Stockton Heath - Ryan Review

Finished my week up around the North-West with an impromptu short detour to Stockton Heath. It's about 6 mile off the M6... so it made sense to do it :-)

Very first impressions were quite poor... I'm not sure if the local council don't allow for neon lights or something on this road, but seeing as I was passing by at around 8:30pm, it was dark and lashing it down... I drove straight past it!! There's a couple of black/dark grey signs saying Nando's on the front of the building but that's it. It was probably me being an idiot, but it certainly didn't look like a Nando's from the outside...

There's also no clear parking in this area. A few on road spaces further down the London Road but loads of cars parked on double yellows - a traffic warden would have a field day. I ended up parking on the pavement further down the side street that ran alongside Nando's (which also seemed is what many other people had done). There are bars, other shops and restaurants around here too so you must be able to do a park-and-ride or something as I can't imagine you could only get here by bus!

Anyways - got out the rain and in for some chicken. Every table was occupied and I had a 15 minute wait for a table. A couple of parties came in after me and didn't have their name down but were seated before me. I can understand this as they were a party of five and six (more money!)... but it would have been nice to have been asked if I wouldn't mind waiting - especially as I was seated in a 6-seater booth anyway. Apart from this, the staff were very friendly indeed - so all was forgiven. Excellent work on the (new style) tills and I was checked on three times during my meal (maybe more pity - eating on my own on a Friday night, but I love it, lol). The staff were also doing excellent jobs at turning the tables round (despite my earlier wait) as even until 9:15pm there were still parties of up to 10 coming in for food. A very busy branch on a Friday indeed! (FYI - there were a couple tables outside too... which needless to say were not being used.)

Even though it was full, I had no wait at the till and only a 7 minute wait for the chicken... but sadly it did seem rushed. A few extra minutes of grilling would have probably sorted it out but it came quite greasy and barely lukewarm... and even bloody across some of it nearer the bone. My olives were also the dregs out the bottom and were very salty... The chips were soggy, but the rice was okay. Such a shame my chicken was pants. The drinks machine had also lost its gas and so the soft drinks were very syrupy... D'oh! Overall, not a good meal at all.

The branch itself was pretty small (which explains why it was so busy), maybe 30 tables (if that). Booths at the front in the windows, booths and tables/chairs on the right wall and then chairs/tables at the back. The sauces/drinks are slap in the middle of all of this, but sectioned off with tall wooden plantbeds with cacti in them, so (although good for privacy) the light/atmos is all blocked off. If you were at the back you couldn't see what was going on anywhere else for example.

When you first go in, the small waiting area (which was busy) is immediately next to two booths. As it was lashing it down, everyone was waiting inside and so spilling into these people's personal space which you could see was annoying them... but there was nowhere else for them to go.

Other than the high plants - there were a couple of large clay vases in entrance and tucked in behind some booths, but very little on some of the walls or ceiling. Those walls that did have canvasses were the same groggy colour as the fabric in the booths (of which some needed a needle taking to). If there were any extra space they could get, it could certainly do with a little restructuring, a couple coats of paint and some new life zapping into it.

This branch certainly had the Nando's spirit running through its staff - but for me, wasn't the best I've been to...