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Crayford - oliviarosemh Review
How Helpful?:
Number of Visits:
2-5
How Busy?:
10 - 25 minute wait
Date of Last Visit:
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Time of Day:
Weekend Lunch
Comments - Stand out in our monthly competition! What did you eat? Unique aspects? Parking/transport tips?:
It had been quite a while since I’d last had a Nando’s (reviewer dinner 24 in August, to be precise) and I was having some serious peri-peri withdrawals, so I popped into my local branch for a Portuguese Sunday chicken dinner.
To be honest, Nando’s is probably the most exciting thing about Crayford (it's less than a five minute walk from the station), and half of the local population seemed to agree with me, as it was packed when I arrived, which gave the restaurant a great, busy ambience. It’s decorated in the usual style, with plenty of tables and lots of colourful artwork on the wall – although there is only one station for sauces/cutlery/drinks, which I don’t think is enough for a large restaurant.
There was a 20 minute wait for a table, and while I understand it was busy, the Nandoca who greeted us didn’t do a lot to accommodate us as we waited (I was accompanied by two friends and a baby in a pram, and no effort was made to store the pram in a suitable space or make room for it at the table). Once we were eventually seated, we ordered straight away and I collected my usual mound of sauces (plenty to choose from), yet the food took nearly 25 minutes to arrive, so there was time to queue up again, order some olives and eat them before the food was even served.
I ordered an extra hot chicken pitta with peri chips, peas and halloumi, which was all perfectly cooked and the pitta came with lots of fresh salad inside, but they did skimp on the size of the chips portion. My friends ordered a whole medium chicken and chips, and unfortunately their chips were cold, so we had to ask for another portion and were offered little consolation – however the new chips were piping hot, with plenty of peri salt added.
All in all, the food was great – exactly the standard I expect from a Nando’s. However, the service did somewhat ruin the experience, as staff weren’t very accommodating and didn’t have the usual, attentive attitude of Nando’s staff. I’m going to put this down to it being a very busy day to visit. I will definitely go back again, but maybe I’ll make it a takeaway next time.
6/10 (great food, poor service)
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