Kensal Rise - Marc Joss Review

This was an eventful visit which got off to a terrible start with the horrendous parking conditions in the area. The best that James and I found after 45 minutes was £1.20 an hour, but you could only pay my phone as the machine was not working. Not impressed, Westminster Council. We even tried phoning Nando's to ask if they had any tips for us, unfortunately they didn't. We ended up slightly closer to the restaurant on Kilburn Lane where parking was an extortionate £1.50 for 40 minutes or £2.60 for an hour. We assumed that the restaurant would not be that busy given it was gone 2 on a Wednesday afternoon and that we would get away with a 40 minute visit. We just about did, but it was far from stress free...

We were offered our choice of table and went for one on the left just under 5 paintings (only 1 of which actually remotely impressed me) which meant James had the luxury of a rather comfortable black, leather sofa to sit on. We went up to order and everything seemed to be going as normal although I uncharacteristically forgot to order tap water and mayonnaise (which later turned into a problem), was it due to the parking struggle or the burning May sunshine I wonder. We were told the food would take 10-15 minutes which immediately worried me as time was not on our side.

I then trotted over to claim my sauce and cutlery and was greeted by a selection of 4 dirty knives. I thought I'd inform a Nandoca of the disturbing situation and handed her the knives myself. She then walked to the stand to see for herself, opened the magic cupboard, pulled out some clean ones and put ALL the knives (including the dirty ones) back in the knives pot. I could hardly believe my eyes! Everything else seemed clean and the new, stylistic seating save the décor/cleanliness score from being a 1. This is the sort of problem that would make many people turn their backs on Nando's forever, but I'll just see it as reason never to go back to this particular one out of choice.

Then the food arrived approximately 10 minutes after we ordered. Just like at Braintree yesterday, my extra hot half chicken was rather dry and not dripping in sauce like it should have been. My breast piece had a deformed wing which resulted in an imminent complaint to go alongside my mayonnaise request. I was kindly promised another wing just like at Braintree and instead of the one, I was offered 3 to make up for the inconvenience. Once again, this could be a situation in which people turn their back on Nando's especially if it's a first time visitor. Stingy portion sizes, dry chicken and dirty knives hardly generate the peri-peri passion we've come to know and love. In this case, the staff did their best to recover the situation, but that does not change the fact that the problems should have been avoided. It also took a while for my mayonnaise to arrive and as I was in a rush to eat, I had almost got through half my meal before I was finally able to make my mayo+extra hot sauce combo.

Given the parking disaster, dirty knives, dry and ungenerous chicken portions, I can't see myself coming back to this Nando's in a hurry. Disappointing.