wagamama basildon — Restaurant in Basildon

Alright hear me now, my friend and I decided to go Wagamamas. As it was my first experience I wasn’t sure what to expect it has been hyped up to me for years but I just never managed to visit it. We had an amazing server called Alfie who gave probably one of the best customer experiences I have ever had, he was patient when it came to me choosing dishes especially with their massive menu and with the help of my friend I was able to pick the dishes I wanted to try, he took care of us throughout this experience . I got two sides ; chilli squid and the pulled pork gyozas and for the main I had to try their best known staple the chicken katsu curry.

Chilli squid

The squid was coated in a light but crispy batter, the batter is self didn’t have much flavour and the squid was kinda a gummy texture but not chewy. It came with this lovely chilli sauce with brought the flavour it was necessarily spicy which is what I expected when it said chilli squid it was more of a sweet chilli sauce but not sticky like a traditional sweet chilli sauce but flavoursome nonetheless, they also gave a lot of squid that I couldn’t even finished and they stayed warm for quite sometime which is good. 6.2/10

Chicken katsu curry

With the amount of choice that was there I was scrambled in what to choice so I went with the safest and recommended option to see what the hype was. The rice was soft, fluffy and perfectly moulded into this picturesque beauty that I almost didn’t want to ruin but I was intrigued to see how it tasted. The chicken was crispy and well cooked it wasn’t really season but I believe that it is relying on the curry for its flavour in this dish which was interesting. The flavour of the curry was somewhat temporary and lacked a rich depth that I was looking and I was expecting a wealth of flavour to inflict my taste buds but the salad that came with it eaten with it, that salad dressing definitely surprised my with flavour that added the extra oomph that was needed so as a whole it was a decent dish but it didn’t live up to the hype. 6.4/10

Pulled pork gyoza 🥟 These panfried and steamed gyoza were like light pockets of tender pulled pork which worked quite well with the tipping sauce. I like that it is pan fried so that it isn’t too soft but soft enough that it can melt into your mouth it was enjoyable with the dipping sauce but by itself after a couple got a bit tiring which is why I was happy there wasn’t too much of it. 6/10

Overall rating will be a 7.5/10 because the customer service was fantastic but I will definitely be try different dishes the next time I come. For more food reviews check out my...

I love Wagamama. I've been to quite a few. This was the first time visiting this one in Basildon. Initial welcome was great and ordered drinks pretty quickly. So far so good, but things went downhill from there. Ordered some "starters" and "mains" - my partners "main" arrived pretty quickly and was lovely. She finished that off then waited 20 mins for her miso soup to arrive. She finished that. After 45 mins none of my order had arrived so my partner had finished her meal and I hadn't started mine ! When I asked a waitress she stated - the food comes out when it's ready ! Now I know this - it arrives in no particular order which is fine - but after an hour none of may food had arrived and my partner had finished hers ! So hardly a nice sociable meal together ! eventually my starter arrived (which was delicious) and then 10 mins later my main arrived (which was also delicious) - but eating out is a social event and this was ruined by a kitchen that was clearly in disarray. The waiting staff were fine and having to placate a few tables who had clearly suffered the same fate as us. The couple at the end of the table had problems with their bill as someone else's food had been billed against their table number ! And then the couple at the other end of there table had someone else's food delivered to them - so something clearly not right that night ! Still made it to see our film in time but glad we allowed plenty of time ! Hopefully just a glitch...

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL meal with such a delicious burst of flavours in each dish, lovely refreshing drinks and a delectable dessert for afters! I had a wonderful romantic anniversary lunch out here with the hubby and we both enjoyed it thoroughly other than for a few minor issues.

Wagamama had a great range of food on the menu - including vegetarian options and plenty of non-alcoholic drinks. There were no problems here.

It was the service at the beginning that was merely adequate but then slipped towards the middle of our meal that we took issue with. Three empty glasses were left sitting on our table whilst we were eating our food and, as they had contained ice-cold drinks, they now left a puddle right beside me. This left me with hardly enough space to eat comfortably. Then, a waitress blatently walked away from me calling her to take a mobile phone call behind the bar. This was rude and unprofessional and a waste of 5 minutes of our time as we waited for her to be done. The lady who came over to talk to us at the end, however, was magnificent! She was very helpful and treated us like guests. She apologised for the slack of her colleagues and assisted us with our payment when my Wagamama voucher code would not work. Overall, she made the experience a lot better than if she had not been there. Her service - along with the mouth-watering food - is why I am bumping this up to a 4...