| Product: |
Nandos |
| Date: |
03/09/03 (3879 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: 153 types & sizes of roast chicken portion, Close to cinema's and bowling alleys, 100's of chicken jokes sprinkled around the restuarant
Disadvantages: Fastfood style service, Fake Portuguese Atomsphere
Eeeeek!
I never envisioned writing restaurant reviews on here, but I just have to write up my opinion of Nando's chicken restaurant, because it seems *so* different to all the reviews wrote so far.
Let me just say that I'm definitely not a food snob (honestly!), but I love food. I like to eat out a lot, I love trying different foods from around the world. In the past month I've ate in a Persian, Greek, Chinese, Mexican, Indian and Italian restaurant. (Oh my god, I've just realized why my credit card bills are so high!). Whilst eating in these places I feel like I'm experiencing, just for an hour or so, a little part of a county I've never been to before. So it's authenticity and atmosphere as well as great food that I look for when eating out.
Anyway: looking around 'The Gate' area of Newcastle with my girlfriend getting a bit peckish after work, quicker than a flash after seeing a sign saying "New: Nando's Portuguese Chicken Restaurant!", we were queuing up to try it out. I mean, I've never seen a Portuguese restaurant before, I was wondering what on earth would the food be like? The Spanish have their gorgeous Paella's, what treats would I be in for from Portugal! I really couldn't wait.
On first inspection, the atmosphere looked good, the decor was all very Mediterranean and it echoed with suitably Hispanic music.
A waitress arrived wearing a 'Spicy Bird' T-Shirt and showed us to a table. 'Have you been to Nando's before' she asked. 'No' I replied, whilst thinking 'Why is she asking us that?'. Then I realized why, when she explained a couple of Nando?s peculiarities. 'Get your own cutlery, plates and sauces from over there' she said, '... and when you are ready to order your food, queue up at the till over there.'. I thought this was a little strange, but quickly agreed with myself to regard it as quaint
rather than odd.
On to the Menu! Ok, now, I'm going to be brutally honest here. In the following paragraph of this opinion, I'm going to be exaggerating slightly to describe my experience in and impression of Nando?s. Anyway, to the menu ... :)
"For starters, should I get 1/4 of a roast chicken with chips, or maybe try the 1/2 a roast chicken with chips". I just couldn't decide. "For my main course, shall I maybe get 1/2 a roast chicken, or go for a whole roast chicken with chips, or maybe splash out on a whole speciality roast chicken with chips *and* a green salad!". What a huge selection Portuguese delicacies, NOT!
At this point, both me and my girlfriend started to think of this place as a KFC with wooden benches and Spanish music. The place instantly makes sense when you view it in this frame of mind, and looking at the back of the menu to see if there was anything else to order, finding a list of 50+ other branches of Nando's, our suspicions seemed to be justified about just what type of business Nando's is. A fast food chain that probably hasn't had any genuine Portuguese input into it, since shortly after the day when it's board of directors sat around a table and asked themselves, "What gimmick can we think of to market our new chain of fast food restaurants". "I know!" said someone who'd recently returned from his holidays in Europe, "What about a Portuguese Chicken chain!". And Nando's was born.
Anyway, enough of my speculation and back to the facts. We decided to order a Full Roast Chicken, fries, spicy rice and a green salad. My girlfriend queued up the bar/counter area with a few bemused looking people in front of her. She ordered our food, and paid for it up front. Again I thought this was slightly odd, but with our new KFC 'mind set' it all made sense. We waited for our food.
Just before our food arrived, we noti
ced a couple who'd come into the restaurant after us, sneaking towards the exit trying not to be spotted. They had obviously realized that they'd been duped by the look of the place, and on inspecting the menu had decided to go elsewhere. So clearly we thought, it wasn't just us developing less than 5 star out of 5 opinions of this place.
Quite quickly, our food arrived, this time being served by a waitress wearing a 'Tasty Chick' T-shirt. It all looked nice, but hang on, "That's the smallest whole chicken I've ever seen" my girlfriend said, "I didn't know adult chickens game that small" I added. But with sarcastic remarks over, we tucked into our food.
The chicken was tasty, but roast chicken generally is. Our salad was plain but tasty. The rice tasted a little odd, but I wasn't going to leave any. And the fries weren't as good as what you'd expect from a fast food place like KFC. The whole meal was 'Okay'.
