Norwich - Riverside - Ryan Review

Ryan's picture
How Helpful?: 
No votes yet
Author: 
Number of Visits: 
This was my first visit
How Busy?: 
A few tables occupied
Date of Last Visit: 
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time of Day: 
Weekday Dinner
Rating: 
3 / 5
Friendliness of Staff: 
3 (Not bad. Did everything I asked of them)
Speed of Service: 
3 (10 - 15 mins - Nando's average)
Quality of Food: 
2 (Quite disappointing - seems rushed, may have some parts burnt)
Decoration & Cleanliness: 
4 (Very clean, newly furnished, impressive artwork and lighting)
Comments - Stand out in our monthly competition! What did you eat? Unique aspects? Parking/transport tips?: 

Second Nando's of the night took me to the Norwich Riverside. As I'd already parked at the Castle Mall, I walked from here - especially as it was less than a 10 minute walk. I wish I'd driven now though as I was sweating buckets in the humidity after I got there! :-)

I don't think Google maps show it very well, but if you do walk down from Castle Mall, heading down Julian's Way takes you across the river straight into the complex. Otherwise, the Riverside has its own multi-storey car park. From various signs I saw, people going to the Odeon or Hollywood Bowl get their parking validated for up to (maybe even) 4 hours - so that's pretty good value. There's also a large retail park (with Currys, Morrisons etc) next to Carrow Road (Canaries' home ground) and loads of people seem to also park here for free in the evenings, which is then a few minutes walk round the corner.

The entrance to the Odeon is right next to Nando's too, so easy to find. This Nando's also had some outside seating which, because it was again so hot inside, I decided to sit at. It was pretty peaceful actually. Gave me to sit there... on my own... :-) Maybe 12 tables outside with a further 20+ inside, so a reasonable sized branch. It was a third full by the time I got here (which was about 9pm), so no time to wait for a table or to order.

This branch was decorated a little more than its counterpart up the road. A couple of large canvas paintings on the back wall with a quite a few bright lights - the theatre style spotlights too. A good branch layout as well. Booths on the back wall (slightly raised) with tables and chairs on the main floor. Toilets were again spotless. Much better.

I gladly ordered half a chicken with a side of rice and it came in just over 10 minutes... but very disappointed. If it had had a few more minutes on the grill it could have been so much better. The chicken was luke-warm at best and once I lifted the chicken off my plate there was plenty of grease in a small puddle. An extra couple of minutes would have drained/cooked this off nicely. The rice was also very dry and chewy - lashings of XX Hot peri was the only thing to save it. Never mind. A mango passion cheesecake helped the disappointment...

Bog standard service from the staff again, so nowt special.

Add new comment

(If you're a human, don't change the following field)
Your first name.
(If you're a human, don't change the following field)
Your first name.
(If you're a human, don't change the following field)
Your first name.

Plain text

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.