Nando's PERi-PERi — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

Don't get me wrong the quality of the food is phenomenal. I use to regularly dine in at their Arundel location the past 2 years and have always had great service.

This particular location I've been twice. The first time I got free food because I had a voucher. The second time was last night with my friend. We had a poor experience and I feel the need to voice it.

We arrived at the back around 8pm last night to grab dinner. The hostess gave us a seat outside. We went inside to order our food. As I was ordering, the male gentleman taking my order seemed impatient and was talking to me in a condescending tone. I was asking him questions about some of the menu items and he was rude about it. Oh well, probably had a long day.

I ordered the Chicken Breast sandwich (my first time ordering this) and my friend ordered 1/2 chicken. We got our water cups, sauces, utensils, napkins and went back outside to our table. We waited between 30-40 minutes for our food to come out. This is one thing I really hate among all their locations. They take a painfully long time to prepare the food.

Once our meals arrived, we were shocked. My sandwich was mere 1/2 a foot long. And my chicken was tiny - it was only 1/2 the sandwich in width and 3/4 of the 6in sandwich in length. I'm not kidding. I wish I had taken pics of this. It was mostly filled with lettuce and tomatoes. They really skimp people.

Oh and my friend, he got 2 chicken breasts and their sizes were even smaller. They brought out just the 2 pieces on an otherwise empty plate. They took up 1/6 of the plate. It's a normal Nandos plate size. You can imagine how small that is. We were both expecting larger chickens and on his part, ones with legs. So he called the server about his food and they went to fix his order.

I ate my food and another 20 mins pass. My friend asked the server for an update and she said it shouldn't be much longer. Then another 10 mins go by. She comes back out and asks us if we would like to have wings as a courtesy for making us wait. Of course we said yes. These came out in 10 mins. We finished them pretty fast. Then my friend goes back in and asks for another update on his original chicken. She notifies him that unfortunately they were out and they couldn't prepare it. SO we waited all that time for nothing.

We had to complain up front and he got a refund so that's good. But, all the waiting and the terrible portion sizes with somewhat expensive pricing, in my opinion, doesn't make it a restaurant of choice in my book. I'm sure there are plenty of others who feel the same.

Give us more of your "famous" chicken. Enough to justify for...

Awful Costumer Service! The Rio branch needs a serious shake-up! "Deep cleaning" and in-depth training! I ordered online on Sat, but due to an emergency call was not able to pick it up, so I called and asked if my order can be moved to Monday. The lady behind the phone was so kind and told me she has arranged it with K..n - the manager- so I can show up on Monday to pick up the order around the same time I initiated on Sat.

On Monday, I went there at 5:05 - 25 min earlier than order time. I went to the cashier and start telling the story: "I have ordered online for taking out on Sat..." before I even finish my sentence, she jumped and pointed to the take out section saying: "Take outs are there." I continued "... I do not think my orders are ready yet," again before letting me finish my sentence she said: "DID YOU LOOK AT taking OUTS TO SEE YOUR NAME?" Her tone was very judgmental and offensive.

following her "bully advice", I went to take a look at the take out section and did not see my name there, so went back and told her "not there", then I explained again! And said, "I was told K..n, the manager is aware of this!" so she went to the manager's office and came back and said: "Your order would be ready by 5:30". It was almost 5:10''. So I said, "since I am here can you put the order now so it gets in the line in the kitchen?" She went to the kitchen and came back saying: "we do not have your order!". I showed her the confirmation email, and at this time another staff came over saying "did you call before you come here!", I said: "I was told to show up on Monday, am I supposed to call?" She said: "Yes!" and at this time manager "K..n" came out and said: "Your food would be ready by 5:30 because it takes 20 minutes to prepare the order and it is 5:10 now!" He said that and rolled his eyes and went toward the kitchen with no apology or any attempt to acknowledge the customer's frustration!

I went outside and came back at 5:30. The food was in the take-out section. Nobody was around. So I took the bag and left. Later I found the food was cold, tasted old, and except the mashed potato, the rest went to garbage!

I am so sorry for the manager as I am sure part of the reason for staff's horrible attitude comes from the manager's behavior and attitude....

**Update (again): Added 2 stars. Just ordered take out from here again. Went in and customer service was awesome! Something has changed because they were very friendly and the manager personally looked for my order, whereas the last time I was there it was at least 10 min before someone looked for my order (even after asking). I was asked multiple times if I needed help (which is great). Now I would recommend Nando’s because they have definitely stepped up their game with customer service.

Update: I have added a star I visited another time (because my husband really likes their chicken). We ordered pick up and was happy it seemed their customer service has stepped up.

I have only been to this Nando’s location (Gaithersburg) once to eat with my husband and his family. The genleman who took our order was exptremely patient and helped us understand what some items on the menu were. I am only “praising” him only because he was the only one who was accommodating and professional our whole visit that night. Everyone else working seemed to have “forgot” about our food and were not talking/interacting with each other in a professional manner. We had to remind them several times before we had all of our ordered food, plates, etc in front of us. I understand this is a chain restaurant and certainly not a 5 star, but I believe every restaurant’s employees should act professional - at least in front of guests. I am giving two stars instead of one because I did enjoy the food. Loved that the chicken was moist and I liked the sides. There are also two instead of three (or more) because we ordered for pick up one day and waited at least 20 min to come pick the food up and another 20 min to receive the food. Because we added onto our order they said it was going to be a little longer, so we waited another 15 min. When we asked them about the add-on they informed us they hadn’t started cooking it yet. I am so disappointed and pretty upset that they “forgot” about our food again. I understand it was a Saturday night and they may have been busy, but they had plenty of workers to at least start preparing the add-on. I will definitely think twice about visiting...