Wagamama in Lynnfield + a Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, I was invited to preview wagamama's 4th U.S. location - and first suburban location - in Lynnfield. Wagamama, which originated in the UK, is a Japanese-inspired restaurant that serves up healthier food at a great value.

Because this was a blogger dinner, we were given the opportunity to sample almost everything on the menu (seriously). The food just kept coming, but thankfully, we were given the opportunity to take photos of all of the dishes before the dinner began.

When we sat down for dinner, I ordered a Super Green juice ($4.40 regular; $5.40 large), made with apple, mint, celery, and lime juice. 

The juice was clearly fresh and packed with great sweet and tangy flavors. (I'll definitely be making a combination like this in our juicer soon!).

Our meal also began with some pickled daikon radish, pickled cucumbers marinated in eggplant, and housemade "regular" pickles.

Since we tried so many dishes over the course of the evening, I won't go into detail about each one - but below are a few of my favorites:

The Chili Squid ($7.95), served with a sweet chili, garlic, and cilantro dipping sauce.

Ebi Katsu ($7.95), which consisted of crispy shrimp in Panko breadcrumbs, served with a sweet chili and garlic sauce.

Mandarin Sesame Salad with salmon ($13.95). Marinated salmon sat on top of a bed of mixed greens with mandarin, cilantro, red and spring onions, snow peas, and cashews. Everything was topped with a sesame, mandarin, basil, and mint dressing, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Somehow I never snapped a photo of this dish, but I also loved the wagamama Pad Thai with tofu ($10.95). It tasted nothing like the greasy pad thais I'm used to. Instead, it consisted of teppan-fried rice noodles in a sweet amai sauce with lightly fried tofu, egg, beansprouts, leek, and red onions. It was also garnished with peanuts and lime.

Most of the vegetarian and seafood dishes I tried were decent, although some dishes were a tad under-seasoned and the tofu a bit overdone. However, for the value you're getting mixed with the casual atmosphere of this chain restaurant (not to mention this location hadn't even opened for business yet) I think the food was, overall, a success. I also loved how you had the option of having meat, seafood, and/or tofu in most dishes - there are plenty of options!

The desserts were definitely a home run, and I'm not typically a dessert person. We tried the following three desserts, and I enjoyed them all. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the Coconut Reika ($4.95) - three scoops of creamy coconut ice cream topped with a sweet mango sauce and sprinkled with toasted coconut. It was unique in flavor and oh-so satisfying (even after 10 plates of food).

The other desserts we tried were the rich wagamama Chocolate Cake ($6.75) and the Vanilla Cheesecake ($6.50), made with a biscuit base and topped with a blueberry-ginger sauce.

Overall, I had a great experience at wagamama Lynnfield (my first wagamama experience to date). It's also located in the new MarketStreet shopping center, so I plan to go back, do some holiday shopping, and snag a bowl of noodles for lunch. ;)

Want to do the same? Wagamama has graciously offered to giveaway a $25 gift card to one lucky EE reader! This gift certificate will be valid at any wagamama location in the U.S. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post about a dish you'd love to try at wagamama, or one you love to order when you go there. I will pick a winner Friday morning. Good luck!

*This giveaway is now closed.

My meal was complimentary and I also received a $25 wagamama gift card for attending this dinner. As always, all opinions are my own.

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