Hull - St Stephens - Ryan Review

Ryan's picture
How Helpful?: 
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Author: 
Number of Visits: 
This was my first visit
How Busy?: 
10 - 25 minute wait
Date of Last Visit: 
Friday, February 10, 2012
Time of Day: 
Weekend Dinner (Inc Friday)
Rating: 
3.5 / 5
Friendliness of Staff: 
3 (Not bad. Did everything I asked of them)
Speed of Service: 
5 (Under 5 mins - I had only just got back with my cutlery and sauce)
Quality of Food: 
2 (Quite disappointing - seems rushed, may have some parts burnt)
Decoration & Cleanliness: 
4 (Very clean, newly furnished, impressive artwork and lighting)
Comments - Stand out in our monthly competition! What did you eat? Unique aspects? Parking/transport tips?: 

This Nando's is located within the St Stephen's shopping centre right in the middle of the city centre, making it easy to get to. It also has its own car park, which is well sign-posted, and is very reasonably priced: Up to 2 hours is only £2 and parking after 6pm is free so long as you get it validated inside the restaurant. There's also a cinema at St Stephen's, so plenty to do.

Hull itself is a great city - and has an ever increasing student population. Full of East Yorkshire folk, you are bound to have a good time up here.

I arrived here at about 6:30pm on Friday evening and was advised there'd be a 25-30 minute wait, which ended up being about 15 minutes. It was very busy indeed, with more and more people coming in after me, right up until I left. Other than a wait for the table, there was no other wait - quick on the till and just under 5 minutes for the food to come. The staff were rushed off their feet, so nothing more than the minimum from them.

Sadly, the food was not great and did seem to be rushed in order to get the tables turned round. The chips were soggy and luke warm and the chicken fillet burger was average. The size of the fillet was nowhere near filling the ciabatta and was smaller than the slice of tomato. It was cooked nicely and well marinated though.

The branch itself was nicely laid out and decorated. It's more of a long/narrow branch with group and single seating mixed in the two seating areas (at the front and back). There's one large booth in the middle of the restaurant which is surrounded by sticks. At the front (as you enter), the left side wall has wooden slats and bowls attached to it (resembling the outside of a ship) and the right side has three large black/white canvas paintings. The back half has more sculptures and plants dotted around the outside. The lighting is also impressive with tiered lampshades and long funnel type shades dotted across the branch. Toilets were also spotlessly clean with the 'normal' beige stone on the walls/floor. And one small thing... I think they are waiting for new table cocks as I got a piece of paper! :-)

On this occasion, the food wasn't great, but it was a nice atmos.

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