Samurai Bowl Wairakei Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Christchurch

This restaurant is situated on Wairakei Road, around Harewood /Burnside area. I have been to this Samurai Bowl twice and this is the third time in here. I ordered different kind of dishes every time I visit; from noodle to rice to sushi. However, my favourite meal is their sashimi set 😋. Anyway, it comes with a bowl of miso soup, a bowl of rice (you can choose either a normal or sushi rice, I recommend the latter one), a few slices of ginger, a dipping sauce (for the salad), a bowl of Japanese salad and lastly, the main star of this dish, salmon (or tuna) sashimi. The portion size is, what I considered as medium portion; good size for dinner and won’t leave you hungry or too full 😙. They do give you the option to add another dish for a half price but also half the portion, if you feel like having a big feast.

The other dish that I tried was miso ramen 🍜 (hot ramen noodle soup with three pork slices, extra beans sprouts and added an egg in the miso soup (broth) -- their secret ingredients!!!) which was flavorsome and it is especially good to have in winter! It is a simple meal and easy to eat if you couldn’t decide what to order/ eat (I have the same issue when trying to choose!). Don’t let my photo fools you, the portion size is reasonable even though the bowl looks huge. You can always ask for extra noodle if you’re very hungry~!!! 😁

They are licensed premises,and they serve Japanese 🇯🇵 lagers on tap 🍺!! 😍

They accept cash, Eftpos and credit card payments for those who want to know (i.e. visitors).

Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Good taste and well-worth it for a quick meal. Ambience: ⭐⭐ ⭐ out of 5. Nothing spectacular in terms of the interior deco. Clean, neat and tidy. Price: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Reasonable priced, and it should be that way as it is not a fine dining but a fast food restaurant.

Would I go back? Yes but there are many eateries that I want to try eating 😋 Would I recommend? Yes, for a...

Revisited after about 3 years.

I missed the noodle texture hence I returned. Not liking the smooshy rice and the Japanese attitude toward Asian customers . They lady FOH was scary as Japanese colleague I used to have. She did not forget to upsell 2 dollar egg. I felt judged by her when I asked for no added salt in the soup I ordered. I can say that I would be treated differently if I do not wear Asian face/Chinese looking face. This visit reminded me of Japanese hospitality-they do everything by the book, they "prefer/ insisted "not to change what they offer. Samurai was VERY BUSY before Covid, they were much more arrogant back then.

Would I return? NO. Not at all. I even felt guilty drinking my water while looking at the pictured menu nearby the front POS station. (in Japanese culture they do not "allow" people to eat while walking")

$30 I spent refreshing the memory of restricted customer service/arrogance toward the customers.

I...

It pains me to write this rereview. Samurai bowl staff are friendly and kind but the food quality continues to hit new lows. especially if you like ramen.

The curry ramen that used to be a soup dish is now consistently served at a karaage consistency as if it should be karaage noodles which is awful.

The ramen eggs are not marinated (If they are the marinate is tasteless) they also do not soft boil their eggs which are basically hard boiled.

And I received dumplings that were burned/scorched not correctly cooked. The dumpling filling did not taste good at all (I can't confirm if they changed something here but they are not good!)

This is no longer an institution for ramen or japanese cuisine in my opinion. After many years and putting up with some of the drop in quality I won't come back again....