Whitechapel - Nando's Review

Whitechapel (Average rating: 3.46)

Parking is right outside and FREE or very cheap! There is limited on road parking outside.

Lifetime Ratings (10 - 50 Combined Visits from 3 Nandoers):

Individual Ratings:

Submitted by: Adam Nicol

Date of last visit: Sat 14/01/12

Number of Visits?: My first visit!

How busy was it? Up to 10 minute wait

Time of day? Mid-afternoon or late evening

Additional Comments: Arrived at this branch about 4pm on a Saturday, It’s just a short walk from Whitechapel tube station on the Hammersmith and City and District lines, just turn left when you leave the station and keep walking until you see it. It was packed when we got there! I’ve never found a Nando’s that busy at 4pm even on a Saturday! My first impression of this branch was ‘wow this is stupid’ the inside queuing area directs the queue into blocking the door? Because of this we were waiting a few minutes before a staff member even noticed us, then we were made to wait a few minutes for a table for 3 of us.

Friendliness of Staff – As I said we had to wait a few minutes before the staff even noticed we were there, and the greeter didn’t even apologise when they saw us, they seated us after a few minutes on a circular table away from a wall between other tables, when the branch was a bit emptier after we’d ordered food one of the staff members asked if we wanted to move to a different table over near the wall to give us a bit more space/privacy? But we declined anyway because we were fine. The staff member that served me was polite and smiley and did the weird thing were they put the napkins in your glass? That was weird. A negative thing is that they took my friends plates from the table before I had finished my meal so I was sat looking greedy and feeling it and they took my plate when I finished which had my Nando’s flag on that I always keep . I’ll give the staff here a 3/5.

Speed of Service – As I said, we had to wait a few minutes before the greeter even noticed us, then we had to wait a few minutes before our table was read, then we had to queue and some guy pushed in front of us. So about 15 minutes after arriving we were sat back down waiting for our food, which took about 10 minutes to arrive, so 4/5 for Speed.

Food – I had Butterfly Chicken with chips and garlic bread and quarter chicken breast. The pieces of chicken were possibly the biggest I’ve ever had! They were hugeee, so much meat on the chicken breast and it was delicious, as was the butterfly. The portion of chips was pretty average sized and my garlic bread was cooked perfectly, food was pretty good at this branch, 4/5 for food!

Décor – I really liked the shape of this branch, circular with a big pillar in the middle and a curved glass front to it, I’ve already said how I think the queuing area near the door is stupid, though it does have seats for people to wait on, but pretty average décor in this branch, 3/5 for it.

Overall this was a pretty good visit to Nando’s, the amount of chicken really quenched my thirst for Peri-Peri and left me feeling happy, mmm, but there was nothing special about this branch, so 3.5/5 for it overall.

	Friendliness of Staff	Speed of Service	Quality of Food	Decoration and Cleanliness
Rating	3	4	4	3
Meaning	Not bad. Did everything I asked of them	5 - 10 mins - Some conversation had begun	Above average - noticeably tastier than normal	Standard Nando's, nothing bad, nothing exceptional

Submitted by: Pompey Ranger

Date of last visit: Tues 03/01/12

Number of Visits?: My first visit!

How busy was it? A few tables occupied

Time of day? Weekday lunch

Additional Comments: Whilst up in London I headed over to this branch which is based on the ground floor of a modern building to the north of the “waste” on mile end road. It benefits with limited on road parking outside and is close to Whitechapel underground station, just turn left / away from the Gerkin when you exit the station. It also has a Sainsbury’s close by.
It’s a very light and airy store having glass walls forming a curve round the outside, there is a circular ceiling propped up by pillars. A real lack of art work though, I think the manager needs to get straight on the phone to central office and ask for some to decorate the store. The tills and serving counter are right before you when you enter, the toilets are right by the door to the left and were clean though a little drab. Then you lead around to the right to where the sauces, beverage machine and seating area is with many tables with wooden chairs around the windows and soft backed bench with tables round the centre. There was a good level of background music playing in a latin swing.
For a halal store the chicken wasn’t too bad though it is tougher than non halal stores I have been to, the sides were cooked fine. The staff were very friendly and certainly push secondary selling, I had 3 staff members check my meal was ok and they were very keen to clear my table despite the store being half empty. At one point I had to physically cling onto my rice bowl which I hadn’t finished as the waitress was trying to take it away, then a moment later another staff member was trying to take my plate. They were all friendly and smiling though.
One oddity was that the counter person put 2 napkins in my glass at the counter which I thought was weird until I got to the sauce counter and realised there were no napkins to be had anywhere, whilst I understand a desire to save napkins i can be a messy eater and like to know I can wipe up at the end!
The only major drawback I encountered with this store was a large family with 6 kids were sat on a nearby table and were too ill educated to tend to their screaming brat in his push chair who was hollering his lungs out for quite a while. Their credentials of being pikey was further shown when they were argueing with a staff member that they hadn’t had their card stamped the week before and the manager had said they would do it this week, and lack of imagination was shown in not knowing what day, time, meal or name of staff member their alleged stamp was owed from.

	Friendliness of Staff	Speed of Service	Quality of Food	Decoration and Cleanliness
Rating	3	2	3	3
Meaning	Not bad. Did everything I asked of them	15 - 25 mins - Where is the food? Might have asked a staff member	Average - just as you would expect	Standard Nando's, nothing bad, nothing exceptional

Submitted by: Loz

Date of last visit: 09/09/09

Number of visits?: They have visited this branch 10 - 50 times!

Additional comments: 5 minute walk from White Chapel underground station.
Recommended pubs and bars close by. Parking right outside.
Cinema less than a 5 minute walk away, in order to compliment the perfect nandos meal.
Very modern decor, refreshing lighting, and a musical atmosphere to die for.

	Friendliness of Staff	Speed of Service	Quality of Food	Decoration and Cleanliness
Rating	4	4	4.5	4
Meaning	Good stuff. Very polite	Some conversation had begun	Great - Very tender chicken,piping hot, not at all burnt, dripping in sauce	Very clean, newly furnished, nice atmosphere, well organised sauces

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