With the chimes of Chinese New Year in the air, our first stop in 2014 was by chance some East Asian food although more Japanese inspired. Nevertheless, the chain owner is a Chinese national.
The modern vibrant look of the restaurant reminds the simplicity of East Asian housing, with long wooden tables and benches for group eating, and still holds the European minimalist touch. The large tables are ideal of large groups and you can easily turn up and find space; if you are a couple or smaller group, you will probably end up share the table. Table surfaces almost look empty with just tiny bottles of soy sauce and chilli oil, and paper-like mats with chopsticks on the side. Do not panic - you can use fork and spoon and they come with the dish but we noticed it takes a while to get them!
Menu is a good mix of Japanese-named dishes made with noodle or rice, either griddled or in a soup or with specific sauces. There is a good choice of chicken, pork, prawns but also a great combination of vegetable medleys that can inspire the vegetarian and the vegan. Half of the ingredients are common, while others are trypical of Japanese-like cuisine which you may or may not know. Expect flavours to be salty, tangy, vinegar-y, sometimes sweet, and usually these are mixed together.
Starters are well presented on nice dishes that re-use the simplicity and minimalist themes. White rectangle dishes for the pork gyoza (dumplings) with a square inset for the special soy sauce, or white oval plates with tiny bowls in which to dip your chilli squid. In some occasions it was felt the starters looked nicer and tasted better than the main dish. Mixed reviews were received for the main dish: some felt it matched what they expected, with good presentations and great sauces that overcame the seemingly bland ingredients; others thought what you paid for was nothing more than food you can easily buy from a take away. Not all dishes were amazing. Food was well cooked and well presented but intensity of flavour was not consistent. Noodles are probably your best choice, either griddles or in soup. Rice dishes are more risky as they could be dry or just matched with sauce that may not meet your expectations; perhaps the Firecracker was the only rice dish that did not receive a bad comment and that could be thanks to overdose of chillies!
Ultimately, service was quite disappointing from the rolling eyes ewhen we asked for a table for 10, the endless minutes waiting for a fork and tap water, and the rather impolite tone of voice to customers, either when asking an outright question for the bill or when repeating for the 3rd time the plate you have is no for this table.
Left with a hint of disappointment, which sounds baffling when you think a restaurant chain aims at specific food and service standards. Current rating leaves Wagamama at the borderline with the worst restaurants so far. If you pay a visit, keep your expectations low.
Our verdict is as follows:
Quality of Food 3.67
Hygiene 4.17
Value for Money 3.17
Speed of Service 4.00
Quality of Service 2.83
Ambience & décor 3.17
Wagamama gets an overall rating of 71.7%
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