wagamama bankside — Restaurant in London

Awful experience! I’ll never again go to a Wagamama. We joked beforehand about just grabbing a bite from Leon next door instead of a sit down meal and wish we had done that now.

We ordered sides whilst waiting for another from our party to arrive and everything was going well. We enjoyed the drinks and food. From then on, it was what I imagine to be comparable to the Faulty Towers Dining Experience.

When ordering our mains the waiter, Refal, pointed out the calorie intake of a dish to the only female at the table after I had just ordered the same dish following no comment that I had ordered a starter. He then insisted she shouldn’t order any sides as the meal was very ‘Hearty’ and contained ‘over 800 calories’ but had not made the same suggestion to myself. We tried to let this slide but no...

When the food arrived it was raw, we had the Yasai Katsu, both portions were hard and uncooked. We sent them back and again didn’t make a fuss. But Refal returned and asked if everything was okay (we had been waiting for 10mins for our food to return and he was aware). Following our foods return, Refal reappeared, interrupting our conversation to ask our only female guest “is that hearty enough for you”. Baffled by this we asked him what he meant, what was he getting at? But instead of apologising he just kept digging himself a hole and insisted “that’s quite a big meal, I was right”.

As someone who works in the service industry I would ask that if Refal reads this, maybe he might question his bias to asking that question to a woman and not a man. Maybe he might also learn to walk away when a service is going badly. Maybe he might also re-train and maybe he might realise he just lost his company money in down selling a customer - A big no-no. No tip for you and the loss of returning customers.

There was no apology and we left having paid our full bill. Something we were incredibly uncomfortable with. The manager at the time handled the situation as best she could, but the damage was...

I went on a Tuesday with a group of friends for lunch. The waiter (who was really helpful) took everyone's order, but because I'm a coeliac he had to get the Manager to take my order (which is standard at Wagamama and I'm used to it). The Manager was very rushed and mumbled under her breath, but I figured she was busy so not to worry. The waiter brought out my friends' food, brought them their drinks, and I waited. And waited. And waited. The waiter came back to collect my friends' empty plates when he noticed I still hadn't received my food. He apologised, and went to find out what the delay was. Judging by something the Manager muttered we guessed she hadn't put it through. It finally arrived and it was clearly rushed and it was disgusting. I had ordered the tofu raisukaree curry, but the sauce wasn't great, and the tofu was greasy and spongy (I'm not vegan, a friend of mine is, and even she agreed that is not how you cook tofu). The waiter was immediately apologetic and offered to have it remade, but because we had waited so long for my food, there was no time left, so we asked if it could be deducted from our bill. Again, nicest waiter (sorry, I didn't get your name), but the Manager muttered at us again and just seemed incredibly fed up. My friends used the app to pay for their meals, and we began to leave when someone at the counter yelled at us "YOU HAVEN'T PAID!". Confused we asked what the problem was, and showed that our banking apps prove we paid. No, they said their system stated we hadn't paid. By this time we were running really late, so I got some cash out my bag to pay for the meal we apparently hadn't paid. The woman at the counter, after taking my money, told me she didn't have the correct change and just gave me my receipt saying "BYE". So not only did I not get my meal, we had a rude Manager, hopefully we didn't end up paying twice (lots of muttering that my friend might get a refund for her money in 2 working days), but I didn't even get...

Absolutely appalling service I received today by an older blonde haired woman called Alona. No greeting or smile as me and my friend walked in. Didn’t even look at us in the eye and smacked down some menus on a table and then walked off with no welcoming energy. She got my order wrong and so I notified her of that, and she proceeded to argue with me saying that it wasn’t wrong and there was no apology. Making me feel extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed in front of my friend. There were constant dirty looks, and very standoffish behaviour.

Judging by some previous reviews this isn’t the first time customers have had an issue with this person and I wouldn’t be surprised that the bad ratings of service recently is down to her. Truly an unpleasant experience, and I’m not someone who leaves reviews but I have never been this rudely served before in my life. It was almost as if I had offended her by entering the restaurant to begin with.

A katsu curry is now £15 I remember when it used to be £11-12. Nothing has been changed or added to the dish for it to equate such an increase. They now have made miso soup £4 on its own, it used to be £2 with Japanese pickles on the side as an extra on their menu. So to be paying these prices and be the recipient of such an atrocious service really has completely put me off returning to Wagamama in the future. I will be getting further in touch to complain about this service today. Also will certainly be relaying this situation to other...