Nandos

the playing mantis

right im going to lunch. im going to browse the international aisle at the wharf tescos, and will probably get some US nutter butter cookies and irish rock shandy.

what a lunch!

navrig

the playing mantis wrote:

Navrig wrote:

I used to work away from home a lot so frequented a number of restaurants. In Leeds I thought I'd try Nandos.

My first two visits were OK but after a third visit I decided "No more". Pile of cr4p.

Then my missus heard about them and insisted we try there. So we went - twice - and then she decided "No more". Pile of cr4p.

Mr Mantis - I cannot believe you are supporting the USA fast and cheap food market. My limited experience of the USA is that you have to spend decent money to get decent food otherwise it is cr4p (and far to generous a portion). You have to ask yourself how do they do such serving sizes for such little money. The start with cr4p ingredients, employ monkeys and serve bigger monkeys. IMHO of course.

We ate here once, never again:

http://www.shoneys.com/default.html

The last item at the end of their breakfast buffet was a bain marie with a pot of hot Maple Flavoured Syrup and hot Liquid Cheese. The fat yanks were pouring these all over their healthy servings of fried chicken, hash browns, fresh fruit, pancakes, crispy bacon (all on one plate).

its a question of what we consdier good. im not refering to how healthy it is, i couldnt care less about that as im not eating the stuff reguarlly. im talking taste wise. (also the provenance of stuff is a cocern but i think grocery shopping there is cheaper quite a bit so that may go someway to explaining the cheapness of the end product)

that last thing sounds immense! i would consider that good food as a holiday blowout.

The Shoney's sounds immense until you realise that you are getting all you can eat for about $5. That made me think..... where did this come from?

simonhead

I quite like Nandos but they have no consistency. Our local one is pretty good and it costs more than going to somewhere like McDonalds but its a bit more social than eating out of a cardboard box and the staff dont look like they want to commit suicide over your bargain bucket like they do in KFC.

The Bluewater Nandos is bleeding awful, tried it twice and has never been good, as others have said the food generally in Bluewater is poor to average.

the playing mantis

Navrig wrote:

the playing mantis wrote:

Navrig wrote:

I used to work away from home a lot so frequented a number of restaurants. In Leeds I thought I'd try Nandos.

My first two visits were OK but after a third visit I decided "No more". Pile of cr4p.

Then my missus heard about them and insisted we try there. So we went - twice - and then she decided "No more". Pile of cr4p.

Mr Mantis - I cannot believe you are supporting the USA fast and cheap food market. My limited experience of the USA is that you have to spend decent money to get decent food otherwise it is cr4p (and far to generous a portion). You have to ask yourself how do they do such serving sizes for such little money. The start with cr4p ingredients, employ monkeys and serve bigger monkeys. IMHO of course.

We ate here once, never again:

http://www.shoneys.com/default.html

The last item at the end of their breakfast buffet was a bain marie with a pot of hot Maple Flavoured Syrup and hot Liquid Cheese. The fat yanks were pouring these all over their healthy servings of fried chicken, hash browns, fresh fruit, pancakes, crispy bacon (all on one plate).

its a question of what we consdier good. im not refering to how healthy it is, i couldnt care less about that as im not eating the stuff reguarlly. im talking taste wise. (also the provenance of stuff is a cocern but i think grocery shopping there is cheaper quite a bit so that may go someway to explaining the cheapness of the end product)

that last thing sounds immense! i would consider that good food as a holiday blowout.

The Shoney's sounds immense until you realise that you are getting all you can eat for about $5. That made me think..... where did this come from?

actually, i ate in the LV IHOP as one of my m8s had always wanted to eat in an IHOP for some reason. that was actually pretty bad. think little chef.

the provenance of all you can eat stuff probably isnt great, but i maintain overall the yanks to low/mid end food (whats a mid end) better than anyone else in the anglosphere, but you must like that sort of food (often unhealthy/over the top) to appreciate it.

markhewitt1978

dmclite-3.0 wrote:

good replies on here and a wealth of opinions, but can we all agree frankie and bennys is awful ?

