York - City Centre - Jonathan Review

This was my first visit to the City Centre branch in York. It was a decision between this one and the Monks Cross branch however we chose this one simply because it was open later (Monks Cross shuts at 8pm on Sunday). For those of you that have never been to York before, this branch is located about 2 minutes away from a fairly large car park as well as numerous small car parks too. York is an excellent place to visit during the day, full of history and if you like shopping, plenty of shops to look around too.

Food

As usual, I got the same meal I always do, as did my friend Adam. Adam (along with his meal) also got some Nuts with one of his green rewards as an Appetiser, so we had them whilst we waited for our food to arrive. The food arrived very quickly which I was definitely surprised at. Unfortunately the food at this branch was pretty average. The chicken for the most part was a bit slimy so I ended up leaving some of it and the portion of chips wasn't that generous compared to what you get in other branches. The garlic bread was really nice though, slightly crispy on the outside, and nice and soft on the inside. The Extra Hot spice also didn't have much spice to it at all which was also disappointing.

Staff

The staff at this branch are very friendly we were quickly shown to our table as soon as we arrived and it didn't take long to order at all. The staff member was very happy to check on my other portion of garlic bread that didn't turn up with the rest of my meal and brought that over straight away. Overall it looks like the branch is staffed by a very enthusiastic team.

Speed

As briefly mentioned previously in this review, the food arrived very quickly which definitely isn't the case in some Nando's where you can sometimes spend 25-30 minutes waiting for your food. Once we had ordered and got our drinks and then sat down again, I'd say it was around a 5 minute wait before we all tucked into our meals.

Layout

Unfortunately for this branch you can definitely see that they have tried to as much of the available space as humanly possible. We were seated on the table at the left of the door and there wasn't much room between our table and the next table along. Whilst walking through the restaurant to get to the drinks machine I noticed that this table space issue was a theme throughout the restaurant as they were all crammed in leaving very little room for manoeuvre. The drinks machine and cutlery desk was in an ideal place though which was right in the centre of the branch, allowing mostly easy access to anyone in the branch.

Decor

This Nando's (I felt) lacked any real Nando's decor. To be honest, most of the walls were just full of Nando's advertisements which was slightly disappointing as one of the reasons I enjoy going to new branches, is to not only eat the food, but to enjoy the decor. Unfortunately with this branch though there wasn't much decor to enjoy.

Cleanliness

One thing I can't fault this branch on is cleanliness. Like most branches I visit this one was also very clean as there were no random napkins on the floor, the counter where you order was clean and drinks/cutlery counter was also very clean (it can sometimes have bits of sauce on).

Conclusion

Overall I would say this was an average visit to Nando's. I was really looking forward to trying this branch out and whilst the staff were incredibly friendly, the decor and food quality ruined the experience of this branch for me. I would recommend (if in York) to actually go to the Monks Cross branch which is a little bit out of the way of the main city centre but I enjoyed it a lot more.