I love Nando’s!
Doesn’t everyone love Nando’s?
Actually, scratch that.
My own daughter didn’t like Nando’s! We had to always get her a sneaky Happy Meal so we could sit in the restaurant to eat at Bluewater! She couldn’t even hack the ‘Plain-ish’ marinade! Seriously?!
But note the didn’t… something changed recently and she has decided that Nando’s Wings, Plain-ish of course, are rather yummy!
So, today we popped to Bluewater for some lunch, and the decision was made that we go to … Nando’s!
It took a while to get a table.
Even the waitress at the door was surprised at how busy the restaurant was. “You’d think everyone would be out enjoying the 28 degrees C heat that we’re experiencing eh!” she chirruped! A 15-minute wait was agreeable as I could send Hubby Dearest off with the kids to look at something while I waited, and had a pleasant chat with our door person!
A table was spotted a little earlier and soon we were seated. Boy, was it hot, but no matter! Let’s appreciate the warmth we have finally been blessed with!
The food was ordered, except the chicken wings would take 15-20 minutes. At least the cashier had a kind of smile on her face!
No bother. We could cope with that!
Ten minutes later, I was pulling my hair out. The kids were bickering, the temperatures were rising, in my mind as well as in the atmosphere!
Then another lovely smiley lady came by. ” I am so sorry, but the order you placed. Well, it’s going to take around 20 minutes as there was no room in the
Smiley Lady: ” I am so sorry, but the order you placed. Well, it’s going to take around 20 minutes as there was no room in the oven so they will take a little longer…”
Me: “Oh, that’s ok, the lady already told me!”
Smiley Lady: ” Erm, no, I mean an extra 20 minutes…”
Me: “Oh. But the kids are waiting (and driving me crazy…!)”
Smiley Lady: Can we give you anything in the meantime? A complimentary starter…?”
Me: “Oh ok! Garlic bread will be fine,” [turns to Hubby Dearest] “is one enough? Lil Princess won’t eat it anyway…” [turns to Smiley Lady] “A garlic bread is fine, thank you!”
Smiley Lady: “Just the one? Are you sure?”
I nodded and sent her on her way.
And it was with us in seconds, it seemed. Lil Princess turned her nose up at it. “School does the best Garlic Bread. This is yucky.”
We shared it amongst the rest of us. As there was one bite left, she decided to take an interest. ” Mmmm! This is yummy! Mummy can we have more?” Typical!
Roll on the next 15 minutes!
Meanwhile, the two ladies sat next to us were looking a little miffed. One had her meal, while the other was sat waiting.
On asking at the counter, it appeared that her food had been forgotten!
My kids were starting to growl now for sustenance. They are not attractive when hungry!
It had hit the half an hour mark. I was minute watching!
Looking over at the serving counter, our meals were sat there, waiting to be lovingly served with a smile to us.
A (different) waitress looked at it, and the accompanying receipt. And ignored our food!
Hmmm! Okay. Maybe something was still missing from the order.
The lady next to us caught her attention, and as she came over to the table, she mentioned the lack of a meal for her companion.
“Er, while you are on your way, please could we have our food? I believe it’s there, waiting to be served…” Said with a smile, obviously! It’s Ritu we are talking about here!
Well, she looked at me… looked over, then sloped over to the serving desk. Picked up our meals and brought them over, placing them in front of me rather clumsily, leaving me to hand them to the correct people. My one was last, and she looked at me with a rather dour face and said “Sorry for the delay…” then sloped off to get our neighbour’s meal.
We all looked at each other.
Sincerity in an apology means so much!
The other lady’s meal was brought over in a similar fashion so (it was a mum and daughter combo) Mum got up and went to the counter to place a complaint. Daughter started to eat, but Mum wasn’t coming back in a hurry! She felt bad at eating while Mum’s food was going cold!
When she arrived, it was with a promise of a free meal next time! I said she should have asked for free sides and a dessert instead! This way, they would still have to come back to redeem the compensation!
Anyway… the food was good, as always!
And I didn’t see the dour waitress again. But a smiley waiter did pop up several times to ask if everything was ok with us, and our neighbours!
What made me laugh afterwards was reading an advert that they had placed (in the loo of all places) for people to come join their Nando’s team!
One of the requirements was people skills and smiles! Four out of five members of staff we encountered can’t be too bad eh!
I can’t help but think this young lady was suited to ‘back of house’ duties!
