Bradford - Leisure Exchange - Damien Review

Nando’s 80 is located in the Leisure Exchange, a generic entertainment complex just outside the centre of Bradford. We arrived late on Saturday evening to a variety of parking choices but chose to go with the closest, a relatively low-priced multi-storey. After passing Hollywood Bowl, Cineworld and Frankie & Benny’s, we got to Nando’s. There was a bit of a wait for a table, as we’d expected at this time, but this was only 10 minutes or so. Good, considering there were 8 of us to seat.

The restaurant isn’t one of the biggest, but they’ve really crammed in the tables, giving it a terribly loud and rowdy ambience at peak times like this. At first, I’d just presumed the music was loud, but the noise turned out to be from the other diners. Other than the wealth of people and tables in such a small space, nothing else stood out about the interior. The regular Nando’s look. The tills were well staffed and service there was quick. A shame this speed of service didn’t extend to the delivery of our food. During the next half an hour, the place quietened down as people finished eating and left. I was surprised to find that less people were arriving as it got to 8PM. At one point, I looked around and could hardly see anybody with food in front of them. Still we waited…

The grub eventually made a show and there were very few incorrect/missing orders. My chips had a pathetic amount of peri salt on them, but the waiter came right back with an almost sarcastic amount of the stuff when I pointed this out to him. My quarter breast was big, well-cooked, tasty and spicy, topped up with contents of the seemingly lone Extra Extra Hot sauce bottle in Bradford. Sometimes I go for a half or even whole chicken, so the fact that a quarter did me is testament to this place. The only issue among the group seemed to be less than optimal halloumi (which is now for some reason now hidden on the menu). After the meal, we digested our food at the quiz machine in the Hollywood Bowl bar. All in all, despite the lengthy wait for food service, this Nando’s is not a bad pre/post cinema meal choice at all. On to the nineties!