Nando’s Peri-Peri

Amazing Peri Peri Chicken! A must have if you are South African!
¼ Chicken with Chips and Perinaise with Garlic Souce is mind blowing

Worst service ever. The staff here doesnt care about the customer. Waited 30mins for the wings while they were getting cold on the serving shelf and another 15mins for garlic bread (i had to go get it myself)
Girls behind the register are more interested in gossiping than taking orders.
Never coming here again.

The food is ok but nothing was particularly spectacular about it. It is grilled chicken and you get to choose you have it tossed in an underwhelming array of different sauces. However, the winner is the mango lime. The sides options are limited and mediocre in flavor and complexity. The décor is gorgeous and trendy. However, there is a random soda machine, along with gab your own eating utensils station right in the middle of the seating. There are no real waitresses, so if you decide you want something like dessert or a drink during or after your meal, you’ll have to go stand in line. It was good, but not good enough. Sorry.

Super good food, quick and relatively inexpensive. Try ALL the sauces. I will def go back.

Juicy tender chicken exceeded our expectations! Perfect level of spicy. We had boneless chicken breast, butterflied. Mmmmm!
Great side dishes: macho peas, and grilled fresh corn on the cob. Husband loved the coleslaw and garlic toast.
They have beer and wine, too. Reasonably priced! When we arrived, a fellow assigned us our table and we ordered at the register. That was so easy, and they brought the meals and wine to our table.
Ambiance was fantastic! Colorful, native and fun. Clever too.
Just loved this place. Wish we had one in San Jose CA! It would be perfect in the Willow Glen neighborhood! Hint, hint!

What an awesome change to the usual chicken marinate. The sangrias on a hot summer afternoon are a relief. The single platters are little low on quantity but if you order the group platter, I bet you cannot finish one. Want to try the peri peri nuts next time. Portuguese rice and the bread are a must.

Okay, I know it’s a «chain» but it’s a mini chain and only in Chicago and DC right now so suck it.
Having said that, I LOVE NANDO’S! I crave it it after a few days. The double chicken wrap and the peri fries is my «go to» meal. The Wabash location can get a bit crowded during the weekday during the prime lunch hour so expect a bit of a wait if you go. If you go on the weekends, it’s quick ordering and seating to enjoy your amazing chicken. Staff is always super nice but it’s the chicken and peri chips that haunt my dreams and make me keep coming back.

Waka waka get a flavor of South African cuisine!
So we thought we’d try something unique for a change — Nando’s Peri Peri has South African and Portuguese cuisine. The ambience is great. You place your order and then the food comes to you on your table. We ordered the half chicken (delicious) with the hot peri peri sauce (it gives a good kick). For dessert we ordered the natas (small custard pie) which was pretty delicious. My reason for the 3 stars is the service is really slow. We ordered a drink that they ran out of and they didn’t even come back and inform us — we had to follow up! Overall decent food if you want to try something new, but be prepared for slow service.

I always make a point to eat at places I can at home. This turned out to be an awesome choice.
While I love meat it’s certainly not her choice. This worked out because they have options for us both.
The sauce options were great and varying to really have something for everyone. Their desserts you do not want to miss.

Wonderful Grilled Chicken with Tasty sauses to help the chicken reach heaven.
Food: excellent. Home for chicken lovers.
Location: clean, well maintained and accessable to everyone in Downtown.

Amazing food, really cool lightbulbs and metal structures over cashier counter, and the décor was so colorful.
The food is good even if you cant handle any spice, they let you choose the spice level. Decent vegetarian option, but not as many vegetarian options as there were chicken options.
However, the chicken was amazing!!! I got the chicken kabobs, with garlic bread, and everything was cooked to perfection.

Did not see the hype in this place.
Seating/​ordering concept was confusing because the hostess was not stationed at the door where was was supposed to be so I walked straight through to the counter without first getting an assigned table. When seated I was given a menu but was not advised that I will need to go up to the counter to order and give them my table number. At which point I would also pay and return to my table where my food would be served. I feel this should’ve been quickly explained upfront because majority of restaurants in the US are not this concept. And especially when the customer is seated and given menus, the assumption would be full service.
I ordered the boneless chicken breast with spiciest level at mango & lime (mild). Other than the top where the sauce was, the chicken didn’t have much of a taste. I got a regular side (included) of slaw — nothing special here; pretty ordinary. I added a special side of Brussels sprouts — disappointed on the portion size for the price and also all the pieces had really burnt edges.
Overall I felt this place was overpriced for the portion and quality for a fast casual restaurant. The mango like sauce was good. Everything else I wasn’t blown away as I feel I should have been given the raving reviews.

I hope to update this review the next time I go and order properly. The Peri Peri (the little bite I tried from my husband) is delicious. But be warned: the spicy Caesar wrap isn’t made with the Peri Peri style chicken. I was so disappointed! It was made from standard chicken you can get anywhere.
The restaurant itself has a great vibe: fast casual. I will report back when I go and actually get the Peri Peri. Silly me to think all chicken dishes were made with the namesake chicken!

