Nando's Southwark Arches — Restaurant in London

Manager refused to let my sisters leave and threatened to call police on us.

So my twelve year old sisters wanted to eat at a restaurant but are in that phase of wanting to do everything by themselves. So I agreed to let them eat at nandos alone while I was in the ODI building next door. I gave them a time limit of one hour but encouraged the girls to come to me if they finished earlier. When they finished they were stopped by the manager who refused to let them leave despite them telling her they were going to walk 1 minute to the ODI building. She was asking them for phone numbers, ID etc and I've taught my sisters to only give that personal information out when they are in danger or to authority figures like police, doctors, paramedics etc. So of course they're not going to tell her.

When I come back an hour later to see how they got on I am lectured by the manager that the restaurant is not a daycare and that she was "just about to call the police". I asked her why she didn't let them leave when they told you they knew where to go and if she genuinely felt concerned for their safety why she didn't follow them 30 seconds to their alleged destination or call the police earlier since she seemed very passionate. She ignored the question and continued insulting our intelligence with her faux concern.

They are tweens dining out. They tried to leave after their meal and she held them in the restaurant and now wants to accuse me of abandoning them or using them as daycare? By refusing to let them leave did she not realise she would essentially be subjected to watching them?

These girls walk to school by themselves. They go to the library by themselves and they have phones. Staff even told me their behaviour was fine. How the police would have been involved is beyond me. I even informed staff of the arrangement as we walked in and they requested a table. Such a shame really coz the girls said they enjoyed themselves up until then. I did the same thing at a Nandos on my 11th birthday with my best friend. My sisters were 12. Makes us feel very unwelcome to go to any Nando's again really. It was very excessive and obviously did not come from a place of genuine concern. Perhaps the manager comes from a very restrictive traumatising background...

If I could give 0 stars I would give every aspect of today's experience several zero's! Waited about 10 minutes to be attended to and seated. Plenty of seats, no one to welcome and attend to the guests. The place was not really pack considering how big it is. As soon as I walked in I see corn on the cob rolling on the floor with speed towards my feet. There were several empty tables with food left over from previous diners. The table we were taken to had dirty plates, cups and bones as well as food and drink spillages. We had to ask a member of staff to pack away the table and clean it. There was slippery liquid (i think melted icecream) and bits of food all over the floor and chairs, we asked for this to also be cleaned as we were slipping all over the place and one of the people I was with was on crutches after a fall in a similar situation, very dangerous. In the end we had to clean it up ourselves because no one came to clean it. Waited over an hour to be served only for our food to be extremely cold. I let staff know my food was very cold and they said they will bring me another plate. I waited so long for them to bring me another plate the people I was with had already finished eating. During this time I asked staff to kindly check on my order 2 times and was told it was coming. After over 30mins of waiting I had to ask for a refund and left. AVOID THIS PLACE! Very unsanitary. After seeing what a mess the kitchen was and food all over the kitchen floor, I think they need another food hygiene and safety inspection. Honestly I feel sorry for the staff. There were a lot of unhappy customers and they were short staffed. Nandos need to do better for both staff and customers. Luckily for nandos I didn't...

Food is ok…it’s Nandos, it’s pretty standard. The sevice however was absolutely atrocious.

We waited for someone to clear the table for us, which they never did, despite saying it would be cleared for us…So we asked an individual who appeared to be clearing the table before we arrived if she could clear the table. She said ok. Then disappeared leaving us waiting around. Eventually we cleared the drinks and plates that were left there ourselves. When she finally arrived after about 10 mins, she saw we had cleared the table and just disappeared again, didn’t bother giving it a wipedown cos why would she do her job??

We ordered via the app (3 separate orders) for 5 people on our table. One of the orders was obviously just ignored and never started as by the time 3 of us were finishing up our meals, the other 2 still didn’t have theirs. So they had to go over to the counter and ask where it was…and wait around for another 15-20 mins or so.

It was an absolute shambles, it wasn’t even particularly busy and yet the service was absolutely abysmal. It was legitimately the least competent service I have ever encountered in any restaurant. It was as if all of the staff were on their first day, but also had a bad hangover…totally incompetent and entirely aloof to customers (at least us).

Avoid. Go to the Nandos on Stamford Street instead. Or...