Wagamama

I’ve been to other Wagamama locations and have always had great meals (hence the 3 rating). I was excited to come back during my most recent visit to London. This time I ordered the Pad Thai. I’d rate it a 1 — packed with onions and flavourless. I’m not sure if I would return to this location — it’s in the basement of Harvey Nichols and has a very low ceiling. There was also a family with screaming children dining at the time. With the low ceiling and closed quarters, it made for a less-​than-​pleasant dining experience.

Love this place. Wish they would open in Los Angeles! Exceptional food! Friendly and knowledgable staff.

I know Wagamama is a chain, but as a tourist, this was my first time trying it and I loved it! It’s not usual cheap fast food, it’s tasty and a good amount of choices. Prices are about 10 pounds so again, not CHEAP. There are a lot of hole in the wall Chinese spots in London of course that offer cheap, fresh, and authentic cuisine. However, if you are hungry, and it’s cold, and you want some noodle soup, stop in here!

Hi, I would just like to take a minute to give wagamamas at Harvey Nichols a piece of my mind. I have been coming here since I was in the womb and have never had a bad experience. That legacy ended today. I have never had such bad service. First, they made me wait in line. Second, our waitress Andrea has severe issues in listening to instructions. I almost choked on my chilli sauce and died on multiple occasions because she refused to bring me water and wine. What a betch. Thirdly, Andrea knocked the miso soup onto my date making her wet and sticky. It took a thousand years for them to bring napkins and they left us to clean up the oozy goozy mess. It was not cute and not the ‘cute look’ I was going for. I’ve waited 3 years for this date and today it ended with a spillage of tofu. Also I asked for rice as a side dish but our ‘special’ waitress HAD NEVER HEARD OF RICE!?! SOMEONE WHO WORKS AT WAGAMAMAS SHOULD BE ABLE TO RECITE THE BIBLE OF RICE backwards. I’m pretty sure she’s Chinese. Also pretty sad about this because my grandfather was a rice farmer in China and rice has been in my family for decades so I felt pretty insulted and almost isolated. Anyway I would recommend that they sort their shit out.

Food was ok, but service was ever better! Coming from California I had better ramen noodles but I love the atmosphere here, they don’t rush you even this is a fast food type of place. A lot of customers ordered drinks and they just hanged out after the meals. The only thing that I am not used to is the karaage fried chicken, they are over cooked small pieces, very different than the Japanese style…

Came here for a quick and easy lunch. Got what was expected. This place has your basic compilation of Asian dishes.
The location is clean and quite large so seating is not at all an issue. The service is friendly and there are no complaints there.
The cost is reasonable and seems to match the dishes appropriately.
Unfortunately I found the food itself to be sub-​par. The duck gyoza had an odd flavor and the twist on the hoisin was not a welcome one. The gyoza was also very thick and more bread-​like than expected. We also had the pork bulgogi lettuce wraps, whose portion size was much smaller than expected (3 bite size pieces of pork with tiny lettuce cups). The flavor also turned out to be very dull. As for main course dishes we had the pad thai, which was mediocre. Again nothing special, tasted like your average fast food pad thai. We also had the yaki udon which was again as expected and nothing to rave about.
I can’t give this a 4 because there was just nothing exciting or interesting. But I still could never give it anything less than a 3 because it certainly wasn’t bad in anyway shape or form!

Wagamama toyed with our hearts in DC by promising a location and then backing out after getting all of our hopes up.
So when I knew for sure I’d be in London, despite being a chain, Wagamama was at the top of my list of places to grab a bite. And thankfully they are vegetarian friendly because for some reason, my friend decided he would be eating vegetarian for the rest of the trip. (WHY!?)
My dining partner and I arrived around 1PM and it was not very busy. It was extremely busy by the time we left at 2PM though. Not sure where the rush of people were coming from then — but glad we got there when we did.
We shared the shrimp skewers and then had curries. The shrimp were great — I didn’t want to share them anymore after I took the first bite. I was hoping my dining partner wouldn’t want them but no, he ate all of his share (sigh). I had the chicken katsu curry and he had the vegetarian curry. And it was alright. It admittedly wasn’t the most impressive katsu curry I’ve ever had but it still satisfied.
Our service started out very well but by the time we finished and needed the check, it was impossible to find someone to bring it. And even then we had to ask twice.
I really wanted to give them another chance (esp since their menu is SO big!) so with one more full day in London… I’ll let you guess whether or not I went to another Wagamama the next day for lunch… (spoiler: obviously, yes).

