Milton Keynes - MK1 Leisure - BaronSamedi1980 Review

This was going to be an evening of firsts for my Nandos experience, despite a different Nandos location (Milton Keynes - Xscape) being much closer to me I decided to head to a new Nandos which I had not visited before at stadium MK. This is a very new Nandos which opened about 6 months ago and I was looking forward to visiting for the first time and seeing what they had to offer. Before arriving at the restaurant I had also decided to try the new Quinoa Salad menu item for the first time.

This location is very easy to get to. It is right next to stadium MK (the home ground of football team MK Dons) which is a well-known landmark in the area as well as being incredibly well signposted. The location is also just off the A5 (at the Redmoor roundabout junction) so again very easy to find and to get to. On site there are hundreds of parking spaces available with 95% of these empty on a non-match day. Bletchley train station is also nearby - only 15 mins walk on foot. It is also worth mentioning that this Nandos is the only one of 5 locations in Milton Keynes that is a halal restaurant.

Before entering the restaurant you have to walk through the outdoors seating area which for a sunny day looks to be a great idea but no good for the evening visit I was making. When I entered I found the restaurant to be packed which surprised me given that the was no football game at the stadium that day. I was told that the would be a wait of 15 mins to be seated, I used this time to look at the menu (which I am already pretty familiar with) and 30 mins after arriving I was offered a table.

As soon as I had my table number I placed my order:

Half a chicken - Medium.
Sweet potato wedges with peri peri seasoning.
Quinoa Salad.
Soft drink - Sprite.

Knowing that I would be writing a review of this visit I decided to start a stop watch as soon as I got back to my table after ordering to accurately see how speedily my food was prepared and brought to the table - the result was a very impressive 4 minutes and 17 seconds which not only seriously impressed me but made my jaw drop. Despite the restaurant being packed with every table occupied and the being a 30 min waiting time for a table with at least 15 people in the waiting area that I could see the kitchen staff had managed to get the food out in a seriously impressive time.

This was my first time trying the Quinoa Salad which is a recent addition to the menu. The first thing to say is that this is not a side salad as I was expecting, no this is a large salad big enough to be a main dish by itself. The salad contains avocado slices, sweet potato pieces and feta cheese on a bed of leaves. The salad is both plentiful and delouse and I think this is a good addition to the menu which I would order again however I was not too keen on the cold sweet potato pieces (cold, chopped up sweet potato wedges) in the salad but this is down to individual taste.

The sweet potato wedges are my new favourite menu item, this is the 3rd time I have enjoyed these despite them only being added to the menu 14 days ago. Unfortunately the staff had forgotten to add the peri peri seasoning to my wedges but when I pointed this out they quickly corrected this, no problem. The flavour of the sweet potato works well with the peri peri seasoning and both the sesame seed and coriander dips that are served with it bringing delouse mouthfuls of sweetness to offset all that yummy spicy peri peri chicken.

My half chicken was cooked to perfection, succulent and very enjoyable, not burnt or over cooked as I have seen in other locations. One of the better pieces of chicken I have enjoyed at a Nandos.

I don't normally mention the soft drink that I nearly always order with my Nandos meals in my reviews however it is worth mentioning this time as the sprite was flat. When I mentioned this to one of the staff I was told that the was nothing wrong with it and that this was how it was supposed to be - disappointing both with the flat sprite but also the attitude of the member of staff.

Overall I found the staff to be unhelpful, however it must be noted that the restaurant was very busy when I visited and the staff were clearly overrun.

So after my first visit here would I come to this location again? Only if I was going to a match at the football stadium. For all the advantages this location enjoys - fantastic transport links, very easy to find, plentiful car parking, a new building and décor, well cooked great Nandos food - it is let down by the long waiting times (to be seated) and the unhelpfulness\poor attitude of the staff combined with the fact that there are 4 other Nandos in Milton Keynes which are all more conveniently located for me personally.