Wagamama is all about getting close, and since you’ll be seated at long bench tables with total strangers, it’s just as well that the menu encourages you to slurp your food. You can’t help it. Steaming bowls of ramen topped with grilled chicken or vast plates of silk-white odon noodles are not dishes to be tackled with any degree of subtlety. It must be this informality that encourages diners to gossip loudly, i.e., right in your ear. If you go before 6 p.m. to the Norris Street branch, for example, it’s filled with actors fueling up for the evening’s performance and being extremely catty about their co-stars. All Wagamama branches share the same menu and the same layout, where you can watch the chefs whisk up your dinner in a matter of seconds. Don’t be surprised if your meal arrives in stages; you get your dish when it’s cooked, regardless of what your companions may have ordered. As a result, everything is piping hot and fresh, so you need to get slurping as soon as your order reaches you. The best deal is the "absolute wagamama,” a chicken ramen, three gyoza (tasty stick dumplings), and a beer or juice for $16. Seafood and vegetarian versions are similarly priced.