Last night I had dinner at the opening of a yet another location of Wagamama’s, with the new store opening at Earl’s Court. Openings to Wagamama’s are great if you can get invites to one, since you get a main, a side dish, two drinks, and as much mineral water as you want – all for free. The restaurant gets a lot out of this by testing their staff and seeing how they cope with a restaurant at full capacity. The only thing they ask of you is to fill out a simple questionnaire about your attendant and the things that you liked and disliked about your experience.
Since this was my first opening ever, I decided to try two dishes I’d never had before at Wag’s – the Chicken Yakitori and the Ebi Raisukaree. The yakitori sticks went down a treat, smothered in delicious yakitori sauce, while the Ebi Raisukaree was admittedly disappointing. Despite the rice being drowned in a Thai like curry sauce and surrounded with lots of vegetables and prawns, it seemed like I had been given someone else’s “extra” dish since it came along luke warm. At least I got mine though, with two of the people dining with us, not getting theirs until our waiter noticed it missing and followed it up. Other than that, the food was at least standard Wagamama’s quality and the service was typical over the top friendly.
There’s not too much different about this location compared to many other branches, other than perhaps a few smaller tables for your own instead of the large benches, and a staircase equipped with a motorised chair to help anyone who might have troubles with them. At least the food and service they offer is definitely consistent with their other outlets and you generally can’t go wrong eating here.
Details: Wagamama, Earl’s Court
Found on: 180-182 Earl’s Court Road, London, SW5 9QG
Contactable on: 020 7373 9660
Highlights: Openings mean clean bright new diggs, free food and generally over the top service.
Room for improvement: My main (Ebi Raisukaree) was disappointingly warm, considering they pride themselves on prompt delivery.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10