Ichika-Sushi & Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Melbourne

So many people told me to try it here as it's really good, and I do love Japanese food, so I imagined I was going to love it. However, apart from the pretty decor and ambiance and the friendly/helpful staff, the food was a bit of a let down for me. Maybe I'm used to the flavours where I frequent, but I just didn't enjoy this the way I usually enjoy Japanese food, sadly. We ordered a few dishes so we could try a whole bunch of things and share and while that was a good idea, neither finished everything. I had the Salmon Roses, which while they looked pretty, were jam packed with house brand mayonnaise which was way too rich and strong in flavour and subtracted from the actual sushi. The tempura salmon was nice, but a bit floury and the salmon tataki had a strong sauce which just didn't sit well with my taste buds. The worst was the Crazy Salmon rolls, which were so lacklustre and disappointing. They had a similar taste to the tataki, which again, just didn't appeal to my palate. I can definitely understand that this is just a personal thing, so I don't blame the restaurant at all. Maybe I'm just a fusspot. But the one thing they did which I must say I hated, was bring EVERYTHING out almost in one big go, and on a table for two, there was no room to put any more dishes, yet they kept piling them on. We were in and out of there in under half an hour on a Saturday night. I'd definitely recommend to people that love Japanese food to at least give it a go, but I wouldn't rave about it, nor would I rush back. At least if I ever did come back, I'd know to order just two dishes at once, and then order more, so they don't bombard you with plates upon plates all...

Arrived with an EatClub booking and thank goodness we did.

This is a place with takeaway sushi /sashimi counter service with some external seatings and some internal seatings for dine in. Can’t grab some sushi rolls to add to dine in experience and only realised why later when we left ( pricing was different to dine in prices)

Everything on the dine in menu was overly expensive for what it is. They don’t have much noodles dishes except for one or 2 ramen bowls and a soba salad.

We decided to try their lunch bento menu - Eye fillet set and Katsu chicken set. Both arrived with miso soup and sides of bento (salad w sesame dressing/ 2 gyoza /2 tuna nigiri) were same except for the main protein.

My eye fillet steak has seen better days. It is the thinnest piece of meat I have ever seen. Maybe less than 1cm thick? And smaller than my palm. ( definitely not like pictured in menu) The teriyaki? sauce that the steak sat in (not selected, came as default) was overly salty.

The rice came not in a standard serve either. It’s half a Chinese bowl served in a Japanese dessert bowl. The texture of the rice, I couldn’t work out if it’s short grain or just standard jasmine rice.

The Katsu chicken set was better with their protein size. But the crumbing on the outside might have made it look bigger.

How they can justify the pricing is beyond me. I’m glad we ate at a discounted pricing but even discounted, the value of the bento set remains questionable. We left the place still hungry after a bento set! Will not be returning for that kind of serving sizes with the prices they were charging.

Service was good. Prompt and polite but the food serving sizes...

Enjoyed lunch at Ichika today. The service was lovely, we sat outside and people watched while enjoying some very tasty sushi dishes. We chose the Salmon Platter which had a combination of salmon sashimi, prawn and salmon sushi rolls wit avocado, salmon roses, and we switched the salmon nigiri for Aburi salmon. It was all presented beautifully and tasted fresh and delicious! We also added the Rainbow Roll Reloaded which was also really yummy. We tried the pork gyoza and while the dipping sauce had a lovely ginger flavor, the gyoza themselves were not very flavorful. We would definitely go back and try more of their dishes. A lovely lunch spot...