Durham - Adam Nicol Review

I obviously went to this branch because it’s apparently the second best in the country… Sigh… Well we went for a really late lunch, about 16:40, we’d travelled for an hour on delayed trains to visit this branch and it was sooo disappointing! The branch was almost empty when we got there, only 3 other groups of people there.

Quality of Food – Some major flaws with our meal here, I went up to order my usual, Butterfly chicken with chips and garlic bread, but then I heard the terrible news that they had NO garlic bread!!!! I was shocked, it was terrible!!! Grr, I then realised I hadn’t asked for Peri-salt on my chips so I asked for it, then I was told they didn’t have that either! She told me there was a problem with delivery, this has never happened to me ever before in a branch so I was appalled and angry that my meal was RUINED. I had to resort to getting butterfly chicken with two portions of periless chips, and eventually this was brought over to our table after a long wait... Luckily the food was good, the chicken was soaked in extra hot sauce and was sooooo good, the chips weren’t that warm for the reasons I’ve said in Speed of Service, and of course, this is all the food I had. I love Garlic Bread with my meal so I was terribly upset . Also when I went to get a drink I noticed they didn’t have any Fanta!!! Terrible, terrible, terrible! I’d have to give the food a 2/5 because of the missing food.

Speed Of Service – Obviously when the branch is this empty we expect the food to arrive quickly, but it did not, They cooked in in about 5 minutes and we saw it plated up on the side, but it took another 15 minutes before one of the waiters actually bothered to take some of the many plates that were sat there over to tables.. So it ended up as a 20 minute wait for our food, very annoying that we were hungry and we could see it sitting there. So 2/5 for Speed.

Friendliness of Staff – The staff were quite friendly, the waiters who asked us if our meals were ok and who took our plates were really nice, he obviously realised I had a really disappointed/angry look on my face when he asked if there was anything else we wanted and I was trying so hard not to say “YES I WANT SOME GARLIC BREAD BUT YOU DON’T HAVE ANY” Some of them seemed genuinely sorry that they didn’t have the food but the waitress who served me didn’t seem to care, she was quite rude, she asked me what I wanted then while I was in the middle of saying my order she turned around to another staff member and started talking to him, without even a word to me, then she turned back around, apologised and asked me to start my order again. I’ll give Friendliness of Staff 3/5.

The décor is ok in this branch but nothing special, it has big circles in the wall with ornaments and stuff in, two floors though I’ve never seen anyone sat upstairs. But I was too distracted by the lack of food to take in the décor! 4/5 for it.

As for the city of Durham, It’s a lovely place, one of my favourites and it’s only the love for this city that would cause me to come back to this branch. Nearby to Nando’s there’s the Gala theatre, a short walk away are lots of shops and the impressive Durham Cathedral and Castle. Durham is an awesome city.

So overall, this visit was extremely disappointing because of the lack of garlic bread and Peri-salt , and obviously the annoying waiters not bringing food over when it was ready.