Belfast - Abbey Centre - Ryan Review

Stopped into this Nando's on a Wednesday evening around 6pm - so it was pretty busy and mostly with parents and kids still in school uniform... so maybe there was a parent's evening just gone on... It's on Abbey Centre Retail Park, which is quite big. Nando's is easily spotted as you drive around the whole complex, so just pull in and park nearby. There are hundreds and hundreds of free parking spaces all around the retail park too. It's a few miles north of the city, so if you get the train out, you'll have about a 1.5 mile walk back on yourself from Whiteabbey train station.

At 6pm it was completely full and I had a 10 minute wait for a table, followed by just under 15 minutes for the food to come. Staff were a bit hectic and so all pleasant enough but just doing as expected. This time round I went for a full platter - a whole chicken with sides of chips, rice, macho peas and supergrain salad. The chicken portion seemed big at first, but it was quite bony and there was probably a slightly less than average portion of meat on it - but it was cooked very nicely: succulent and saucy and white, hot meat down to the bone. The sides were all a wee bit small except the supergrain salad which come in a slightly larger bowl then the others. The chips were all a bit hit and miss with some soggy and off ones and others being hot and crispy. The rice was a bit cold and very clumped together too. I think overall, this was a bang average meal.

There's six or seven tables outside if that takes your fancy. As you enter, the decor is pretty good. There's not much room to wait though, so as you enter there was a mass of about 20 people waiting for a table, which is also where the tills are, so a bit cramped, but the rest of the seating is fine. To your right there are more green leather booths - with the toilets (tiled in grey and white triangles) accessed from here. In front of you from the entrance is a large sculptured separator with a good variety of seating in the bulk of the restaurant. The lighting is well mixed with some woven pendant style things dangling down catching the eye. All of the walls are very well decorated with large and smaller canvasses alike - and lots of bright colours throughout. A nice new restaurant.