KFC — Restaurant in Wales

Called in here earlier this week and now I don't believe in chicken anymore...

I popped in around 6 o'clock in the evening with the plan of grabbing a quick bite to eat before catching a film with my family and first impressions should have tipped me off.

Most of the tables still had wrappers and trays from the previous diners, so obviously no staff were available to tidy up, which is not a big deal or unusual in a really busy restaurant, but at that time there was only a few customers in the restaurant, so small alarm bells.

We ordered at the kiosk as suggested by all the signs and once ordered and paid, the machine didn't dispense a receipt because it needed a new till roll and obviously no one was available to change it, so clearly they'd been short staffed for some time. Bigger alarm bells now.

None the less, we'd paid at this point and so there's no turning back now. I suggested my family find a nice place to sit outside since it was a lovely sunny evening (and there really wasn't anywhere clean to sit inside anyway) and I'll wait for the food... And wait I did. Much wait. So many waits. All of the waits.

I conversed with one diner who was already stood at the counter and his opening remark was something like "I hope you have more luck than me!" to which I replied "have you been waiting long then?" to which he replied "so long, I've forgotten what I've ordered and I'm losing the will to live!".

Upon glancing up at the order screens and working out which was his, he wasn't being overly dramatic either because he'd been stood there over 15 minutes and he clearly just wanted a mighty bucket for one and this was a KFC restaurant, so in all fairness, he wasn't asking for anything out of the ordinary. We chatted for a bit because we had time to do so and once he'd been given his food (probably 5 minutes later, it came in a really small paper bag and looked really underwhelming, poor soul), I stood and observed my surroundings.

The place was an absolute shambles. Multiple screen alarms echoed. A 'just eat' courier was asking how much longer and what were they waiting on, only to be told "Chicken pieces, fries, wraps, um, actually everything". There was one young lad at the front of the restaurant and only two more visible in the 'kitchen' area and to suggest they were all clearly struggling to keep up is a massive understatement. All of the order screens behind the counter had ridiculous times on them and I remember thinking "Wow! They're stupid! There's no way I'd wait over 25 minutes in a drive through!" but I suppose on reflection, those people were in the same boat as me at this point, so who's the stupid one?!

Anyway, after only THIRTY FIVE MINUTES WAIT, whoosh! Just like that, my food arrived!

There was no apology or acknowledgement for the wait or even an attempt to break the horrendous atmosphere with a light hearted quip about how it hadn't been very fast food or something. It was just dumped indignantly on the counter as the young lad muttered "9-0-8-0" and turned back around.

At this point I politely asked him for a copy of my receipt because I'd obviously be complaining about the experience (I work in the service industry and I'm genuinely not that sort of person, but on this occasion, a complaint was probably deserved). He wasn't able to do it himself but would ask his manager to print one out. I was then met by an equally energetic and effervescent individual about 3 minutes later, who also didn't apologise or offer an explanation for the delays, noted the wait time on my receipt, handed it to me and then disappeared.

The food itself was ok. I really like southern fried chicken, so I'm easily pleased in that respect. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't 'nearly 40 minutes wait' good. In summary, the whole experience was not a positive one.

Also, for a bit of context, this is an amendment from a previous 5 star review from when this place first opened and it really was excellent on everything. It's fair to say it's not what it used to be and I probably wouldn't visit...

The most recent visit to KFC we had a bargain bucket with all the correct things in it. They even gave me the cuts of chicken I asked for (legs and thighs instead of breast). My only negatives are having (was waiting at the ordering window a fair while and it was closed so wasn't sure if I was waiting in the right place. And they had no paper towels or anything to clean hands.

It's the first time we've been for about 2 years. We went for my birthday treat 2 years ago which was such a disaster that we boycotted the place for 2 years.

This is what happened on that awful visit. Queue for drive thru was almost out of the car park and it was moving very slowly. I wanted to leave and go somewhere else instead but was stuck with cars in front and behind so had no choice but to wait.

I eventually got to order after sbout 20 minutes and asked if we could not have breat. Just plain chicken legs and thighs.

He food wasnt ready so We were told to wait in a designated spot and they'll bring the food out in a few minutes. Waited 2o minutes and no sign of staff or our food so I went in to hurry them along (not easy as I'm disabled, but the only other option was to rejoin the stupidly long queue. They seemed to have forgotten about my order so once again promised to bring it out in a few minutes. Waited another 15 and would have given up if I hadn't given them the money already. After dragging myself inside again they were rude as if I'm nagging after waiting for 2 minutes let alone 45 (60 including queue). This time I stayed inside waiting. When we got home and finally got to eat when we realised we'd taken so long, the friends I was sharing it with didn't have time to stay and eat. So it was just my husband and I.

I took one bite and my mouth started to swell. They'd put spicy chicken in the bucket, not the normal chicken we asked for. I can't eat spicy food due to a rare immune condition which causes anaphylactoid reactions and spicy food is a huge trigger.

So couldn't eat any of it. I tsnf the store to complain and they said I could have a refund. I said that would be appreciated jut I won't be able to get there for a couple of weeks. I went in 10 days later to get my but no one knew what I was talking about and refused to give my money back.

1 1/2 hours, and £25 and my birthday celebrations ruined. Never got an apology.

Hence boycotting the place...

Visited this KFC on Saturday 4/2/2023 at around 7pm with my wife and 13 year old granddaughter. We decided to eat in, 1st big mistake, ordered at the machine when payed there were no receipts. Picked up the food from counter with no thank you and a very unhappy server. What I think was the manager was laughing and joking with his staff while playing on his phone, food was in little bags which were torn and ripped. The place was a disgrace empty food containers and drinks cups left on table and floor amongst the rest of the food strewn everywhere. Thats a wonder that somebody doesn't catch some sort of disease, will never in a million years go back there again. The only good thing was the Ice cream hence the one star. Update: said I wouldn't go back to this KFC again, but after two years thought give it another try. Called in today 21/6/2025 at 17:15 and wish I hadn't, had a takeaway of a sharing boneless banquet for my wife and myself and boneless banquet for one for my granddaughter who is now 16. All together cost £35 got home and what a disappointing site to behold (I'm trying very hard to be polite) chicken over cooked so much that the coating was like chewing glass, crunchy and hard. I must say now I definitely WILL NOT EVER BE SETTING FOOT IN NANTGARW KFC AGAIN and that's my...