Nando's Lewisham — Restaurant in London

From the moment we arrived at approx 9pm, the staff's attitude was unwelcoming, possibly due to the restaurant’s 10 PM closing time. However, as paying customers, we should not have been made to feel like an inconvenience. After a discussion on seating arrangements for our party of 14, we were allowed to sit upstairs as we had initially requested but were told we needed to be finished by 10:15 PM.

Once seated, a staff member asked what we intended to order to allow for preparation. The majority of our group expressed interest in chicken thighs. By 9:23 PM, I had placed an order for five people, with additional orders being placed by others at our party. Despite this, there was a significant delay in service.

During our wait, my young son needed to use the toilet but was initially denied access by staff, who claimed it was closed. When my husband inquired, they admitted they didn’t realise we were still dining and directed him to the disabled toilet instead.

By 10 PM, all members at the other table in our party had been served, yet my table was still waiting. My daughter asked about the delay and was told our food would be ready in six minutes. However, after another five minutes, I followed up again and was told it would be another five minutes. At 10:20 PM, with no food still in sight, I went downstairs with my family members to request our meals as takeaways and asked for a manager and a refund, as I had never waited an hour for Nando’s before.

When the manager Leah arrived, her attitude was defensive straight away, very dismissive and unprofessional.

Rather than listening to our concerns or offering an apology, she repeatedly stated that she was being "interrogated." This was an unnecessary and defensive response that only escalated the situation instead of resolving it, as 3 of us were trying to express our frustration, which she should have recognised, I have to question whether she would have used that same language if we were a group of white women.

The way she handled our complaint made us feel disrespected and, in my opinion, was racially motivated.

When we asked for a refund, she initially assumed we wanted reimbursement for our entire party rather than just those who had not received their meals on time. After finally listening to our request, she agreed. However, her lack of professionalism and basic customer service skills was unacceptable.

This experience was incredibly disappointing, especially as it was meant to be a celebration. The overall customer service was poor, and the lack of communication regarding our delayed food was frustrating. While we appreciate that the refund was eventually processed, the way we were treated by staff—especially the manager—was unacceptable. I will not be returning to this location, nor will I be recommending it to others. I strongly urge Nando’s to provide customer service and bias-awareness training to the staff at this branch to prevent similar experiences for other customers in the future.

The only reason it got 1 star is because 1/2 or no stars is...

This is genuinely the worst Nando’s I have been too. I arrived around 9pm with a large group of people. While I can acknowledge we were a big group, it’s not like Nando’s give the option of making bookings, so the only option was to walk in. The only seating area that could accommodate all of us was upstairs. The staff took around 5 minutes before deciding this would be okay. They had said that upstairs was closed. However, if this is the only area that customers could sort surely it is a no brainier to accommodate this? From the moment we walked in, we were met with attitude and a type of energy that was obvious they were not happy about the size of the group.

Nonetheless we were eventually seared upstairs and ordered our food being told we needed to be out by 10:15 - which was more than fair and we had no problem with. Most of the group had their food served with no issues, however my groups order (5 people) had still not come 40 minutes later. At this point I went downstairs to ask when we should expect our food as it was now 10pm. I was told 6 minutes and that it was explained to me that it would take longer when the other food was brought upstairs. I responded with - no one has communicated this with us, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking you. But I was happy with 6 minutes. 10 minutes later, the food had still not arrived. Someone else went to ask and was told 5 minutes. At this point we were all hungry, and frustrated. It had now been 55 minutes since ordering, so we asked to speak to the manager.

When the manager came, unintentionally - three of us started talking at the same time. Her response was “I don’t need four of you interrogating me”. Now this response irritated me because 1 - no one was interrogating anyone, 2 - the first thing Leah - the manager should have done was apologise for the inconvenience. And 3 - if my skin tone was lighter I am 100% certain her choice of wording would not have been “interrogating”.

I mentioned that we wanted a refund and Leah automatically assumed I requested one for the whole group. Instead of her taking a customer service focused approach - she was extremely defensive and did not apologise sincerely. She definitely needs some support in how to handle difficult situations with customers as her approach was appalling. As we left, it was evident that Leah along with the rest of her team were gossiping about my group, from the looks on their faces and stares ad we left - it was obvious. I do not recommend this Nando’s- especially if you are...

We visited yesterday because it was my mother's birthday and she decided she wanted to dine here. My mother and daughter had chicken (as pictured) and said it was really nice and tender.

The staff were really polite and friendly. Taye served us and he was ever so attentive. It has been a while since I've eaten at Nando's to be honest. In the past, I believe I used to have a bean wrap. The food was really nice and obviously fresh as it is cooked when you order meaning it is not just sitting around.

The ordering process has changed which was very convenient. You can scan the barcode and order straight to your table. You only need to get up to get your cutlery and other condiments.

The atmosphere was nice and chilled. My daughter enjoyed the music! She only drinks water, so there is not much to say about that! However, my mother and I opted for ginger ale, which was really nice and refreshing. It was not too sweet like a typical ginger beer, but it had a little more...