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4/2/09

Girls who Lunch: Nando's

Last week I was a lucky girl: first I went out for dim sum with my girls to celebrate my upcoming birthday, then I went to lunch, and then last Wednesday Ashley took me out to lunch at Nando's and Jenn took me out for Thai food! [This was all in the preparation for a food-filled Las Vegas vacation...more on that later.]

The only photos I have, however, are from the lunch at Nando's. I've been wanting to try this restaurant at Gallery Place in Washington DC for quite some time now. All I knew about it was that they sold chicken and that my friend Adrienne wasn't too impressed with them. But I wanted to judge for myself.



The atmosphere inside was spiffy, but a bit hectic. Turns out they don't have waiters (not sure if it was just on that specific Wednesday or always). Ashley and I were given a yellow chicken (or rooster?) indicating our table number. We waited in line to order our food, which was then brought to our table.

The prices were pretty reasonable, but I was sad that the olives and nuts weren't complimentary. The Diet Coke, however, was free-flowing (always a plus in my book, especially if it was Diet Pepsi). And there was a bar with different types of sauces to go with your fries and sandwiches.




I ordered a chicken sandwich with fries; Ashley had a chicken platter with garlic bread and mashed potatoes. The food looked and smelled great. The bread in my sandwich, however, was a bit overwhelming...and who needed all those onions!? The fries were right on point: the only thing missing was Ranch dressing :)



Will I come back again? Not any time soon. I prefer hole-in-the-wall Peruvian restaurants in VA or the relatively newly opened chicken place in Crystal City (the name of it escapes me, but it's right on the 23rd street by the pizza place: you can't miss it, and they have home made mashed potatoes and fried plantains!).

Come back to check out the eating adventures I had in Las Vegas with Anna and Lera. Yes, some people go to Vegas to gamble, we went to chill out and eat ;)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your end line here is pretty much my beginning of the Joel Robuchon review :) To eat was the only reason I went to Vegas last time. Can't wait to hear about your dining adventures there!

Simones Kitchen said...

I can't wait for your Vegas adventures! I'm so curious to know what you've done over there! I've been there in 2005 just for a very short time as we were on a tour of California and started in vegas. And we didn't gamble either...:)

veggie belly said...

Ive never been to the DC nandos, but ive been to the ones in england. I'm obssesed with their mushroom and halloumi sandwich!

Fahrenheit 350° said...

You are brave, trying a new restaurant without a rave review!!!

Esi said...

lol, I didn't even know Nando's was in the US. I have only been in Ghana.

Unknown said...

I live in the UK, there are lots of Nandos here. I loooooove Nando's its my comfort food.

foodbin said...

we have Nando's too but your portions looks more generous than what we have here.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love Nando's, I had no idea they were in the USA.. Unfortunately, I'm quite far from DC. Nando's was one of my favorite places to go to in London, just after Wagamama's and a few pubs. We usually got the half chicken or whole chicken for a group and split it that way. I love their hotter sauces.

Unknown said...

Wow, your Nando's has some really snazzy stuff on it. (Portobello sandwich with haloumi and chilli jam? For reals?) Here in South Africa (where the Nando's franchise comes from) it's a seriously cheap and cheerful kind of place. The whole menu consists of chicken served in different ways and sides. I don't even think they do beef.