WAGAYA — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I had always introduced Wagaya as the best karaoke venue in Brisbane. Now, I have completely changed my mind.

A group of 5 arrived on a busy Friday night without a reservation. Upon arrival, we were informed that karaoke rooms with Chinese system installed were fully booked. A real bummer! But we were totally fine with it and then stayed for dinner.

When we were about to leave, they stopped us. Apparently, the people who booked the rooms did not show up and we could do karaoke if we wished. Once we got into the room, I noticed that it was a ‘Japanese’ room. Controller was in Japanese and the music sounded like monophonic ringtones from really really old Nokia phones.

I immediately checked with the staff and they confirmed that the system installed was indeed the Chinese version. I requested to switch to the room located just opposite our room (I knew the room had Chinese system installed) but it was quickly denied, saying that it was booked and it was all Japanese. So, we stayed in the original room.

I felt really uncomfortable with the controller and weird music for the next one hour. Then, I went to check the room located just opposite – they lied, it was not in Japanese but Chinese and English! When I approached the staff hoping to switch room, they said that we chose the Japanese room and if we would like to switch room, we would have to pay a surcharge - that was to multiply the total by three times.

The whole scenario was absolutely ridiculous – (1) we requested for rooms with Chinese system installed; (2) they insisted that the room we were in had Chinese system but later said a totally different thing; (3) the unreasonable surcharge.

Would I go there again? No. Do yourself a favour to look for a cheaper karaoke in the city please.

On a side note: the food was quite good, but not the best Japanese food you can find...

We’ve been here about a year ago and I did not save it on the map, forgot the name and tried hard to find this place on Google not remembering the name and the exact location 😂 I really wanted to get back here as our previous experience was amazing and very memorable.

I was very happy to finally find this place and to come back here.

We had about 15 dishes from the menu - every single one was amazing.

Pretty fast service and a very big choice was a bonus.

We have ordered the biggest sashimi plate with salmon, tuna, scallops, etc and the fish was really good.

I was with a group of picky Italians and everyone loved their food here.

Seafood Hot pot was also really good even though I do not usually eat it.

The only one dish that we could not eat was the matcha cheesecake, it was strange, powdery and dry and it was left untouched. This did not affect our overall experience and it is still a 5star review. If someone from this restaurant is reading this - you might need to fix this cheesecake situation.

Do not order the cheesecake!

Black sesame icecream was an absolute winner on the other hand 💛

🍷It would be also nice to add a few additional nice wines into the wine list as the wine choice there is limited to the cheapest wines similar to the Yellow tale. They have great beers and sake though.

I have saved this place for our future Brisbane visits and I will definitely recommend coming here and try everything of the menu apart of that cheesecake 😬

Keep doing the...

At first we were enchanted with the décor as we slid into our booth. Ordering off a computer screen was an interesting experience too. However, almost from when we walked in at 6.30pm, the staff let us know the next sitting was 8pm and we needed to hurry up. As opposed to being able to go out to dinner and sit and relax and have a chat, we were almost harassed through our meal. The only time one saw waiting staff was when they brought food but mostly they came with countdown time reminders. By 7.45 - 7.50pm the computer screen switched off so we couldn't order, and our bill was brought to us by 7.55pm...we had not received our last course but we were billed for it. They checked their little dockets and realised we hadn't received the course, took it off the bill. As we walked to go pay, the course was brought to us?! seriously? what were we supposed to do? eat in the passage or at the cashier? I'm amazed they simply don't give you all your courses and the bill at once and kick you out the door....honestly, if this is Japanese custom, it's a wonder the Japanese people don't all have indigestion....no time to enjoy the atmosphere or company of friends. One word: harassment....from start to finish. Wouldn't return or recommend it to anyone. I've eaten in Japanese restaurants all over Brisbane and this is by far the worst experience and for anyone who has never experienced Japanese restaurants, very...