Vapiano Kungsport — Restaurant in Göteborgs Stad

Vapiano is a chain restaurant with a euro-chic esthetic and Italian food. It’s basically like a fast-food chain that has a nice decor and easy way of ordering. The concept has shifted somewhat in the past years and the chain has been criticised in many ways. But let’s look at the food, shall we?

Now, Vapiano is no new place for me. Even in my non-vegan days I have visited it often and always connected it to comfort food pasta. The Pizza I would avoid though. But when it comes to the pasta, they offer a variety of types and sauces. Recently, they also launched a dedicated vegan pasta, the pasta vegana. While technically there are two vegan options on the menu, the al arrabbiata if one takes away the cheese, and the pasta vegana, it still feels a bit on the afterthought side. The pasta vegana is a cream sauce with vegan filets (the ones you can get from Quorn in the supermarket freezer), sundried tomatoes and herbs. A good combination all in all.

However, I have had the situation more often than it should have happened that they ran out of vegan filets and couldn’t offer any pasta vegana. There is no substitute, and one will have to settle for al arrabbiata. Which is a good fit, as angry (arrabbiata) is the feeling one will have.

In any case, should the pasta vegana be available, it’s quite a nice composition. I like to add some rucola on top and some chili oil from the table and immediately you will feel comfortable. It’s fairly competently executed and arrives fast, should the system to order not fail.

Depending on the day, they can be a bit lazy in the kitchen and forget to cut the sundried tomatoes into smaller pieces. So, sometimes you might chew on a massive sundried tomato. I don’t judge, but to me, that’s a bit too much.

All in all, you go to Vapiano for a simple meal. Order with your phone, hope the system doesn’t collapse or they ran out of vegan filet pieces, and then you wait until your order arrives. Very unpersonal, but the place still makes you feel welcome enough. It’s a good choice to bring your Mom for a quick lunch without having to go to Max and deal with the shameful looks you might receive.

Vapiano is a fair place for a decent quality pasta to a good price. While you won’t see this as the best restaurant to ever visit, especially having the more fast-food atmosphere in mind, it’s a safe place to come back to for decent pasta without having to deal with picky Italians not accepting your food preferences. See it as comfort food with an...

This restaurant has a self-service concept. You choose your own table, get an electronic card from the cashier, and then order your food from one of the food counters. The cook will charge your card and cook your food. At the end of the meal, you give the card to the cashier and pay for all items charged to the card. In theory, it is a simple system. In reality, the queues for the food counters are very slow because the same cook have to take your order and cook your food. Each person in the queue have to wait for the front person's food to be cooked and served, before he/she can order. After waiting (and not moving) in the pasta queue for 15 minutes, my friend told me that I could bypass the queues by ordering from the ordering machine. I was like "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"... There are 2 ordering machines but 1 was down, and there was a queue for the sole functioning machine. Nevertheless the wait-time for the ordering machine was much shorter, because I didn't need to wait for the cook to serve everyone in the queue! After I ordered, the machine dispensed a buzzer. 15 minutes later, the buzzer rang and I simply went to the collection point to get my food. I was thinking, why can't the restaurant install more ordering machines and make everyone use the machines, so that the cooks can focus on cooking and not taking orders???

The food itself is ok... not too bad, but not great either. The sauce for my pasta was good, but my pasta was a bit too chewy. On the bright side, the waiter who served us drinks was friendly and fast, the nice ambience and not-too-loud music allowed me and my friends to chit-chat comfortably, and I love the superb location right in the centre...

Vapiano offers a dining experience that falls squarely in the middle of the road (maybe a little to the left of it)—not too bad, but nothing particularly memorable either. I recently visited as a part of s a group of six, and while the experience wasn’t unpleasant, it didn’t leave us eager to return.

The self-service system, where you order via QR code, was a bit of a hassle, especially since we only had one debit card. We’re used to paying with our phones, so this process felt unnecessarily complicated (they could add Google and Apple Pay to fix). However, we managed to navigate it, and our drinks arrived fairly quickly, which was a plus.

The food, unfortunately, didn’t quite make up for the initial inconvenience. We ordered both pizzas and pasta. While the wait for the pizzas wasn’t excessive, the pssta took a bit longer. The pasta was decent, as was the pizza, but neither dish stood out. It was food that got the job done but didn’t excite the taste buds.

Service was minimal, which is to be expected in a self-service environment, but it felt a bit dry and impersonal. It’s clear that Vapiano isn’t aiming for a high level of hospitality, so if you’re looking for a warm, welcoming atmosphere, this might not be the place.

Overall, Vapiano serves its purpose as a casual dining option where you can get a quick meal, but it doesn’t offer much beyond that. If you’re in the area and need a straightforward, no-fuss meal, it’s a viable option. Just don’t expect anything extraordinary—it’s a place where you’ll leave satisfied,...