Nando's

According to its wall-mounted slogan, Nando's has 'never been just about chicken. It's about pride, passion, courage, integrity, and most of all, family 18 Reviews

© ITP Images

According to its wall-mounted slogan, Nando's has 'never been just about chicken. It's about pride, passion, courage, integrity, and most of all, family.' Rolling up to this newly-opened rooster outlet for a lunchtime feed, we settled into a table with a view, surrounded by the earthy-coloured walls, sacks and ladles that symbolise rustic-style family values. The restaurant mascot is a brightly coloured cockerel, the national bird of Portugal, which, legend has it, saved a man's life by crowing, despite the fact that it was already dead.

We chose a range of poultry dishes, all marinaded in secret sauce and cooked on open-flame grills. The waiter took our order with remarkable integrity, reappearing minutes later to passionately hand over a nice tomato salad and a couple of fruit juices. A starter of chicken liver was excellent - buttery texture, with a spicy sauce, mopped up with courageous rounds of Portuguese bread, and a bowlful of wings also hit the mark.

The main-course chicken is outstandingly good, and can be ordered at four different levels of spice, from the manly extra hot peri-peri to the girlish lemon and herb. The butterfly-cut meat is delicious - thick wedges of burnt charcoaled skin with acres of tender white flesh underneath. A chicken kebab came on a spiral-topped skewer hung from a rack, trailing an enormous fork for twisting off chunks of meat. A roast veg accompaniment was less impressive, but couldn't dampen our esteem for this place. A real winner.

By Rob Orchard

• Previous reviews
  • 30 April,2006- reviewed by Time Out Dubai
  • 01 March,2005- reviewed by Matthew Lee
  • 01 June,2004- reviewed by Rob Orchard

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Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.

User reviews:

Posted by: nakhodazadeh on 15 Mar ' 13 at 08:56

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

I had a lunch in Nando restaurant on Sheikh Zayed road. It is near to Four Points Shraton Hotel. I tried a grilled chicken meal with mushroom soup and fresh and warm bread. It was very delicious. The restaurant is a cozy restaurant with excellent decoration.

Posted by: Dr m kutiya nawala on 23 Dec ' 12 at 21:31

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

visited Nandos regularly in the UK- Trafford Centre. Good food and great atmosphere. However in Dubai the food is substandard as is the service. Indiferant customer care and food lacks flavour

Posted by: Adam on 28 Jul ' 12 at 19:19

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We usually eat "In" at the Greens restaurant, and get good food with good service, every time we have been, the staff are great with the kids, and we have always, had a great experience.
Based on this, we thought we would try the "Delivery" service.
What a huge disappointment, the portions were tiny, it was luke warm, and they had messed up the order, putting the wrong sauces on stuff.
The delivery was missing a few side orders, and the side orders that came were wrong. The restaurant is only 400m away, so no excuse for being cold. The kids drumsticks were tough, and our food was bland, and the prices were top dollar.

Just read that Nando's were having a tough time of it, well when the times are hard, you work harder to keep the business, not turn out slopply overpriced crap, We wont be back.

Posted by: Manesh on 27 Jul ' 12 at 09:27

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

we have ordered chicken espetada and a burger, it took 45 minutes to get the food as if the whole restaurant is empty, very bad service staffs, lack of attention, i had ask 2 times for our drink.

The chicken is not cleaned well, disgusting smell, burger buns are cold, we had to leave the place with empty stomach, i never recommend to anyone.

Posted by: NS on 16 Feb ' 12 at 16:21

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• Best for: Brunch served
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

we went for valentine's day n everything was just too perfect, loved the spicy food , yummm! do try espetada with curly fries.

Posted by: omar on 21 Jan ' 12 at 08:38

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

I was not disappointed as I had no expectations whatsoever. I ordered a burger and all I got was two pieces of cold white buns, giant slice of tomato and over-cooked tasteless cold piece of chicken.
Customer service was so rbad even when I told them ‘I didn’t like my food’ the waitress carelessly replied saying’ what do I do about it?’
Overall, the restaurant offers nothing but bad, really bad experience. They desperately need to work on their food options, quality and customer service.
This is my first restaurant review ever (I’m not that type of person). Nando’s should feel special, of course in bad way.
Omar

Posted by: abdullah on 24 Sep ' 11 at 16:44

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

v v v v v gooooooooooood

the foods is spicy

Posted by: Baneen Noorani on 03 Aug ' 11 at 20:22

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Nandos was recommended to me by my friends for it's tasty chicken espetada, so one day I took my family there. I was thoroughly disappointed when i found the stingy pieces of chicken on my plate. At first i thought it was so little because of its unique taste... but the first bite proved me wrong, because it was awfully under cooked.