About a 3.5: Wagamama is a restaurant chain in the UK that is supposedly inspired by traditioanl Japanese ramen bars. They have a communal type of a seating arrangement, and their menu offers items such as ramen, teppanyaki, curry dishes, donburi, chilli dishes, salads, bento boxes, and desserts. I tried their Chili Beef Ramen — the noodles were in a spicy chicken soup with slices of beef steak, bean sprouts, red and spring onions, and some chili peppers. I can see why having a bowl will be nice if it’s a wintry/​rainy day. The ramen was just okay as it wasn’t as hearty as I would have liked it to be, but it came in a huge bowl and was quite filling; I’m glad I tried it out as this is one of those popular chains in London — the place was jam-​packed with communal diners, downstairs of a building. You can also purchase the orange Wagamama shirts as souvenirs (which I so did!). Service was friendly, extremely fast, and efficient.
+generous portions

Very clean modern interior, excellent service, the food was fine, although the teriyaki chicken was a bit dry.

Un resto de chaîné idéal quand on cherche à se restaurer en famille (le lieu est vraiment «kids friendly») pour pas cher.
A la carte des plats d’inspiration japonaise (donburi, yakisoba…) même si en bouche le goût reste fort occidental.
J’ai aimé la fraîcheur des plats, assez consistants pour moins de £10.
Pour les gyozas on repassera par contre (l’intérieur était tout juste tiède).
Vu le quartier de richissimes, c’est une bonne planque si on né veut pas se ruiner!

I love the menu at Wagamama and especially the fact that they can do most things with rice noodles so that you can go fairly gluten free. Service is efficient over attentive and food comes out fast and is freshly prepared. I see some folks categorize this as Japanese, but it does have influences that are Thai and Chinese as well (e.g., curry noodles with coconut).
It’s incredibly casual and sort of makes me feel that I’m eating in a work cafeteria (e.g., much of the seating is on benches — esp at the tower location) but it is what it is and doesn’t pretend to be something other than this.
The menu is amazingly child friendly too. When we travel to London, my partners very picky children always find something to please them (edamame, noodles, rice, gyoza, etc) which is a big plus in my book.

Disappointing.
Service was slow, and two different servers were confused as to which one was serving me. Yet everyone else around me was being served just fine.
Gyoza was bland. The wrapper was way too soggy.
Yakisoba was edible, but not great.
I wish I had lunch elsewhere.

I absolutely love Wagamama!!! I know it’s a chain, but hey it’s quality ingredients that are put together thoughtfully. On my stay in England, I visited Wagamama quite a few times and each time was equally pleasing. So yay, consistency. Now on to the food.
On my first visit I had the veggie ramen. It’s so good and so filling! Don’t hesitant to get it thinking that you may not be filled up, cause trust me, there will be left-​overs. The ramen contains tons of veggies like bean sprouts and red onions, good hearty noodles, and the broth really hits the spot on a cold London day/​night.
I’ve also had the yakisoba with steak and it’s a real winner. The steak is prepared medium and the yakisoba is delish. I also recommend the gyozas for an appetizer and while I didn’t have the katsu curry, I’m def gonna give it a try on my next visit. Apparently, it is the most popular dish at Wagamama. Just wish this place was closer to me!!!
Please bring Wagamama to California!

Way over-​rated. Ate at two locations and both meals were poor to mediocre. I had a fried rice which was dry and bland and a orange salad was so-​so. The chicken in all our dishes were dry.
The restaurants were so noisy we had to yell at each other. Servicer forgot several dishes in each meal.
If you have a choice, go somewhere else.

