Ichiban — Restaurant in England

The food was pretty good but there was a bunch of really big red flags. First of all; the servers in there were not very friendly. We walked in and a man came over but seemed to be very annoyed? Was stomping around and slamming things. It put us off a bit but we carried on.

We had quite a big order and wrote it down so we knew what we had ordered and read it out to the guy. He didn’t do a check back.

We got some of our sides and the kimchi was amazing but the chicken kari agi could’ve been much better - more crispy. 2 of the bowls of ramen arrived, my duck ramen was really good but the vegi ramen was a bit bland but overall quite good.

We waited quite awhile before we decided to ask for the 3rd ramen dish we’d ordered and the sushi dish. It seemed that our original guy had incorrectly taken down our order and so the ramen hadn’t been made yet. The manager was very polite and apologetic which we appreciated greatly.

The sushi came out first and was very very good. However, when our final duck ramen came out, it was very hot. Mine had been perfect temperature but this one was much hotter. This wasn’t a safety hazard but it alluded to it being microwaved. The duck also tasted funny compared to the original, which was very disappointing for my friend who’d already had to wait far too long.

At some point we asked the manager about the seemingly angry waiter. While we could see that she was just trying to be polite, she could only say that he was confused due to too many customers. Honestly the restaurant was not that full but we weren’t going to argue with her because she was so polite and apologetic.

Overall, the experience wasn’t that great. I seriously think that staff need to undergo retraining to improve their service standards. I work in the service industry myself so I understand how stressful and difficult it can be to maintain a restaurant, provide quality food and keep customers happy. It is still unacceptable to provide this quality of service, especially when we spent the better part...

Not quite four stars but more than three. Had lunch here today and was pleasantly surprised. They do a delivery service but before we try that wanted to see what they were like and see if it was just a re-branding of the old JADE PALACE. it isn't but didn't see any Japanese staff. They do 20% off for lunch so that was a bonus. We had vegetable tempura, the batter was not white and quite greasy but tasted good. Honey cooked ribs, very good. And we shared three main courses, chicken Udon noodle soup, chicken Ramen noodle, green Thai curry and egg fried rice. Both the ramen and udon were extremely bland. Just like weak chicken stock with a teaspoonful of miso paste. Nothing like the Ramen and Noodle soups we've enjoyed for years in the far east. Had to add plenty of soy sauce and chili powder, which was on the table. The chicken was fresh and real. Not that annoying chicken from catering packs that nearly all Chinese and Indian restaurants use these days. Unfortunately it looked and tasted as it had been cooked and flash fried separately before just being being added to the dish before serving. The Thai Green curry was excellent though, great bite to it. And the egg fried rice and the container it was served in. Good sized portions, 10 out of 10. We had a full bottle of Chilean Chardonnay (18) which came perfectly chilled. What you would expect for £18. The whole bill came to £43.40 and we rounded it up to £50 as service is not included. Can't complain about that price and will definitely order...

Myself and my wife regularly ate here but we will no longer be after our shocking experience today. My wife's meal contained what was obviously a white hair; her hair was coloured a few days back and is a lot longer than the hair we found so it could not be hers. The staff examined the hair which had a bulb as hair strands do, and tried to convince us that it was not hair but "how the food always came" - my wife always orders this same meal and I explained it had never come like this before (with a white hair strand in the prawn batter). They would only reluctantly offer a 10% discount on the entire meal which amounted to a few pounds, and the manager went as far as saying "I'm damn sure it is not a hair" in an aggressive tone, which was rude and unnecessary - we at no point raised our voices or used poor language; we were shocked that we were being spoken to in this way. After I repeatedly expressed my unhappiness with the whole experience, another staff member reluctantly removed the dish from our bill, but only because other diners were looking at what was happening. Ichiban staff need a lesson in customer service if this is how they treat their customers, let alone local regulars. We will never eat here again. Spend your hard earned money somewhere else. I've never experienced anything like this in any other restaurant. Eat here if you want the staff to insult your...