Nando's Middlesex Street — Restaurant in London

I decided to pop in for a late meal about a month ago, as it had been a while since I’d had Nando’s. When I was younger, I used to really enjoy it, even though I’ve never been great with spicy food.

When entering, the server was friendly and guided me to a table. However, he looked completely drained, like his soul had been sucked out. Then again, he might have been working a long shift, as I came in quite late. Or maybe he was dealing with personal stuff and just looked exhausted. Either way, it wasn’t a big issue, I understand completely.

Once seated, he explained how to order using a QR code at the table. Just a heads-up, you might need to connect to the Wi-Fi, as I barely had any signal downstairs.

After placing my order and grabbing a refillable drink, I went to get a Fanta. Oddly enough, it didn’t taste right from the first sip, it didn’t taste like Fanta at all. Maybe it was the glass, but it was off.

My meal arrived about 10-15 minutes later, and honestly, it was a huge letdown. I tried a bit of everything first, and it all looked and tasted microwaved. Wetherspoons can pull off microwaved food surprisingly well, but when you can both see and taste it, that’s a problem, Nando’s.

The burger was a disaster. I could barely eat it without it falling apart. Even with the added halloumi and mushrooms, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to eat. Plus, the amount of grease pouring out was excessive. Thankfully, I grabbed a stack of napkins in advance, I used all of them just to keep my hands clean while eating.

Next up were the peri-peri chips, which were bland. Despite the seasoning, they lacked flavor, were hard on the ends, and soggy in the middle, like they’d been microwaved too.

The worst part of the meal was the so-called “creamy mash.” I had hoped it would be even slightly creamy, maybe reminiscent of Flat Iron’s perfect garlic mash. Unfortunately, it was rock solid. I was literally poking and prodding it with my fork in disbelief, it looked and felt like it had been microwaved straight from frozen. When I finally tasted it, it had no flavor at all. It honestly felt like I was eating play dough.

I know Liverpool Street is a busy area, but this is a Nando’s I won’t be returning to. That was, hands down, the saddest meal I’ve had in...

Today, my family’s choice of restaurant ended up being a major disappointment, earning it a 1-star review from me.

Unfortunately, I also had to file a formal complaint with the management team. I arrived with my family, including two young kids and a buggy. Right in front of us, a group of kids were play-fighting and using highly inappropriate language. Concerned, I tried to get the attention of a staff member, but she completely ignored us. Admittedly, the restaurant wasn’t too busy, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she might not have heard me.

We then took the lift downstairs, hoping for a quieter space, only to encounter the same staff member. She didn’t appear to be in a hurry or overwhelmed by work.

I called out to her again, but still got no response. I had to chase after her to explain why we had come downstairs. Before I could even explain, she rudely interrupted me, asking in an aggressive tone why I was there and insisting that I should have waited to be seated. Her unprofessional and hostile attitude was displayed in front of my entire family.

I wasn’t trying to cause trouble—I was simply trying to move my family away from the disruptive group upstairs. Sadly, this particular staff member seemed to have some serious issues.

I’ve always considered Nando’s to have excellent standards for recruitment, but in this case, it seems like they’ve made a poor choice. This experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and I hope management takes action to address...

You can't go wrong with a good Nando's. Actually, the experience starts at 4 stars and goes up when things go better than expected and go down when they go worse. I've been to this nandos before and it's been a standard Nando's experience. The same menu, good chicken, lovely staff. The toilets were clean, which is a plus, and the food got to us quick. I paid over a tenner for a whole chicken and sides and drinks because of my red chilli reward. What brought it down to 4 stars again though, was the fact that one on during or even after our meal came to pick up our rooster and ask us how the meal was. We sat at our table for a good 15-20 minutes after we were done, and it was still there, with our empty plates. When we made our way to leave and went back to the till to take home some bottles of sauce, after the cringey experience of having to explain to someone which bottles to buy by explaining in colours and general directions when there weren't even that many sauces on the shelves: 'No, the one to the left. No, too far, to your right now. Nope, back left. No, up. Further up. Top shelf. Left. Purple. Purple. Purple. No, that's green, purple please. Yes please. Yes. Thank you.' about ten minutes of this ordeal, the rooster and the plates were still there and new guests were queueing to get a table. That was disappointing. On a brighter note, love the...