Milton Keynes - The Hub - BaronSamedi1980 Review

Nandos the hub is a restaurant I am quite familiar with as I used to work on Midsummer Boulevard, just a five 5 mins walk down the road from this Nandos location. I have frequently visited here with work colleagues for various gentle Friday lunches during my time working locally and also visited some evenings with friends for dinner over the years however this is my first review of this top 10 rated RYN location.

"The hub" is an open square within Milton Keynes city centre just a short distance from the main shopping centre, the sides of the square being made up of two high-rise hotels (Jury's Inn and Ramada Encore) and a number of eateries (including Brasserie Blanc, Cafe Rouge, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Las Iguanas, Loch Fyne, Pizza Express, Subway, Turtle Bay, Zizzi and of course a Nandos). The is also an open fountain\water feature in the centre of the square.

If driving to the hub the best way to park here when visiting is to visit after 6pm on a week day or any time on a bank holiday or at the weekend and make sure you park in the purple marked 'non-premium' area which is just on the other side of the street (Midsummer Boulevard) from the hub, so all you have to do is walk across the road and you are in the hub. The red 'premium' areas cost £2 per hour but you don't want to park in one of these anyway as these are actually further away from Nandos the hub. Milton Keynes Central train station (London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly line) is only 10 mins walk from the hub.

This evening I was visiting Nandos with a friend. We entered and were asked to take a seat in the waiting area by a friendly staff member while a table was found for us. After only 5 minutes we were asked to move to a table which was actually a table for four people but this is what they asked us to use and we would enjoy the extra room available.

This was my friends first ever visit to a Nandos restaurant and after I had tried to explain about all the lovely peri-peri goodness on offer she was very much looking forward to tasting the food. The member of staff who seated us kindly gave my friend an overview of the menu and how the Nandos restaurants work while I recommended a couple of menu items for my friend to try so after just a quick look at the menu and we went up to the tills to place our order.

I ordered:
A soft drink.
Butterfly chicken (medium) with garlic bread and peri-peri chips.
Halloumi
White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

After collecting my cutlery and sauces the food arrived at our table very promptly after just 8 minutes. My butterfly chicken was a good size and had been cooked to perfection (hot but no visible sign of any burning) and was of a high standard. The meat was soft and succulent and noticeably soaking in plenty of medium sauce.

The kitchen staff had also been very generous when serving up the peri-peri chips as I seemed to have been given a larger portion than normal, in fact I had enough to share with my friend (who had not ordered any chips herself).

A quality check was carried out at our table after we had our food for a couple of minutes and both my friend and myself were able to give good positive feedback, in fact my friend gave particular praise at this point for her quinoa salad which she had not had previously but particularly enjoyed and said she would be ordering again in the future.

After we had finished eating the staff member or took my order earlier saw that we had finished eating our mains as he passed by and approached our table to ask if we were ready for our deserts which he had correctly remembered and saved us asking for them which I thought was a good touch. We replied that we were ready for them and he cleared our plates from our mains and a couple of minutes later reappeared with the cheesecake I had ordered and the Gelato my friend had ordered.

My White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake went down a teat and was the perfect ending to a lovely meal. The piece of cheesecake was softer than normal in texture, creamy to the taste with a very intense raspberry flavour.

The staff here were friendly and helpful, particularly the chap who took our meal orders and made sure we had everything we need throughout our visit - it was very impressive.

After eating both my friend and I visited the toilets here. I found the male ones to be well maintained although my friend said that the female ones were not clean and lacking in toliet paper. The are also hand bowl with running water available within the restaurant to allow hands to be cleaned before\after eating which we used.

So would I return Nandos the hub? Of course I would. Of the five Nandos locations in Milton Keynes (and I have eaten in them all multiple times now) this is the shining star - the food is always great, the place is clean and spotless, the staff are friendly and genuinely helpful, the deco is great and it is very conveniently located. Yes it is true that sometimes there is a wait for a table at Nandos the hub but the wait has always proved to be worth it. My favourite Nandos I have visited to date.