Welcome to Wagamama

Very very nice! The chilli squid was delicious, and so was the ramen we had. Nice big bowls, too. The desserts all looked very tasty, although the one involving ice cream and caramelised pair should be clarified or rethought, as it was very much an ice cream dessert with a few slivers of pear hiding in it. The ice cream was delicious though.

The service itself isn't too flash at times - particularly when they're busy. We had trouble attracting the attention of staff to order desserts and for other things, and they obviously don't have time for much banter... But the food came out astoundingly fast, which is worth a star or two to me.

The "canteen style" seating takes a bit of getting used to, especially if you go during a busy period. It will definitely appeal to some and deter others, but that's the price of being unique. Overall I found it quite nice in a "busy ramen bar" way.

Well worth a visit, but if you don't think you'll enjoy the communal seating or fleeting service, then aim to come during a quiet part of the day. I loved it and will hopefully be going back soon - it's wonderful to have some proper ramen.

Never disappointed with the food. Everything on the menu is delicious. Love the teriyaki beef, the beef salad, all the noodle dishes and the sides. Always get chilli squid, goyza and the green beans in garlic and chilli - yum!

You can't book, so if it's busy you may need to wait for a table. I try to go when it's not so busy and sit at the outside tables. Fodd comes out quick and staff are always friendly.

Can be loud and crowded shen busy. Not really romantic.. although the booth seats are ok.

Love this place! Love the frequent noodler card, which gives me free meals every few visits. Quick and tasty. Reasonable prices, if a little on the high side, but the free meals make up for that!

I've been to Wagamamma all over the world, namely in the UK and it never disappoints me.

It is very much more a concept eating place in the UK with much larger 'canteen' style long tables with everyone mushed together eating elbow to elbow. Here its more restaurant like. Yes you often wait to be seated, yes you sit next to a stranger and yes your food comes at different times but ... that is part of the unique eating experience here.

The food is fresh and delicious and the menu is great. I love Yaki Udon and the salted Soy beans and the Gyoza! The Fruit Juice is absolutely to die for. It is a cheap place to eat with generous portions and a lot of fun with friends. I've taken lots of people to this place and they've all enjoyed it.

I actually wish that it were more informal and more like it is in the UK here as it really is a different kind of eating experience. I'd recommend this place to anyone, I've found the staff in Perth to be really friendly and helpful.

Myself and my partner arrived at about 8.00pm there on a Thursday, and had to wait (only for about 10 minutes) at the door for a table opening. As soon as we opened the door the smell of sesame oil hit me.

We were stuck in between 2 gossiping girls and quite a loud mouthed couple who I don't think realized, that those weird things on the sides of people’s heads are for hearing.

I really didn't like sitting on the rows right next to strangers. I kept bumping elbows with the guy next to me.

The side dishes of duck gyoza and sweet potato chips were lovely, but the "wok tossed Asian greens" was swimming in sesame oil. I had the tempura vegetables with curry sauce (forgot the actual name). When I cut into the eggplant slice it turned to mush :-( but the other vegetables were okay. My partner had the "Wagamama Ramen" (what a mouthful!) and he liked it, but I couldn't help but laugh watching him trying to eat with that ridiculous ladle spoon. It was very overpriced I thought at $17, considering it really was just stock and noodles.

The griddled noodles looked and smelt like something my Welsh mother would make if she were to do Asian for dinner (no offense mum!).

Service was quite good, very attentive. Although a waiter took away our little box of soy sauce/salt/pepper etc and never brought it back, it was the only one on the table.

Too crowded, noisy and impersonal for my taste. We went basically because of the hype surrounding it. Would recommend it if you were after a quick bite to eat, but not if you were looking for a nice meal out.

This is a really funky place with nice decor and a great menu, we found it hard to choose! Servings are large and filling. There are also lots of healthy options which is fantastic. My Miso Ramen ($15) was delicious, and my friends thoroughly enjoyed their moyashi soba ($14.50) and ginger chicken udon ($16.50). Ask for the dishes without chilli or with only a little chilli if you don't like them being very spicey. Unfortunately they messed up our order, and 20 minutes into the meal one person still hadn't received their food. The staff informed us that there had been a mess up and the meal was only being made then. At least the staff noticed and were concerned and they gave us that meal at no cost (without us asking). So overall it was a good experience, the staff made up for their mistake. The free green tea available with every meal was a nice touch. We will definitely be returning to sample more of their delicious meals!

