Edinburgh - Fountain Park - Adam Nicol Review

This was the only branch in Edinburgh that I hadn’t been to, mostly because it’s not actually in the city centre like the other two, it’s quite a walk from the centre in a leisure park with a Cinema, Casino, Bowling Alley and some grabber machines which I spent £10 on trying to win a Papa Smurf. As I said, it’s quite a walk from the city centre, so not really worth a visit if you’re on a trip to Edinburgh to see the sights, since you have two branches a lot closer and being in a leisure park with a Cinema and Bowling Alley obviously it gets very busy on a night time, and especially on Fridays which was the day we went. It has a large car park on the complex. When we arrived it was extremely busy, but the Nandoca at the door was nice and took our names and said it would be a 15 minute wait, she said we were fine to go sit in a nice empty area nearby which unfortunately had the grabber machines in… My friend decided to do this because the waiting area, though quite big was very full.

We returned after 15 minutes and were immediately seated on a nice table for two, it gave us plenty of space between the table next to us which was nice. I think the highlight of this trip to Nando’s, though nothing to do with this individual branch, is that they gave me one of the new electronic Nando’s Loyalty cards which they’re currently trialling in Scotland, I’m sure all the Rate Your Nando’s people are jealous that I have one and they don’t, unfortunately you can’t use them in England and Wales yet, though it’s really awesome having it in my wallet.

The Staff – The Staff were quite friendly in this branch, from the person who greeted us on the door and took our names then let us wander off and come back for our table to the Nandoca who gave me the new loyalty card and explained how it all works, we also had our dessert brought over to our table and they allowed us to pay for it at the table, I know Nando’s claims that they do this, but sometimes when it’s been as busy as that I’ve not been offered dessert and had to go up and order it. One thing was we didn’t actually see the Nandoca take our green cock, whilst everything was perfect it seemed odd that it just disappeared and they hadn’t asked if our meal was ok, though later on during the meal a staff member seems confused that it had disappeared and asked us if everything was ok, to which we obviously answered yes. I have no complaints about the Staff in this branch, so I’ll give them 4/5.

The Food – The food in this branch was amazing, definitely the best food I’ve had for a long time, my friend described the chicken as ‘melting in his mouth’ it really was that fantastic, I got my usual Butterfly chicken Extra-hot with large garlic bread and Peri-chips and it was just fantastic. The portion of chips wasn’t the biggest I’ve had, but it was a fair portion measured out in the bowls they bring chips in, and whilst they didn’t seem to have much Peri salt on them they tasted delicious. The garlic bread was also perfect, covered in extra-extra hot sauce it was just magnificent. The chicken was godly, dripping in extra-hot sauce and oh so tasty, I can’t remember the last time I went to a branch this good. They had plenty of sauces and cutlery. I definitely have to give this branch a 5/5 for Food.

Speed of Service – As I’ve said we had a 15 minute wait for a table, which is more than understandable in a leisure park just outside a major capital city but of course we were allowed to wander off and come back, so no complaints there, we weren’t shoved in a cramped waiting area being teased by the smell of chicken. There was only a small queue when we went up to order, so we were quickly sat back down waiting for our food, it took exactly 15 minutes to arrive from when we ordered, the last few times I’ve been to my local Nando’s I’ve had to wait about 30 minutes, so 15 minutes was really good, ideal time to get excited and warmed up to devour your food. 3/5 for Speed of Service.

Décor – I thought this was a very nice branch, it was pretty big with high ceilings and a big curved glass front, the walls seemed so smooth and clean, like they were new, the ceiling had three curved circles in with large wooden plank circles from which chandeliers were hanging, I thought these were really cool, there were lots of plants in this branch and all of the tables were nice and spaced out, it had booths for larger groups and even larger tables further along. The waiting area has plenty of seating and near the door there are high tables for two, which would have been fun to sit on. There was also a big mirror at the back of the branch. I’ll give the décor in this branch 4/5.

Overall this was a fantastic branch, definitely the best I’ve been to in Scotland and the best for months. The food and the staff and the new loyalty card just made it a perfect Nando’s experience. 4.5/5 for this branch overall, so if you’re in Edinburgh and fancy a movie and Nando’s, go to this branch, you won’t be disappointed.