The Future of Dining?

For my friend's birthday we went to Vapiano, which is an Italian restaurant in oxford street. The Italian theme continues!!

Vapiano proved to be a unique dining experience for a number of reasons:

1. Unlike traditional restaurants where once shown to a table your order is taken by a waiter or waitress, Vapiano is a 'made to order' restaurant, and there are no waiters or waitresses. Just staff occasionally walking around the restaurant and asking if everything is going well. 

2. As you walk into the restaurant you are given a card (see image A and B) which you need to make sure you don't lose as this is the card that you will use to order your food from the pasta, pizza and salad bars. How it works is that you select a dish from the menu and go to the right bar. So for example, if you want pasta you would go to the pasta bar. Once there you tell the chef your chosen dish, who will cook it there in front of you, using fresh ingredients. You then touch your card to the scanner. All the orders will be saved onto the card as you touch it and you pay at the end, at the same till where you were given the card.

3. Dining at Vapiano, you are able to see your food made in front of you (hence 'made to order'). Fresh ingredients are used for the pasta, pizzas and salads.

'Made to order dining' at Vapiano is a new concept in restaurant dining, already established in Europe, and one of the first of its kind in the UK.

Image A (front of card)

Image B (back of card)

Image C Starter Bruschetta [toasted bread, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil]

Image D Main Margherita Pizza [tomato sauce, mozzarella]

Image E Dessert Strawberries & Cream Haagen Daaz

The starter's saving grace (see image C) was the tomatoes on top of the bread which were rich in flavour. Otherwise I found the bread to be quite bland and boring.

I found my main dish (see image D) to be disappointing. When I first saw the pizza come out of the oven I remember thinking how beautiful it looked, with the big tomato in the middle and the soft doughy crust. However, as I began to eat it I realised that the layer of cheese was far too thick. I usually love cheesy pizzas, the cheesier the better but this proved too much. I must admit that after trying my friend's main dish (arrabbiata: tagliatelle pasta with tomato sauce, garlic and chilli) I preferred it to mine. So, if I was to go back to Vapiano, I would definitely go for the pasta dish, which with its combination of flavours proved to be a tasty dish!

Advantages of dining at Vapiano

• Chefs use fresh ingredients


• The dish is made in front of you, hence you know what is going into your food


• Great atmosphere! This was actually my favourite thing about the restaurant. There is also a variety of seating arrangements, from wooden bench style tables to cushion style seats which are very comfortable! We  sat in the restaurant for a couple of hours and unlike some restaurants where you are constantly asked whether you are finished so someone else can sit down we were not in any way made to hurry, even though the restaurant was full


• Reasonable prices (starter, main, dessert and a soft drink all for under £15)

Disadvantages of dining at Vapiano 

• When the restaurant gets busy, as it was that day, it can be a long wait in the queue to order your food! This can be especially annoying if you want to order a pasta dish and a starter (which most of us will want to do!) and will therefore have to queue up twice. As a result there is a chance of either your starter or main dish going cold, depending on which one you ordered first. Yes, you could order your starter first, eat, and then go back to queue for the main but if you are like me you will want to order everything in one go so that you can sit down and enjoy your food, rather than have to worry about queuing again!


• Balancing a pizza, starter and glass bottle of coke on a tray is actually a tricky business, particularly if you are going upstairs or walking around the restaurant to look for a seat. I think this is when I really missed being in a traditional restaurant, where the food is brought to me, as there is no chance of me accidentally dropping a plate or bottle!


• The food is actually a bit of a disappointment, and ultimately the restaurant's focus is on providing a good atmosphere and dining experience rather than the food

Atmosphere                       9/10

Food                                   6/10

Service                               5/10

Chocolatesushi rating     7/10

Nabs 13/12/12