do something. Once outside, I read the 1 star Unilocal review. It mirrored my experience. I wish I had read it out loud to the rest of the group before we entered.

I went to see the Blackpool lights at weekend, or should I say I took my GF to see the lights as she asks me every year! It is a place that holds a kind of nostalgia for us as we went to Blackpool for the day as our 2^nd date (before you call me unromantic, it wasn’t my suggestion — she wanted to go! haha) so although not the classiest place, I am chivalrous enough to take a lady where she would like to go. I can’t quite remember how I found the food that day so I can’t comment whether it has improved or worsened over time so it will be based on this single visit.
A good thing about a place being busy is it is usually a good sign it is a decent place (not plaice), however in Blackpool that may not be the case, as 90% of people in establishments are visitors and it may well be the first restaurant they have come across. It also absolutely infuriates me beyond belief when you go in somewhere and there is a queue of people waiting to be served with trays, each one paying in turn who then ‘try’ to find a table — yet you get hordes of people who just walk in and sit down to «claim» their table while someone else ques for them. Some people may think this is acceptable and you reading this may be one, but I do not. If I have just paid for some food and have it on my tray and there are no available seats, yet there are plenty of tables ‘reserved’ by these parasites, then I was all set to go and sit at one and if they had the cheek to tell me it was reserved then they would have felt the full force of my wrath! So, some bloke was very lucky considering i was heading on over to his claimed/​reserved table when a family upped and left on my way over to him, so I sat at that table. So hopefully people reading this who do that in a restaurant will think twice about it in future because there are those of us who will simply tell you where to go!
As for the food — we had the standard ‘Pablos Special’ which consisted of fish, chips, peas, a drink and some bread for £6.95. Unfortunately I wouldn’t say the title of the dish did it justice as it wasn’t anything special, and if I had to say a term I would be inclined to say bland. The price wasn’t too bad a I was half expecting to be fleeced more considering it is a prime location during the lights season, so the price was a plus point.
I guess I draw my chippy comparisons to my favourite place (that is establishment, not the fish!) which is The Swan in Southport. That chippy is absolutely stunning and if I am not mistaken, a quid cheaper. The food is more flavoursome, you get more and it just seems to have more care about it as it is renowned country wide, where as due to the busy nature of Pablo’s that place more like being on a factory assembly line.
I was surprised to see that they didn’t do jumbo sausage too? My lady likes jumbo sausage (no comments please ;) so we were going to half one between us, but they only do standard size sausages in batches of three which I found odd.
It has to be said that the worst thing about it had to be the noise level. Now I know this is Blackpool and its loud and tacky by nature but seriously — the noise level in the restaurant was nigh on glass shattering. That is due to all the high pitched screaming, shouting and crying of kids! Now I do not have kids, I do not want kids, but I have nothing against kids either. I love my two little nieces to death and we often all dine out together and they are impeccably behaved. I also know you can not stop a baby crying with ease so that is acceptable, however what I do not think is acceptable is kids of talking age shouting, screaming and literally running around a restaurant where people are trying to carry food. I even had one little tyke pretty much weaving in and out of my legs while stood in the queue. To me there is no excuse for such behaviour and the parents obviously care little about other peoples dining experience to not even try to quieten their kids down, but let them run around and do, shout and scream exactly how they want. I wonder who I feel sorry for the most, the parents for having such loud bratty kids or the kids for having parents who blatantly don’t care either way.
Never before have I said I was actually looking forward to going out into the freezing cold and gale force winds of Blackpool front, but in this case I was — just to get some peace and quiet.
I know some people may think I’m being harsh as it is only ‘a chippy’ and it is only ‘in Blackpool’ but even still, I expect a certain level of quality, cleanliness and ambiance anywhere I dine whether it is a chippy in Blackpool, a McDonald’s in Iraq or a high end gaff in Paris. So although Pablo’s holds a very small place in our hearts — I know now that this is most definitely for sentimental reasons and certainly not because of the quality of food, the establishment or the ambiance.