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| - I've read the Yelp reviews of Ichi Ban, so I was hesitant to say "yes" when some friends invited me and my girlfriend. The inviting friend keeps telling me how much he loves the place, so I decided to give it a fair shot. First impression: the place was dead (Sunday around 6PM). We were seated quickly, and drink orders taken. Twice. [no big deal.. at least they're on top of things.] Drinks arrived quickly and we opted to wait for our friends before ordering. Our friends (two other couples) arrived a few minutes later, and their drink orders were taken promptly.. twice. [okay, maybe they need to communicate better within their staff..] When ready, we all placed our orders at the same time.
We ordered the teppan teriyaki chicken, a rattlesnake roll, and a volcano roll. The friends who invited us ordered the same sushi, along with another roll; no teppan. The other friends ordered different sushi, no teppan. We were served soup (they had miso, i had chicken; somewhat bland and salty), and I had a small salad (nothing special, but the sauce was tasty). A short while later, the chef arrived, and began preparing fried rice for the fourth couple who was seated at our table. He then moved on to vegetables and our chicken. We never got the steamed rice we had asked for in place of the fried rice. A few minutes after we had finished the chicken, our sushi was served, along with the sushi one of the other couples' sushi. The friends who invited us still had not gotten any food, and they had ordered nearly the same sushi as we did. It was another ten minutes before they got theirs!
The chicken was tasty, although slightly overcooked. The sushi was simply unacceptable. The volcano roll was greasy and badly overcooked; the rattlesnake was flavorless and squishy, not to mention cold. After trying one piece of each, we sent the sushi back. At roughly $10 per roll, I expect to at least be able to taste what I'm eating.
Cons: Grill is typical teppan and overpriced for the amount of food served. Sushi is garbage.
Pros: Drinks were always full. We were only charged for my girlfriend's Diet Coke.
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