New Malden - Gerry Louis Review

Gerry Louis's picture
How Helpful?: 
Average: 5 (1 vote)
Author: 
Number of Visits: 
This was my first visit
How Busy?: 
Almost Full
Date of Last Visit: 
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Time of Day: 
Weekday Dinner
Rating: 
4 / 5
Friendliness of Staff: 
5 (Wow, I feel incredibly welcome! Recognised if a frequent visitor)
Speed of Service: 
2 (15 - 25 mins - Where's the food? Might have asked a staff member)
Quality of Food: 
4 (Above average - noticeably tastier than normal)
Decoration & Cleanliness: 
5 (An exceptional Nando's! (Please tell us why) )
Comments - Stand out in our monthly competition! What did you eat? Unique aspects? Parking/transport tips?: 

Second day of birth but if the restaurant continues like it has it could potentially be top ten. I'm very excited at the possibility of doing the first review for this restaurant as I've been waiting for it to open for some months now.

Minor wait with the food but that is expected seeing as it was the second day of operation and the branch has been jam packed since it opened. The staff are cheery, very friendly and I suppose they would be as this is all still new to them. Once they sort out the food timings, they could be really great. I wish I could have scored them higher for this, but I did wait just over twenty minutes and the order was not complete.

Hard to miss, this branch takes up a huge section on the New Malden roundabout, one off shoot the Kingston Road. The only issue you may find is parking as there are a few places in the high street if you can get one, or down one of the side streets that is not residents, or double yellow lines. Alternatively there are many bus routes to there, coming from Kingston or Pollards Hill. It is well lit, the Nando's sign a very brightly lit red and huge letters. There is a lot of gold on the outside as well as inside, but it is mostly glass walls, 80% you can see inside. At least you can tell how busy it is.

Got there just after 8pm and were greeted by not one, but two smiley people. As you enter, on the right hand side is a wall covered in hanging baskets and green foliage. It looks great however when the plant starts going brown, will not be such a good idea. We were given table 9, but I chose to order before having a seat. The staff are well trained on the tills, there was no trouble with ordering at all. As I don't have a typical combo meal the server did question my order, but put it through the til after thinking about it, always a minor bother.

Table 9 was along the glass window with a great view of the roundabout. I could see all traffic coming and going, people walking past or coming to the restaurant and the Fountain pub across across the street. New Malden was really bustly for a Thursday night and strangely has a large Korean population though a lot of them were in the restaurant. Strange seating patterns meant we had a couple at a table right next to us, and we were blocked in at either end. There are also some comfy chair booths, some round tables for four scattered around and all this partitioned from the entrance, grill and sauce station by a wall with cymbals with pieces missing from them on a wire pipe wall thing. Sort of like a cage but flat, I'll post a picture up...

The lights were eclectic, all varied. Some were like a multicoloured woven basket upside down so you could see inside, some were in the ends of pipes hanging down from the ceiling. There were also small skylights and other various ones I can't remember. The wall near the back was apparently similar to Vauxhall Arches, small square wooden pieces together almost like a jigsaw puzzle, very hard to not touch and feel it.

So food was over twenty mins wait and initially they didn't bring the garlic bread out with the mash and chicken. The half chicken mango and lime looked nice but there wasn't a lot of sauce, and the breast piece was soooo dry it was painful. The mash, there was loads and it was served hot but there was a white blob of something in it which I hope was creamy mash. The garlic bread when it was brought out was really good, hot, garlicky, toasted well. Made a good combo with the mash. My friend had a butterfly chicken piece, chips, halloumi and avocado and she ate everything, no complaints. A hot glass was given to me for my water but the cashier pre warned me and tried to cool down the glass for me.

The toilets at the far end of the restaurant were clean, everything was clean and working and not smelly. Nice tiling on the walls, everyone loves swirly patterns in the loos, nice blue walls, neon green sink and a huge mirror to check there's nothing in your teeth. All in all a good experience and I hope it stays that way as the staff were so friendly.

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