I go to a Wagamama whenever I am in London. I wish this Japanese/​pan-​Asian chain restaurant would make its way across the pond. Just writing this makes me hungry. I love the concept, the environment and the food. The staff has also been friendly and helpful as well. During this visit we went to the Harvey Nicks location. It is a bit hard to find. We wandered through the men’s section for awhile before we found the door (I’m not sure if this is why it was not very busy).
They have a good size menu with a variety of fresh options. Besides the food they have juices and teas. The miso is good and comes with ‘pickles’ (pickled vegetables, a nice extra we do not have in the states). All of the entrée portions are large and fairly priced. Basically a large portion of something wonderful. The Tom Yum was very good, great flavor. Every kind of noodles I’ve had here has been delicious. The prices are reasonable as well, especially for London.

After a few days in London, I started to crave Japanese food. My daughter and I stopped by Wagamama after our visit to the Westfield shopping center. She ordered the chicken katsu curry and I had the wakame salad and karaage.
The wakame salad was refreshing. It was just what I was craving. The tori karaage was a plate of small pieces of unbreaded chicken slightly overcooked. The curry was what I can bust out at home, and mind you, I’m not the best cook.

This location is one of the best Wagamama’s in London. I feel like it doesn’t tend to get as busy as other locations due to the fact that it is somewhat hidden in the basement of Harvey Nicks. But it’s so handy after a day of (window) shopping in Knightsbridge.
The food is your standard Wagamama fare, but oh so delicious. The chicken katsu curry is the stuff my dreams are made of. The salad that comes with it is actually delicious and not just there to make a dish that is essentially fat and carbs resemble something healthy.
I’ve also had the Negima Yakitori, which is nice and pleasing to my palette, but nothing to write home about. The chili squid however, is sent from above. The squid is always tender, never chewy and the batter that it’s coated in is so perfectly seasoned with just the right amount of spice. Just freaking delicious.
AND don’t even attempt to leave without having some white chocolate ginger cheesecake. you’ll probably be stuffed to the point of food coma, but just sit tight, wait for that to pass, because this is not to be missed. I would never think to combine ginger with a chocolate cheesecake, but it just works. Every time.

Oh Wagamama. How I dream of your chicken Katsu Curry. Deep fried chicken breast coated in panko breadcrumbs, served with curry sauce and rice! Or the Firecracker Shrimp served stir fried snow peas, red hot chilies, red and green bell peppers, spring and white onions. I just can’t get enough. Two back to back winter breaks in Londontown and each time my first dining request was to come here. Fish and chips are dime a dozen and equally good in Chicago so that’s a meal that goes to the back burner.
All I know is that Wagamama puts any other pan-​Asian restaurant we have in Chicago to shame. Their extensive menu, fresh ingredients, friendly service and fair prices make it a winner in my book. It’s too bad that it’s a 7 hr trans-​Atlantic plane ride away :(

I’m very picky when it comes to soup noodles. maybe because I’m asian?
I had one of their soup noodles and I thought it was bland. nothing really special about it. I agree with some of the Unilocalers. I ordered jasmine tea, they gave me one of those flower bulbs that just opens up.. that was the coolest part of my experience at wagamama.

Wagamama does the trick.
Japanese noodle bar near Knights Bridge. Clean, Quick, Simple, and inexpensive.
Simple menu
–ramen noodles in soup with seafood, chili, miso, pork
–teppan noodles (my fave) — sauteed on a Japanese style grill with choice of soba (thin) or ubon noodles (thick)
— chicken katsu curry
–gyoza — dumplings with choice of duck, seafood, vegetables
–edamame with choice of salt, chili, or garlic salt
Fills your carb and Japanese cravings and quick enough to get back out into the streets of London.

I do not understand how this establishment has 4 stars. After reading all the wonderful reviews on Unilocal,I decided to give this place a try and was utterly disappointed. I ordered the seafood noodle soup and the noodles were comparable to those found in those cheap Ramen noodle packets. The broth wasn’t any better and tasted fake and processed. I’m sure they make their broth by simply putting some powder in water instead of simmering it from bones and etc. The shrimp and it came out crispy and burnt because they cook the soup separate from the meat. I guess the atmosphere is pretty cool if you like eating in cafeterias but that’s not how I roll.
If you want real noodle soup go to Chinatown instead of paying too much for this expensive imitation.