Covent Garden - Marc Joss Review

Covent Garden Nando's is perfectly located for the start or end of a theatre evening in the West End and does accordingly have a unique feel to it.
As you walk in on a street lined with other inferior chain restaurants, you are greeted with an unfamiliar sight: a bar and tables where no food is being consumed. I told you this one was unique, didn't I?
Inevitably waits at this branch are commonplace but the luxury of a bar and quite a few tables with chairs means the wait should be a comfortable one.
As you then venture down the spiral staircase, you arrive in the restaurant area itself with the tills lining one side of the room and some throughways which open up into a pretty large seating area. One nice touch is the curvy ramp which takes you down to the drinks station.
The 4 of us placed our orders relatively quickly (an efficient ordering system is in place here with at least 5 tills) but as expected at peak times, it would be absurd to expect everyone's food to come at the same time, give or take a few minutes. A good 10 minutes passed between the arrival of my food (I wasn't complaining) and that of the 4th member of the party. The food itself (half a chicken and large peri chips) was decent enough but nothing outstanding. My main problem was that it took so long for my mayonnaise to arrive that it blemished the meal. My mayo+extra extra hot sauce is a crucial ingredient for me and the fact that I had to ask twice for it can only be a negative.
Another issue was that the 4 of us were rather cramped on our table with all the menus (after our order) so 1 quick thinker placed the wooden structure with our table number on it below the table. This was not to the taste of a Nandoca who came over to check up on us and the situation was soon resolved.
As impressive as the decor is, if you're not a fan of queues, avoid this branch on the weekend! Central London has so much to offer to us Nando's fans but of course it is worth a visit if you've never been.