Roosters. I'd heard all sorts of claims that this place mid-way up Park Street is "better than Nando's". Being a major die hard Nando's fan I found this hard to believe to be honest, but I went along with two friends who were hungry and wet on the rainy day that yesterday was.
I went to Roosters with my good friends, Kevin and Conner, and we sat down in one of the lime green booths and chatted for a bit. Having sat there for a couple of minutes I realised that we didn't have any menus, so went to pick some up from the desk (on the right of the panorama) - I guess that's the way it works there.
On the subject of Nando's, the menus strongly represented theirs right down to the heat levels you can have your chicken flavoured in - Lemon and Herb, Medium, Hot and Extra Hot. Me and Kevin chose very similar meals to what we would each choose in Nandos, except here it comes in choices of types of meal - so ours was a 'Standard Meal', which is a choice of most of the meals on the menu, plus fries and a drink for £1.60 extra. So I chose 1/2 a Hot chicken (£4.99) plus a Diet Coke and fries which came to £6.59; a good couple of pounds cheaper than what you'd pay in Nando's for a similar meal except with one less side. Conner chose chicken strips, which came under the same deal.
The people behind the desk alerted us before we paid that the 1/2 chicken would be about a 20 minute wait as they had just run out of pre-cooked chicken, so had to start up a new batch, saying that this would mean it would be more fresh. They mentioned that they steam the chicken, which is what makes it stay juicy, in contrast to Nando's who grill theirs. Despite the warning of the 20 minute wait, we ordered our 1/2 chicken dishes and sat back down. After 15 minutes they told us apologetically that it would only be 5 minutes more and, low and behold, the wait for the chicken was precisely 20 minutes as mentioned (but they brought our drinks over as soon as we ordered), and they apologised for our wait. Conner's chicken strips came within about 5 minutes, and he politely ate in slow motion until mine and Kevin's meals came, until we told him to just eat it at which point he went for it. The waitress came over to ask him how his food is, to which Conner answered that it's "absolutely beautiful!" ...I think he liked it....
Yes, when you enter the restaurant everything feels very Nando's-esque, the way you order, the way you pay, some aspects of the decor, but the chicken is flavoured very different to Nando's chicken, slightly sweet and tangy yet spicy and stuffed with carefully chosen flavours. It's hard to compare it to Nando's because it tastes completely different from Nandos, but it was equally as delicious, just in a different way. The chicken was tender and juicy and not dry at all, and the fries were good enough and not too dry either. The thing it does lack is the wide range of sauces to dress your chicken with, that Nando's so generously lays out. They have ketchup and mayo, but doesn't every restaurant.
We ate our food extremely quickly, just because the food was great enough to. It feels less restaurant than Nando's as you don't get 'seen' to your table, but this doesn't mean they lack in good service, as the staff are friendly and helpful. I will conclude, though, that this is a much cheaper and equally as tasty option to Nando's, if you're all Nando's-ed out by now.
I went to Roosters with my good friends, Kevin and Conner, and we sat down in one of the lime green booths and chatted for a bit. Having sat there for a couple of minutes I realised that we didn't have any menus, so went to pick some up from the desk (on the right of the panorama) - I guess that's the way it works there.
On the subject of Nando's, the menus strongly represented theirs right down to the heat levels you can have your chicken flavoured in - Lemon and Herb, Medium, Hot and Extra Hot. Me and Kevin chose very similar meals to what we would each choose in Nandos, except here it comes in choices of types of meal - so ours was a 'Standard Meal', which is a choice of most of the meals on the menu, plus fries and a drink for £1.60 extra. So I chose 1/2 a Hot chicken (£4.99) plus a Diet Coke and fries which came to £6.59; a good couple of pounds cheaper than what you'd pay in Nando's for a similar meal except with one less side. Conner chose chicken strips, which came under the same deal.
The people behind the desk alerted us before we paid that the 1/2 chicken would be about a 20 minute wait as they had just run out of pre-cooked chicken, so had to start up a new batch, saying that this would mean it would be more fresh. They mentioned that they steam the chicken, which is what makes it stay juicy, in contrast to Nando's who grill theirs. Despite the warning of the 20 minute wait, we ordered our 1/2 chicken dishes and sat back down. After 15 minutes they told us apologetically that it would only be 5 minutes more and, low and behold, the wait for the chicken was precisely 20 minutes as mentioned (but they brought our drinks over as soon as we ordered), and they apologised for our wait. Conner's chicken strips came within about 5 minutes, and he politely ate in slow motion until mine and Kevin's meals came, until we told him to just eat it at which point he went for it. The waitress came over to ask him how his food is, to which Conner answered that it's "absolutely beautiful!" ...I think he liked it....
Yes, when you enter the restaurant everything feels very Nando's-esque, the way you order, the way you pay, some aspects of the decor, but the chicken is flavoured very different to Nando's chicken, slightly sweet and tangy yet spicy and stuffed with carefully chosen flavours. It's hard to compare it to Nando's because it tastes completely different from Nandos, but it was equally as delicious, just in a different way. The chicken was tender and juicy and not dry at all, and the fries were good enough and not too dry either. The thing it does lack is the wide range of sauces to dress your chicken with, that Nando's so generously lays out. They have ketchup and mayo, but doesn't every restaurant.
We ate our food extremely quickly, just because the food was great enough to. It feels less restaurant than Nando's as you don't get 'seen' to your table, but this doesn't mean they lack in good service, as the staff are friendly and helpful. I will conclude, though, that this is a much cheaper and equally as tasty option to Nando's, if you're all Nando's-ed out by now.