Nando's Gateshead — Restaurant in Gateshead

My wife made an order for collection on 15/06 at 19.50. I decided to collect on her behalf while she waited in the car as she is 6 months pregnant.

I arrived a few minutes early and walked straight in, nobody was there to greet me at the door so after a minute or so i found my way to the collection desk and gave my order number. The woman shouted 'Another double chicken' (my part of the order) and then told me to wait at the side, I believe this was the manager.

The restaurant wasn't busy, only 4 tables of customers and 2 people waiting for collections. After 10 minutes of waiting a girl came from behind the grill after bagging up what I thought was my order, but it was given to another man who was sat waiting. He was there before me so i thought nothing of it.

Another 10 minutes passed and I was still standing there waiting, nobody had approached me in the 20 minutes i was waiting to say there was a delay with my order. My wife rang me to ask what was going on, so i went back to the collection desk to ask how long my order would be.

I was asked what my order number was, '84' the manager went away and then came back and asked again what number my order was..... 'we can't find your order' I show the confirmation of order on my App with collection time. My wife is still on the phone listening to what is happening, I explain I am collecting the order for my wife in her name.

I am then told that maybe I haven't actually completed the order, I tell her that the money has been taken from my bank account. I am then asked for the confirmation email, which I do not have as it was ordered on my wife's account, so my wife then forwards me the email confirmation so I can show it to the manager.

It is not great being made to wait then made to feel like you are the one who has made a mistake.

My wife decided she would leave the car and come and help as she could hear that this situation was a mess and we had places to be.

We were told that they couldn't find our order and they don't know what happened. I believe my order was given to the man who was waiting before me by the server who came from behind the grill, she brought a big bag of food to him which I believe was mine and then marked it off as collected on the computer, I don't think the manager seen this.

They normally check your order number and contents of the order before handing over the food to you, this didn't happen with him. I'm 99% sure that was my order given to him, even handing over the perinaise at the end to him which I always order.

I am then made to re-order my food, I can't remember the full order as I did not place the order so I hand over my phone to the manager with details of the order.

We get our food at 20:25 and our given an extra portion of rice for the inconvenience (getting home we relise we are missing a portion of chips)

Before leaving the manager took my email address and phone number to send over an e-voucher, 'keep an eye on your emails we will send you an e-voucher'

I think that e-voucher has been lost...

A regular at this Nando’s and thought I’d leave a further review after trying the new loaded fries.

Haven’t been in for a few months and was greeted by Norman who is probably the best host I’ve met in Nando’s. He was friendly, polite, couldn’t do enough for you, and best of all it came across as very genuine. I’m pretty sure he might have even went to Tesco just to get me some malt vinegar when I couldn’t find any with the condiments!

We were handed a leaflet with a photo of the new loaded fries on them and I couldn’t wait to try them.

The fries themselves were brilliant. Some of the tastiest I’ve had. The chips themselves weren’t hot, but warm enough to eat. I expect this was due to the time preparing the wraps we also had as the cheese had melted on top.

The wraps were disappointing on this occasion. I usually get a double, but got a single breast on this occasion. The wrap had 4 bits of chicken in about 2cmx1cm? This might be normal, but it did feel like I had more bites of a lettuce wrap than a chicken one. - you can see the 4 bits in the photo.

I’d have usually dropped a star for the food on this occasion, but since the host was so good it’s...

This nandos is definitely ran by humans!

I have been to this nandos on so many occasions I can safely say, that like my opening statement suggests; it's not perfect but if you're patient you'll learn to tolerate it. I have experienced all the good and bad points of this nandos. The staff are generally friendly, you will get one or two people who let the team down by being lazy or who don't know what customer service is. The restaurant does get busy at times but there are always seats. Restaurant is clean everytime I have been. The waiting time for food is up and down like a yo-yo. Sometimes it's lightning quick and sometimes you think they've completely forgot you're in the restaurant. Sometimes food items run out i.e. popular items like halloumi cheese, sauces or vegi options. Generally staff do a good job apologizing when this happens.

The one thing that stays constant though is that the quality of food remains good and tasty and in the end thats what I go for.

Generally a good restaurant most times I've visited. But expect the unexpected. As I say, it's run by humans....