Wagamama - London

Food was great, didn’t take long to arrive! Sat outside which had heating so was lovely. Great service, self checkout. You scan a barcode and pay your bill

Love Wagamama, But the Southbank one pushes the limit to what is acceptable! Let's first set the scene, Sunday early evening (17:00), walking along and think let's pop in. A small queue is common which was the case of 7 people (3 groups), so we thought let's join the wait. The restaurant itself, on this particular evening was not excessively busy so we had assumed our sitting would be quick. Staff did not come outside to tell us how long the wait was going to be, or engage with people in the queue to get an understanding of what seating demands were necessary. We continued to wait, 15 minutes later we were at the front of the queue, then nothing... No engagement from staff, people were leaving the restaurant and the queue outside was growing. After 10 minutes I braved going in and was told to go back outside and the queue time is 15/20 minutes. To which i informed the staff we've already been waiting 25 minutes (Staff didn't seem happy). I left and took my place at the front of the queue, people contained to leave while 4 staff huddled together laughing about something (maybe us all outside in the cold). Finally we were seated, and at which point the usual Wagamama experience kicks in with good food, reasonably priced and a casual dining experience. As a customer though to have such a terrible initial experience and no apology for the delay just seems to be a fair deduction. Maybe it was an off day but with such limited places along the Southbank at least having a smile on your face and engaging with customers would have made things better.

Both me and my partner were incredibly disappointed with our vegan chicken ramen. The noodles were criminally overcooked... texturally mushy and generally miserable. The service was very polite up until we made a complaint. Following this, they seemed apathetic towards the situation and promptly delivered us the bill.

It was the second time i have tried Wagamama and both time i was disappointed with tasteless foods i have tried. In Dusseldorf and also here in London the food are the same quality but not as tasty as expected. A little bit pricy for this tasteless food and long waiting time outside though it looks good. The Japanese beers are perfect. The service was also fast and clean. And i NEVER gonna try it again.

I only tried a few dishes before heading to a show. The gyoza didn't meet my expectations - the pastry was a little too floury and dry. However, the vegetables were delicious. The yakitori was decent, nothing outstanding but I didn't order my usual go-to dish. Overall, I would rate it a 7 out of 10.