Warning: this is the type of food that you crave again! Since our first eating experience there I have returned many times and Wagamama is now a favourite. It is very healthy so is an excellent excuse for a catch up!

Heard lots of negative reviews about this place but was pleasantly surprised. Its super fresh, quick service and yummy food. Only thing I didn’t like was the shared tables, but we were there when it wasn’t busy so it was ok.

I’ll definitely be going back.

My dad and I went for a quick bite to eat here early one evening. On arrival, we were quickly greeted and given a choice of where to sit. The restaurant has many options to suit the dining experience you require: you could sit on the bar stools just outside the entrance and at the back of the restaurant, you could sit at the long communal tables, at a tucked-away table for two or at an informal arrangement overlooking Roberts Road - an L-shaped table with seating right around it.

It was the latter option we chose and, due to the weather, we soon regretted it. Although it would be a great place to sit on a balmy evening, the open-to-the-elements spot was freezing due to a howling breeze. I'm sure we would've been able to move without a fuss but we were a little pressed for time so didn't bother.

Wagamama has a terrific idea which I think many other eateries should look at: they have a little book with pictures of all the meals. The pictures are very much representative of what you get so they can be useful if you're tossing up between two dishes.

Onto the food and I had the Teriyaki Chickenraisu ($15). This was delicious and was served with a salad, rice and had onions tossed through with the chicken. This was delicious and was, perhaps surprisingly, a decent size. The only complaint I would have is that the teriyaki sauce smothered the rice in the lower parts of the bowl, glugging it up a little. Nevertheless, an enjoyable meal.

If you join the Wagamama Frequent Noodler program then after every $100 you spend you get a free main.

I went on Tuesday night with my boyfriend, the restaurant was packed, but the service was very quick and the waitress was very nice and helpful.

We ordered the ebi gyoza (fried gyoza with spinach and prawns) and they were absolutely delish. Last time I went to wagamama I had the grilled gyoza, quite average I would say, good but not great, the fried gyoza instead were awesome. Then we had the Yaki Soba and again they were very good, although I must say, that last time I tried them they had a bit more of a kick, if u know what I mean...

Then we had the ginger chicken udon, they were very good I really liked the texture of the udon noodles and the chicken was truly great, very good quality which is quite impressive for a noodle dish.

As last dish we got the teryaki chicken and this was really disappointing. Way too sweet.

For dessert we had the banana katzu, fried bananas with coconut ice-cream and cinnamon syrup, truly amazing. Although next time I will order another little ball of ice-cream to side the bananas, as the one they give is a bit too small for two bananas.

I will most certainly go back.

We went to Wagamama as part of a group of thirty for a birthday celebration. We were allocated three benches in the corner which gave us some privacy and run of a corner of the restaurant.

While being a complete bastardisation of Japanese cuisine, the food was both innovative and tasty. My chilli raman was actually spicy which was a pleasant surprise. Despite being part of such a large group our food was out within 15 minutes of ordering, very impressive. The deserts were fantastic; we shared a katsu banana (served with coconut ice-cream) and some green tea ice-cream. Both very moreish.

The table service was excellent; the staff were friendly and helpful.

The atmosphere was heaving. The place was packed and noisy, but nothing over the top.

All and all I was impressed and will be returning.

When we first arrived I was concerned about the long bench tables and who i would be sitting next to. And who would be listening to our conversation however the noise levels were such that hearing anything at all was a little difficult. Having said that I found the meal and the staff attendance more than made up for this distraction. I had the ginger chicken udon which was delicious. It had just the right amount of spices to not be over powering but allowed you to appreciate the sensation. The staff were very attentive and the service was quick and without intrusion. I would recommend this restaurant for a quick lunch or a fun dinner with friends.

Was invited to a friend of a friends birthday day bash at Wagamma's and was totally surprised with the line of people going back about 100 metres! They dont take bookings but lucky us having a big crowd and it being a birthday we got to sneak in. Walking in, the restaurant had a bit of a 'My restaurant Rules' / USA High School Cafateria, meaning if you only had three or four people you have to semi-share you table with randoms, but hey.. we all love randoms!

Cant recall the name of my dish, but it was a beautiful chicken with a mushroomie sauce and rice. Being adventurous I ate the whole thing with Chopsticks! Go me. The guy across from me had this like soupy seafood with noodles dish, was jealous! It a bit hard to know what your ording, as they are in a diff language, even tho the description is under it its still difficult to tell.

