Bicester - Pioneer Square - Marc Joss Review

A Sunday drive down the M40 from Walton to Bicester was easy enough until we exited at junction 9 and encountered traffic caused by the thousands of Bicester Village visitors. Luckily this Nando's is in the town centre away from the hardcore shoppers and even luckier in this case was the fact that a Sainsbury's was located just opposite the restaurant meaning many birds could be killed with the proverbial stone.

Parking is free for up to 2 hours using a ticket-free vehicle registration system. We ended up staying for closer to 2 and a half hours and paying £1.70 as a result.

This Nando's is fairly new but the building structure means the most impressive part of it is actually on the stairwell leading to the lavatories and the upstairs seating rather than the downstairs where the tills and most of the seating are located. Check out the photos of the huge wall of art as well as the Barci piece on the outside of the building.

The staff were nice as expected and it was good to see that manager Dan checks the website and even came across a previous comment mentioning his good service just a few weeks ago.

The most disappointing aspect of this visit was a system malfunction meaning I was unable to claim any of my chillis although the two that I earned from this order will be added once everything is back up and running. I went for a single wrap with halloumi and just the one side after a plentiful full English breakfast just a few hours before yet my reduced meal was only marginally cheaper than my usual.

The food itself was lovely. The extra hot wrap is always spicier in comparison with the average extra hot half chicken which is a big plus. The portion size was great with plenty of peri salt on my chips. All in all this was a positive visit, let's just hope the technical fault with the Nando's card system doesn't happen again, at least at a Nando's I'm visiting!