Within a split second of me putting my fork down after I'd finished eating, my plate was whisked away without a word, heralding the end of our Nando's visit. It all seemed like an anticlimax, no money to pay, no one to thank or say good bye too, or even to give a tip to.
On a happier note, you get a little tag of paper which if you bring back 14 times earns you a free chicken! Cock-a-doodle-tastic. So, spend over £300 in Nando's and you qualify for a free whole mini-chicken.
In conclusion:
I knew I was going to sound like a snob in this review, but I felt I had to write this to balance out all the 5 out of 5 star reviews Nando's have already.
Nando's is not my cup of tea. Both me and my girlfriend left this place saying we would not be hurrying back. It seems fake, the selection of food is limited and the service is erm,... 'Odd'. Other reviewers have mentioned it may be good for a party, which it mig
ht. However to them, I'd mention that few weeks ago in Ali Baba's Persian rest
aurant also in Newcastle, I saw a party of what must have been 100 people in there celebrating some guys 18th birthday. You've seen nothing like the buffet spread of genuine kebab's, salad stuffs and Persian starters they'd laid out for this party. I know how tasty it was because I had it too, and I've never tasted flavours like that before. Saffron flavoured rice, with purple or orange goo. Ok, so I didn't have a clue what I was eating, but tasted fantastic and it was served by real Iranians from the part of the world the restaurant represented, the atmosphere was great, staff very helpful and friendly and what's more ... I bet that it was cheaper per head than hosting a party in Nando's.
Nando's is for people who have no imagination or sense of adventurousness when it comes to food. The only reason I could recommend someone eating in Nando's is if they are in a hurry to get to the cinema or bowling alley that is no doubt located very near to every Nando's restaurant.
So from me it gets 2 out of 5 stars. 2 stars and not 1 star because the food was ok. (Oh, and I promise not to be so negative in future DooYoo Ops!)
Summary:
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Last comments:
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- 15/11/09 The true crime about Nando's is that is has almost nothing to do with Portuguese food. Some bloke from South Africa (where there are lots of Portuguese immigrants) saw that the Portuguese eat grilled chicken (sometimes with hot sauce basted on it), and took the story of the Cock from Barcelos and invented some ersatz fantasy of what Portuguese cuisine is.
The Portuguese don't eat grilled Chicken between two pieces of bread. Yellow rice is Valencian (Spanish), not Portuguese, and the chilli sauce is not called 'peri peri', but 'piri piri'. And frankly grilled chicken is a staple of so many of the world's cuisines anyway. It's probably because authentic Portuguese food does not really lend itself to fast-food franchising.
Y esterday on Spotify I heard an advertisement for Nando's. A man speaking with a stereotypical Mexican accent, with some kind of Caribbean Latino brass band music in the background. NOTHING TO DO WITH PORTUGAL OR PORTUGUESE CULTURE.
Frank ly, it's bloody insulting. |
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- 07/05/09 Unfortunately I agree with the majority of this review. Unless another review was there at the same time at the same Nando, no one else can't say that the review was rubbish. Perhaps it has improved since then.
I had heard of Nando's before and went to my first one yesterday. The breast of chicken I got was about half the size of the palm of your hand and thrown between two cold slabs of bread, perhaps this is the Portuguese way of having a burger. Chips just resembled something out of a cheap packet of oven chips. I could have done the same at home except that I probably wouldn't have the sauce. If that is what they call restaurant food, then I must be a gourmet cook!
That said, the food wasn't bad but I felt that I could have got much better for the money paid. I also felt a bit pressured to go as well and it will be my last paid visit too. But I cannot fault the staff otherwise, the girl who served me was friendly and helpful and there was a comfortable rapour between the staff which made me feel comfortable too.
I wouldn't say avoid it because I only had one item and one side from the menu, maybe their salads are better than I got. But like said, it being my first occasion and my first impression, I would never pay those prices for food not too dissimilar from supermarket stuff with a tangy sauce. |
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- 06/04/09 This has got to be the worst review ever. You have got to be a total idiot to go to Nandos expecting a full blown 3 course restaurant meal.
Nandos is a chicken place, albeit with Portuguese inspired flavours. I have never had the impression that it is supposed to be an authentic Portuguese dining experience. |
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