Nando's Northlands — Restaurant in Christchurch

I visited this place today and had the worst experience. There were three or four people working, and only one table had customers sitting at it. As soon as one of the employees came in, just like last time, they told me to sit at the table and order online. Last time, it took over 10 minutes to order when I sat at the table. Since I was already here, I said I would order from here. But when I tried to place my order, there was no one at the front. The manager was cooking, one person was sitting in the kitchen, and the other was hiding behind to urge me to order online. When I asked them to take my order, the manager said they were too busy, which I really couldn't understand. Furthermore, the manager lied that orders could only be placed online. It's absurd to say that people who are elderly and have difficulty using mobile phones, those whose phones are broken and can't be used, and those who don't have a phone at the moment cannot order food. This is supposedly Nandos' policy. Is that true? It's necessary to carefully examine what they are doing in the store through CCTV. I am currently at the Riccarton branch, and despite being very busy, the staff here did not pushed me to order online and kindly took my order in person. If they only take online orders, could you also explain why there is a card terminal...

We visited Nando’s Northlands Mall today, and we had the worst experience dining there. We kept ringing since 6pm just to check if they are open or can still accommodate us since we are arriving late from a long drive but nobody answered. We got there, and all the staff were busy chatting to each other instead of attending to us (including the manager I believe, not sure if he was even managing) no body greeted us, some staff were eating ice cream while working, laughing and was busy entertaining themselves. I mean that’s fine it’s 9pm anyway and we are probably the last few customers, so they can just mock around while they finish this order from this couple. The big problem was, they served us a raw basmati rice - we complained about it, and was told “even if you ask for a new set of rice, it will be the same” does that mean Nandos now serve raw basmati rice and nobody even bothered to check? I regularly dine and order at Nandos, and I was so disappointed at how everyone acted at that branch today. In the end, they were able to give us an edible basmati rice - so my suggestion is, listen to your customer’s feedback because insisting that they eat what they did not pay for is not a good look for...

Food is ok, not that great though. What’s annoying is the poor customer service and poor restaurant amenities. Here’s the context… We were asking if we can have/borrow one of their Peri-Peri sauces, one of the staff responded that everything (all sauce bottles) were on the tables. Thing is, our table has none of their sauces, and they didn’t even offer if they can help us grab/borrow one from another table that has multiple sauce bottles.

If the service standard is having sauces on every table, then the restaurant should make sure that all tables have at least one of their Peri-Peri sauces on every table. Some customers do grab these sauce bottles because they require more, but it is unfair for those who would need the sauces as well. So, it could’ve been a much better experience if the staff could’ve offered to help by asking other customers if one could borrow at least one of their sauce bottles so others can also taste and experience these. Or, better yet, get rid of these sauce bottles and just have a common canister where all sauces can be pumped so there would be enough for everyone - just for a better dining experience for the management’s...