Wakaze in Leicester

The best Japanese food in Leicester! Taste so good, restaurant is small but cozy. Always happy to back

Highly recommend! Amazing food, friendly staff and authentic! A little hidden gem for sure. The sushi is incredible!

Return visit after lockdown, Wakaze retains it's top quality food and service.The restaurant is the best I've visited recently in terms of social distancing, with some tables serving as a buffer between guests.I recommend the mixed tempura (real tempura batter) and the Wakaze platter (the Wakaze roll is a must have on its own if you're not going for a platter).

So glad to come back! Food is beautiful as always. It can be difficult to get a table at the minute but it's so worth it if you can.

Absolutely amazing food as always. So glad to see Wakaze on Deliveroo. Ordered and the food had arrived in 20 minutes and was delicious. Staff are always really friendly and we can't wait to visit the restaurant soon!

Authentic, reasonably priced food. Great little place with decent service. We really enjoyed our meal!

Lots of veggie options, high standards and great service as usual ☺️ prices are good too, only £20 for food and drink for two of us. Deffo visit!

Love this place. The sushi (and my favourite sashimi) is super fresh, tasty and fast. Service is polite and discreet. My go to place whenever I’m Leicester

Love this restaurant, all the food is great, comes out quickly and doesn’t last for very long as it’s soo good!! Can’t wait to go back again! Big fan of the cheese beef!!!

As a sushi lover, I have tried sushi in a lot of different places and the sushi in this place is amazing. They have many different options and all are so yummy. They prepare the sushi when you order so it is fresh and taste delicious. It is must if you like sushi and you are around Leicester.

2 of us for dinner of amazing sushi! Second time visiting and will be back! Really good food, nothing to wait and service with a smile! Good food at a good price!!

well never noticed this place until TripAdvisor returned it on a search for sushi in Leicester, From start to finish this place was great, the waitress helped us choose our meals and advised on the different sushi platters, the food served was amazing, fresh and hot, this was well worth the money, I would recommend this place to anyone well worth a visit, and don't be put off from the outside, go in and eat some wonderful food.

Having heard lots of good things about this place I was excited to try the food.

Food is delicious and follows the highest standard of quality. Tempura perfect, sashimi just melting in mouth, and bento box is fantastic choice. Definitely worth to visit.

Best Sushi that I've eaten! Super super friendly staff and cozy environment. One of the best restaurants in Leicester if you want to taste oriental food. Really recommended.

La comida buena, un lugar informal de buena comida japonesa. No es muy cómodo, solo hay bancas para sentarse y el lugar es austero. El baño terrible

Good food, simple decor and it appears favoured by ethnically Japanese folk (always a good sign!). A great lunch.

I go to Wakaze at least once a month for their amazing sushi and great device. The dragon roll is incredible, as well as the gyoza and bento boxes. So much choice available on the menu and good quality food. The staff are always wonderful and efficient with the service. Highly recommend!

Ambiente informale, personale molto gentile. Ampia scelta di piatti. Dalle recensioni mi aspettavo di più. Il sushi mi pare “adattato ai gusti dei britannici”.

Had been meaning to visit here for ages but never got round to it. So glad we finally did. Sooo tasty and fresh food. Bento boxes are great value. Can't wait to go back already.

This restaurant has good service and generally good food. My friends really like their (meat) sushi. However the vegetarian options are a little limited. I had vegetarian dumplings, noodles and cake. The cake and dumplings were 7/10, the vegetable noodles were 6/10. The decor was a little disappointing with areas not designed and build property.

Come to Leicester on business rather frequently, but am still unfamiliar with the local restaurants. I was recommended to go here by one of the hotel staff at the hotel I was staying in. We brought her back a doughnut as a thank you... The servers working in the restaurant were very helpful, showing us how we're meant to eat certain dishes we hadn't eaten before. The actual food itself was amazing too! As it says in the title, it was the best crispy squid I have ever eaten, if you only have one thing in the restaurant I highly recommend that It's the crispy squid starter. I also had a portion of veggie rice, that was just as good and battered fried vegetables. The portion sizes were MASSIVE, I waddled back to my hotel because I was so full... I could not recommend this place anymore and will 100% be coming back

After a friends recommendation and a craving for Japanese I came to Wakaze with a friend and was not disappointed. We went for the deluxe platter, which consisted of 1 California roll, a dragon roll then our choices of nigiri and sashimi. Our waitress apologised a couple of times about the wait we had, but to be honest on seeing food arriving at other customers tables it didn't bother us. The food is obviously prepared fresh and by hand so a wait should be expected. It delivers on flavour and thinking about that meal is making my mouth water. Highly recommend and cannot wait to revisit.

