Hey all, M here with my first review on foodology.ca! The restaurant DesignGirl went to this fateful day was Nando’s on Kingsway near Metrotown. Now I met Nando’s for the first time while living in London, England for a year and I can tell you my expectations were high. Nando’s in London were middle to high end type restaurants with great interior design and great quality food. I was surprised when I saw Nando’s present itself as a fast food place in Metropolis, Metrotown but I had hopes for the restaurant location.
First impressions of this Nando’s restaurant was pretty bad. Bad location, and poor outside and inside presentation. Terrible doors that are found in the worst of KFC’s and when we went inside, there was duct tape holding cushions together in one booth. There was no improvement in the cashier booth either. Seriously ordering counters from McDonalds looked better. There were no fountain soft drinks, only bottles! We ordered and waited patiently for our food in our booth with a wooden number stand.
DesignGirl got the standard Nando’s order of chicken breast and a side of coleslaw. I ordered Nando’s chicken sandwich with a side of spiced rice. The food came relatively quickly, but as you can see from the pictures , they did not look that appetizing on the plates. DesignGirl’s chicken breast was on the dry side but tasty. Her side of coleslaw was awful though. It just tasted like bad lettuce and nothing else.
My chicken sandwich was delicious but small in portion. The rice was dry and not that delicious. It was so bad that we spent a total of 10 minutes there and left. I guess the only positive way to look at this Nando’s experience was that the coke bottle was cold and refreshing.
Perhaps I am looking at Nando’s the wrong way. In London it’s an actual restaurant like Earl’s and Cactus Club here in Vancouver, but maybe the Nando’s in Canada just presents itself as a fast food slash restaurant hybrid. If so, who can explain the bill coming to $28.99 with mandatory tips? Tips??? There was no waiter or waitress, only a cashier and cook! You don’t see people tipping in KFC do you?
You can easily find better chicken sandwiches anywhere else and Church’s Chicken spiced rice tastes so much better with actual chicken bits in it too! The price was too high, you can eat great food at a real restaurant with that money.
Nando’s is great for their Peri-Peri sauce, and London Nando’s makes a great deal about it. However, the Nando’s here seemed to have stopped trying. Just buy their Peri-Peri sauce and make your own chicken at home!
If you are looking to pay a lot of money for a nice seat in chicken restaurant to eat… Buy an airplane ticket to London, England’s Nando’s Chicken! If not, do not go to Nando’s in Vancouver and head over to KFC or Church’s!
We rate Vancouver Nando’s Chicken: 
Check out Nando’s Canada’s Website (Newly Renovated and pretty neat flash): http://www.nandoscanada.com/
Also for comparison here is Nando’s London UK Website: http://www.nandos.co.uk/