Maybe she was having a bad day… who knows, but it can grate on a customer if they are already waiting for late food/having to request forgotten food, and then get served with a cold apology to accompany said late/forgotten food!
As I said at the beginning…
I love Nando’s!
But I Smile Anyway... 
Jun 18, 2017 @ 21:14:08
I’m assuming Nando’s is a restaurant of some kind… I’d probably like it.
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 22:23:16
John they are usually great! Food is gooood!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 19:02:13
So interesting to read that you love Nandos. My husband also loves it and it is a take away food born here in South Africa. Personally, I don’t like it but then I only like pizza as a take away food so I don’t count [smile].
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:36:45
It’s a proper restaurant here. A Portuguese one!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 17:20:45
It always astonishes me that some people choose to work with the public when it is obvious that they do not like them! 🙂
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:34:25
Oh this girl was definitely not one for customer service!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:36:21
🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 16:10:03
I love nando’s 💜💜
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 16:14:00
😀
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 11:42:51
Service with a smile is so important! So is timely service.
No matter how tasty the food, if it cames late, out of sequence with others in your party, or only after you pull a server over and rattle his or her cage (usually unfairly since it could be and often is the cook staff at fault…!), the thing to do, in my opinion, is write a polite and factual letter to the owner or CEO (if a chain) of the establishment outlining how your recent visit to their establishment fell short of meeting expectations.
If you get a polite and conciliatory response back, with an offer to give you a free meal or some other thing of value for your disappointing visit, then continue to support that establishment. If not, to heck with them, and post a review on the Internet to help others avoid disappointment!
I used to just “take it” when I got bad food or service, but the cost of eating out in a restaurant is high. A fast food restaurant may get away with slightly “off” food because one’s expectations are less for them than a sit down restaurant with higher prices and pretensions, but the latter type restaurant can’t be allowed to have bad days!
In America, where tips are expected to make up for the starvation wages servers are paid (and the fact the Internal Revenue Service taxes tips the server supposedly made, where he or she got tips or not!), reducing or not leaving a tip for poor service is one way to deal with it, and good service must result in a nice tip to encourage it in future. I think of it as a bribe, actually! Tips and words of encouragement are appreciated. I never let a server go unpraised for exceptional, even just pretty good service.
Whew! Sorry for being a pompous twit this morning! I once waited an hour and a half for a chicken parmesan on a base of spaghetti with a tasteless, runny marinara sauce. I saw six parties of people come in, get their meals, eat, pay, and leave in that time, and I couldn’t get the waiter’s attention. He finally saw I was sitting there with an empty glass. “Oh, haven’t you got your order yet?” “No…!” I got a free glass of beer out of this ordeal and a very unsatisfactory meal. I left the waiter a generous tip and never went back to that restaurant again. Later, after thinking it through, I realized there was a better way to handle it – outlined above. No tip would have been a better response, because the waiter clearly should have seen I was not moving yet he’d served six other parties! I’d think anyone could remember if he’d served a table or not, and the lack of dirty dishes on the table or of removing same surely would give him a clue something hadn’t happened for that customer!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 11:45:14
The smiles were helpful… it was just unfortunate that the girl in question who served us appeared to have forgotten hers!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 09:52:17
Nando’s is the best. We have all the different types of Nando’s sauces in our pantry! 😉
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 09:56:23
They are yummy!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 10:00:13
The best.
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 04:57:19
Awww! Ritu, I adore your writing! Thanks for sharing this story with us!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 08:50:27
Thank you Mackenzie! Just another day in Ritu world!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 01:52:48
I LOVE Nando’s! I super miss it. The Nando’s I went to in London was more of a “fast food” establishment. I don’t recall it being a slow, serve-your-food-at-the-table type place. Are they all different?
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 08:49:35
Most of the ones I have been to are all seated restaurants! But there may be small fast food ones around too! In Bluewater there are two as it is so popular!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 19:21:14
So, where is Bluewater?
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:37:30
It’s a large shopping mall in Kent. 10 minutes from where I live!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:37:59
That’s awesome!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:39:20
Ill have to take you there one day!
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Jun 18, 2017 @ 20:43:47
Yes!!! ❤️
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Jun 17, 2017 @ 22:59:06
I absolutely love Nando’s… 🙂
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Jun 17, 2017 @ 23:13:28
Me too! As long as the smiles are there too!
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