Lovely setting – location is on the waterfront with great views out to Oriental Bay and convenient parking.

Food is scrumptious. The chicken dishes especially. Even the teriyaki chicken, a fairly generic meal, is given that extra something at Wagamama. The use of fresh, tangy ingredients makes all the difference.

Personally I enjoyed the informal dining experience and like the unique set-out of the restaurants (though they could do something with the roof). Staff are always very friendly.

Why not 5 stars? I had the Chicken yakitori come undercooked a couple of times (I don’t order it anymore), and the menu could be more expasnsive. I’ve been here about 4 or 5 times now and I’ve tried everything that is to my liking so I won’t be frequenting as much now.

I am absolutely appalled with the service at Wagamama. After having a bland, lukewarm main (that was most definitely not worth the $25 one must pay to eat this *authentic* Japanese cuisine). We decided to get dessert. How long must you wait for a dessert you may be asking yourself? 30 minutes?, 40 minutes? Don’t be silly! The answer is over two hours! But even still, after 2 hours a waiter comes to notify us that he had forgotten to put our dessert order through. Thus resulting in a lovely stop to McDonald’s on the way home. I shall not be dining there again and DO NOT recommend it to anyone else.

Came here once with work, we had a variety of food all of it was mediocre for the price.

Unique layout and way of serving.

Probably good for people who don’t like real Asian food and want to feel like they’re eating it.

Came here on Monday night and the place was bustling. We (group of 6) were seated promptly but it took a while for someone to come and take our order. Then we were advised that they had run out of chicken due to an event that was on last week. How can you run out of chicken? So half of our table had to ask to see the menus again to make another choice. Drinks orders were not taken on arrival and when they were taken we asked for tap water which never arrived. We had to wait ages for our food. I wasn’t a huge fan of Wagamama in the first place and after last night I’ll think twice about going back in a hurry.

The food is always good here …. if you actually get served and then eventually your meal. It was a quiet Monday night, 4 tables max. It took over an hour to get my food from the time I sat down.

Only one waiter on the floor who seemed at best disinterested. He did not even bother to see the kitchen or make an apology when I asked where my meal was. The rest of our table had finished eating by the time it had arrived. Not good for a bowl of noodles and soup.

Disappointing.

Shared long table setup in a large cafeteria type restaurant including an open kitchen. Great location on the waterfront in the Meridian building. Food is somewhat pricey for what you receive, big menu with lots of options some not traditional but appealing to kiwi tastes. Might be better off going to a cheap and cheerful Chinese place than a chain like this.

My partner and I and some Friends of ours have visited this place 4 times in the past few months, the food is some of the best we have ever tasted, service is really good as well and the young waiter has a really good memory for his age.

Highly recommended.

Expensive for what it is… Be warned, your clothes will come out smelling of the food.

Wide range of food on offer however if you have never been it is not very authentic japanese.

Service was pretty slow, even had to make an effort to get a waitor/waitress to come over to fill our cups of tea and take our orders…

This is one of the places to impress others with waterfront views. That is unfortunately where the great experience ends. Depending on the time of day, it will be impossible finding a table and when you do, the seats are designed uncomfortably to get you out as soon as possible.

The food is a mostly ‘non-authentic’ Japanese style which is not necessarily bad as it would be a safer bet for bringing Western or undecided guests to dine with you. The open kitchen is a unique setting, so long as you are willing dry clean all your suits after a lunch business visit if you end up with a table close enough.

I find the style of service should be better suited in a food court given the price you pay for the meals, you’d expect proper cutlery and their staff to serve from the right and take from the left from one waiter whenever possible. Not a chance.

There is so much going on (once you make past the deafening noise from other diners) it is a wonder if anyone would try to service you from underneath. While writing your chosen order and drinks in front of you is somewhat unique to Wagamama branches, I find it especially rude to have someone reach out and scribble somewhat indescribable characters of the English alphabet. I would be more forgiving if it was written in Japanese kanji characters, then again, this approach would not be accepted in most Asian cultures. Worse, most people end up thinking they had Japanese cuisine upon leaving

Loved the food. Good options for vegetarians. Interesting range of flavours and well presented. The service was good and friendly. It was a bit cold by the window where we sat but we will definitely go again.

We visited this restaurant last week of August. We are not great fan of Japanese cuisine but we enjoyed our meal at Wagamama. The katsu curry, teriaki salad and dumplings were very tasty. It was very busy and clean place. Nice sea view, great food, great service. Everything was excellent. We can not wait to come back there.

Went to Wagamama for dinner with a couple of friends. It was busy, however I waited 1 hour for my food to come. People who arrived after us received their food before me. When my food finally came my friends had finished their meal. After 30 minutes of waiting I asked one of the waitresses how long my food was going to be and she told me she didn’t know. Would of been good if she went and tried to find out. Water for our table also took 1 hour to come. My drink came back incorrectly twice – it was meant to be sparkling but both times it was not. They offered to give us all free dessert, however we did not want to wait any longer for more food. Would definitely not go back there again. Worse customer service I have experienced in a Wellington Restaurant.

