One of the largest eateries in Meadowhall, located on the lower level of Oasis, this branch of…read moreNando's is a rather busy location which tends to be common from the chains mall locations.
I've had some great experiences with different Nando's branches in the past, but my last time in Sheffield I found their branch at Sheffield - The Moor to be a real disappointment, so I hoped this branch not too far away, would be much better - but sadly it wasn't.
The queuing system was really handled poorly, people were queuing out the door at sometimes, and some of the staff had the cheek to just walk past openly using their phone, I don't know if they were dodging serving customers or perhaps on a break, but regardless using your phone in front of a dozen waiting customers is rather rude.
The manager of the store seemed to be rude also, she spoke poor English and refused to take down my allergy order because she was busy sorting out an incident at the back of the store, I heard someone was locked in as a rumour with constant loud banging, and even the staff were complaining about it (to the customers...) Surely the staff should be re-assuring the customer everything is okay rather than moaning about it themselves?
They didn't appear to have any plastic pots out in the open, you had to specifically request them - I received a funny look and my server originally told me to take the sauce to my table. Come on, I visit Nando's so much I remember my full card number, I know how the sauces work? They struggled to understand I wanted a pot to put my sauce in to, I eventually did get one but without effort.
I ordered my usual Chicken Butterfly with medium peri-peri spice and two lots of peri-salted chips, as normal this came to £11.75 however the quality was also pretty poor, the chicken was slightly overcooked and at times was a little chewy but this wasn't the worst part.
Chicken is the main part of the dish, but it is the sides that makes a dish a meal, and with the chicken not too great, I hoped the chips would act as a saving grace if you will BUT to be served one chip which was fully raw upon first glance(probably more hidden), was pretty poor. I don't understand how the staff lack the sense to cook a chip, to actually put a raw, uncooked item on the plate and season it with the peri-salted seasoning, the amount of staff my order passed through from being cooked, plated up and served and how it was supposed to be cooked fresh with extra care as an "allergy order", to still have it partly raw and fully uncooked is just pretty stupid and shows how the staff are either really stupid with no common sense, or just don't give a fuck.
This was proven yet again by staff walking around talking to each other holding food, which I couldn't tell from a distance if they were ready to cook it or plate it - still really unprofessional especially for an open kitchen right at the front and checkout area.
I did send my food back and I think they replaced the chips, even then they weren't much better, all you could taste is the heat, even with the peri-salt which is supposed to add flavour and spice, the chips tasted bland as hell, they just tasted of heat and nothing else, and even left me feeling a little bit sick, making me wonder if the second lot of chips wasn't a fresh batch or if they didn't handle this as the allergy order, which they should have done in the first place - which due to the managers negligence and uncaring attitude to the point she even spoke very little English, wouldn't surprise me.
If you're going to a restauraunt with a good reputation, busy or not they should maintain a simple average level of service, the staff should still care rather than running away when things get slightly trickier or time-consuming, even if it is shouting over to the kitchen it's an allergy order - I've never had a manager disinterested in allergies before and if it wouldn't have been for a dreadful experience at Tapas Revolution, refusing to serve me (issue with student discount forcing me to walk out without food), I would have probably left here too.
In summary, the staff are rude, gormless and don't seem to care at all, this was proven with the long waits to be served and then for my food (25 minutes isn't good enough) and then after waiting such a long time, at least one of my chips wasn't just raw it was stone cold and frozen, adding further insult to injury.
A huge waste of time and money isn't a phrase I'd ever think I'd have to associate when talking about the Nando's brand, but here today it is proven that I sadly have to do it, ranking this among some of my worst experiences at a Nando's branch, with so many rivals nearby in a huge dining scene in Meadowhall's Oasis Dining Quarter, this place isn't even up to scratch compared to them, let alone Nando's standards or even any decent restaurant.
If I wouldn't have visited another branch of Nando's before, I would have never returned to Nando's!
Avoid at all costs.