I visited wakaze for the first time, because the popular Japanese chain in high cross was too busy to accommodate 4 of us.

Love it here we go regularly! In my top 3 best places to eat in Leicester. The katsu roll and gyoza are a personal favourite always with a side of Edemame and a pot of green tea

I went to this restaurant with some friends and I ordered a vegetarian dinner box and some avocado rolls. The vegetarian box came with the miso soup, which was really watery and tasteless. There was such a rude and impolite waitress who brought at the table salmon rolls instead of the avocado one (which it’s okay, I wasn’t bothered for the mistake or misunderstanding) and when I told her she became even more upset and rude. Food too hard to digest for me!

We have made numerous visits to Wakaze and I thought it about time to give this great little restaurant a review. The waiting staff are always a delight, the menu offers a good choice and dishes are all consistently very fresh, tasty and well presented, for Japanese food the dishes offer great value for money.

If you don't like people making small talk and always asking whether your meal is okay, this is a good place to go. Nice staff and tasty food. Honestly, the veggie curry was amazing. Also, this place is very welcoming of people who eat alone. It's a chilled atmosphere. If you have anxiety, this would be a good lunch option :) Also very tasty!!

Loved the simple layout! The green tea was amazing! Gyozas and salmon and avocado rolls were incredibly delicious! Great restaurant to have my first taste of Japanese food! Very impressed!

I'm surprised to hear about people's bad experiences! I went 3 times late last year and each experience was faultless. I honestly can't recommend this place enough. The food tastes light, very fresh, extremely tasty and all great value for money.

I went with a couple of friends the other day and the food came out in reasonably sized portions! I ordered the mixed tempura starter (which only had two prawns and the rest were fried veg) which came was a sauce. This was nice, must have with the sauce or there’s no taste. The Katsu Curry Don was really nice and there was just the right amount of sauce. What really ruined it was the service, the waiters didn’t smile at all and were extremely rude. We asked for water twice before we actually got it and the starter came after we finished our main. When we asked to cancel it, they suddenly brought it out. When we were paying the girl at the desk seemed extremely annoyed when she made a mistake and charged us for food we didn’t order. The experience was poor even though the food was good. Only two stars because you wouldn’t want the evening ruined before you even got your food right?

I went here cuz my favorite food is japanese and I have gone to every japanese in the city. This one is the best without doubts! Amazing food, service and lovely atmosphere. I turned to be a regular after going the first time. Incredibly good!

We called in here for a quick meal before going to the cinema. We chose fairly quickly - one pork and one chicken bowl with rice and egg (quite liquid). Both were quite tasty but we would have liked more vegetables. We also shared a duck salad, which was okay - the orange (?) chopped dressing was quite bitter. This is definitely a fast food sort of place with students in mind. Other dishes such as the bento boxes looked good. Staff were friendly.

Tried the sushi set meal, not bad at all, although a little pricey. Experience slightly spoiled by a rude waitress.

This used to be my favourite place to have lunch in Leicester.

I dont even want to give one star. I'm a regular customer here. Today I went there for dinner as usual, the food was okay. There was one Chinese women waitress who is very rude and always making face to customers which definitely ruined the atmosphere. Pls tell her to do something with her manner and her attitude toward customers. We were very disappointed!

Super meal! The ramen and the Takoyaki were absolutely perfect. Certainly a little jewel of Japanese gorgeous food!

Delicious food at a good price. V helpful staff help you with the menu. Open kitchen. Good atmosphere. Japanese beer.

