wagamama holborn — Restaurant in London

Experienced Wagamama after many years today and must say the food provided by the kitchen still tastes the same, this means that the chefs in the kitchen are being trained well by the company standards. I had ordered duck gyoza as a starter along with some kimchi, the duck gyoza as a starter is what I had expected, the portions wasn't too big which meant that I would still have some room for the main meal, the texture of the duck gyoza however was different to what I had expected, it wasn't the soft dumpling texture but was crispy instead; first time experiencing the texture of duck gyoza in this manner to be fair, but, seeing as how my main meal tasted the same as I had remembered many years ago I'm pretty certain that is Wagamama's brand standard. As for the main meal I had ordered the firecracker, which is a spicy dish and in my opinion with a rather unforgettable taste. The presentation of the food was splendid, it didn't look unappetising, far from it... The dish looked vibrant, the sauce looked how it should do and the use of garnish was well received by the eye. From the first spoonful of the dish I immediately got a sensation of nostalgia of the taste I had many years ago which took me back in time for a moment. The second spoonful brought me back and had me sweating reminding me of the dishs name 'firecracker'. For dessert I had the banana katsu with ice-cream which again had brought back memories, the banana was warm with a lovely crunch to it, mixed with the ice-cream and it's as if the ice-cream melts in the mouth. The service was fantastic with the hosts/waiters checking up on their customers often to see if they needed anything which was great for me as I sweating from the meal and needed an extra tissue to wipe the sweat off. I could also tell that the hosts and waiters caters to their customers needs as I had requested the host/waiter Juan for a bottle of sparkling water unopened, without question I had almost immediately received the bottle of unopened sparkling water along with a glass of ice which was a nice touch as I had not thought about asking for a glass let alone some ice. I had no further requests and everything went as one would expect. The size of this location is also quite large and would make for great events for people that organise large parties and such, also, looking at the venue from the outside, one wouldn't be able to see the guests dining which for me is quite nice, being able to enjoy my food in peace without the glances of passers by (especially seeing me sweat from the heat of the main meal). The location is also well lit and ventilated and didn't feel stuffy, above all the location was clean so one could recognise that the place is...

I placed an order today for collection of a kid's mini yasai katsu with amai sauce. I know the dish well because I've been ordering it for years - I get it because it's a good portion size and has a sauce I like the taste of.

So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I got my order back to my desk (ten minutes away) to find that I had been given a completely different dish. I returned it and spoke to what I presume was the duty manager (no name was given); she went away to check then came back and told me I had the right dish. I wondered if maybe it had changed so I asked to see the menu as I was sure it was wrong - there was no picture of the dish but I asked the lady at the counter to check whether the dish I had been given had squash and sweet potato in it because I was pretty sure it had chicken.

She told me there were three yasai dishes on the menu and I had obviously chosen the wrong one. Pretty sure I hadn't, I pointed out to her that the price I paid related to the one I had wanted, not the one they delivered - that was a £4 dish and my receipt clearly said £3.95.

So in response she told me the note that had gone to the kitchen (FROM THEIR SYSTEM) wasn't clear and so it wasn't their fault and I shouldn't blame them for it. I shouldn't blame them.

I had them re-prepare the order and checked it before I left, now I'm eating my cold yasai katsu (clearly what they had actually done was give me the wrong dish) and will never be returning to that branch again.

How absolutely disgusting to get the order wrong and then blame me for it - and to argue with me even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Last time I ordered takeout from this store I was kept waiting a half hour for it to be brought out because they hadn't even cooked it, clearly something is very wrong with the...

So this is putting away what wagamamas standards are. Or at least what I believe they are. I have always gone to the noodle lab in soho instead of this one so this is mainly what I am comparing it to.

Food was fast however not standard. The mushroom “vegan” steamed bun was filled with more mayo than anything else and the so famous vegatsu that I had many times in noodle lab had the most undercooked rice ever. I pretty much left 60% of the rice on the plate because it was so hard and tasteless I couldn’t have any more than I had. Even mixing with the vegatsu curry sauce, some chilli oil and soya sauce (I added) didn’t help.

Is a real shame because Wagamama has such a creative well thought menu and all the meals seemed to be pretty over standard I was quite surprised for being so disappointed with having something I had already tried before but worse.. much worse. And I had tried so many times in another branch.

I also asked for a asahi long beer bottle and it was as warm as if it had never been in the fridge, I hate complaining but I felt I needed to ask for another one, which came the same and I gave up asking and just had it warm.

I love everything about Wagamama but today it has let me down massively because of all the factors above.

It is a...