Wagaya Japanese Restaurant

Absolutely love the ramen here. great consistent quality, and good service. Nice apps too, while you wait for your noodles!
I’m not a beer drinker, but I’ve enjoyed a few nice cold ones here — very good selection.

Great addition to midtown, since there’s not many good sushi restaurants around the area. The space is small with wooden/​log tables/​benches close together. It can get pretty crowded on the weekends but the waits are usually not that long.
A few small plates that we’ve tried so far hamachi kama, hokke, modern yaki, pork gyoza, takoyaki, kushikastu mix, and ika gesu kaarage. Yes, my husband and I go here a lot!
My favorites are the hamachi kama & modern yaki. The hamachi kama is grilled yellowtail collar, very fresh and clean tasting dish for $ 8. It does come with bones but very easy to eat. The modern yaki $ 9 is a pancake looking dish with crispy ramen noodles baked in the center topped with a sweet mayo sauce. That’s the best way for me to describe it, the waitress did a much better job explaining. Good dish to share since it’s a decent size.
Not a fan of the hokke or the kushikastu mix. Hokke (grilled mackerel) was a bit fishy for me and the kushikastu mix wasn’t one of their best dishes. Just breaded pork belky, quail, and lotus.
On to the rice dishes, hitsumabushi and ishiyaki chaushu fried rice. Hitsumbushi is glazed eel on a bed of white rice and a side of soup, it was okay. Our server of the night didn’t explain how to eat the dish so we started off trying small bites. Had to flag someone to explain the dish to us, either pour the soup in the rice to make it soupy with three condiments on the side to add or eat the dish dry. There was another option but I forgot. So after all that your best option is to order the fried rice for almost half the price at $ 9 vs $ 17 hitsumabushi, very flavorful and a mix of soft and crunchy fried rice.
Sushi rolls, salmon trinity is my favorite a must try! Devils breath and four seasons roll are good too.
Overall, my go to sushi place in midtown! Service is mixed, the majority of the time it’s awesome some occasions not so great like they hate being there. Parking is also limited.

Here is what I don’t appreciate: bad customer service. Came in with another person and our friend was on the way to join us. The owner would not allow us to get seated until the 3^rd person showed up, despite the fact that I said we’ll start ordering right away. After I hinted that I wasn’t happy about their policy, the owner said «give me just a few minutes and I’ll get you seated.» He didn’t. Instead, we had to wait in their virtually non-​existent wait area, with no seats and once my friend arrived, they still did not have a table and he gave away all the available tables to other people.
Now, I fully understand why he was doing this and I consider this to be bad customer service. Sure, you risk having a table where the third person does not show up, but given the fact that there is no waiting area, several free tables and people who are willing to start ordering immediately, taking that risk is necessary to maintain good customer service. It was a clear case of good service vs higher margins, thus given how frugal the owner is about that element, I wonder what kind of corners they cut on their food…
Clearly, they don’t care about customers and thanks to their lack of basic etiquette, I will not even be trying the food or visiting this establishment again.

I ordered:
–choya umeshu plum wine
–uni and ikura nigiri
–gyudon
Gyudon is a beef rice bowl with, yup, you guessed it… Beef, tofu, shiitake, shirataki, and egg in sukiyaki broth. So good! The waitress recommended it as one of her favorites.
The plum wine was so good that my friend and I went and bought 5 bottles from Total Wine.
I was sad they didn’t have any otoro, but the uni made up for it. The ikura was not too salty, just perfect imo.
I took a sip of the ramen broth my friend ordered and it was enough to convince myself that I needed to come back to try out the rest of the menu.

I can only give an opinion about the ramen here since we didn’t order any of the other items.
I really wanted to like this place given the location but unfortunately it was underwhelming. The broth was well seasoned but wasn’t rich. The noodles were overdone and the soft boiled egg was actually a hard boiled egg and was not marinated like some other restaurants. The worst part was that the charsu pork was 95% fat in all 3 of our orders. Maybe it was an off night for them but we went during prime dinner hour.