I wasn't aware that Leicester had a significant Japanese population, but given that on my visit Wakaze had quite a lot of Japanese people eating I took this as a good sign. My partner who is more knowledgeable of Japanese cuisine than I am ordered for both of us; I may not be able to name specific dishes but I can vouch for how delicious (and beautifully presented) the food was - we both left absolutely stuffed!

I was anxious about visiting here as I didn't think there would be vegetarian dishes. Glad to say that I was wrong! The vegetarian bento box is my favourite meal (even though I can't finish it). Bf says his food is amazing too. Presented so well and at a pretty reasonable price too :) absolutely worth a visit!

My wife and I were keen on sampling Leicesters finest japanese and I think we found the right place. It doesn't go over the top with its decor and focuses its efforts on providing tasty food. We also had beer and wine.

The atmosphere in the place was great. Though the place is small, it is able to accommodate a lot of people. The service was quick and the food was incredibly delicious. I went with my boyfriend and ordered a katsu donburi, miso ramen, and sushi set 4. We were stuffed! The prices, we thought, were reasonable considering how much you get and the quality! Would definitely go again.

I went with my auntie and my cousin to have a lunch there. The service was great, portion sizes are really good, also it's reasonably priced. They had a teryaki, and for myself I've ordered sushi.. That was the best sushi that I've tried so far. Absolutely I'll recommend this place to my friends :). Amazing.

Ive never been to this restaurant before. WOW what a great place. Food delicious. You can see it being cooked. Reasonable price for all traditional dishes. .

Finally a decent Japanese restaurant in Leicester! Every dish we ordered was perfectly cooked and tastes amazing. Sashimi was fresh and tasty!

11 of us, 6 adults and 5 children aged between 1-6, booked to eat here for dinner. We were a bit late coming into Leicester and called to put our reservation back a little and the restaurant were very accommodating.

Popped in here after reading the reviews. It’s lovely to see an independent restaurant opening up near Highcross. The Japanese menu is extensive, with a huge selection of bento boxes if you can’t limit yourself to just one dish from the menu.

Simple decor. Food is great and prices are ok. Been there twice now, will certainly come back. Service is friendly

Excelent spot in leicester! Really good food, great portions! We always passed by and never went in..we regret it now! Amazing

Food came fast, great service, well priced, great portion sizes, LOVED IT!

My second visit and again excellent food. The tempura is excellent but was served whilst we were eating the main course so you need to make sure you ask for it first if you want it as a starter. I will keep visiting as they have an extensive menu. Note - 5 hygiene rating. Good value.

I had tampura starter and beef noodles main. Both tasted fantastic and the potion size was good. I will be a regular if my first visit is anything to go by.

Food was delicious and great value for money. You could see the high quality of food being cooked fresh. Staff were very polite and friendly. Minimalistic design of Wakaze could quite easily mean that you walk past it. Please dont. We are definitely going back again very soon.

There are a lot of South-East/East Asian food places in Leicester. I have struggled to find a good one that serves great sushi but my search is over. Wakaze boasts a friendly staff, simple interior design and a small seating area. None of this is a bad thing of course.

Being a major sushi lover I've been a regular fan of Yo sushi but it a bit fed up of the cost for not great quality and been on the look out for somewhere more authentic and reasonably priced.

Found this small place in the middle in the middle of Leicester town and it was indeed small, probably no more than 10 tables. It was Saturday lunch time so was very busy.

After passing by recently when it was jam packed, we had a go. The menu is large with lots of choice with everything from sushi to bento. We had a small selection of items all of which were really tasty. The servers weren’t terribly engaging but they were Japanese and I felt struggled with English a bit but in any case it was a fun experience with great food.

Super like this Dragon Roll !!! Like the environment, is an amazing Japanese restaurant worthy for money Highly recommend to go!!!

Visited Wakaze with a group of friends and my partner. A bit of a mixed review of our experience there, with some food being good and others quite disappointing. Myself and my partner ordered a variety of dishes including the chicken gyoza which were very nice, salmon sashimi which were also good, avocado maki which were good, a steak sushi dish in which the steak was nicely cooked and tender, but the dish itself had little flavour and the portion was quite small, and a pork rice dish with their 'special sauce' which has nice flavour and was a good portion size.

