Swindon - Ryan Review

So on a visit to the home of Melinda Messenger, the band XTC, the Alexandra lighthouse and The Magic Roundabout - what better way to complete the visit than some chicken and chips??

Arrived here at about 3:30pm and was surprised to see it about half full - second day of opening so I guess plenty of people still checking it out! It's in the new Regent Circus development which is home to the second Cineworld in the town, a few more eateries and a Morrisons. There is parking withing Regent Circus priced at £1.20/hr 6am-6pm Mon-Sun and priced the same at other local car parks (Wyvern Long Stay or Clarence House), with a £1.80 max charge from 6pm-6am. There are a number of side streets around here where you can get free parking for 1 hour too. It's also just over half a mile walk from Swindon Train Station. Oh and use SN1 3DQ as the post code.

Nando's is on the second level and approaching it, it appears quite large from the outside - but there are only about 30+ tables in total inside, but they are all ample size. 8 green metal tables outside, four on either side of the entrance. Once you enter, to the right of the entrance are four circular booths with a little lattice fencing around the top of them

The till is infront of you from the entrance, with some nice bright yellow and interesting wooden carved counter - and the toilets are then just to the right of the till (which were spotless and had a large black line pattern on the tiled walls).

To the left of the entrance is the main seating area, which stretches straight back and then opens up at the back left into a circular shape. Down the middle of the straight are three booths with some wooden sculpture on top and then a few 4-seater tables in the window next to these. Further down towards the back are three more green upholstered booths and some larger 8-seater rectangular tables - and at the very back is another circular booth in the style of a lantern (that you sit in). To the left here where it opens up is an orange banquette running around the whole of the circular shape with plenty more two and four seater tables.

Some very nice bits of decor also include the 20 or so brightly coloured ceramic pots for the lighting in the circular section, lots of reclaimed wood clad onto the walls with bits of brightly coloured fabric also set into the walls - and some very large pieces of pop art on the right wall by the lantern. All very bright, very clean and nicely decorated.

Right from the start, the host Nancy was very warm and friendly and others such as Chris and Cheyna (Cheyan?) were also friendly and chatty - and it was made better that the food came out in under 5 minutes!

I went for the chicken breast burger and chips and it was a good standard. The chicken breast piece was not particularly big nor thick - but was very juicy and saucy. The portion of chips was an average size and they were a bit of a mixed bag - some were hot and crispy, others didn't quite seem like they were cooked and a bit hard/soggy in the middle.

Overall this is a lovely addition for Nando's.