Some unique Japanese tapas selections, very good presentation, friendly service, intimate space … aka not many tables inside. My co-​worker and I shared about 3 small plates and each of us got a salad — I would’ve loved to eat more but accidentally dropped a whole bottle of soy sauce on my lap and well, who wants to stick around soaked in soy sauce.
SALMON TRINITY — $ 12.95
Spicy salmon, cucumber, topped with seared smoke salmon, salmon skin salad, & roasted sesame dressing. I’d read great reviews on this and it didn’t disappoint. The salmon skin was the highlight, loved the smoky flavor, tasted like seafood bacon :)
KUSHIKATSU MIX — $ 8
Breaded pork belly, quail egg, renkon lotus root in skewers with tonkatsu sauce … basically deep fried pork belly, egg and lotus root on a stick. Except they didn’t have quail egg so they gave us 2 pork belly; wish they told us vs us asking what happened to our egg. Still very good, perfectly deep-​fried, served just out of the fryer.
OCTOPUS — $ 15
This was a special of the day — server really hyped it up. I wish I remembered the preparation — all I recall was that the octopus was thinly sliced and not as chewy as usual. Unique but I wouldn’t get it again — I think I had only one bite. Value it wasn’t :)
GREEN SALAD — $ 3
Nothing special — not sure why we ordered this. Spinach and carrots, loved the dressing.
I’d definitely like to come back and try the Suzuki Mushroom Ankake (they ran out at lunchtime), Ramen, Matcha Box dessert and lunch specials.
FYI they’re next door to Better Half, and parking is available behind the building (not many spaces), and one block west at the corner of 14^th Street and Mescalin.

I went here on a Friday night at 9:50p and they were closed even though the sign of the door says it’s open until 10:30p.
You should call to confirm hours before you go.

I visited on Tuesday 12/​29/​2015.
3 of us arrived at before 7:00 PM and there was a parking spot left in the back lot. I guess we were lucky because it was a small lot.
As a native Japanese I can report you that this place is an authentic Japanese Izakaya (tapas bar or pub). Sashimi and sushi were fresh and prices are reasonable. We also had gyutan (grilled beef tongue slices), wasabi shumai, hokke (grilled mackerel), and Shoyu Ramen. Ramen tasted good but the needle was a little overlooked to my taste. I wonder if they can serve it al dente if I ordered that way. I’ll definitely come back and try that.

What a treat this place turned out to be! Wagaya has been bookmarked for some time now and I’m happy to have ticked it off the list. I’ll be back, for sure.
I came for the ramen; wife came for the sushi. Neither of us was disappointed.
Spicy red tonkotsu ramen — 2^nd best in the city, so far. Wonderful broth, noodles. Only half an egg and not a lot of nori. Chasu pretty solid. I thought the spiciness was just right.
Nigiri — maybe as good as I’ve had? Saw a couple of varieties I was unfamialr with — madai for one. It has good texture if a bit unremarkable in taste. Nice mackerel — one of the people said they cured it in-​house. If you like mackerel, you’re in for a treat. Other fish also excellent. Good presentation.
Seaweed salad — we enjoyed this. It’s a bit different than what I’m used to in that it wasn’t all seaweed but had other greens too. Nice light dressing.
Wagaya has the largest Japanese beer list I’ve seen. But beware — they are also quite expensive — one we ordered was $ 12, others $ 9.
Table seating is adequate but the bench seat made my back sore after a while. This is actually why the restaurant falls a bit short of 5 stars.
Ambiance is just right — no loud music.
Service — friendly, efficient, helpful. Just what you want.
Parking might be an issue if you don’t get here early, which we did so the small lot in back still had space open. I know the website says the lot down the block is free despite signs asking for money, but that’s a little weird.
Not cheap. With four of the expensive beers and the food, the total for two was $ 110.
They need a coat rack or some hooks.

Finally there are some good Japanese restaurants around Midtown. Wagaya offers good portions, decent food and won’t break your bank. It may not be as good as shoya, but you can’t beat the drive time when you are around Midtown.
First we ordered Kushikatsu Mix (Tampura mix) for appetizer. Pork belly, quail eggs and lotus roots were all deep fried with panko. Quail eggs was my favorite. It’s like one bite with three layers: one layer of bread crumb, one layer of egg white and one layer of egg yolks. Compared to that, lotus roots and pork belly became a little bland.
The restaurant has a combo for dinner: one udon/​ramen, plus one rice makes $ 16+. Pretty good deal, and pretty large bowls. I ordered ramen and Tonkatsu as a combo. The ramen noodle was cooked just right, with half an egg and two pieces of pork belly again. Tonkatsu was just okay. The pork chop was a little too thick, and also bland. I’ve had better ones.
The interior space was quite small. But Wagaya succeeded to fill a lot of people with limited space. Everything looks new and clean, since it just opened. What surprised me was, we didn’t wait for any table in a Saturday night. People come and go quickly.
They had a parking lot behind, but it’s often full. The worst case scenario is to do street parking around Home Park.

