The Central Cafe in Dumfries & Galloway

Lovely Gluten Free Fish and Chips (GF Friday only).. Best I've tasted.. Recommended.

Popped for dinner this evening, was greeted by lovely staff and a very clean and welcoming atmosphere. My food was top tier and staff were very helpful, especially Alysia and Mackenzie. 10/10 Will definitely be back!

Ate in. Had one fish supper, one sausage supper and a half pizza crunch and two soft drinks. Was £35 which I thought was pricey for what it was. Friendly staff

Was shocked at price of chips and cheese

Not alot ready for walk-ins and food was ok

Went in and had pie and chips, was really nice place to eat, staff are very friendly, food was good, been back a few times, had the fish supper, was lovely, good piece of fish, great food and great value for money.

I usually have nothing but good things to say about this place, but today I've been so disappointed, after ordering my food it took over 30 minutes for it to arrive, I lost count of the amount of take away orders that were dished out in that time. I was on my own, so it wasn't a big order. A woman who I presume to be the owner came in at one point, now she saw me and the table beside me sitting waiting for food when she arrived, she couldn't have missed that we were still waiting when she left a good while later, did she do or say anything to rectify the situation? No she didn't, great way to run a business...NOT, that was bad enough, but what really got to me was witnessing what I felt was bullying by one staff member to another. I actually felt so sorry for the wee girl, I asked her if she was okay before I left, maybe some people need to realise that we've all got to learn, and maybe they weren't that great when they first started working there. Some staff training is definitely needed, not on how to treat customers, but on how to be pleasant to each other. Even the fryer had a go at her at one point, surely she should be explaining what she should be doing, not criticising her without any direction, as the most senior staff person there, she should know better. After today I don't think I'll be back. It wasn't a nice environment to be paying to be in.

Absolutely diabolical here could taste them for days after

Great chippy cafe,food has always been good and service too.

The chips are unreal like a solid 9/10 bruv and the chicken burgers omg mate there bare peng ya know. the staff are bare loud init some of them a leng tho a give the central a solid 8/10 bare good like.

Beautiful home cooked food. It was very busy so we had to wait on our food longer than expected. Staff very accommodating

Best fish and chips around highly recommended. You won't be disappointed

Been going here for years now and never had a single complaint to give. One of the best places for a takeaway in dumfries and galloway

First fish & chips for a while. Thoroughly enjoyed them and the mushy peas were spot on.

Lovely food and very pleasant staff.

Freshly cooked fish and chips thank you! Good size portions, crispy batter and decent chips. The mushed up peas and curry sauce went down well too. Easy to get to on foot from the Tesco car park at the back.

Visited today to sit in. Fish and k in chips were good but sadly service very poor. Had ages to wait for order had to chase up parts that were missing and still did not get full order. A rebate was given after complaint. Will not be retuning

Needed a good plate of fish and chips, so we popped in to see and wow fantastic FRESH fish with lovely perfect chips. Staff were friendly and welcoming, and you can tell it has a good reputation, buy the number of locals that use it for their supper !!

Great fish and chips, very friendly service

Been late on delivery times as they are busy and both time order chicken wings and they were undercooked

Really helpful when we made query about childrens allergies. Ate in and had 3 different meals between us, all were exceptional. Staff really helpful and friendly despite the cafe and takeaway being really busy. Well worth a visit. Good value for quality food.

The central cafe is the place to be seen for lunch in Strandra we Thoroughly enjoyed it the food is first class Francis Morris Marton on the Fylde lancashire. ☆☆☆☆☆

Excellent breakfast good service Very clean busy place ..number's to serve but still have time for all customers Definitely return

Had a sit in as well as a takeaway chips were nice so was the fish reasonably priced do gluten free Friday

Bought 2 battered haggis (that's 4 pieces of haggis after an exhausting and unnecessarily excessive explanation) .... noticed that the new style of haggis (a single haggis divided into 2 bits) isn't as great as the previous haggis I'd bought from here. Staff are friendly though #john2ttn

Best fish & chips in Dumfries & Galloway! Great service and staff.

What a lovely cafe with really nice staff, it has table and chairs outside as well where i sat , all certainly go back there next time im in Stranraer

One of the worst chippies I’ve ever had in my life. Chips old and soggy. The sausage supper only included one sausage which was cut down the middle and deep friend, making it hard. The sausage and batter flavour was awful. Place was busy, so can’t help feeling that as I wasn’t local I was given the lunchtime leftovers. Pickled onions were the most edible part of the takeaway. Avoid at all costs!

