Ichiban — Restaurant in Brent

Ichiban and Kal-bi ichiban used to be my favorite, but something has happened in the last year that really sent them downhill. We decided to give Ichiban a try for lunch today after a very lackluster experience as Kal-bi back in September. After today, I almost don’t even want to eat sushi anymore.

To start, their restaurant is way too cold. It was 61 degrees, and my husband and I were freezing even while wearing long sleeves and sweaters.

We got a seaweed salad and a ginger salad to start. The seaweed salad was the best thing we ate. It was really good. The ginger salad missed the mark. It’s normally my favorite, but they’ve added a spice to the ginger salad that overpowers the ginger flavor and made it less than amazing.

Then we got our sushi. Again, I’ve always considered this company to make the best sushi in town. I’ve spent many special occasions here. But no more. My husband got his fried and true Louisiana roll, and they have completely ruined this roll. It used to be topped with a piece of spicy tuna. Now they use some sort of minced tuna paste that almost looks like it comes out of a can. The taste of it is not good. The main part of the roll, the crawfish tails, was obviously frozen. We understand that’s normal, but these tasted like they’d been stored for way too long. They had the taste crawfish get when they’ve started to turn.

I got the dirty old man. The roll itself tasted no different than a convenience store California roll. The fish on top and the sauce it was tossed in was no better. The sauce was extremely salty, and the majority of the fish must have been smoked salmon. The flavor was too overpowering and not how I remember the roll tasting the last time I got it. Also, the rice was still took warm and the roll was not rolled tight enough so it was falling apart as I tried to eat it.

The only good part of our experience was the service. Our waitress was very kind and attentive and offered to remake my husbands roll when I said it didn’t taste right. At that point, though, we just wanted to be done with our meal because we were disappointed and freezing cold.

ETA: since we paid for the food however bad it was and took our leftovers home, I decided to at least give it a second try. I was picking apart the sushi rolls because obviously old rice is hard and not the most appetizing, so I was just going to eat the fish inside the rolls. I discovered exactly why the Louisiana roll tasted so poorly: some of the crawfish inside it were ROTTEN. I am...

We were seated immediately upon arrival at 6:05 on a Tuesday evening. We didn’t realize that they have sushi roll specials on Tuesday evenings from 5 PM until close. If you buy one roll you get the second one for 1/2 off. What a cool deal!

Manuel was our very friendly and helpful server. He put my skeptical mom at ease with his wonderful descriptions of several dishes and his genial demeanor. Mom wanted salmon, but after reading the descriptions, she doubted that she would enjoy any of the various salmon dishes. Manuel suggested a particular dish and promised her that they would prepare her salmon anyway that she desired. This allayed her fears in ways that I could not. With my coaxing and his amiable demeanor, I was able to persuade her to try something different.

We started with the edamame, which I absolutely loved. Their version was not salty and had a slight peppery spice (not hot) that really enhanced the taste of the soybeans. It wasn’t overpowering, nor did it make my tongue throb (like the edamame that some restaurants serve) when I finished eating them. For this I was pleasantly surprised. Also, I really appreciated that Manuel brought a compact waste container for our soybean hulls.

Of the offered accompaniments that come with each entree, my mom chose the cucumber salad and I chose the miso soup. The cucumbers were served in a slightly acidic, sweet, water-based liquid. It was so delicious that not only did my mom eat all of the cucumbers, she wanted to drink the liquid from the bowl once she’d finished. Lol! Only etiquette prevented- I certainly didn’t. Life is too short not to enjoy anything that brings you pleasure. My miso soup also was delicious. With the pleasant flavors of these light appetizers, I was eager to sample the main course.

My noodle dish with chicken did not disappoint. My mom’s salmon 🍣 entree, ordered with Manuel’s suggestions, was amazing. The presentation was beautiful and the flavors were wonderful. My mom was so focused on eating that she didn’t talk to me anymore for the remainder of our dinner. lol! That’s normally what happens when a good salmon dish is placed in front of her.

I am so glad that I encountered my mom to try something different and that I choose to...

Words cannot describe how disgusted I am with the food, service, and general overall experience of Ichiban in Pensacola. Out of any duty station, this was hands down the worst. My husband and I wanted to celebrate my graduation and try somewhere new, big mistake. We should have known when even our waitress said, "we make the fried rice in the morning, so if you want it fresh I wouldn't get it here." We were already seated so we overlooked it and ordered the fried calamari for an app, which was mediocre at best. Waiting on our sushi rolls to come out, the manager came over to refill our drinks reaches her whole arm across the table with the pitcher to fill them...though that would be the least of our worries. Our rolls come out, and we started to try each of them with only one roll being edible out of six.

At this point we decided to speak to the manager and inform her about the poor quality of food, the dirty plate we received, the dust and flies all around us on the trim at eye level and on the light above the table. She blankly stared back at us for a moment and proceeded to inform us that she knows for a fact that the food is fresh and kept in an ice chest and that the owner tells her that sometimes people order food that they don't like and the best she could do was 20 percent off and she shouldn't even be giving us that. Needless to say, I offered to pay for what was eaten multiple times, but that I would not pay for inedible food. By the end of going back and forth with the manager, we we ended up having to pay 80 dollars for food we didn't even eat. She didn't even have the decency to come back with my card, she sent our original waitress and avoided us until we left. The whole experience was disgusting and disappointing...we will never be going back here and will not recommend...