Brixton - Blaynos Review

Ever been to a Nando's and walked out because the service was catastrophically bad? Well that's what happened to me here...

Had about an hour to kill between a meeting in Victoria and then seeing some friends on Friday afternoon so figured I'd pop on the tube down to the Brixton branch. When you come out of the station, turn right and walk down the high street for a couple of minutes before turning left (second road I think it is), and your greeted with a surprisingly arch and patio-area that must provide some nice al-fresco seating during summer. Inside the branch, it looks pretty nice with the usual Nando's touches (these two aspects combined meant I was planning on giving it a 5 for decor).

That was as good as it got.

The branch was pretty empty, as you'd expect for a mid-afternoon. No Nandoca was there to greet me, nor did anyone come while I stood in the queue waiting to order (takeaway) and, as became obvious, the two women in front of me (both with pushchairs) weren't greeted either as they reached the till both without a table or menu (which made the wait even worse as they discussed it with the cashiers). Despite the branch being empty, there was still a queue to order as only one till was open, while a bunch of Nandocas did absolutely nothing behind the tills - and the time I wasted waiting meant I could see that it wasn't particularly clean either and one of the sauce stations wasn't well stocked either (hence the knock down to a 3).

I couldn't believe that I had waited in the queue about 15mins when only about 5-10 customers were in the restaurant. The final straw came when the cashier took a phone order, and I just walked out. I dread to think how long they would have taken to make my food. The queue was out the door by the time I left, and this branch joins Victoria Wilton Road and Kentish Town in my top 3 most memorable worst Nando's (although hopefully the latter redeems itself at the next RYN dinner!)