South Ruislip - Ryan Review

So caught up with all the recent UK openings, with this being the last one - and including one outside the UK I've been to, this was number 375 for me! Roll on 400...

So with all this excitement, I headed to South Ruislip. This Nando's is the first unit to open in the new Old Dairy site, with a Cineworld, Asda, Frankie and Benny's and other restaurants all due to open over the coming weeks and months.There's also going to be additional parking opening up - but at present, you just need to use the (free) Aldi/B&M car park next door. I can only assume it will be free off charge for up to 3 hours when it opens... but we'll have to wait and see. South Ruislip rail and underground station (Central Line) are a couple minutes walk away just round the corner.

I arrived around 8pm and it was very quiet and I can only assume people are not aware this is open yet! I am sure once the rest of the Old Dairy opens it will be rammed frequently. It meant there was lots of space inside and I sat on one of the two-seater tables at the back.

When you first approach this Nando's, you see the big red Barci above the door, with "Nando's" lit up twice around the solid black roof/fascia. Outside there are six or so large two-seater booths and a little red canopy over the entrance. As you enter inside, the tills are right in front of you. To the right the restaurant really opens up - and there are six or so large four-seater circular tables in the windows, a few large circular booths in the middle of the restaurant and a couple of large square booths set into the walls on the left just past the sauce station and serving area. Above the circular booth are three large red paper style lampshades for lighting. Behind the sauce station are table/chair sets with 15 or so orb/spinny disc things for the lighting - and then behind this running along the back wall are a further seven or so tables with very bright banquette seating. On this back wall are multiple large canvas paintings and coloured glass lampshades for lighting. Toilets are at the very back left and were clean, if not a little plain. Overall, very nice, but for such a new and large restaurant, there was no real 'wow' factor and still a lot of space on the walls... maybe there is more to come.

The food came in just under 10 minutes and it was truly delicious. I went for a full platter - and the whole chicken was a wonderful size and full of juicy white meat that was cooked to perfection and caked in sauce. Really good sized breast and leg pieces. The four sides were all good sizes too and all cooked very well. The chips were all hot and crispy, the rice was hot and juicy and the supergrains and macho peas were good sizes too.

I was checked on by four different staff and they were all open for a bit of a chat, so made a nice change.