I quite like them, well specifically I like their American Hot pizza; quite good for the kids too.

But we did go to one in North Shields a few weeks ago and it was the best part of 2 hours . On a place which was at best 1/4 full it took them 40 minutes just to come and take our order. . What was supposed to be a nice hours lunch turned into a right trial as 2 year olds don't have the patience to sit for that long!

simonhead

dmclite-3.0 wrote:

good replies on here and a wealth of opinions, but can we all agree frankie and bennys is awful ?

Absolutely

mudcow007

last time i went it was alreet

black sauce is a winner, at the end of the day, its quite cheap to eat there so you cant expect it to be like a savoy

oh an paprika on chips... nom nom nom nom

dmclite-3.0 wrote:

good replies on here and a wealth of opinions, but can we all agree frankie and bennys is awful

damn straight

seanoconn

dmclite-3.0 wrote:

good replies on here and a wealth of opinions, but can we all agree frankie and bennys is awful ?

Absolutely, terrible film. What was Pacino thinking!?

bompington

This thread amply illustrates the main purpose of global fast food chains and their customers - to give snobs something and someone to feel superior to without having to try too hard.

squired

I once had a nasty contact lens removal incident where despite having washed my hands the spicy Nandos sauce had not been 100% removed from my fingers. In fact that was my first ever experience of Nandos.

Much like various other people who have commented, I think the place serves overpriced muck. It isn't hard cooking chicken, yet in the handful of times I've been to Nandos they've managed to screw it up. Every time I walk past the local Nandos and see it full to the rafters it confirms my belief that too many people have very low standards (and money to burn).

navrig

bompington wrote:

This thread amply illustrates the main purpose of global fast food chains and their customers - to give snobs something and someone to feel superior to without having to try too hard.

You'll be local to Dundee then?

dmclite-3.0

bompington wrote:

This thread amply illustrates the main purpose of global fast food chains and their customers - to give snobs something and someone to feel superior to without having to try too hard.

Nope, I was willing to enjoy it, love good cheap food, love Pizza Hut, Subways and kebabs, so no food snobbery here, just that Nandos did not come up well due to the food and concept, just not for me. I'm having Large meat and chips for tea.

rolf_f

bompington wrote:

This thread amply illustrates the main purpose of global fast food chains and their customers - to give snobs something and someone to feel superior to without having to try too hard.

Or having to worry about that faint, nagging thought that their prejudices might be wrong!

I've not been to a Nandos - I may have been to a Frankie and Bennies. All I recall is that every five minutes the staff had to stop what they were doing and sing 'Happy Birthday' to some poor doomed child. It was awful. There was nothing to be said for the food either.

I've eaten plenty in the States and not found it hard to find good food - though healthy food is harder. When you have the choice of half a fried chicken for $12 or a whole fried chicken for $15 it's hard not to pig out (I pigged out) - so certainly fine for a holiday but not so good on a permanent basis. No shortage though of rancid takeaways just as bad as the ones we have here. But you don't tend to see those so much on the tourist trail.

the playing mantis

not sure its being snobby saying uk fasr food is gash compared with the states fast food?

if i lived in the states id bee a 30 stone bloater instead of my wavering 12st.

clickrumble

Have been to two Nandos so that is a fair sample for me to determine that they were consistent in their mediocrity, expensive too. Anyway, the experience served as a reminder to avoid chain restaurants whenever possible.

corona

When I am in town (Doha) it is my fast food of choice, streets ahead of any of the burger joints. They do this kebab type thing which they hang vertically over your plate, espitata. I think its called. Lovely.

peat

I had the treat of going to one at 9pm on Easter Sunday this year. Firstly, i was gobsmacked that it was open and secondly, that we had to wait for a table!

Anyway, I was with some Nando's regulars who had stamp cards that they had filled up and were redeeming that night, so it worked out pretty cheap for me.