I have sampled all of the Japanese restaurants in town and this is by far the best for value, service and quality. Will defiantly be returning to Wakaze for my sushi fix 👌🏼

There's a few other Japanese restaurants in town but this is the only one where we've been 5-6 times and always come out satisfied! The décor is plain and the seating is tight and a little uncomfortable (a pushchair or wheelchair may be tricky to manoeuvre ) but the food is excellent. We always have the bento box and for what we get - marinated chicken, lightly fried tempura, fresh sushi rolls, pickled vegetables - you certainly get enough to fill you up.

On my first trip to Leicester my fiancé and I were looking for a spot for lunch, didn't fancy any of the chains around the city centre and happened across this little place, it was quiet being late in the afternoon and we were served quickly. The waitress was quick and friendly and changed one items on the menu for me because I'm pregnant and unable to eat fish. Our food came quickly and we were able to see it being prepared as the kitchen is open. The food was delicious and fresh and there was so much of it! If I'm ever in Leicester again I will definitely be returning!

Ouvrir un restaurant japonais à quelques mètres du wagamama il fallait oser, ils l'ont fait, ce n'est pas aussi bien mais c'est moins cher, les sashimis sont coupés de manière étrange, les bento sont intéressants

My friend and I had seen this restaurant around for a little while and finally decided to try it.

My wife and I have been here on each of our last two visits to Leicester since discovering it. We've tried a few of the different dishes and been impressed so far. Each time its fairly lively.

For the second time, arrived at 20:30 and was refused service even tough it closes at 21:00. If you want to finish at 21:00, close the doors at 20:00 and advertise that as the closing time, don't have people travel to be turned down.

Having read the reviews on TA, I suggested to my partner & a couple friends we dine here, all as lovers of Japanese cuisine. Food-wise, we were heartily satisfied--there's a very large menu (double-sided, just in case you don't notice already, like my husband!)--we each chose a mix of items & then either a sushi set or bento box or ramen. All of it surpassed our expectations! On the down sides, the drinks menu is a little limited, the bench seating not awfully comfy, decor minimal...& our waitress seemed to be on her first night (or maybe not...!)...however, all of our orders were correct & food arrived in a timely fashion. Other folks in the restaurant looked well-fed & happy, too. We were pleased with the bill. I personally can't wait to go again & sample more of the menu--Wakaze is a real gem on Leicester's High St!

Meh...I've had way better. We found bones in the salmon as well as skin left on. Any respectable sushi chef would commit seppuku in this case.

Not being a regular consumer of Japanese food I was visiting this restaurant for my partners birthday after reading good reviews in the press and on line. We were not disappointed as it lived up to our expectations. They dealt with us really well being a larger party (7 people). The staff were really helpful in describing the dishes of which there was a very wide choice. I had a delicious starter of Chicken Katsu with a main course of Korean style pork with rice. Both dishes were really tasty and of a good size ( much better than my few previous experiences of Wagamama). All our party enjoyed our food and following our meal the staff were happy to bring out the birthday cake (along with a funny happy birthday song on the sound system).

Had an overnight stay in Leicester and being a sushi lover for over 30 years I had to see if Leicester had anything to offer.

Wakaze is a great addition to the high street and Leicester. Authentic Japanese food cooked by chefs that know what they are doing, and a different (arguably better) taste from the usual Wagamamas. The menu is huge (perhaps too huge) with a big variety of dishes to choose from. I've visited twice and can safely say I will be visiting again - both the chicken teryaki and katsu curry are very good. Although, be sure to double check what you are ordering with the waiter as the dishes can be slightly confusing and don't always come with sides of rice, etc. Recommended!

My partner and I love sushi and were recommended this place by a friend so decided to give it a try. The restaurant is small but clean and the staff are friendly. Large selection to choose from on the menu. Good portions and excellent fresh tasting food that you can see being made from the open kitchen! We thought it was very good value for money and will most certainly be visiting again!! Fab!

Well-priced quality Japanese food cooked by well trained chefs with wonderful customer service. Me and my partner ended up frequenting the restaurant several times a week before moving - highly recommend

This was our first visit to Wakaze and we were very impressed. Wide choice on the menu - I had the teriyaki chicken bento & my wife had the spicy chicken noodle soup.

