For fish and chips in Mangawhai, go to Stingray Matt's Takeaway at 1/7 Wood Street in the Heads, open every day, or Little Red Fish, a seafood deli that fries fresh fish from 4pm to 8pm on Thursday to Sunday evenings. A piece of battered hoki and a scoop of chips at Stingray Matt's comes to $10; fresh snapper and chips is $13.
Where can you get fish and chips in Mangawhai?
- Stingray Matt's Takeaway, Wood Street, Mangawhai Heads: the fish and chip shop. Hoki, plus fresh snapper, gurnard and tarakihi when it has them, battered, crumbed or grilled. Every day from about 10.45am to 8.30pm, with online ordering for pick-up.
- Little Red Fish: a seafood deli and fish and chip takeaway that trades from 4pm to 8pm, Thursday to Sunday. Its Instagram bio puts it outside the Village library hall on Thursday and Friday and next to MAZ café on Saturday and Sunday; it has moved before, so check its Instagram on the day.
- The Local, the Village: sit-down fish and chips with slaw and gribiche, $32 on its menu. Closed Tuesdays.
- The Mangawhai Tavern, 2 Moir Street: fish and chips is on the pub menu at this waterside pub. Open from 11.30am Tuesday to Friday and from breakfast at the weekend.
- McLeod's Pizza Barn, Waipu, 20 minutes north: fish and chips alongside its pizzas, Wednesday to Sunday.
How much do fish and chips cost in Mangawhai?
At Stingray Matt's, one fish and one scoop of chips is $10 with hoki and $13 with fresh snapper. A family of four eats for $24.50 to $48.50 from the set family packs. Sitting down costs more: The Local's fish and chips is $32. Prices from each menu, read 4 November 2026:
- Battered hoki, one piece: $5.50 (crumbed $6.50, grilled $5.50)
- Fresh snapper, one piece: $8.50 battered or grilled, $9.50 crumbed
- Chips, one scoop: $4.50; kumara chips $7; wedges $6
- Scallop $3.80, mussel $2.60, fish cake $4.50, potato fritter $1.80
- Family pack 1 (a scoop of chips, 2 hoki, 2 potato cakes, 2 sausages): $24.50
- Family pack 3 (2 scoops of chips, 4 hoki, 4 sausages, 4 potato cakes): $48.50
- Fish burger: $11.50 with hoki, $14.50 with snapper
- The Local, fish and chips with slaw and gribiche (dine in): $32
Where is the freshest fish?
Stingray Matt's menu says which fish is which: snapper, gurnard and tarakihi are listed as fresh, and hoki as frozen at sea. The fresh fish sells out, so the online menu is worth a look before you order; on 4 November gurnard and tarakihi were sold out and snapper was on. Little Red Fish is a seafood deli as well as a takeaway, selling fresh fish to cook at home too.
Can you get gluten-free fish and chips?
Grilled fish is the safe order. Stingray Matt's grills hoki, snapper, gurnard and tarakihi and marks the grilled fish gluten free on its menu. Chips in a fish and chip shop often share a fryer with battered food, so if you're coeliac, say so when you order and ask how they're cooked.
Where can you eat fish and chips by the water?
Take them two minutes down the road to the Mangawhai Heads surf beach car park and eat on the grass above the sand, or across to the estuary side for the sunset. In the Village, the Tavern is a waterside pub. Keep the paper closed until you sit down: the gulls at the Heads know exactly what it is. If you've got a dog with you, the dog rules say which beaches it can come to.
Is anywhere open late or on a Monday?
Stingray Matt's opens every day, Monday included, and takes its last orders around 8.30pm. Little Red Fish doesn't trade Monday to Wednesday. For anything after 9pm, Wood Street Pizzeria stays open until 11pm on Friday and Saturday. What closes when explains why winter weeknights are thin.
Not set on fish? Every takeaway in Mangawhai has the pizza, burgers, curry and tacos, and where to eat lists every café, restaurant and bar.