I informed the management of it, and i got a replaced meal....AFTER my family was done eating. After 45 minutes of waiting, I ate my meal half heartedly while my family waited.

All in all i did not like the service one bit and even though the taste of the food was good, it was not worth my money!

Posted by: mamferns on 27 Apr ' 11 at 05:40

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Agree with George (Review done on 17 Feb 2011). The quantity of servings is very less. We had ordered for Quarto Frango ( 1/4 Chicken ). The chicken looked like it was starved and we could count the roasted veggies on the plate.
For less tha half the price I could get a succulent Chicken Tikka at any Pakistani Joint. Only if it wasn't for the Entertainer Vouchers. BTW this was at Arabian Center.

Posted by: joolsP on 10 Apr ' 11 at 16:23

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Few years back when I was still in the UK, me and my friends would decide where to eat but we always end up meeting in one common place, nandos. I still have to check their branch here in Dubai.

Posted by: layla on 08 Apr ' 11 at 17:31

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

no way i go back again

Posted by: george on 17 Feb ' 11 at 05:11

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Was really hungry yesterday, thought of going to Nandos ordered the Lamb Espetada. Was really disappointed to see only 4 small pieces of lamb in the skewer, had to fill my stomach with the french fries damage was AED 66 for the lamb espetada and AED 14 for a bottle of water. for AED 66 you could get close to 3 kg of lamb and 1 kg of potato and AED 14 you could get a carton of masafi water bottles. What is it with the price and the quantity? Why be stingy on the quantity? Personally I will never go again.

Posted by: Sanjeev on 27 Nov ' 10 at 14:03

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Healthy food, Good service.
My family enjoys Nando's. It's a weekly ritual for us.

Posted by: Sonam Eapen on 27 Nov ' 10 at 13:30

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• Best for: Family friendly

Hi Jim & Sarah,

I would like to introduce myself to you as Sonam Eapen and i handle the Marketing for Nando's UAE.

We are truly regretful about your unsatisfactory experience and we apologize for the inconvenience caused. Your concern has been addressed at restaurant level, as well as with the Management, and we assure you that corrective measures have been implemented.

At Nando's we have always placed great emphasis on customer care and it is for this reason that we will go to any length to ensure customer satisfaction. We strive to deliver an extremely high quality product and service, and your experience is as much a disappointment to us as it is to you.

We pride ourselves on not only our superb product, but also our ability to look after our customers and ensure that not only are their needs met, but also that we go the extra mile in doing so.

I would appreciate if you can get in touch with me on 050 9043431 so that I can understand your complaints in totality & make the necessary ammends.

As a customer at Nando's you deserve the best and, in future, we will do our best to ensure that you receive nothing less.

Yours Sincerely,
Sonam Eapen

Posted by: Jim Goodall on 08 Nov ' 10 at 13:42

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Service is just bad. No other way to put it. Food was good,but bad service is enough to scare us away.

Posted by: Sarah on 08 Nov ' 10 at 11:03

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

I am writing in regards to the delivery service that I can have experienced from Nandos over the last two weeks. My first order arrived incomplete and cold with two coleslaws and one diet coke missing. I called the restuarant and they apologised and sent out the missing items however they took well over an hour to arrive.

My second order arrived with one chips, one coleslaw and one diet coke missing (as well as cold kitchen). I had guests visiting so it was very embarassing after I had just told them all about the excellent service in Dubai. I called the restaurant and spoke to a manager only to be told that the food goes through checks by 4 different people and he can not believe that a mistake could have been made. Basically he was hinting that I was lying.

He went on to say that all orders are checked and that there is no possible way that our order could have been incomplete and if it was then he has no explanation. There was no apology and no offer of either a refund or replacement of the food that did not arrive,

I will never use Nandos again and would advise all future customers to FULLY check their order before the delivery man leaves your home.

Posted by: nikkykhan on 29 Sep ' 10 at 14:44

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

the best chicken in the world. no question ask

Posted by: Abdullah Y on 04 Aug ' 09 at 06:37

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• Best for: Business lunch
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Great chicken especially the chicken espetada dipped in their trademark peri-peri sauce. I like their appetizers too, go for the tahini, the chicken lever, or the chicken caesar salad.
Go there if you want a nice simple chicken dish, but don't expect many varieties as they only care about chicken, thus the menu is limited. So if this is your thing, you will not be disappointed and I predict you will be a repeat diner.