This review is for the S Wabash, Chicago, location of Nando’s Peri-​Peri, but could easily be for any one of them.
Look, I appreciate what Nando’s is trying to do. Chicken has for too long been relegated to fast food, usually fried. This is a big problem in America, and it’s a shame, because chicken has so much more potential.
Nando’s peri-​peri chicken is marinated and prepared (not fried) at the diner’s choice of heat, from mild to spicy. I ordered the «hot» spiciness level, which was what I’d consider medium. My ¼ chicken was a leg, but you can also get a breast at that size, as well as a half chicken, or a whole chicken (presumably for sharing). My chicken came with one side, and I chose fries — paying extra for the Nando’s sauce (which was not bad). The small list of available sides were all starchy — no vegetables, except for a side salad. (You can also get an entrée salad.) If you look around the dining room at any Nando’s, you’ll typically see all the diners eating chicken and fries. I guess that’s OK if that’s what you are in the mood for.
Service at Nando’s was both innovative and frustrating. I can see the appeal of ordering your food from the register and then having it brought to your table. Reminds me of an old fashioned deli. But I found that only two cash registers for a large sit down restaurant created quite a bottleneck, particularly if patrons ahead of you have questions about the menu. You also need to get your own soft drink from the dispenser. (Nice that different flavors are available, like at the movie theater. But I wish I didn’t have to get it myself.)
Overall I’m not quite sure what to make of Nando’s. It’s more of a sit down than «fast casual» restaurant. Definitely not fast food, but also not really a full service dining room. The low level of service and chicken that wasn’t as innovative as I had hoped made me feel like I overpaid for this experience. ¼ chicken, one side, and a soda for $ 12 was more than I’d pay for fast food, but less than I’d pay for better tasting chicken and more complete service. I think I’d rather pay a couple of bucks more.
I’ll probably give Nando’s another try, as all my friends are crazy about it, and there are other items (i.e. other chicken) on the menu I’d like to try. The wings look like they might be good.
I just have to remember to eat my vegetables elsewhere.

This place is excellent! I lived in South Africa for a few months and never made it here, so I’m glad they are now in Chicago. I was impressed with delicious food, colorful and fun atmosphere, and quick and kind service. I had the Chicken «Burger» with the PERi chips (fries) and the Indaba Merlot to drink. Everything was great! Do yourself a favor and check this restaurant out.

We stopped into Nando’s Peri-​Peri for lunch (on a Saturday) and had a very enjoyable meal.
Décor: Given that it is a Portuguese + South African restaurant I’m going to guess that the décor is «authentic» to either/​both of those locations — but I liked it. It was sort of a rustic and eclectic mix that was welcoming and friendly. The lighting is a bit dimmer than other places but it also helps make you more relaxed; there is still plenty of light to see your food, each other, etc. The tables and a handful of booths are nicely spaced and they seem to be able to accommodate different size groups. The chairs are also very comfortable as well!
Bathroom: clean and well looked after
Staff: Both the host, the cashier, and the food runners were all very nice and inviting. Our food also came out hot and tasted very fresh, it arrive to our table rather quickly as well (the place wasn’t PACKED, but it was busy).
Food: We had the ½ Chicken w/​«chips» (very tasted, grilled chicken, the fries were tasty), 12 Wings (very tasty, grilled!), Macho Peas (pretty good), and a side salad (enjoyable). I had the medium sauce on my wings but really couldn’t taste it, so I experimented with the hot and garlic. I enjoyed the hot very much. I also used the creamy dressing on my salad and it was a winner!
Value: The prices are not too bad but the food quality is top notch. Also, the portion sizes are right where I’d like to see them so I was content. The service, as I said, was also nice. Overall, good bang for you buck here.
Knowing nothing before stopping in we were pleasantly surprised and already cannot wait to come back (West Loop location, here we come!). I’m even going to pop over for lunch during the week (work lunch).

I really loved this place and can’t wait to be back. The interior design, music and overall atmposphere is very vibrant and cool. Bright colours of fabrics in combinations with African style baskets and wooden artwork.
An easy way of ordering and sitting down at a table with the number given to you at the entrance. I love this semi-​self-​service way of doing things. The food is really good! I had chicken burger and was surprised to see it didn’t really look like a traditional burger and more like a sandwich. Regardless, it tasted sooo good!

It’s a Nando’s innit bruv.
What else can I say, to the uninitiated it may seem like a step of the beaten fast food track with the schtick about Portuguese sailors discovering the peri-​peri in east Africa way back when.
To me, well it’s on every high st (main st) in Britain and is the by-​word for ubiquity.
Translates exactly the same over here though and tastes the same. Can’t go wrong wiv (sic) a Nando’s.

Their food is delicious, and the service is excellent.
We got their whole chicken platter with «hot» sauce with «macho peas» and Portuguese rice. I like everything about this. The chicken is really tender, especially the white meat which is usually dry. The «hot» sauce is actually hot, which I like. Also you can try all of their sauces first since they put all of them near the utensil area.
There are many sauces to choose for example they have «extra extra hot», lemon-​herb, garlic-​herb, etc.
The sides that we had is very good. Macho peas is unique and complements the spicy chicken really well. The Portuguese rice is spicy and tasty.
I recommend you to try this place.

Nando’s is getting some major hype right now in Chicago, so I went in with pretty high expectations. This is one of the newer locations, so I appreciated that there was someone to greet you and explain the system if needed.
I ordered the ¼ chicken breast (medium spice) with Portuguese rice and macho peas. Decent portions for about $ 10 – 11. I also noticed they had some vegetarian options, even though they’re known for their chicken. Which did not disappoint. The medium spice had a great kick to it without causing a fire in your mouth. The rice was good and went well with the chicken, but the peas weren’t my thing — I’d skip those.
Lastly, I thought they did a great job with the décor. Even though it’s a casual place, the interior is bright, creative and fun — which translated into the atmosphere too. I’d recommend dropping by before everyone finds out about this new location!