High Wycombe - Marc Joss Review

On arriving in the High Wycombe area, we were reasonably impressed by what we could see even on a Bank Holiday evening. It seemed to be a buzzing area full of shops and restaurants including the big brands and of course Nando's! It is located opposite Wagamams and just below the cinema if you fancy a film after or before Nando's.

Then we arrived at Nando's... The man who welcomed us in clearly had little desire to give us a table declaring that it would be at least 30 minutes for a table and asked us if we were sure when we reiterated our desire for chicken. The restaurant was busy with a long queue at the till but tables were freeing up quite regularly so we were convinced it would not actually be a half an hour wait. After 5 minutes a table was cleared and we asked for it - the man obliged even though he clearly was going to make us sit around if we had not asked! The man's insistence worked on the next customers who came in, since they promptly left when faced with the prospect of a 30 minute wait but the Rate Your Nando's team was having none of it!

We eventually got to the till only to find that there was no chicken on the bone. I have been going to Nando's on a regular basis for 6 years and this was a first. I guess that explains the reluctance to serve more customers...
I reluctantly decided to go for a double chicken burger extra hot with peri chips which was a personal first. The other member of my party specifically asked Oliver (who was taking our order) if we could get 2 stamps if we ordered two meals together and paid together, we were told we could but when we started giving the second order, we were told that it was one stamp per receipt which was cause for some irritation.

The next issue was the general state of the place. We knew they were understaffed (2 members of staff had already complained to us) but there were several dirty tables, no cutlery, no napkins and hardly any sauces as most of them were still on tables.

Miraculously our food arrived in around 15 minutes and I did enjoy the burger but still resented the fact that I was compelled to order it and knew that it would not leave me feeling satisfied even though my meal cost the same as my normal half a chicken and 2 portions of peri chips. The other member of my party had to send his chips back as they were cold and our misery was compounded by the reaction of the member of staff when I kindly asked for some mayonaise. He told me to order it at the till next time even though I have been asked not to on various occasions since the product is free and they cannot put it through on the system when they take your order. Luckily it was a generous portion of mayonaise when it arrived.

The fact that we were not checked up on does not surprise me at all as the general restaurant was quite shambolic. I cannot remember another Nando's when no one has asked how the food is or if everything is ok. We also were not told thank you for visiting when we left.

The decoration was good, definitely worthy of a 4 but the cleanliness can be no more than a 2/5.
Let's hope that we chose a bad day to visit High Wycombe and that on another day, with more enthusiastic staff members and adequate planning (i.e. not running out of chicken), the main problems could all be avoided.