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| - A birthday dinner bought us to Ichiza recently. We had a reservation, but they still weren't able to seat us for 20 minutes or so after we arrived. We got seats at the end of the sushi bar, a fine spot, though a bit cramped. The little house appetizer they brought out was fair, but nothing extraordinary. The menu was decent, but the specials (all over the walls and above the bar) seemed to offer much more variety and interest. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be rhyme or reason as to where to find anything on the walls. I read some Japanese, but from where we sat we could only make out a fraction of the offerings, and it was much too crowded to get up and walk around, hanging over others' plates to get a better look.
We ordered tako wasabi, though we never found it listed. It was average. The grilled squid was good, if a bit tough. Fried oysters were good, but we would have liked the spicy mustard that belongs with them. The crazy roll was fine, but pretty much available anywhere.
We felt the set-up of the place was a bit too compartmentalized to call it a true izakaya. There was none of that "shared space" feel. All in all a fine meal, but a bit of a disappointment for a special occasion.
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