Good gluten free fish and chips

Pizza was tremendous well made and well cooked Kebab meat was terrible Chilli sauce was the worst I've ever tried hands down uts like spag ball horrendous

We hesitated at buying our lunch here due to negative reviews but I'm so happy we did. Service was great and everything cooked to order. Cans were actually cold in the fridge and our fish suppers were so hot I burnt my knees resting the food on them in the car. Portions are ample, not too small but not a dustbin lid full (I hate 'greedy portion size' as it only ends up in the bin). Haddock was cooked beautifully, thin crispy batter and 2 nice fillets as a pose to 1 thick chewy lump. Ample fresh cut crispy chips and no grease in sight. Mushy peas were hot, tasty and generous. Please visit if you appreciate good, hot, fresh food... do not visit if you're a greedy pig who prefers shovels full of cheap rubbish. Paid £9.50 for fish supper and £2 for mushy peas. Great service, excellent food and excellent quality

Could not eat curry sauce as it was far to thick and over cooked. Cheese on the chips was minimal.

Best fish and chips I've had freshly cooked very friendly staff will definitely be back Ps cheapest chippie for a long while

Sorry folks. Just a walk in tonight, attentive service, however, no follow up at all. No, "how is your meal" unfortunately not all was well. Fish batter was cold on the outside, roasting in the inside, mushy peas would have burn the mouth right off you. Went to pay, and pass on my observations. You would think I had started the 3rd gulf war, the chef not happy , the staff not happy, was accused of not wanting to pay. The boss was called, he wasn't happy, he thought all was well, agreed with staff, I just didn't want argue. Probably a bad night, I come from Stranraer, it's not a bad place tae visit.. Just don't pass on yer observations tae the start, more hassle than its worth.maybe Invest in customer service?

Lovely fish and chips , crisp and dry but fresh Dog friendly too,, massive bonus!! As it was too windy for takeaway on the harbour, nice friendly staff too 😋

Enjoyed the food. Was more expensive than same food in Perthshire carryout earlier in week, maybe higher overheads in that area. Large order was cooked when requested and lovely and hot. Staff pleasant and mannerly.

Food was fresh and tasted great I have no complaints. The staff are also very friendly and helpful 👍🏻

Amazing fish and chips on our visit to Stranraer. The staff were absolutely amazing and very attentive When we come back to the area we'll be making a specific visit to go here

A bit light on the sauce provided for the fish and chips, otherwise ok.

Just been in and only had a chip roll and coffee to takeaway. I must say the chips was perfect and roll super fresh and coffee extremely good ! Would highly recommend 👍

Have tried a few times now and still can’t understand why a fish and chip shop by the sea can’t get super fresh gorgeous fish??? The fish is cut too thin and has always been dry and old….oil tastes old…. Chips are ok but sometimes gritty…… I really yearn for a great chippy now!😐……

Get your act together guys. Serving chips full of eyes and black is not good especially at the price you charge!

Great batter haasus supper Also comfortable clean premises ans helpful friendly staff

Great fish and chips always fresh every time, great staff

Had fish and chips disgusting batter on fish soft Must say chips were perfect so was staff Quick fix never be back

Big towns have big choice, wee towns have wee choice, central cafe food tastes of wee

We asked for the curry sauce to be seperate. They accommodated the request and we appreciated the little extra they keft us for being funny. 10/10. We go here because it's locally owned and its nice dealing with actual human beings. Classic chippy. An institution. Couldn't ask for more.

Not the best chips I have ever had, but certainly not the worst, filled a hole anyway, and staff were polite and freindy so overall experience was good.

I always enjoy the fish and chips from here.

Excellent Fish Suppers which we took away and ate by the water's edge

A friendly cafe and the craic was good

Surely the basics of running a chippy is to ensure you can cook a good batter for the fish. Thin and greasy on one side and on the other, as thick as a doorstep. Moving on to the chips, i thought to myself, surely they can't go wrong with these. WRONG. They had obviously been cooked in old oil. Absolutely shocking. If you're thinking of visiting this establishment, please keep walking down the street and get yourself a sandwich in Tesco.

Lovely clean place with delicious food

Best fish tea in dumfries and Galloway

Quite shockingly bad, never again.

Lovely little Cafe serves as ticket agent for Whithorn Museum and round house. Food was good, service good too! Prices about average.

If you like soggy battered fish that's the plaice.

Food lovely, staff welcoming, very clean and tidy. Nothing is a bother for staff. Takeaway also available

Great place, best fish and chips for miles, don't know what they do with the batter, but it's rather good, complements the fish

Arrived here to quickly grab a couple of burgers and chips. After about 10 minutes we received our burgers just for them to be battered (which we did not ask for!). After returning them in exchange for regular burgers we were told we had to wait another 10 minutes so they could be made from scratch. After finally getting what I asked for I was greeted with the soggiest burger I had ever seen. It was like biting into leather and the burger itself tasted off and like it had hard bits of something in it. The chips were bang average. Probably the worst chippy I’ve ever had.

Great fish and chips plus dig friendly too.

Staff friendly but chips slightly under cooked. Portion sizes could be better

Great, not expensive, fish suppers, one would be enough for two.

Chips and chicken curry very moreish mmmm

If you come to Stranraer you must try there fish and chips staff are really helpful

Lovely place to eat, well mannered staff and friendly , great breakfast special.

