Ichigo Ichie Bistro and Natural Wine — Restaurant in Cork

Went here for my birthday, first experience in a Michelin star restaurant and it was not what I expected. Big fan and regular of Miyazaki so was keen for the "official" experience.

Most importantly, food was delicious. To be totally honest I can't remember the names of the dishes - we had to google half of the ingredients to see what the hell we were ordering, which was fun. A few really distinct and surprising flavours that I hadn't tried before. I'm keen to go back just to try some other options. Quite reasonable prices too!

Less importantly, but still important - service was not good. We waited a while to be seated and served, it was quite slow. They mistook our starter order and we were given more starters than we ordered, but ate them anyway because we thought feck it, let's try new things, and the guy seemed sound. When the small bottle of sake came out, yerman spilled some of it and said nothing (which was basically half a cup). We were planning on ordering a couple of mains then and then maybe one more after to share, depending on the size. We were told a bit contemptuously by another staff member that we couldn't do that, we "need to order now because they were closing the kitchen". As if we weren't kept waiting to begin with. And when we said "Ah that's a shame we planned on trying another dish after" the response was "yes, well this is why I am telling you now, that you need to order now. Ok. So do you want food?". Fierce attitude like. They screwed up the order on the bill too and we weren't charged for the two mains (around €40). We decided to tell them in case the staff got in trouble, wanted to do the right thing and all. The response was just like "ok thanks". Not looking for a fanfare or anything, but maybe a "sorry about that", maybe "here, we only charged you for one of the mains as our thanks", or "here's a small complementary glass of prosecco for being honest". Other restaurants would have done that. From beginning to end the service had us laughing in disbelief and going "seriously!?".

Finally - call me crazy but I would expect the general cleanliness of a Michelin star restaurant to be a bit better. We were laughing at seeing like three different insects over the course of the meal, there was even a Michelin star spider just over our table. I've been in much cleaner places with half the status. The bathroom doors also took a lot of effort to lock properly (maybe it was by design to deter people from enjoying those fancy warm-seated Japanese...

This was a long awaited experience since our son related his experience of the taster menu in its Michelin days. So we returned for his birthday. Parking was an issue and after searching for a nearby spot we eventually parked in the Lancaster Quay car park, resulting in us being 7 minutes late. We were shown to our table and presented with menus. We chose from the day's specials. Starter and main course, drinks all ordered within 10minutes of arrival. There followed a 28 minute wait for starters, followed by 17 min for maincourse. Having completed our maincourse a waiter approached us asking us did we want a dessert/tea, coffe. We said yes, it was after all a birthday celebration. Next thing a waitress arrived, told us our time was up, asked us to pay the proffered bill and presented the card machine. We pointed out that we wanted a dessert and coffee or at least a coffee and we were told no, we needed to vacate the table. We pointed out that almost an hour of our time in the restaurant had elapsed due to time ordering and very slow service...the response was 'sorry, problems in the kitchen' but there people waiting for the table to become vacant. We said problems with service could not be used to request people to leave before their meal was complete. We said we would leave once we had a tea/coffee. That took a further 15 minutes to arrive. We then asked for an updated bill and were told the 2 teas and 1 coffee were complimentary. Some gesture after telling us to leave part way through a meal and having destroyed the night! Was it worth it?, was it special? Not really despite the hassle. Food was nice, different, but having spent 10 years in the East doing business, nothing exceptional. I have had far superior meals in Tokyo and Shanghai. Will we return?...not a hope, we dont like being given a slot to eat, especially with half the slot eroded by poor service. Finally, shame on the Management for sending young serving staff out to do their dirty work. Management need to sort out this delayed service issue which appears to be an ongoing issue from reading...

A deeply disappointing dining experience — not recommended.

This was, unfortunately, one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in Ireland. The issues started immediately upon arrival — despite having a reservation, no staff greeted or guided us to our table. With only two other tables occupied throughout our entire visit, it was unclear why we were asked to arrive at the oddly specific time of 5:15.

We were placed at a bar counter that had no activity whatsoever — no bartender, no food prep — just an empty, static space. Strangely, we were squeezed next to two other guests with plenty of open seating elsewhere, making the experience feel unnecessarily cramped.

The restaurant doesn’t offer a set menu — everything is à la carte — which made the rigid 5:15 or 9:00 p.m. booking slots seem arbitrary. The ambiance was also disappointing: loud music and a noisy environment that didn’t remotely reflect the serene or refined atmosphere you might expect from a Japanese dining experience.

What stood out most — and not in a good way — was one of the servers talking loudly and non-stop to the guests beside us. Her voice dominated the entire space, making it nearly impossible for us to have any conversation of our own. We had come for a special occasion, and instead, spent the evening feeling frustrated and unable to enjoy the moment.

The food and drinks were average at best. While the pricing wasn’t outrageous, the overall quality did not justify the cost. And as a final note: don’t bother dressing up — the restaurant allows people in flip-flops, which really takes away from any sense of occasion. If you arrive dressed for a nice evening out, you’ll likely feel awkward and out of place.

One last detail: if you're aiming for an authentic Japanese experience, please don’t serve sake in whiskey tumblers — it felt careless and out of place.

Overall, this was a missed opportunity and not somewhere I would return...