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Wagamama

3 star rating
22 reviews

Cuisine: Asian, Noodle

33 Customhouse Quay
(Meridian Energy Building)
Wellington Central
Wellington City
04 473 7999

Hours:

  • Mon – Sun 11.30am – 11.00pm
  • Facilities/Features:
    • Children's Menu
  • Price Range: Moderate, $15 - $25
  • Seating for: 132 indoor, 24 outdoor
  • Good For Children: Yes
  • Takeaways: Yes
  • Wheelchair Accessible: Yes

It’s great fun at Wagamama to place your order through an electronic handheld, which zaps it straight through to the kitchen by radio signal to be cooked immediately!
Modelled on the ramen bars which are so popular in japan, Wagamama’s menu is made up of side dishes, main meals and desserts.

Dishes will appear on your table the moment they are cooked to ensure that your food is always served fresh. It means that different dishes will be delivered at different times. However don’t wait – just tuck in as soon as it arrives, share and enjoy the Wagamama experience!

22 Reviews for Wagamama

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Michael

13

27th December 2010
4 star rating
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.

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Nicole

2

11th August 2011
5 star rating
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.

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Champo

27

26th April 2011
1 star rating
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.

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Mick

3

3rd April 2011
3 star rating
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.

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Jo

2

18th March 2011
3 star rating
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.

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Hannah

4

4th December 2010
5 star rating
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.

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25th October 2010
2 star rating
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.

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8th October 2010
1 star rating
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!!

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20th September 2010
1 star rating
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 ;)

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19th September 2010
1 star rating
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!

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Em

34

21st June 2010
2 star rating
Great location.

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20th April 2010
5 star rating
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.

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30th December 2009
4 star rating
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 ..

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27th November 2009
3 star rating
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.

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3rd September 2009
3 star rating
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.

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JohnD

2

11th June 2009
4 star rating
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.

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Ali C.

7

8th January 2009
4 star rating
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.

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Vivien

6

26th November 2008
3 star rating
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.

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22nd November 2008
5 star rating
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.

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3rd November 2008
4 star rating
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.

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James

1

3rd July 2008
3 star rating
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

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Mark

1

25th June 2008
4 star rating
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.

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