This is a welcome addition to the home park area — close to GT and atlantic station, where there is def a huge lack of yummy Asian restaurants. Parking is behind the restaurant (shared lot) that fills up quickly, but you can park along state street.
Red Tonkotsu — It will be easier if I break this down. It comes with an egg, soft yolk, has not been runny. Also a side of garlic? butter? that you can add as much as your heart desires.
Broth — ⁴⁄₅ — The broth is creamy, rich, delicious, and mildly spicy. The noodles are cooked like they are supposed to be, to each time, holding up to the broth, not getting soggy. One inconsistency is the quantity that they give you, one time I was really full and another time I ate another 6 pieces of sushi.
Meat — 1−3÷5 — this has been the most inconsistent part of the experience. Usually it is dry without much taste, tolerable – much better at other ramen places. I once got the pork that was so tough, dry, and had an old taste that I didn’t eat it – maybe should’ve sent it back.
Sashimi/​Sushi — ⁴⁄₅ — all of them have been surprisingly fresh and tasty. One of the better sushi spots in the area. The rice is a good consistency/​quality.
Chawan mushi — ⁵⁄₅ — Very light and fluffy, great way to end the meal.
Overall a great ramen experience and will be back soon!

Was super busy when I showed up at 8:45 so i waited 20 minutes on a Wednesday night for a table for myself. Took another couple of minutes to get my order in but it was definitely worth the wait.
Everything started coming out very quickly after I ordered it — Asahi draft, mackerel nigiri, traditional tonkotsu ramen, and a yellowtail roll (yes it was just me — don’t judge). I usually make my initial opinions of a sushi place off the quality of rice, and I have to say that it was outstanding this evening. All the fish tasted fresh, and the ramen was much better than others I’ve tried ITP. Broth was flavorful without being too salty, egg was well cooked (not hard boiled, but a slightly runny yolk), and OMG it came with this garlic thing on the side. Imagine garlic butter from Papa John’s…like a thicker, more flavorful version of that. FOR YOUR RAMEN.
I happily ate everything (again, please don’t judge) and was even more pleased when the bill came out. Only $ 25 for my feast? Ok y’all… I’ll be back (soon!!)

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. My experience with a majority of ITP sushi & izakaya has been fairly hit or miss to a very far miss. Wagaya is definitely one of the few in the «hit» range.
The grainy wood atmosphere, a mixture of pub and nature. It’s a combination I would miss. The menu, a size-​able one. It’s moderate and not as overwhelming, but still with many options, some familiar and some unique to Wagaya.
Our visit was on a busy night with a 30 min wait. While we waited Wagaya staff offered the drink menu or if they were able to get us anything while we waited.
Our group ordered a range: the Salmon Trinity, Ika Geso Karaage, two Red Tonkotsu, Chicken Nanban, Modern Yaki, Matcha Box and maybe a few other items. I only really tried the Salmon Trinity, Red Tonkotsu, & Matcha Box, but I’ll comment on what was said about the other items.
Salmon Trinity– Some of the best salmon I’ve had in a while. Salmon skin in the middle on a small bed of greens circled by a delicious salmon roll. If you love salmon, please give it a try.
Red Tonkotsu– I forgot what was mentioned about the broth. Red, I believe, had chili oil in it whereas black had sesame. I didn’t get much of this, but the broth was delicious and seemed to be a pleaser.
Ika Geso & Chicken Nanban looked really good. If I’m ever back, I really would like to get the ika.
The Modern Yaki didn’t seem to hold up much of a impression, however, I didn’t get to try it, so I’m unsure of it’s flavor. It seems good in theory. An okonomiyaki with yakisoba noodles mixed inside, plus normal okonomiyaki ingredients, topped with mayo, aonori, bonito, and sauce.
We also nibbled through a Matcha box dessert out of curiosity. Normally a reasonable dessert for two. It came with a scoop of matcha ice cream, anko, mochi, strawberries, a dusting of kinako, and a strange drizzling of a sweet soy sauce syrup all on a bed of ice. The soy sauce syrup is kinda what you’d expect. It is rather salty and meant to offset and heighten the sweetness in the other ingredients, but it’s a bit jarring. Really enjoyed the rest though.
If you’re looking for izakaya food ITP, Wagaya is a good front runner. I certainly hope to get a chance to come back to try more of their menu.