My daughter and her friends love Japanese food and the area is served well by the chains. This is a relatively new place. It was busy on a Saturday the food was good and tasty the staff friendly and the value good. What more can you ask for!

Saw this place whilst walking through the city last weekend - as I gazed in through the window I thought the food looked so nicely presented and fresh. I spent the whole week thinking about it and decided to head in and try it out last night. Grabbed some friends, had a few beers and then dropped in about 9pm. As soon as we walked in the smell from the kitchen was a sure sign we were in for some good food. After a short wait we had polite and helpful table-service. We ordered some Asahi and Sake along with a sushi platter and several other starters. The food arrived in good time, beautifully presented. It tasted superb - fresh, clean. For mains we all had noodle soups - the Wakaze had superb battered prawns and I had the spicy noodle soup which had a delicious heat to it.

We have passed this newish restaurant a few times but today decided to give it a try. We were very impressed with the simple layout and cleanliness of the place and it was nice to see an open kitchen.

Went with the wife to try it out and did not disappoint. The waitress was lovely and happy to see we were enjoying our meal. We had a salmon temaki, the rice was perfect and the nori nice and crispy. The mixed tempura was amazing and the sushi platter was delicious. Definitely our favourite Japanese restaurant in Leicester.

Went here before the cinema. Ordered sushi to share to start followed by bento box chicken katsu and spicy noodle soup. It was fantastic and there was tons of it. Sushi was fresh as hell and delicious. Can't recommend highly enough.

This is my second visit to Wakaze. On the first visit we only ordered starters as we found the portion sizes are very generous. We had to cancel the main because we were so stuffed. We told the waitress to cancel and she did straight away with no fuss which was amazing service. We attended Wakaze yesterday which I ordered the Wakaze ramen and sushi platter. Everything was delicious and tasted so fresh. We liked it that much my parents are going back in 3 days time and I'm going tomorrow!

This was our third visit. The sushi and bento is delicious and always incredibly fresh. The food preparation and delivery is superb. So glad we have this now on our doorstep in Leicester, it is well worth it over the chain owned sushi shops.

Lovely authentic Japanese food in good portions. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Will be returning soon for sure.

Small very authentic restaurant. Not a place for a fancy, dress up meal out. Sparce a bit cool on a very cold winters night but the food more than made up for this. It is presented really nicely. Very good prices too.

DIscovered this little restaurant by accident after a failed attempt to get sushi at Yo Sushi (which unbelievably was closed at 9pm on a Friday night!) SO so glad I did. I have now visited at least six times. As another reviewer has already mentioned, it is very easy to over order because portions are far more generous than normal. I have tried many non meat items on the menu and all have been super so far. Would definitely recommend this restaurant, although hoping it doesn't get too busy with all the good reviews. I visited yesterday and am visiting again tomorrow. Can't wait!

Trying to find a restaurant that pleases all my family is not easy so when I found Wakaze I was a little worried, I shouldn't have been. The only fault I found was it is far too easy to over order. Yes we got carried away with the menu and couldn't eat all we had. But the food was so good!!

Looks very sparce from the outside but get in and the food was amazing. Fresh, hot, and very good portion sizes. A little more expensive but worth every penny. The sushi was awesome, best I've eaten so far.

Really good sushi and sashimi, very authentic and fresh. A great addition for Leicester city centre.

Very new, spartan Japanese place. Highly authentic but no-frills. Ie pine tables and benches. But long menu, experienced Japanese chefs, very good food. Odd closing times in the evening; they seem to shut if there's nobody eating.

We also bumped into this restaurant by chance, and decided to get in. We, as noodles lovers, enjoyed them!! Good price and kind young waiters!!

Great place to eat Sushi...the best I've had in Leicester by far! It is very reasonably priced as well!

loved the menu, had so much choice and everything sounded so good,

Found this place by accident, next to Shang high noon on High St, High Cross pedestrian area. Inexpensive dinning, very tasty food and great service. Well presented easy dinning, very relaxed environment, informal. Nice mix of Japanese, Chinese and Thai menu.