Ichiro Izakaya Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Came here for my birthday reservation with my mum and made a booking online. When we walked in, my booking wasn’t acknowledged or asked about- and we were shown to a seat and told to order through the ipad.

I ordered a matcha latte (looked good in the photos) $5.50

Kaisen nabe (hotpot) with description of hokkaido prawns, salmon, and ‘local king prawns’, soba, tofu, and vegetables $50

Unagi teishoku set- comes with miso soup, rice, salad, and fried dishes $27

Icecream - matcha and sesame with ‘season al fruits’ $10

I received the matcha latte first..being a big fan of matcha ..I could tell by the colour it wasn’t authentic and this was confirmed by the overly sweet taste. I did not finish it all and would not recommend ordering it. -10/10.

I have no issues with the unagi don - as i feel it is decent for the price

Kaisen Nabe came in drips and drabs and the fire went out mid meal and I to ask for a replacement fire as we had to cook the soba ourselves. The staff did not tell me us any instructions on when to add in noodles and the raw seafood until I asked. We also had to request for bowls and extra chopsticks for handling the raw seafood. When asked about if the seafood was safe to eat raw, the waiter replied “the scallops and salmon are sashimi grade, but the prawns need to be cooked” as they are frozen. This was a bit disappointing given they advertise they are local prawns on their ipad? I did not have the sashimi raw (as I’ve recently come out of hospital)- however, mum did and got a stomach straight after our meal. She said it didn’t taste fresh. We cooked the rest inside the hotpot.

My mum liked the black sesame icecream, but I felt the matcha was average and nothing special. Seasonal fruits included only one strawberry… We didn’t finish the icecream.

Overall, the staff were attentive only if you call them on the ipad and they will take their time getting to you (despite it not being busy when we came). I liked the general asethetics of the restaurant, but I was let down by the bad matcha latte and disappointing hotpot experience leading to a stomachache for my mum.

I am not sure if I would come again, definitely will be avoiding the matcha latte and hotpot in the future however. I might just stick to my...

Summary: Overall experience was nice however I do believe this place is overhyped as the food was nice but nothing special. The food is quite your typical Japanese izakaya menu. I reccomend Calia as a much better experience for service, atmosphere and price and is indeed cheaper than ichiro.

Food talk: I ordered the unagi set meal and it was nice maybe just a bit too much sauce. Also tried their sushi platter and takoyaki. Again it was nice but nothing special. This is important as they are pricing themselves at a premium price point but I don't believe the price is justified for a "nice".

Portion sizes were alright for the set meal however the sushi platter and takoyaki were alright.

Conclusion: I personally would not be coming back here due to the price point. Service and ambience were nice but again nothing special with the food at that price.

Note: They no longer have ramen on the menu. They offer payment in cash discounts(gotta incentive paying with cash for you know ;)) surcharges on the card.

Reply edit: They mentioned they don't do surcharges yetI was told by their staff I would incur a 10% surcharge fee if I paid via card. They justified their price points as not being part of the sushi court yet their standards and quality still did not justify their prices. There are other restaurants such as Calia offering a much better menu, price to quality. They mention not being special but on their website, they claim to have "...as well as some unique creation..." Honestly kinda surprised they have this much time to gaslight customers. Their staff told me that card is 10% surcharge when I...

One of the best Japanese restaurants in Melbourne✨

I’ve been here multiple times for lunch, and have tried many different things:

The bento box sets (teishoku), while a little pricey, is really delicious. You can choose from pork Katsu to Unagi and it comes with some fried dishes, rice, miso soup, and a salad. Every one of these items were delicious.

(But…! In these bento sets, the mushroom salad has recently replaced the old potato mush salad - I would love for that salad to come back as an option as that was much more delicious in my opinion)

2.All the ramen, especially the Angus beef ramen, are incredible. They are must tries and I can honestly say I have tried each and every one of the ramen to make this review.

The soft shell crab taco was very nice too, but I do note that the wasabi mayo was a little overwhelming in my opinion, as to almost take over the flavour of the soft shell crab. That said, the crispiness and freshness of the dish was superb.

The Matcha Latte is nice and very visually appealing, but it might be good to just lower the proportion of milk a little bit for more matcha flavour!

In all, I reiterate, this place is a must try if you are near the area, and it’s definitely one of my top few Japanese restaurants...