Last minute big table! We had a party of 10 and the staff were unbelievably accommodating. The place is a bit tight with space, so definitely make sure to come early.
There is free parking in the back but also street parking on State St.
We ordered mostly izakaya and some nigiri. Takoyaki was on POINT. The agedashi tofu was delish and LOVED that there was big chunks mochi on top. Salmon was very fresh and sweet. But my favorite was the uni! Omggg this was the best part of our meal. Kudos kudos kudos to the meal. Only critique was that the rice was somewhat dry.
Service was impeccable. Courteous and very attentive. They kept our hot tea bottomless on this cold evening.
Verdict: DEFINITELY recommended for this area!

I went there for an early dinner and it was a pretty solid choice. Note, Unilocal says they don’t open for dinner until 5:30 but that may be wrong… At 5:31 there were people in there with food. Just double check the hours before you wait in your car for 30 mins for them to open: p
I got the seaweed salad and the veggie dragon role. The description on the menu made it seem like the seaweed salad was super fancy and different from other restaurants — it wasn’t. It was everything you would want from seaweed salad and nothing more. The veggie dragon roll was delicious — highly recommend.
BIG ISSUE: the soy sauce was SO salty… To the point where I ended up eating most of my roll without it. This is the reason I can’t give this place 4 stars… Bad soy sauce? That’s unacceptable.

Found this place on Unilocal and couldn’t wait to try it. So cute inside. Loved the sleek, simple, clean look. The wooden tables and benches were pretty cool.
Our server and the food runners were all very nice. Told our server it was our first time in and she gave us plenty of time to order and answered all our questions. I wanted ramen and she suggested the Red Tonkotsu because it was very flavorful. I was so glad I got it. Delicious! I’ve had Tonkotsu ramens at other places and alot of places make it more salty than flavorful. Totally not the case here! I usually leave most of the broth behind at those places, but found myself taking every last drop of my bowl and didn’t have to down water later that night.
Other items I’ve tried that night include the fried oysters, grilled salmon onigiri, and the Kiss of Juju roll. The fried oysters were good. I’ve had similar ones at other Japanese restaurants. The Kiss of Juju roll was pretty good. The rice was nicely packed and the fish was fresh. The one disappointment was in the grilled salmon onigiri. The order came with two adorable round rice balls. like the ones you see in the Japanese cartoons. After one bite, all I got was rice. After the second bite, it was also all rice. By the time I got to the salmon I was already over it from having too much rice.
Ordered the Matcha Box as a dessert to share. Loved the green tea ice cream with the red bean paste on the side. There were a lot of interesting items on the menu I would love to try if I had more room. May come back to try more of their sashimi, but definitely for the ramen again!

Located on 14^th Street on the direction of going to West provision, this place is located in between Better Half and ran down gas station. Parking at first was dreadful but found the free public parking just a block past the restaurant. There’s also parking available behind the restaurant but was very limited.
We came on a Saturday afternoon around 1230 and soon after the place filled up. We ordered the sashimi three for appetizers, premium white donkatsu ramen, and Ishiyaki Chashu for entrees for 2. Honestly the fish didn’t taste so fresh to me but I loved the hot foods! Ramen was delicious with perfectly soft cooked egg and pork that was so tender that it just comes apart. Same goes for Ishiyaki, the pork was very tender and the fried rice was just the type I like! Would come back again to try out variety of ramens.

After hearing all the hype about this place I had to check it out. Not to mention sushi is macro friendly #iifym! Therefore ricky and I stopped by this place before heading home after a day at lenox.
Location: basically take 85 to exit 94 and head towards ikea and it will be on your right. park in the back.
Inside: traditional and clean cut. Wooden tables not sticky and kitchen is clean, always a good sign.
Food: We got a roll as an appetizer (no idea which one, ricky picked it — see picture). I just poked out the raw fish from the middle. yummy.
My dinner: Chirashi (pay extra $ 2) and udon combo for like $ 16 – 17. I basically only ate the raw fish minus the egg (okay, and a few bits of rice to clean my pallet between each fish) and a few bites of my udon so I have some carbs in me tonight so my body since tmrw i have a pretty decent cardio sesh needed after lifting. all yummy.
Rickys: tonkatsu and tonkatsu ramen. He said it was good.
In short: A lot of food for cheap and yummy. The best authentic raw fish Ive had for the price in atl? no, but for the quantity yes. The portion of food for the price is crazy good.
Customer service is good to which I always appreciate.
In short, I like this place and recommend.

