Nando's Bolton - Middlebrook — Restaurant in Bolton

I got home from the airport last night. There was no food in the house and it was a Sunday night, nothing was open. I was hungry. So I placed an order for me and my friend through Deliveroo at 21:50. I do appreciate that it’s 10 minutes before closing time, but it was an option on deliveroo, and so I went for it. I’ve worked in the service industry for years and I wouldn’t dream of walking into a place 10 minutes before closing time. But since it was an option on deliveroo, I assumed they’d be happy with the custom.

So we get a phone call close to 22:00 to say that they are out of chicken and to point out that the order was placed 10 minutes before closing time. I’m not sure what one has to do with the other, but apparently Nando’s are out of chicken! I couldn’t believe it either, dear reader, and in fact I still don’t. Note - there was no offer to send us other food (burgers, beanie patties, halloumi, etc), just a strong suggestion that we have to go on the deliveroo app and cancel the order, apparently this is preferable to them cancelling it form their end. Again, I smell something here; it probably looks better on the system for the customer to cancel rather than the restaurant to do so.

Also - note that after 14 hours of travelling and whilst hungry I had to spend 30 minutes arguing with deliveroo about cancelling this order, their app and staff were quite confused and being very slow. Apparently they couldn’t get in touch with the restaurant…

By this time it was too late to order something else with anyone else, as most restaurants don’t take orders after 22:00. If I’d have known that, I’d have placed an order with another Nando’s (such as the vaults in Bolton) or basically any restaurant that doesn’t lie to their clients.

Here’s what should have happened: staff at Nando’s middlebrook should have turned off the option/availability on deliveroo when they ran out of stock. the food items that were out of stock should have been marked as unavailable.

None of the above happened, which makes me think that they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be marked as available on deliveroo, but not actually fulfil orders that aren’t convenient for them.

Again, I’ve worked in the service industry for years, and I know what really happened there. From about 21:30 onwards, perhaps as the last few customers were having the last of their meals, they cleaned down the kitchen and possibly even sent the kitchen staff home. Fair enough, really, and I would have done the same. BUT - I would also have switched off availability on deliveroo at this point.

So these guys got caught out with an order at 21:50, and decided to call us and tell us that they’re out of chicken (REALLY?!) and that we had to cancel the order. I hope management sees this and deals with it accordingly. Guys and girls - there’s a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, grab it cause YOUR PANTS...

as i walked in a wave of comfort grazed my face politely, the waitress navigated us slightly hesitantly towards our table, i didn’t understand why the chairs were different to eachother and i was silently in contempt when the person accompanying me secured the better chair, i didn’t mind ordering using my phone however i did make a mistake of not ordering a beverage, the price of the meal was quite satisfying because the quality and quantity of the food was appropriate, the person on the opposite of my table got their food first it was my fault for not ordering simultaneously with them. i was grateful that the person waited to get my food before they started eating and that they let me consume some of their starter. The starter was a mosh pit of olives,garlic and pepper. The trio did not disappoint and the garlic took the stage since it had its perfect taste without overwhelming my palette.AHA! Finally my food landed on the runway. I first started engulfing the group of haloumi sticks. They were good but could’ve been crispier however i was happy that they were not drowned in oil. 10 wings lied elegantly on the plate and each bite was a pleasant one. The crust was perfectly grilled and the inside was beautifully tender. Then on the corner of my eye i saw an ensemble of 2 slices of garlic bread. I never complain with the italian elegancy of garlic bread but i have to comment on the overload of the garlic butter which made it a dash too soggy but it was still mostly crispy. Also i got to use some creativity when i made a sandwich out of the bread chicken wing and halloumi sticks. These complemented eachother gracefully and made the experience hard to forget. Throughout the meal i got to refill my glass with a choice of drinks. I was disappointed with the selection since in other restaurants they have 30 different types of drinks to choose from. Overall the dining experience was a 7.9/10 and a will definitely try to replicate it...

I was a big advocate of Nandos before most people had heard of it, I travelled for an hour to my nearest one in Manchester. I was lured in by the tasty food, great atmosphere, good service, amongst other things. These days I know what I'm going to order without even looking at the menu. And yes, the food is surely as good as it was back then, but you tend to take things for granted, right?! Like for example, the great service... Oh how times have changed, well here in Bolton they have - dealt with 4 different staff for various things, like the table placing, the order at the counter etc, and I asked the party of 3 I was with if it was me or did they all seem like young, good looking robots?!?! Emphasis on ALL those words because I sometimes wonder if the 'young' and 'good looking' are priorities in recruitment, as I'm sure they are the likes of Hollister stores. As for the robot part, I never sensed an ounce of personality once. And what happened to the asking if your food was nice, or the clearing of the tables?? We sat there for 10 minutes after finishing our food and not a soul came by. And don't get me started on the fact that the girl made a conscious effort to thoroughly check my partners ID along with her card for NHS discount but then forgot to add it onto the bill, and when my partner went back up she couldn't have been less apologetic to her. And as for quantities and the lack of spice on everything, I mean we could hardly taste it - why undersell the thing that a lot of people come in you're place to experience Nandos???? Oh and the coke was flat too. Wouldn't have minded if the place was full for a Sunday on kids holidays, but it was only over half capacity. Not good. And 4 basic meals, some nuts and 3 cokes for over £60 too, yikes! It just sounds like I'm nitpicking now, where as I am simply saddened that a place I used to adore is now simply another Mehhhh! I'll stick to a cheaper, friendlier...