Watami

Frankly speaking, I would give them 4-​star for the quality of their food — for it being fresh, especially for the seafood hotpot that I have ordered. But, my thought has changed when I see a baby cockroach running out from beneath the portable stove that was heating up my hotpot dish. It was running around the table and wouldn’t leave. What surprised me actually was the reaction of their manager when I tried to get his attention — not so much as an apology, he just simply asked if I would like to change my table.
Food wise, I actually really enjoyed. The same would go for the other unagi pot rice dish that we have ordered, which tasted really flavourful. But it just kind of threw me off when I see his ‘not-​a-​big-​deal’ response, provided that Watami is considered a restaurant instead of just any food stall out there.
These aside, selection of beer here is rather limited as well — they have most of their selections in bottles, and only Suntory on draft. A glass of it would be RM18++, I might want to say that it’s quite a rip off, but again I guess this is the price they charge in a restaurant — which supposedly the manager should at least be surprised to find a cockroach on the dining table.
Obviously, without an apology, no follow up with my dining experience was done either. Would I go to Watami again? — Yes, maybe — for their food are actually good. Would I go to Watami in Pavilion again? — Didn’t think so.

So I was recently craving Japanese and was kinda tired of dining at the same old places, so since we were heading to Pavilion, we were like why not try Watami, since i’ve sorta always looked at it and wondered what it was like. So we ordered the salmon sashimi which was rm21 for 7 pieces, yes you dont get to choose how many pieces you want. We ordered a soft shell crab sushi roll, and a yakiniku don which is beef and rice, this one was topped with a poached egg.
Honestly we were very disappointed. The salmon still had skin on it which was unimpressive, the beef and rice tasted very eggy cause of the poached egg maybe the egg wasn’t fresh. The soft shell crab roll fell apart the minute we picked it off the plate.
Total bill was rm85 but it definitely was not worth the price. I guess the fact that it was empty on the eve of a public holiday should have been a good indicator that the place was unpopular.

Watami is a Japanese casual restaurant. I honestly don’t know what they mean by ‘casual’ because aren’t most restaurants casual? I don’t think I’ve ever come across a restaurant with a dresscode (except for Marini’s 57 but that’s because it’s more of a high class club lounge than a restaurant). Maybe Watami has a different meaning behind it.
This restaurant focuses on lots and lots of sushi’s and set lunch in bento boxes. Well they look like they are bento box sets but not really because it’s not served in boxes. Although the main focus is sushi, they also serve other types of Japanese food like the ramen, which comes with different types of meat — if I’m not mistaken even pork too — so this automatically makes the store NON-​HALAL.

Watami has a variety of unorthodox Japanese dishes or probably dishes that I have not tried before.
What stood out to me what a rice dish cooked in a hot pot. The rice came steaming hot with meat, vegetables and a raw egg. I had to mix them up together before I dig in. It was something different as compared to the normal bento meals or the average katsudon.
It was tasty and I like it, though Watami is pretty expensive.
The service here was good, waiters are attentive and constantly refilling my green tea.
And oh, if you have a Pinch of Salt members card, you can collect rebate points for your next meal.

Watami, the name has a funny ring to it. It feels weird if you say it multiple times.
Since the birthday girl wanted something Japanese and we were tired of Sushi, we decided to try out Watami!
Walking into the restaurant made us feel very welcomed. The staffs were extremely friend and maintained a rich Japanese culture.
The place is dimly lit with individual booths for groups. It felt as if we were dining in Japan itself by the decorations. Basically the interior was amazing.
Food took sometime to arrive but the environment was perfect for mingling over refillable green tea.
I had Japanese rice with teriyaki fried pork. Sadly the rice was a let down as it was tasteless and the pork was too dry even paired with the soup.
Overall, I was dissatisfied with the food but we got great discounts considering it was my friend’s birthday.

This restaurant is great. I come here as often as I can. They have a huge selection of everything you could want in a Japanese place without the huge price tag. I put this place miles above Zamai. It is similar to Zanmai in a lot of ways but their taste and quality control is way better.
One of my favorite things about this place is that no matter what I’m in the mood for there is something on the menu that scratches the itch I didn’t know I had. You must try this beef pepper rice. It comes out in a super hot dish that is sizzling and crisps the bottom of the rice. Then they add raw beef and egg and toss it around. The dishes so hot that it cooks the beef just right.
The sushi and sashimi are great and I love their alcoholic beverage selection. The Heineken on tap is frosty and delicious and the cocktails aren’t over priced! It really reminds me of the casual dining in Japan.