I heard great things about Wagaya, especially on the ramen here.
Location is good though I hate those stairs from the parking lot behind to the front entrance of the restaurant. Stairs are my nemesis. I do have some knee and foot problem, sad but true.
We were originally shocked to see the operating hours at the door, it stated not open for lunch on Sat & Sun. But we saw there were people inside, opened the door and the staff said they are indeed open. Perfect!
There are 3 kinds of Tonkotsu Ramen– Premium White, Red and Black. Red tonkotsu means spicy bad Black tonkotsu just has sesame seeds. Ordered the premium white (regular) tonkotsu ramen. I read a number of reviews stating the eggs here were done right, the yolks supposed to be soft like poached. I was so looking forward to finally find a Japanese restaurant doing those eggs some justice.
My ramen came. I scooped the half egg up, took a good look, nope it was cooked. Too cooked. I was disappointed. I scooped up some broth, tasted it. It was legit. The cha shu? Yum! They were soft and melted in my mouth. The noodles? Crap! They were over cooked. They were almost soggy. By this time, I was so disappointed.
To make the dining experience dipped further, there was a broken rubber band in a little girl’s ramen. She was like «what is this blue thing?» I said «must be the seaweed!» She said, «but it was blue!» She took it out and pulled it. Great! I did not take away any star from this review, why?
1) The staff apologized profusely. It did not seem to me like it happened a lot, may be the first time a customer found a rubber band. She took the small .5 inch broken rubber band to the kitchen. Came back shortly with a coupon for a free roll. Apologized again and said the chef wanted us to have it. We said not to worry, we just wanted to let them know so to be more careful in future. We did not want any free coupon, that’s just not us.
2) The check came and the staff told us the chef has voided one of the ramen. She apologized again. I appreciate that a lot though I know most decent restaurants will do the same.
3) Finally when we were walking out, another female server stopped me, apologized about the mishap.
With the above, I would not judge this restaurant based on that, things sometimes happened and I could empathize.
As for my ramen, the soggy noodles were likely be another I caught them at the wrong day since many have commented how good the ramen noodles are. I would definitely give it another try at another time.
We did order the matcha box for dessert. It looked so pretty though the soy sauce did not work for us. The matcha powder and green tea ice cream were good though.
The menu is extensive and there are many things I would really love to try. Hopefully we will have more luck in our next visit.

Wagaya is a solid izakaya that ITP Japanese food lovers should absolutely visit. Or, maybe I’m just saying that because it totally satisfied my incredibly hangry, I-haven’t-slept-for-ever-because-I-delivered-a-baby girlfriend/​resident physician. My review:
****
I. FOOD
Like any izakaya, they have small-​shared plates, sushi, and ramen. So we got a few things and a bowl of ramen for each of us.
*Takoyaki: They didn’t over fry the octopus balls and added just the right amount of sauce. The bonito flakes make the shareable a bit more fun. ($ 6)
**Salmon & Escolar Sashimi: What I really appreciate about Wagaya is that they keep their sashimi slightly about room temperature. That way, it’s cold enough that the hunks of fish won’t spoil, but also ideal for chowin’ down. Good job, Wagaya.
**Tonkotsu Ramen: Nicely done soft-​boiled egg, toothsome chasu, a piece of nori, fleshy menma, and al dente noodles immersed in a nicely cooked-​with-​love pork broth. As I’ve eaten through a few of Atlanta’s izakayas, Wagaya makes my favorite bowl. ($ 9.95)
***Matcha Box Dessert: My girlfriend and I would probably both agree that this dish served as our favorite part of the meal. Our server said, «you should get it because it’s both tasty and adorable,» and it is. It arrived in this tiny sandbox-​like thing covered in ice that’s topped with scoops of green tea and red bean, mochi balls covered in a sweet soy sauce reduction, and strawberries. They also provide spoons to make the dish look like it has ears. ($ 7)
II. SERVICE
Our food came out at a nice pace and our server held it down. I also recommend sitting at the bar — which is ideal if you’re by yourself or only with one other person — and skipping the line. Way easier.
III. ATMOSPHERE/​DÉCOR
It’s super casual, lots of wood, and chill. In other words, it’s my kind of restaurant. Nothing corny. Nothing outrageous.
IV. PRICES
They’re definitely fair, especially when considering both the quality and somewhat higher-​end location. If you’re going to pay for good Japanese eats, do it right.
V. OVERALL
Wagaya is a solid choice, if you’re looking for a casual restaurant that serves great food. I’ll return soon.