Great food – service was a little disjointed, as many people waited for their drinks for quite a while, even though drinks orders were taken as soon as we arrived.
Very accommodating as we were a large group, and we could pre-order our meals as some guests were short on time.
Some menu items on this website no longer available.

Yummy chicken and noodle salad! Great waterfront setting too

I agree with a number of the previous slightly negative reviews, albeit that I very much like the place!

Although there seems to be a great choice on the menu, it is not to everyone’s taste, especially for vegetarians, who quickly exhaust their options.

The majority of dishes served with either rice or noodles do seem to be somewhat short of the stated meat content, creating a sense of being short changed..

There is no doubt that the food is superbly cooked from fresh ingredients but it is quite disappointing to have to search for the meat in their dishes, especially considering the prices.

Many fellow diners I have observed have left lots of the veggies, as they are overloaded..staff tend to agree with this too!

Overall, it’s a nice place to meet friends for lunch but it is to be hoped that the manager of the place takes due note of the posted comments regarding the over-use of vegetables to bulk the dishes up, rather than offering good portions of the stated meats, with vegetables added, not the other way around!

The dumplings are great.

Been a few times now and loved each experience. Enormous bowls/plates of fresh delicious food at a resonable price. It can get very crowded over lunchtime so I recommend an early or late lunch The entrees change frequently (or the specials do) and each time I’ve been able to try something really different. I love how healthy the food is and all the vegitarian options.

After hearing so much about Wagamamma, I decided to give it a crack over the weekend. I must say that the view is amazing but as for the food the same can not be said.

Ebi Gyoza – overcooked and did not seem to contain anything other than Spinach inside of them. Disappointing. Tempura style chilli fried squid – Again over cooked and disappointing. Following the starters I was then treated to a rather tasteless teriyaki salmon (over cooked again) with enough plain rice to feed a third world country with nothing but soy sauce to flavor! The most appealing thing on the plate was the Bok Choi. Beef Donburi – Veges and noodles were relatively good, however, the steak which had the texture of a ‘chuck’ steak rather than the promised sirloin ruined the dish.


Given the pricing and the staff who feel that discussing their plans for the evening in the loudest possible fashion is acceptable, I will certainly not be returning to this restaurant.

The food was bland, a little under seasoned. The price was quite high for what you got. At such a beautiful location and the high-priced menu I was expecting better tasting food.

Stellar location, great for early dining with kids (they have crayons etc to keep them entertained and a kids menu) – only thing watch out for the mini juices which are very healthy (pressed juice) but quite tart – the apple juice was from a granny smith so might not be your kid’s favourite. Food is what you’d expect from a takeaway, tasty but relatively expensive for what it is, but it’s a good healthy takeaway alternative with a great view.

Wagamama is stylish, delicious and even healthy! The modern take on classic Japanese food is amazing. The staff are great, friendly and helpful, it may take a while for the food to come but I had no problem with sitting chatting to my friends while looking out to a gorgeous view with a refreshing lemon iced tea! I must reccomend the dumplings, they are tender and mouthwatering. There are SO many delicasies to choose from on the main menu that it is impossible for me to single out one! I ended my enjoyable experience with a sorbet to cleanse the pallete. Highly reccomended.

Went there for lunch last week. It was ok but i think overpriced. Boyfriend doesn’t like it. The service was alright, but i need to ask them we need to order. I loved the view.

I am a regular at the Christchurch Wagamama and love it. So when in Wellington visiting we decided to eat there. Great location but that is where the word “great” comes into the experience. We had to wait for about 15Min’s to be seated however, it turns out we were the lucky ones as some people were waiting for 20-30Min’s. And the place wasn’t even busy it just seemed no-one cared to attend to these hungry customers. After ordering our drinks they sat on the counter for a good 15 Min’s before I asked someone to bring them over and even then it was done at least 5Min’s later. The food was left under the hot plates for about 7-10Min’s so needless to say they were not fresh tasting when we received them. So gutted with the service and quality of food. I want to let people know that this is not the Wagamama experience, I think the Wellington staff need to head down to Christchurch and learn from the fantastic staff at that branch how a restaurant works…I will never go back to the Wellington one!!

Went to this place once with my girlfriend, and a group of her friends & I was largely unimpressed. I had never heard of the place, so checked up on the internet and was saddened to see we would be eating at a chainstore restaurant – not a good sign. Anyway, when we got down there on that Friday night, i found the place was packed, and very, very noisy – infact, it was the noisiest restaurant i’d ever been in – i couldn’t converse with the people sitting right opposite me, without yelling. The crowd was mostly white collar 30 and aboves, celebrating and not being considerate to other patrons.

Anyway, we ordered a round of drinks and i poroused the menu – which had a couple of appealing dishes – on paper. The service was prompt and pretty friendly. Anyway, i opted for a beef laksa, which sounded a lot better than what it was. Bland. This was a bland, watery soup, where the only flavour i could really taste was the red onions added into the mix. The strips of beef in it were cooked to the correct level, having a beautiful pink interior, but even the beef was flavourless – disappointing. Anyway, the portion size was decent, but in an unprecedented act (for me, that is), i didn’t even care to finish it – it was a boring dish that was pointless to continue consuming.