Food was..... alright. Pretty tasty. Protein & Carbs (&fat). Not a fan of the service model of queuing up to order etc but hey ho.

I would go again, for lunch perhaps, but i wouldn't consider it for an evening meal again. There are simply loads of other options, not that much more expensive that offer far superior food, service & ambiance.

Regardless of what we all think though, they are making a killing. Good luck to 'em

MountainMonster

I love Nando's Piri-Piri sauce, but don't love it enough to pay the insane price they want to cook it for me. I just buy the sauce and cook it at home if i'm too lazy to cook fresh.

AlexMac1973

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Yossie

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Peasant.

Blue all the way otherwise it doesn't taste of anything.

AlexMac1973

Yossie wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Peasant.

Blue all the way otherwise it doesn't taste of anything.

Blue! Heathen. The only was is tartare!

seanoconn

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Yossie wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Peasant.

Blue all the way otherwise it doesn't taste of anything.

Blue! Heathen. The only was is tartare!

Tartare!? Pffft, two degrees above Moo. Cooked just enough so that even a talented T47b couldn't revive it.

dmclite-3.0

seanoconn wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Yossie wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Peasant.

Blue all the way otherwise it doesn't taste of anything.

Blue! Heathen. The only was is tartare!

Tartare!? Pffft, two degrees above Moo. Cooked just enough so that even a talented T47b couldn't revive it.

Being Scottish I like a bit of mince.

pottssteve

AlexMac1973 wrote:

I think you get good and bad dependant upon where you go, I went to one in Kuala Lumpar and they do table service. It was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken and the girl taking our order looked at me like I'd just p!$$ed on her xmas tree when I asked them to cook the chicken without the skin on.

Cambridge and Plymouth (next to cinema) are table service if that's any use.

Malaysians don't have Christmas trees - it's a Muslim country.

Yossie

pottssteve wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

I think you get good and bad dependant upon where you go, I went to one in Kuala Lumpar and they do table service. It was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken and the girl taking our order looked at me like I'd just p!$$ed on her xmas tree when I asked them to cook the chicken without the skin on.

Cambridge and Plymouth (next to cinema) are table service if that's any use.

Malaysians don't have Christmas trees - it's a Muslim country.

What - not even if you want one in your house because you're not a Muslim? Blimey, a whole country devoid of evergreen conifers - now that's something I would have never have believed.........

team47b

seanoconn wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Yossie wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

IIt was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken....

I bet you like your steaks well done!

More of a (happy) medium fellow

Peasant.

Blue all the way otherwise it doesn't taste of anything.

Blue! Heathen. The only was is tartare!

Tartare!? Pffft, two degrees above Moo. Cooked just enough so that even a talented T47b couldn't revive it.

If you killed it, you eat it how you like //////1'§§§e4 (kitten just walked across the keyboard, no idea what he's trying to say, he also launched itunes )

AlexMac1973

pottssteve wrote:

AlexMac1973 wrote:

I think you get good and bad dependant upon where you go, I went to one in Kuala Lumpar and they do table service. It was a bit different but ok, only criticism would be they leave the skin on the chicken and the girl taking our order looked at me like I'd just p!$$ed on her xmas tree when I asked them to cook the chicken without the skin on.

Cambridge and Plymouth (next to cinema) are table service if that's any use.

Malaysians don't have Christmas trees - it's a Muslim country.

It's also part buddhism and daoism due to the chinese community, plus a bit of hunduism thrown in for good fun!

Xmas day is a national holiday over there, so even those followers of Islam can have a Sunni disposition.

Davdandy

Nando`s is posh food for chavs.Just like McDonalds is for poor chavs.As for the rest of the civil world we will stay clear of such drivel.
I have been twice to see what it was all about and will never go back.Utter garbage.

Yossie

Do Nandos have Christmas trees in other parts of the world?

nobrakes71

it's just rubbish. Plus you won't find anything like peri peri chicken portugal. It's just branded fast food.