Nando's Peri-Peri in DC

For dinner in DC I chose a place that sounded really interesting. It's known for its Portuguese style chicken. We don't have this in Dallas so we thought it would be fun to check it out.

Nando's Peri-Peri
819 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 898-1225
http://www.nandosperiperi.com/
Price: $-$$

It was pretty full when we got there around 7:15PM so we had to wait for a table. What they do there is assign you a table, then you go order at the front counter and give them your table number. They'll bring the food out to you. But if you decide to order more food later, you can flag down one of the waiters and just order at your table. It's kind of a mix between fast food and sit down restaurant.

So obviously their specialty is chicken and the Peri-Peri sauce. Pronounced "Piri-Piri". They use all natural, never frozen chicken marinated in unique Portuguese Peri-Peri spice and then flame-grilled to order. They have different types of sauces ranging from different levels of heat (spicy).

The food came out surprisingly fast!

I got the Butternut Squash and Couscous Salad (oven roasted butternut and red onion with olives, grilled corn and couscous. Served with dressing on a bed of leaves) $7.95~

After a whole day of walking in the heat, I really wanted something light and fresh. It was a pretty big salad. Everything was fresh. I liked the butternut squash a lot. It added a sweetness to the dish. Overall it was a little bland though, but I put some of the Wild Herb Peri-Peri sauce as the dressing and it was great!

My bf got the 1/4 Chicken - Leg & Thigh +2 sides (grilled corn on the cob, Portuguese rice) $8.85~

We chose to go with the "medium" spicy level because it's been a hot day. "Medium: Tolerable heat, think typical sumer day - without the rain." It was surprisingly spicy!! I tried the Hot sauce on the side and WOOOO... it was really spicy!!! And I can eat spicy! The flavors on the chicken were really great. Lots of spices and heat! And it was really nice and tender. I especially loved the skin. I also liked the rice a lot with a bit of extra Peri-Peri sauce on it.

One of my friends got the Flame-Grilled Butterfly Chicken Breast (two chicken breasts in crispy skin) +2 sides (grilled corn on the cob, Portuguese rice) $12.85~

Also in Medium sauce. The chicken was good but the skin wasn't crispy so that was a little disappointing.

Another friend got the Flame-Grilled Butterfly Chicken Breast (two chicken breasts in crispy skin) +2 sides (Chips/"fries", garlic bread) $12.85~ With the fries she added Perinaise (a mayo/peri sauce mixture) for $0.75~

She chose the Lemon & Herb sauce (barely registers on the heat scale but full of zesty flavor). She liked the medium sauce we had better but still enjoyed her chicken. The Perinaise was fantastic. The garlic bread was nice and crusty and had lots of flavor.

It was a great experience. The flavors were different than any other chicken marinade I've had before and the sides were pretty good as well. By the middle of our meal, the line was out the door! We really got there just before the dinner rush. So keep in mind to go there earlier on a Friday night so you don't have to wait!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~