Taunton - Ryan Review

Working in Taunton let me visit one of the newest branches in sunny Somerrrrrset. It's right in the town centre, so parking is plentiful in one of the many side street car parks (such as High Street, Duke Street etc). Most are council run so pricing is roughly the same at £1.20/1hr, £1.80/2hrs, £2.20/3hrs and upwards from there - normally only charging between 8am and 6pm. There is a large Sainsbury's as well just a few minutes walk away, so you can probably sneak some free parking there. Taunton railway station is less than a mile walk from the Nando's and there is also an Odeon cinema back out towards the M5 (about 2 miles away from Nando's).

Arrived here about 4pm for a late lunch and was greeted by the now mythical "girl with the arse" (I assume it was her), so things were looking up. The branch is nicely decorated with lots of large canvas paintings on all of the walls - especially on the stairs. Clusters of very large wicker lampshades for the lighting downstairs - and lots of yellow tiles on the counter, high on the walls and even a solid yellow sink in the toilets. Upstairs it's not as decorative and generally just some cloth curtains hanging on the walls... It's quite spacious downstairs with a good mix of seating, including a couple booths tucked right round by the till - upstairs is a little more cramped with the chairs on the four seater tables backing onto one another. Overall, very good.

There were just a few people eating when I arrived, so the food came in under 15 minutes and sadly, it was a bit disappointing. The chips looked as though there were bruised with over half of them having black/brown patches and they tasted rank - as though the spuds to make them had long since gone off. The rice was also cold and must have been served up to someone a while before and just left on the side. The chicken was nicely cooked and a very good sized portion - no pink meat at all and piping hot, so very tasty indeed. Overall this was probably just below average... I don't get how anyone whose job it is to cook and serve chips and heat up some rice all day can look at several completely black chips and let them go! Hey ho.

The staff were in plentiful supply. At one point there were 8 staff on the floor and only 7 people eating... but still no chit chat from them. Maybe its because I was nodding at them and gently tapping the seat next to me - but I guess we'll never know. I was also left with my cock in my hand at the end (just the barci), so wasn't even checked on during the meal and wasn't even said goodbye to as I left even though there were two staff at the door...