Swiss Cottage - O2 Centre - BaronSamedi1980 Review

BaronSamedi1980's picture
How Helpful?: 
Average: 5 (5 votes)
Number of Visits: 
This was my first visit
How Busy?: 
Half Full
Date of Last Visit: 
Monday, April 27, 2015
Time of Day: 
Weekday Dinner
Rating: 
4.38 / 5
Friendliness of Staff: 
5 (Wow, I feel incredibly welcome! Recognised if a frequent visitor)
Speed of Service: 
4 (5 - 10 mins - Some conversation had begun)
Quality of Food: 
4.5 (Great - Very tender, piping hot, not at all burnt, dripping in sauce)
Decoration & Cleanliness: 
4 (Very clean, newly furnished, impressive artwork and lighting)
Comments - Stand out in our monthly competition! What did you eat? Unique aspects? Parking/transport tips?: 

I travelled to my first ever RYN's reviewers dinner via train getting off at West Hampstead Thameslink station and then walking the short distance from there to the O2 Centre (10 mins on foot). To get from the station to the Nandos I walked through the O2's centre main outdoor car park and I can report that the were plenty of parking spaces available, priced reasonably at £3 for 2 hours which should be long enough to enjoy a Nandos meal.

I had not visited the Swiss Cottage Nandos location before and it is very easy to find inside the O2 centre. The restaurant has rustic feel with dimmed lighting and some beautiful pottery and artwork on display.

I had arrived at the dinner a little early and as this was my first RYN's reviewers dinner I was worried I wouldn't know anyone but Marc greeted me shortly after I arrived and he made me feel very welcome.

I took a seat in a small private section at the back of the restaurant that had been reserved for our group with fellow early arrivals to the event Gerry Louis and Elliott Waters. Gerry and Elliott are both RYN's reviewers’ dinner veterans and were very friendly and knowledgeable, made me feel welcome and put me at ease. A little latter Terry and Ralph Dean also joined our table.

The Nandos management had arranged for us to enjoy some free appetisers whilst everyone else arrived which was very thoughtful and generous of them. In fact the staff here did very well and impressed me as they did a great job of taking about 30 individual orders from our group in an efficient way and once again were very kind to give our entire group a 20% discount on our meals. Big thank you to the management and friendly staff who did this.

After only 10 minutes wait my meal arrived (I believe the first meal to arrive from our group). I had order a soft drink, half a chicken (medium) and sweet potato wedges with peri salt. My love of the sweet potato wedges very much continues and these were once again extremly enjoyable but that the standard I have now come to expect however I must say thank you to Nandos for recently adding this menu item, it has very quickly become my absolute favourite menu item. My half chicken was very well cooked, the kitchen staff had been very generous with both the size of the chicken (larger than normal) and the amount of medium sauce used. A lovely meal, thank you.

Unfortunately Terry and Ralph who I sat next to seemed to have their meals forgotten about. Their meals took 45 minutes to arrive (despite one of them being only a salad) and I believe Ralph had to enquire about their order a total of 3 times. Very disappointing to see this as I and the rest of our table had finished eating before their food had arrived.

Our table won the quiz (I was even an answer to one of the questions!) and we all received a free bottle of delouse Nandos sauce which I hope went some of the way towards making up for Terry and Ralph's delay in receiving their meals.

A big thank you to the Swiss Cottage Nandos team and to James and Marc for organising what was a very enjoyable evening. This may have been my first RYN's reviewers’ dinner but I hope it is not my last as I was made to feel very welcome, had an enjoyable evening with some tasty Nandos food & great company and I even won some free Nandos sauce. Can't say better than that!

So would I return to Swiss Cottage Nandos again? Yes I would. We were very well looked after by the friendly staff and I personally enjoyed the atmosphere and decor of this Nandos. I am sometimes in this area on my way from Bedford to Wembley stadium (via West Hampstead Thameslink and West Hampstead underground station) and in the future I would look to eat here rather than at the stadium.

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