Nando's Peri-Peri - @@

This place was ok, but the value of it made me push it down a notch. It is billed as a Portuguese, South African chicken restaurant and they specialize in grilled chicken marinated for at least 24 hours. It is then finished with a sauce of choice (think wing sauces) and served. I think of it in the growing fast, casual demographic of restaurants a la Chipotle, Five Guys, etc. I had never seen this place but there are low double digit franchises around the DMV area according to their website.

First off the setup is a little questionable. Think Panera Bread but you get assigned your seat first and the menu is not widely known. You walk in to a hostess stand where you tell them how many you have then are assigned a seat in the dining room. You then have the option to take your paper menu either to your seat or wait in the ordering line. Regardless you have to order at the counter; there are no servers. After the counter line, you then cross the aisle (and into the next people in line) to get to the utensils/sauce/napkin area. Then the self serve drinks are to the side you depart. Interesting concept but I think it is just made more confusing due to the relative unfamiliarity of the patrons which I observed during my visit.

Onto the food, I ordered the 6 wing appetizer and the 1/4 white with Portuguese chips (aka fries) and corn on the cob. The wings I got hot and the 1/4 white was medium. The wings were definitely spicier and had a pretty good kick to it. Probably the upper end of my spicyness level (they have one hotter still). The wings were tender and came off the bone pretty easily but were pretty small. The fact they were grilled made them not as crunchy vs then being fried (which I like more). Good thing they were an appetizer. The main chicken was surprisingly pretty juicy and it seemed half deboned which made eating easier. I preferred the medium spice level sauce brushed on at the end. The fries are how they look, somewhat limpy and not great. Needed salt for sure and I put some of the garlic sauce (too tart) and lemon/herb sauce (too citrusy for fries) on them but didn't help. The best fries were actually the ones that were sitting in the melted butter from the corn on the cob, which was completely normal, if not a little uninspiring for corn with the small kernels and lack of sweetness.

Overall I think the place is a good concept. They serve beer and wine too which would excite people too. The meal though was almost $20 and for that I think could've gotten a better meal elsewhere. I would stick with the chicken if you are good with it grilled not fried. Looking around I see lots of millennials which I think is what they are trying to cater too. They seem to be quite busy too so obviously most people enjoy it. For me it was good to try but would try other spots in the future.

819 7th St NW
Washington, DC 20001