Other than that, was a fantastic meal and I would highly reccommend to everyone. The free bottle of wine was also nicely done, for the birthday girl of course!

Sitting pretty on the corner of Roberts and Rokeby roads and just a stone’s throw from Subiaco train station, Wagamama is the newest addition to the suburb’s ever-growing and very multicultural restaurant scene.


For those who aren’t familiar with Wagamama (Japanese for “naughty child), it’s a global chain of Japanese restaurants modeled after the ramen bars of Japan. The original Wagamama opened in central London in 1992 and has since opened franchises throughout the UK and the world. Flick to 2006 and the Wagamama experience is available as far as Amsterdam, Dubai and Antwerp, and the opening of Wagamama Subiaco notches up Australian eatery number 11 for the brand.


Considering the high-profile location of the restaurant (if ever there was an A-List location in Perth, this would have to be top of the list) and the huge sway London has on dictating trends, it was no surprise to find the restaurant full as a bull last night when we arrived for dinner.


What was surprising however, was learning that previews had been running all day from noon and that they were taking place today as well. That means there’ll be a lot of people in Perth trying Wagamama this weekend and a lot of staff with very sore feet.


Inside, Wagamama is funky and trendy personified; minimal décor, clean linear design, subtle lighting, thumping club music ­ based solely on face value, the restaurant is right at home in Subi. Various seating arrangements ranging from booths and bars to long tables fill the restaurant and it’s possible that you may have to sit with other diners, so steer clear if an intimate dinner for two is what you’re after. On the other hand, for big groups and those who love meeting others, Wagamama is the ideal dining room.


Food-wise, if you’re after Japanese favourites such as sushi or tempura, head elsewhere. The bulk of the menu consists of noodle dishes; from the soupy ramen (noodles in pork and chicken stock) and kare (noodles in a curry stock, similar to laksa) dishes, through to the pan-friend teppan noodle dishes. Rice dishes are also available and among the selection on offer you’ll find popular choices such as chicken katsu and chicken teriyaki.


Complementing the main dishes is an interesting assortment of side dishes with gyoza (Japanese dumplings) featuring predominantly. As well as the traditional grilled chicken variety, adventurous diners can challenge their palates to deep-fried gyoza filled with vegetable, prawn or duck fillings. Other sides range from tori kaarage (fried chicken pieces) to chilli fried squid and caramelised sweet potato kusabi (handcut chips with thai basil and wasabi mayonnaise).


Based on what we tried (duck gyoza, wok-tossed Asian greens, suki yaki ramen and teriyaki steak soba), I’d have to say the food was probably more Asian in flavour rather than distinctly Japanese. Additionally, while the food certainly was edible, when comparing Wagamama’s prices to how much similar meals cost elsewhere in Perth, some may understandably question the restaurant’s value-for-money factor.


What I was most impressed with at Wagamama was the staff. Kate, the friendly waitress we had looking after us, was a fantastic host and was busy looking after the diners in her care. Diners after a quick bite will be pleased to hear that waiting times are miniscule; the kitchen churned through the orders at an incredible rate and in spite of a mix-up resulting in a small wait (Wagamama’s ethos is to eat when served rather than wait, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks), our meals were in front of us very quickly. Judging by the looks of fellow eaters, we weren’t alone when it came to muffed orders, but considering it was a full house on opening night and staff had been thrown into the deep end, all is forgiven and I’m certain these problems will all be ironed out come the restaurant’s opening on Monday.


As someone who believes that shabby venues with impossibly low prices represent the finest in Asian dining, I couldn’t recommend Wagamama to anyone looking for Japanese food. But as a place to eat with friends to preface a night out on the town in Subi, this newcomer is up there with the best of them and will no doubt be a hit with the trendy set.


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A little ammendment and something I posted on another forum…


In the interests of perspective, I’m sure when Wagamama opened in 1992, it certainly impressed in a country that wasn’t that big on Japanese - but more than a decade on and opening in a city where there is a plethora of established Japanese places at all price points, I don’t think Wagamama’s opening will have the same impact as it did in other parts of the world.


Still, I’m sure it will prove a real hit with the Subi crowd and those who’ve spent any extended time in London.

Personally, I’ll keep visiting my favourite low budget Japanese haunts!