I think I'm too English for that kind of chain. Dan and I paid a visit when it first opened. And, yes the food was great and the service was good (if scarily Positive!) but the benches thing annoys me. I don't want to sit next to strangers dammit. And I found the whole "in, eat, out, uber efficiency" kind of de-humanising.

PS - have you noticed all of you restaurant reviews contain references to sinister men? It's like AA Gil with extra paranoia.

At all restaurants
A gourmet conspiracy
Follows Julian.

They want to make sure he doesn't get served from the secret menu... the one everyone else gets to order from when they're not with Julian.

*squees* Good lord, I've actually been here- well, to the one in London- before. My mum and dad and sister raved about it, and though I didn't completely like what I ordered that time I went, I would fly back right this minute for their deliriously fresh apple juice.

@Kyra And I found the whole "in, eat, out, uber efficiency" kind of de-humanising
You'd hate eating with me, then- the only place I feel really comfy eating in nowadays is in my car or at home. I *liked* the in-outness of it then, and I think I'd still like it now.

Hmmm...I think the problem might be the whole air of London-polish Julian draws attention to in the article. Perhaps next time I should stop feeling intimidated and just concentrate on the food, which is good. I had noodles with butternut squash in them, which is pretty damn cool.

One of the main appeals of Wagamama in London has always been this: you can never find one when you try to, even if you think you know where it is, but whenever you're wandering around London and just starting to think to yourself, "I feel like eating at Wagamama but I don't think there's one anywhere round here", a branch suddenly appears.

I see the Oxford branch has tried to reproduce something of this effect by giving out a misleading address, but I fear it's just too delightfully small a city for any restaurant to be genuinely elusive for long.

I could be wrong but I think that Wagamama was doing the whole 'menue writing' thing before Noodle Bar - might not make you like it any more though. Judging by your review though I really should go try it out sometime.

Please excuse how late to the party I am on this one, but I've never been able to get on with Wagamama - don't know why, when I've had very nice Japanese food, at a restaurant in New York. I think the problem I have is that I'm not very keen on noodles and I felt the rice options on the menu were too limited for my incomplete understanding of Japanese food. Also I have to agree with Kyra on the long benches thing (especially as one of the Lesser Laws of Wagamama states that you always end up next to a group of 13 year old girls).