Brighton - Duke Street - Pompey Ranger Review

Trying to find somewhere to park a minibus in Brighton on a wet wednesday evening is a task i never plan to repeat.
Upon arrival at the store we found a long queue outside into the rain. The rest of my compatriots decided to hit weatherspoons whilst I decided to stay and wait. when I got closer to the door after a bit of a wait a waitress was taking names and adviced I would have a 15 min wait for a table for 1. Once my table was issued i headed straight for the till knowing already what I wanted and had another 5 min wait at till. 2 tills were open whilst the 3rd just had someone messing round with it but not actually serving.
I was sat to the back of this very narrow long store and I appreciated the decoration, wood and paintings that compimented the patterned exposed brickwork and faded former glory in the intricate plasterwork and stencilled old fashioned sash windows. Very different from most nandos the till area at the front resembling a bar was very much seperated from the kitchen and serving hatch at the back of the store in the raised area. I was sat next to the kitchen door which repeated squeeked and swung next to me. Food was average and staff were freindly enough and certainly pushed secondary selling trying to get me to buy more chips before i had finished my first lot. But It works as was shown by the people on the table closely next to me ordering more sides as they went through their meal.
At first the fanta was out of order on the beverage machine but it was got working during my stay. A good mix of seating styles but lack of booths but this is probably due to size of store. Toilets are downstairs which were clean and large and had nice red dot tiles and a lovely sink and were a nice location. However the shock was a really nice empty seating area (probably the best in store) with several nice tables and art work all completely empty and unused. This did bring my blood pressure up a little considouring i had waited outside and there was still a queue of people in the rain outside whilst this seating area was unused.
Another anoyance was the lack of pouring spouts on the bottles with most without. I know some may get stolen but they really need to be replaced as you don't want balsamic vinegar or olive oil gluging out the neck. Plus a shortage of salad dressing sauce which had to ask a staff member to bring and again it didn't have a pouring spout.
Despite its problems i did really enjoy this Nandos and its nice ambience with good level of background music. But sort your act out and open up the downstairs seating when busy!