Swansea - Ryan Review

This was the last Nando's in Wales I hadn't visited, so being only 25 miles away, how could I pass up the chance!?

Arrived here at approximately 9pm on a Wednesday evening. It's located in the "Salubrious Place" area/centre down near the Swansea docks/port. I think it got its name as it's where the prostitutes used to hang out! None there now though... There is an NCP car park within Salubrious Place but I'm not sure of the prices as I didn't park here, instead, there is a road opposite the main throughfare for Salubrious and a car park that is free after 9pm and only £1.20 an hour anyway. A few minutes walk makes for a great spot. There's a Vue Cinema and is also home to several pubs/clubs so a pre cinema/boozing session makes Nando's a popular choice.

Even at 9pm, this place was rammed. There happened to be one 2-seater table spare, so I was offered that straight away, but there were three other groups of 6 or 7 people waiting - and who had been waiting for 15+ minutes, so be aware. I had a wait of approx 7 minutes in the queue to order.

It was so busy, they had even run out of chips! I was only told this as I got to the till, so asked if they were offering anything else in return, which they were not... so I just had a big bowl of rice. Since it took 23 minutes for the food to come, it gave me chance to scope out the decor, which didn't take too long.

It was an average kit out in terms of art and furnishings, although it was laid out quite way - catering for groups nicely (even though there were three waiting). On the left wall there were 3 circular booths (for groups of 6) and and the right 3 large square leather-seat booths (easily seating 8 at each). There was a small separating wall down the middle of the restaurant with tables/chairs/benches either side of this and high chair/table seating in the window. It's not the biggest Nando's - maybe 30 tables, but still enough space between everyone. The booths on the right had full length mirrors in the them with those on the left having a canvas painting in each of them - but other than a few extra pots/plants on the middle separating wall, there wasn'y anything special. The toilets were clean though but not very bright.

Once the food did come, sadly it was nothing special. The chicken and rice could be seen under the heatlamps for 8 minutes (so it could have been a 15 minute turnaround) and so had lost most of their heat and moisture. The chicken was very dry and the rice was completely stuck together. I also had three stones in my portion of olives (a new record for me...).

With it being so busy, the staff can be excused with doing the bear minimum, so at least they weren't rude!