Dorothy’s

Can’t beat a dorothy’s on the way home from the pub, you just have to navigate the other drunk people in chippy alley to get in there. Not to be missed

A proper fish and chip shop down chip alley in Cardiff. Very tasty chips.
Chose it ahead of its local rival purely because the place looked cleaner!

I have eaten from Dots since i was a teenager and also late night on the way home from a night out clubbing to get some chicken curry off the bone and chips to top off a fab’ night out! dots is an institution, check it out!

Dorothy’s is a fish and chip shop down Chippy Lane. Chippy Lane is pretty much an institution when it comes to a night out in Cardiff. Despite the new debate about whether it is to be referred to as Chippy Lane or Chippy Alley (although, it has been and always will be Chippy Lane, obviously) it is at once exactly and nothing like you’d expect.
If you ask a local and regular visitor of Chippy Lane then they’ll probably have a chippy they consider their favourite. These are generally arbitrary decisions based on habit and lack of thought, but one way or another, I would say Dorothy’s is my chippy of choice down chippy lane. It’s recently had a bit of a re-​vamp, but it’s essentially the same deal, you queue in a haphazard manner for some chips and within a minute you’ll be outside trying not to spill them and trying to stop friends and strangers from stealing ‘just one’ chip off you and leaving you with two swimming in a small pool of ketchup.

Haven’t been to «Dirty Dorothy’s» for a while but when I next go in it doesn’t matter how long since my last visit it will be the same drill.
I always go into the left hand side, prop myself up on the bar, look at the menu and have a scotch egg and chips. Never chicken curry or all their multitude of other things on offer just scotch egg and chips in a cone. It is almost impossible to get scotch eggs these days, especially ones the size of cannon shot. I then drown everything with salt and vinegar and weave home. The problem is that the cannon ball is molten and way to hot to eat safely, and although perched perfectly on the cone is stopping me from being able to get to my chips. So I have to move the cannon ball to another resting place whilst I eat the chips. This has involved it going in my bag or very occasionally my pocket in my very drunken state. I have left it in there before now.

I remember when the brewery quarter became The Brewery Quarter. I remember I feared for Chippy Lane. I remembered I feared for Dorothy’s. I bought one of its key rings more as a souvenir of the past than as a celebration of the future.
What a melodramatic twonk I was as a teen. Despite the seeping gentrification of Caroline Street from the surrounding redevelopments, a city always retains its grimy side. Drunks need chips and there will always be drunks. Therefore there will always be Dorothy’s. Chippy Lane will never die, despite the efforts of some.
There’s nothing particularly special about Dorothy’s, it just does the basics well. She’ll serve you quickly. She’ll sit you down if you want, on chairs bolted to the floor. She will fill your belly (and clog your arteries) for shrapnel. The chicken is always off the bone and swims in gravy or curry sauce. She’ll make you feel better… in the short term at least. Everybody needs a Dorothy’s once in a while.
Long live Dorothy’s.

Lots of people say Tony’s or Dorothy’s are the two premier chip shops on Chippy Lane. I’d give Dorothy’s the edge purely because it’s one of the few places on the street where I can quite happily eat whilst sober.
Since Chippy Lane has had a bit of a revamp since the Brewery Quarter has been about, Caroline Street has kicked most of the grimy image it once had. You still get the odd person slumped behind a bin though, just to remind you that it’s 3am on a Sunday morning.
I find the food a little hit and miss at times, although in fairness, whilst bleary-​eyed at 3am I’m not such a harsh critic as I am at 4pm on a Tuesday. I ate here within the past week in the early evening and wasn’t all that impressed as the jumbo sausage tasted funny and the chips weren’t as well cooked as usual.
I generally tend to eat here when I am in need of comfort food, in the week before pay day, with very little money and a hankering for some heart attack inducing comfort food. The prices are good for the amount you get and for £2.30 you can get a decent portion of chips and a sausage too. I couldn’t finish it and didn’t feel the need to eat again until the next day, so I was sorted.

