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| - A large group of us came here for a going-away party for one of our coworkers, and I will start by saying that Ichiban can certainly acommodate a large group well. They have a separate, back room for even bigger parties, but the hibachi tables can easily seat most large groups without a problem.
I'm not a huge fan of hibachi, so my husband and I got the sushi instead. I liked that we were able to order something other than hibachi but still sit with our group, although we got our food later than everyone else at our table, because the sushi bar was apparently a bit backed up.
I had the miso soup to start, and it was perfect. Additionally, it was really cheap, which I appreciated, since we were all sampling martinis with our meals, which were a little pricey.
We also got an order of the crab rangoons, which were excellent: creamy on the inside, and crisp and crunchy on the outside.
Our waitress Kiki tried really, really hard to keep on top of drink refills and delivering the non-hibachi orders to our table, but it seemed like they had her working with our group, and also another table farther down in the restaurant, so I felt bad that she had to keep running back and forth. She was also really sweet about taking a group picture for us after we were done with our meals.
The sushi was quite good overall. They have a lot of specialty rolls on their menu, but we were trying to keep our dinner a bit light, so we went with a few standards (California, spicy tuna, and shrimp tempura rolls). We did try one order of the 'beauty and the beast' roll, which had avocado, tuna, salmon, and yellowtail. It was super meaty and delicious. Next time, I swear I'm going to try the Steeler roll just because I'm that much of a yinzer. :)
One thing I found odd was that occasionally, these rainbow-colored lights on the ceiling would flash and the music would shift to some loud, peppy song. After about the third time this happened, I was able to make out that the song was "Happy Birthday," apparently sung in Japanese. I know this makes me a supreme nerd, but I like the idea that on your birthday at Ichiban, they give you a few moments to feel like you are the star of an Anime film. I kind of wished they had a 'bon voyage' version of that to play at our table!
Some pointers if you're going to try Ichiban:
~ The one at the Waterworks is actually IN the strip mall. I almost drove right past it, thinking it was going to be one of the standalone restaurants across the parking lot. That said, the interior is SO much classier than I would have expected from a strip mall restaurant.
~ They do coupons in things like Clipper magazine. We had a coupon for 15% off our sushi order, but there are also deals like 10% off your hibachi order, and free stuff on your birthday.
~ If you're doing a big group event, you can arrange to bring your own cake. We did a 'bon voyage' cake for our guest of honor, and they sliced it for us and everything.
All in all, I liked it. We are searching for a replacement for our favorite sushi place here in Squirrel Hill, which just closed. I don't know if we'll make the drive over to Waterworks again soon, but I thought the place was just as good as pricier hibachi/sushi places like Nakama.
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