Wagamama, Convent Garden, London

This weekend I had some American friends staying. This had two consequences. Firstly I am absolutely exhausted from doing every London tourist attraction in existence in two days. Secondly I had the good fortune of rediscovering Wagamama’s. After enjoying a performance of ‘Fame!’ one of my friends, who has visited London before, decided we should go eat at Wagamama’s round the corner. I had only been once before a long time ago so I was more than ...
...on Streatham Street, Central London, in 1992. Since then restaurants have opened across London as well as nationally with plans for further expansion. Under the slogan of ‘Positive Eating – Positive Living’ Wagamama’s aims to serve tasty nutritious food while providing friendly service and value for money.

We visited the Covent Garden Wagamama’s, which is situated on Southampton Street between Covent Garden and the Strand. In London ... more

This weekend I had some American friends staying. This had two consequences. Firstly I am absolutely exhausted from doing every London tourist attraction in existence in two days. Secondly I had the good fortune of rediscovering Wagamama’s. After enjoying a performance of ‘Fame!’ one of my friends, who has visited London before, decided we should go eat at Wagamama’s round the corner. I had only been once before a long time ago so I was more than happy to agree.

The first Wagamama’s opened on Streatham Street, Central London, in 1992. Since then restaurants have opened across London as well as nationally with plans for further expansion. Under the slogan of ‘Positive Eating – Positive Living’ Wagamama’s aims to serve tasty nutritious food while providing friendly service and value for money.

We visited the Covent Garden Wagamama’s, which is situated on Southampton Street between Covent Garden and the Strand. In London there are also Wagamama’s in Bloomsbury, Soho, Wigmore, Camden, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Leicester Square, Haymarket, Islington, St Albans, City Point, Fleet Street, Old Broad Street, Canary Wharf, Tower Hill and Mansion House. Nationally there are Wagamama’s in Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Kingston. Apparently there are also branches in Dublin, Amsterdam and Australia!

The Restaurant

The Covent Garden branch is situated downstairs in a building that looks like a block of offices. It is one large room with rows of long tables and benches – quite a utilitarian look almost like at a school. The kitchen is at the rear and it is open so you can see the chefs preparing your food. I think this is great because you can rest assured that proper hygiene and good practices are adhered to! Despite having no natural light being in the basement the restaurant is light and bright. It has a minimalistic feel – there are no fancy decorations or furnishings – and everything is spotlessly clean.

The Service

The staff are all really friendly and efficient. Dressed in red or grey Wagamama’s T-shirts and black trousers it is very noticeable that the staff all look really smart and classy but still maintain individual and funky touches. There are also plenty of them so you never have the frustrating experience of not being able to attract the waiter’s attention while dying of thirst!

The service is extremely efficient. We arrived at the Covent Garden Wagamama’s at about 7pm on a Saturday – a busy time for most restaurants – and were still seated immediately. Our waitress had arrived to take our order almost as soon as we were seated but as we weren’t ready she had to come back again after a couple of minutes deliberation time! The food arrived very quickly as well – I think we waited between 5 and 10 minutes. My only criticism would be that some of the dishes arrived before others, so some of us were tucking in while others watched and waited! It sounds like a minor quibble but I think it’s important that the whole party be served their food at the same time. At the end of the meal the plates were cleared away almost immediately and the bill was rushed to us.

The Menu

The menu at Wagamama’s is a combination of noodle, rice and curry based dishes. Chicken and seafood feature heavily but there are also plenty of vegetarian options helpfully marked with a star. I choose Yasai Cha Han (don’t worry if you can’t pronounce the names, because each dish is also numbered), which is fried rice with egg, snow peas, mushrooms, sweet corn, fried tofu and spring onions. All I can say is that is was absolutely delicious! My friends both choose the Chicken Katsu Curry and judging by the empty plates thoroughly enjoyed it!

I would say Wagamama’s has an excellent menu for everybody. Many people are dubious about Asian food but here there are such a wide variety of choices you can’t fail to find something you love. All the dishes are explained clearly and the ingredients listed so there should be no nasty surprises! The portions are generous but if you have a colossal appetite you can always order a couple of different dishes. Best of all because of the Wagamama philosophy of positive eating all the dishes are healthy, light and packed with nutritious ingredients.

Price wise Wagamama’s scores highly again. Most main dishes are between £5 and £8 – very reasonable considering the quality. For three main courses and three drinks our bill came to around £25.

Most Wagamama’s also have a take-out service and the waiters are more than happy to pack up your leftovers to take home should you fail to finish your dish.

Atmosphere

My only problem with Wagamama’s was the atmosphere. I think the reason they can serve up such reasonably priced food is because they serve so many diners throughout the day. The service seems to be entirely geared towards serving as many people as quickly as possible. While this means that you get a very efficient quick service it also left me feeling rushed and slightly harassed. As the waitress swept away our dishes and paper place settings as soon as we had crossed are chopsticks I felt like there was an indecent haste to get us to leave. The speed and efficiency also makes the whole experience feel very utilitarian and standardised. The waiters even tick off the paper place setting when they have asked you if everything’s okay.

Also because everybody is seated on long tables if you are with a large group of people you can only talk to those in your immediate proximately. And furthermore you can quite easily be seated next to a stranger so intimacy and privacy are almost impossible.

In conclusion I have decided that Wagamama’s is a great place to go for a quick bite to eat before and evening out or during your lunch hour. If you need good food combined with quick service it is perfect. However I would not ever visit Wagamama’s for a leisurely meal. If you want to catch up with friends and take your time over a meal a more traditional restaurant is definitely best.

p.s. Wagamama’s in Covent Garden is smoke free
p.p.s. Check out the yummy fruit juices if you visit!

For more information, restaurant locations and a full menu visit www.wagamama.com

Thanks for reading & I look forward to hearing your comments. Triciax
 

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