Whitechapel - Damien Review

On a weekday evening, our group of 7 arrive at Whitechapel Nando’s. As my friend Lap had cycled but forgot to bring his bike lock, our first question was would we be able to bring in a bike. The woman who greeted us just beyond the entrance at first said "no", before checking with her manager. The manager at first also gave us the negative, before realising we were a large group and saying “I’ll see what I can do”. Thankfully, he managed to find a space for Lap’s bike, so we could all stay and eat.

The restaurant was SO noisy, another of those school dinner hall style Nando’s. The place clearly has too many tables stuffed into the space, meaning not only increased audio levels, but people around you having to shift over/get up to allow you to do the same. We ordered our food and waited. There were several inexplicable discrepancies in service times and a few meals or parts of meals got forgotten. We brought these issues up and they all got addressed, but some took a lot of time. There was also quite a lot of overcooked food being brought to us. Three of our chicken thighs were burnt to the point where they no longer tasted of chicken/spice. I pointed this out, and the three were taken away, only to be replaced by two non-burnt thighs five minutes later. When I highlighted this 33.3% loss, I was told that it was 2 thighs that we sent back. I was apparently telling lies. I walked with the waitress to the grill where she asked the griller "it was 2 thighs that came back, wasn't it?". The griller confirmed that I wasn't telling fibs, the waitress rolled her eyes at me and we waited another five minutes for the extra thigh.

The bike parking thing was nice and that particular manager was very attentive and on the ball, but it's a shame that the rest of the staff seem all over the place. Added to the chaotic atmosphere and well below standard food, this isn't a Nando's I'd come back to. Holy PFC it is, next time I want chicken in Whitechapel.