Fish & Chips News
One of Dallas' most authentic fish & chips spots closes due to lease issues
Authentic fish & chips as only a Brit can do it.
After a mere five years of bringing some of the most authentic fish & chips to Dallas-Fort Worth, Richardson restaurant Fish & Fizz has closed.
Located at 400 N. Coit Rd., the restaurant from chef Nick Barclay, an actual native of England, and his Dallas native wife, Kelli, has closed due to their inability to negotiate a satisfactory lease with the landlord.
"With that in mind, our journey in this building has come to an end," Nick Barclay says.
"For us to stay for another five or 10 years, the space would have needed some work," he says. "For us, it got down to, why not go to a place where the landlord says, 'We would love to have you guys.'"
"As sad as I am to leave the space, I’m excited for 2023," he says. "We've got some exciting plans we’re working on, and that's the way I’d like to leave it — that we are working on exciting ideas for 2023."
Fish & Fizz won over fans for its excellent chef renditions of dishes like fish & chips plus English dishes like bangers & mash and Cornish pasties.
When they opened in 2018, Barclay described his rendition with traditional sides like curry sauce and pickled eggs and proper malt vinegar with Cornish sea salt.
He used a signature batter to create a crust that was light but with a golden brown crunch, with chips that were a little fatter than what is generally served in DFW.
The fizz part referred to beverages, all of which sparkled, including Champagne, sparkling wines, Prosecco, craft beer, and soft drinks.
For the couple, Fish & Fizz was a return to the Dallas dining world; they once had a restaurant here before going to England to run an inn by the sea.
Barclay also earned a nomination in 2019 for Best Chef of the Year in CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards.
In 2020, they joined forces with fellow authentic British business British Emporium, the UK-themed store based in Grapevine, providing space for a pop-up inside the restaurant that sold grocery staples, British teas, biscuits, and shortbreads.
The space they took previously housed restaurants such as Pelican House and Alligator Cove. They gave it a pleasing seaside feel with beach huts, plus an old-school nostalgic London black taxi in front, a marker to all of the British that lay within.