Busy, so expect a wait. But the food is good so probably worth it 🙂

Really nice food, the fish and the chips were both cooked to order and the batter was nice and crispy 😁 Good friendly service and they are dog friendly also 😁

Visited this fish and chip cafe on the 15th of April 2022 and had a first class experience. Friendly, polite staff with beaming smiles. The chips were non greasy and the fish was absolutely fantastic. We will definitely be back and would highly recommend this eating establishment, where you can eat in and takeaway.

So after visiting this cafe in September we were looking forward to our return visit. So we arrived to a changed central cafe. Nice and bright and certainly looked the part after the refit . Same cheerful staff . So let's see if the food is as good as it was . We were dining in . So both ordered the fish and chips , as it was fantastic last time . When the plates arrived it was obvious straight away the fish was not going to be as good . The batter looked soggy and no crispness to it . This was confirmed as we proceeded to polish of the meal . On our previous visits we had struggled to finish our meals with the amount on the plate . So 10 minutes after arriving we had eaten paid and left. So if you are going to change the interior of the cafe don't change what brings people here in the first place , the food. We will be back in June and will try again as teething problems could have been behind what we were served . Let's hope so and then the food is back to the expected 5 stars

Great wee cafe, fish suppers are excellent

Used to rave about this place, but last night was a disappointment. Ordered for myself, my husband and our son on their online link to collect. Received a message that my order status had been changed and that it was ready to collect about 10mins after ordering, so we drove the 6 miles from our house to discover it hadn't even been made yet. Another local business uses the same online ordering website so I know that the order status is changed manually by the business. 20mins after arriving to collect it, we were given our food and we headed home. Got home to be met with a pile of crispy chips, 2 kids sausage meals despite only one being ordered, the other was a regular adult portion, and a steak burger swimming in grease. We have all been ill after it, my husband especially (he had the steak burger), and we didn't even eat it all. All in all not a good experience, given that it's a place we have visited regularly in the past. It's a shame.

Just been refurbished so now they are able to have a special counter for pizza and a standard fish, pie etc & chips counter. Quick service good food.

Food was good. Some teething pains after the refurb but that's understandable and human. Buuuttt.... while I'm all for having dogs in cafes, they should absolutely not under any circumstances be allowed up at the table! There was a woman sat across from us with her dog up on the seats with its head up at the table eating off the plate! It's an uncomfortable conversation to have with a customer but certain rules and standards have to be enforced. Completely put me off.

Central cafe has done a great refit in February. The new layout giv d more space at the counter. It’s fresh and modern now. The chips are great. Family that eat fish enjoy it too. But time for a vegan option I think. Just chips is a bit sad when others in our group can have a meal. Mushy pea fritters for example, would be great. There’s not much vegan in the town at all. So you might get more customers.

Always visit here when here at caravan.

Good local food from family run cafe

I deliver to this Chippie but I had never eaten there but I fancied a portion of chips for lunch, you know when the craving strikes and you just have to have something lol I had a small wait for the chips to cook as...

Great service from lovely, professional staff, the fish and chips were freshly cooked , crispy, tasty and not greasy. Thank you.

Fish was decent enough but the chips were not the best.

Lovely staff. Great food and good prices.

They do gluten free fish &chips on a Friday 4till 8 or 9pm I'm not sure.

Spotlessly clean premises. Staff friendly and helpful. The fish was beautifully cooked and tasty chips.

Staff very friendly lovely haggis and chips. Followed by a German biscuit lovely and clean with excellent covid safety.

Chips were so crispy could hardly eat them and the homemade macaroni was poor 😫

Very courteous staff and always great food

So Good! We've had fish suppers a couple of times from here and it's by far the best.

Not very consistent sometimes it's ok fish has went downhill and sometimes the fish is burnt on one side of batter apart from that prob best chippi in Stranraer still only can give 2.5 stars as not worth 3

First class,lovely food,good menu,something for everyone,lovely friendly staff

Deep fried smokey, some chippies just nuke them in the microwave. nice chips but really small portions (takeaway) curry was too watery also. Tatsy all the same. just wish there had been more of it. (not being greedy either)

Long train journey from England. Only ever going to have haggis & chips. Sat in. Well-looked after by the waitresses. Excellent.

Popped in for some Fish and Chips on the way through to the Cairnryan ferry terminal and well worth the stop! Absolutely excellent food and good service, recommend a visit if you're in the area:)

Question ….. how difficult is it to cook a piece of battered fish.? If anyone has the solution , please send it to this establishment. Greasy slimy fish served in 2 portions tonight , along with some decent chips . I imagined that it would...

First class great staff & super food @ a good price, will be back asap

Got take away fish and chips, really nice.

Just not a nice place to get decent food

Very nice place staff very friendly and the fish was lovely, kids burger and chips nice amount of chips and the chicken burger and chips good amout as well

Great service and nice staff lovely food would highly recommend

Good food, it was very busy today but the staff did their best to ensure we were served as quickly as restrictions etc can allow.

Tasty fish and chips mushie peas