Nothing compliments a night out in Cardiff quite like a trip to Chippy Lane and, without a doubt, Dorothy’s chip shop is the undisputed queen of Caroline Street.
While from the outside it may not look like the quintessential haven of fried delicacies, don’t let the modest exterior fool you; the greased up goodness on offer will have you drooling all the way home, right into the next morning’s hangover.
Located just a stone’s throw away from the busy nightlife of St Mary’s Street, Dorothy’s has seen more drunken custom than George Best’s mini bar, and has itself become a weekly ritual for Cardiff regulars.
Whether it’s the pre-​match day munchies or the post-​club cravings, Dorothy’s has the cure for your every hunger need. From the modest pasties and pies to battered sausages and the famous chicken curry off the bone, Dorothy’s chippy demands a spot on any pub-​goers itinerary.

For a road colloquially known as Chippie Lane, after-​pub takeaway haven Caroline Street doesn’t actually boast many outlets that won’t make you wish you’d saved your spare change the next morning. Dorothy’s does the basics well and the food even better, with its two-​sided counter blasting through orders from a snake of inebriated customers at peak times (that’ll be weekends between 1am and 2am when the pubs and clubs are chucking out, unless it’s a match day at the Millennium Stadium). There’s little to purchase that isn’t on every chippie menu in the country but drowning in such a sea of inadequacy, Dorothy’s is a flying fish to its neighbours’ small fry.

Just like its neighbour Tony’s, Dorothy’s is another classic city centre fish and chip shop along what was once known as ‘Chip Alley’ (Caroline Street).
Since the lane has been been revamped, it no longer has the same greasy image is once had, but it’s still a popular place to go late at night when the clubs chuck you out, to grab some stodgy carbs to soak up some of the alcohol.
It’s hard to choose between Tony’s and Dorothy’s, really — they both get plenty of customers and their chips are good — or at least they taste pretty good after a heavy night’s drinking…

Is Caroline Street still referred to as Chippy Lane? Once upon a time this street would be closed in the early hours on Saturday and Sunday for cleaning the mess up after the night before. Thousands a chips strewn about, paper mountains pushed up against the walls… drunk people still twitching in the corner.
Since then, thank to the development of the Brewery Quarter and the new St David’s Shopping Centre, Caroline Street is no longer a back street, but has been brought into the fold of the city centre. For this reason alone, I think the area has cleaned up its act. Fortunately, though, Dorothy’s has remained.
Dorothy’s has always been by city centre chippy of choice; their food is always delicious (if not entirely healthy), and always hot. Very important when its sole purpose is the soaking up of alcohol. Also, it’s never made me sick. Another very important point.

After a night out this is the only place to go for your late night snack.
The Chicken Curry (off the bone) and Chips is legendary and as good as it was 35 years ago when I first went there.
Despite lots of nearby competition Dorothys has remained the place to go in Cardiff.

If you visit Cardiff you need to visit chippy lane and go to Dorothy’s. I’ve never eat them sober but there is always a good crack! Its busier at 2am than it is at 10am.

WHAT??! — you hane’t been to Dorothy’s? then you haven’t lived. located her in ‘Chip Shop Alley’ don’t bother looking in the other windows — here the off the bone chicken curry is to die for and just for the record you don’t have to be singing and drunk to enjoy it! — not many places to sit and eat it mind you so you have to master the art of not dribbling curry as you walk! Obviously they do other chipp food all at great prices but I’d recommend the curry most of all. A real Cardiff institution — try this at least once in your life!

Excellent ‘Chicken off-​the-​bone’ curry. The best tasting chips following a night out. A staple and long standing fixture of a Cardiff night out!

best fish and chips on chippy lane!! amazing staff super friendly excellent prices seriously the chips are to die for!

As much as there food is quite nice when i’m drunk. I get the feeling Dorothy’s is only the best of a bad bunch really.

Great fish and chips after a night out! Staff are friendly, you’ll often find a few drunks in there. I would recommend the curry and chips as it’s delicious!

The best of the chippies in chippie lane — good quality take away and nice variety of extras on offer.
Great for post club munchies, but not so great during the daytime!

The staff in here wear GOLD! Gold around their necks and on their fingers. They are über friendly and cope so well with the nighttime drunkards. The chips are the best you’re gonna get on chippy alley (aaaaaah, chippy alley — what have the developers done to you in all their misguided wisdom?) and the curry and chips is mammoth. Mmmmm.