Wagamama Lynnfield Japanese Restaurant Review

wagamama japanese restaurant — @Wagamama

If you haven’t heard, Wagamama is a japanese restaurant, primarily based in the United Kingdom with 4 US locations in the Boston area, that provides a unique family oriented culinary experience. I was invited to partake in a free dining opportunity in order to celebrate the opening of Wagamama Marketstreet Lynnfield.

Adventurous eater I’m am definitely not. I grew up in a traditional Irish, meat and potatoes household with a father with a shellfish allergy. If it weren’t for my college roommates and husband practically forcing salmon and vegetables like artichokes and asparagus down my throat, I’d still be a pretty boring cook, and a restaurant-goer that ordered the exact same chicken parmesan dish, each and every time.

A few years ago we met some family members at the Wagamama Boston location in Fanueil Hall. Eating at a Japanese restaurant certainly wasn’t on my high priority list. However, much to my initial hesitance, we all fell in love with Wagamama’s family style dining experience which includes drinking yummy fruit juices and enjoying the fresh stir-fry options, while Gavin happily crunched along on his panko-crusted chicken fingers.

Wagamama utilizes long benches instead of individual tables, so it’s possible that you might be sitting elbow to elbow with a stranger. While eating along with adults this was fine, but I did feel bad for the nice couple our family sat next to at the Boston location who were tourists on a date night. I’m sure they weren’t too happy hearing us continually yelling at Gavin to sit down, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a quieter evening away from kids, ask up front for it.

At the Wagamama Lynnfield tasting, we got to experience a sampling of the full menu which included a variety of appetizers, entrees, fruit juices and desserts. Though I do personally have a shellfish intolerance which is generally characterized by an itchy throat, I don’t eat those dishes, so I can’t tell you first hand how they tasted. However, everyone around me raved about each item. What I can say is that for someone like myself who wouldn’t ever order anything with tofu on ingredient list for fear that I wouldn’t like it, I had a blast tasting all sorts of dishes. I was able to cross check the menu for shellfish presence and even if I didn’t know what some of the ingredients were by sight, everything that was presented just looked fresh and delicious.

Here are some photos I took at the event. The food was amazing right down to that insane chocolate dessert. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. The chicken fingers are also Gavin-approved, which is helpful if you plan to dine with children.

Pictures of japanese food from wagamama at market street lynnfield. — @Keri Wilmot

Some fun facts about Wagamama:

-Patrons order their food by numbers, which are located to the left of the food item on the menu
-Wagamama is Japanese for “naughty child” for which the company states “describes us perfectly, a willful determination to be the opposite of ordinary”
-There are 40 food choices, 30 drink options, 6 fresh juices and a kids menu available
-Chicken katsu curry (which was delicious I might add) is the most popular item on the menu
-There are currently 4 USA locations, and all are in the Boston area (Cambridge, Lynnfield, Fanueil Hall, & Prudential Center)
-Of the 4 Boston locations, it is estimated that 18,000 pounds of noodles will be served in 1 month
-Wagamama has restaurants in 17 countries including 98 restaurants in the UK, 4 in the United States, and 35 restaurants throughout the rest of the world

Want to win a $25 gift card to Wagamama? Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway here! A note before you enter, there are only 4 US locations which are all in the Boston area. a Rafflecopter giveaway