wagamama winchester — Restaurant in Winchester

I find this wagas very hit and miss. The restaurant itself looks lovely based in an old building. It feels spacious with a lot of seating (the Basingstoke one for example feels very cramped and loud!). It’s my favourite wagas to visit with friends however I find the service can be poor show.

A few months ago my order came out wrong, I noticed our server hadn’t double checked the order with us before putting it through, seems like a pretty standard thing to do. Doing so would have probably avoided this problem. So I had to wait longer for my correct meal whereas my companion had pretty much finished.

I visited today with a party of 6, the servers were friendly and welcoming. This time the server double checked all our orders, great. I ordered the Tender Vegan Chicken Coconut Kare which I’ve had before at another Wagas and it was very good! However this time the vegan chicken was sooo tough. I didn’t feel like complaining at the time but I should’ve 😬 When the server asked how the food was, only 3 people of our party actually had their mains at the time, i would've had the perfect opportunity to say about my tough chicken if he had asked when we all had our mains 🤣 It also felt like we were forgotten about after finishing our mains. We wanted dessert but it was quite difficult to flag the servers down. The longer we were waiting, the more we didn’t want to order anything else. It took ages for them to clear away our plates, and at this point we’re were the only table downstairs! As I said we felt a little forgotten about…

Also the toilets are neglected, they feel pretty dirty here…

Hopefully not too critical but as I said this place can be very hit and miss, most of the time it’s pretty good but it can be frustrating when you feel forgotten about! Most of the time wagas staff are very attentive. When you go out to eat you want to feel looked after, especially if you're...

UPDATED REVIEW: I’ve been back a few times and it’s definitely not as good as the first time. Brown rice looks and tastes like it’s boil in the bag rice. Shrimp hasn’t been as tasty nor warm when it was served. Pickles were downright disgusting and had an off taste that was extra salty. Mint tea barely has any mint leave so it’s basically hot water and no sweetener was offered. Service is okay. In a place like this perhaps a button on the table would help since the tables are so long and are family style with strangers. Not enough sauces per dining area. We had to grab one from another table.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: So much better than the Wagamama restaurants I’ve been to in London. The staff is nice, the tables are clean and they prepare the food well. I love that you can see the chefs in the open kitchen.

I had the lollipop shrimp which was an appetizer but it was enough for a meal with a side of rice. The flavors were delicious: not too overpowering, delicate and not bland. The shrimp were cooked perfectly. The rice was good too and I appreciated that they had lower sodium on the table.

Bathrooms were clean and the restaurant is large...

Food incredibly bland and I could taste washing liquid on the last bit of "pickled veg" ramekin. Miso/ramen tasted like nothing - watered-down broth, barely any meat in there. Young staff more absorbed with mingling between themselves than working and making customers feel welcome. I wouldn't care about the staff really as long as the food was good, but since it tasted like dishwater, I had to focus my attention elsewhere.

Even the table felt greasy. Everything about the experience screamed rushed and careless, from the lukewarm side dishes to the half-hearted presentation. I’ve had more flavour from a supermarket packet noodle. At least those don’t pretend to be something they’re not.

Wagamama used to be a halfway-decent place for a quick meal. Now it just feels like a brand coasting on name recognition while delivering cafeteria-level food at restaurant prices. Save your money, microwave a pot noodle, and spare yourself the...