First time trying out Wagamama. Service was great and throughout for new comers. I ordered a Beef Brisket Ramen and my wife’s veggie gyoza udon and our sides was Tama Squid.
Didn’t wait long. The veggie gyoza was nice, served on top of the udon yet still crunchy. A better way to make sure gyoza still crunchy would be serve them on a separate plate though. Soy dip sauce was nice as well. Udon was chewy which is good. Broth a bit too spicy for her taste. Overall a solid dish.
Beef Ramen however was a disappointment. If you have been to Japan, then you would understand how big of a let down it is.
Ramen colour is a sad white instant noodle colour. A proper ramen should be eggy yellow. Flavour is bland, no ramen tastes at all, it tastes plain like instand noodle. Texture of the ramen, a good ramen shop would ask how you want your ramen cooked. But overall a good ramen should be chewy and Al Dente. But the one I got was soft and already on the verge of mushy texture. Pretty sure it was submerged too long in the water. Now the beef brisket, I am not certain why they need to make the brisket into a blob of stringy meat like a “pull” style. It doesn’t give any beef flavour at all. I expected brisket should be still in its original form, so that it can soak up more juice to make it tender and juicy. But all I get is a meat texture soy marinaded strings of meat. And the amount was only so little like 3 mouthfuls. Even the gyoza can make it 5 mouthfuls.
The Tama Squid was a surprise though. Great little balls of fried squid. Which I definitely recommend to order. Very crunchy yet soft squid and full of flavours. Mayo is a good touch as well.
Anyway, it would have been a 4-5 stars experience but the ramen was a let down. If ramen is one of their main selling point, then it’s not doing a...
Read moreI absolutely adore wagamamas. This site sadly was not up to standard. I did read the other reviews and thought "nah, they're probably just being picky" but alas it's true!
Front of house were wonderful, attentive and friendly. Sadly the food was a huge disappointment, and for the price tag and the chain experience; it should be high level and consistent with its other sites. The vegan ribs were perfect (and a new try for me!) but the squid looked pale, no uniform cuts, the sauce dish looked half empty and it just looked unappetising. Raisukaree came out with barely any sauce (we had to ask for more and the waitress agreed there wasn't much sauce!) and the tofu was an odd texture, a little mushy. Most disappointing was the katsu... the signature dish! The sauce wasn't balanced and aromatic like it usually is, it was intensely peppery and not anywhere near the quality it should be. The cheesecake was not firm and more like a melting mousse.
I really hope that the chefs take on the feedback and bring this site back up to standard- I would really hate to see a wagamamas close! Also, the front of house are so fantastic, it would be such a shame for the chefs to let them down.
My advice? Avoid this site until they get their...
Read moreSadly the food was not up to scratch this time. The staff are lovely and picked up my take away and walked the five minutes to my flat around the corner
My starter was chilli squid which tasted great but saying it was like warm was being generous
Chicken Katsu curry - sadly the chicken was over cooked, the rice was undercooked and the sauce was non existent normally you have enough to go over the rice and the chicken but this time, it was enough to cover 20% of the dish, which meant eating rice and chicken without any Katsu sauce, which showed up the issues with both ingredients
Last few times that I have ordered here, the Teriyaki soba steak, ordered medium rare and three times cooked well done and ended up leaving the steak
The other issue is that they don't have any hot plates to place your food under while cooking the rest of your order which explains why my chilli squid was nearly like warm.
This is probably the first place that I can honestly say that ai won't be returning. I will still visit their Guildford one as that one is...
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