The service was friendly enough, and the wait wasn’t too bad, considering how busy the place was. I liked the location of the place itself, and the decor was tidy, if the furniture was a little uncomfortable. The place also had an open kitchen. Anyway, overall, a pretty dissapointing dining experience in my opinion – food was flavourless – i could have made a more dynamic laksa dish at home. But then again, not surprising considering it is an international chain restaurant. Next time, i’ll choose the resataurant

Went last night, have been before in London and had pretty good food for the price. Thought it would be the same over here. Unfortunately I was wrong! I ordered the Koumi Lamb. The flavour was ok I guess if you like soy sauce and nothing else, the serving size was not what you would expect for $19. Eight slices of lamb the size of 50c coin, 4 small pieces of courgette and 1 piece of capsicum, along with a small amount of rice. I will be going to my local Chinese Takeaway next time, servings are bigger, more flavour and is not completely over priced. If I could give it zero stars, I would!

Yum and very enjoyable. We went there one Tuesday night and was impressed since we hadn’t heard of it before and found it in the entertainment book.

It has a beautiful view and the staff are really friendly. They have the baby seats that clip onto the end of the tables and they don’t mind children. They even have a children’s menu.

It can be a little noisy when it is full but is is nice, new, clean and a bit different.

Your food comes when it is ready. The waiters/ waitresses write on your place mat so they know who ordered what.

Also, if you have Radio Active 2010 card, the cardholder can receive a 15% discount on food only. (The lesser value of any multiple dishes ordered will be discounted – not valid for kids meals or take away).

I have been craving to go again.

Wagamama’s is always good food. We go often with or without kids. Service is prompt and consistent. It would be nice to get food at the same time … but I guess this is all part of the restaurant. Will go back for sure ..

The food is very quick and atmosphere is relaxed & cheerful. This isn’t the place to go if you want to socialise and catch up over dinner, but worth a visit if you want a quick bite. The meals I have had on my three visits here all tasted really good.

Very quick dining experience. Great for taking kids as they don’t have to wait around, but not so great if you wanted a romantic night. It is a fastfood joint with class and great food.

This has become a favourite because it the food is unexpectedly good. You don’t expect such great, fresh, tasty food from a chain restaurant. We took our Japanese exchange student there and he pronounced the food to be very good as well but did point out that the name means ‘selfishness’ not ‘spoilt child’ as the staff believe.

A bit of a noisy place but excellent for a tasty feed that can be as quick or slow as you like. Not exactly in the cheap-as-chips category but certainly worth a visit. Popular, very popular. It does get quite busy.

I heard many great things about this place (from Auckland) and decided I’ll give it a try when it finally opened up in Wellington.

The day I decided to try the place out, it was raining heavily and the problem is they have polished floors so I slipped several times when trying to make my way to a table. So a suggestion is to install some mats at the entrance!

The first thing that came to mind whilst being served at this place is… Japanese Food COMMERCIALIZED. It felt very clinical and it felt like I was in a Japanese version of macdonalds for some reason. It was a really odd feeling even though the place was in a great location, very modern but the feeling and atmosphere just felt commercialized.

We had 4 waiters serving us at different times which was nice(?) yet bizarre. They wrote our menu and drinks down on these paper things that serves as a “mat” and it made me feel cheap! How dare you write things down on my paper mat – it totally takes away the reason why they are on the waterfront! Then I ordered a ramen because it was raining and cold, it came out with a gigantic wooden spoon and it was quite funny seeing other people try to drink their spoon with a BIG ladle spoon!! I refused to look so ridiculous and politely asked them to supply me with a normal metal spoon.

Apart from that one experience, I haven’t been inclined to go back. The food was average, I can get better Japanese food elsewhere with great service at similar prices. So suffice to say I won’t be returning.

One of my favourites in Wellington! Fantastic location, food deliciously fresh and extremely fast service – even on a busy night! Thought the waiters were very friendly and helpful, and place has a fantastic vibe. Would definitely recommend.

Wagamama was a new experience for me. I enjoyed my meal and the waterfront setting is simply perfect. Service was friendly and efficient, although I wonder why two meals ordered together can’t arrive at the same time. Would definitely try again on another occasion.

i went there expecting alot and sadly did not feel it delieved. felt the waiting staff were all over the place i think we had 4 waiters the entire time. felt very rushed. Food was not great but not horrible. i liked the set up and the view alot. but overall i would not dine there again unless was in a big social enviroment as like the person said before they sit people within elbows reach of you. overall 3/5

Just new on the block and one or two teething issues in the table service area but these guys have honed their systems over years so don’t expect the issues to last.

Staff were friendly and enthusiastic.

The food is perfect Wagamama standard.

A large hard surfaced open space, it could have been too noisy but the high ceiling seems to beat this so it just sounds lively. Low hung light do well to get rid of the cavernous effect that high stud could otherwise have.

Be prepared to dine ‘family style’ with shared tables – not a ‘couples’ restaurant for that reason and also expect to be in, fed and watered, and out quick smart.

Nice to have the take out option as well.