Ichigo Ichie — Restaurant in East Providence

BEWARE IF YOU ARE WITH A LARGE PARTY

I went to this restaurant tonight with a group of about 16 ppl for my friends birthday. We were crammed at a hibachi table with another party of 4, all because they did not want to turn another flat top on for our large group. A few ppl from this group mentioned how we were very tight and asked if we could get a different table and the manager “Paul” just gave everyone blank stares. This is not why I am giving a 1 star though.

My first question to the waiter before he even took drink orders was if we could tell him how we were going to split the bill. He said he would take care of all that later on, which was fine. Everyone ordered and we saw the “show” that wasn’t very good and we were able to tell the waiter how we were splitting the bill. My bill consisted of 3 ppl in total, one of which’s order was screwed up but we made no big deal about it. Come time for the checks the waiter confused most of the checks and also did not split most of them correctly. We sat and waited for a bit and then when we asked other ppl in our group about the checks they said our food was put on the wrong checks. Since we all know each other we said we would take care of it the next day and send whatever money we needed to whoever paid our food. We didn’t want to say anything to the waiter as he messed up so many checks and looked overwhelmed. We sat a while after we were done eating and then said good bye to my friend who’s birthday it was and stayed talking to her a bit before leaving. When we got outside we also stayed talking for a bit before leaving the parking lot. My brother, whom was one of the ppl that was supposed to be on my check then gets a call from his friend saying they were being told they couldn’t find the check that was supposed to be for my group of 3. My brother explained that we were told our food was put on someone else’s check and that we would be giving that person the money for our food. By this point we were on our way home on the highway and he told his friend that since they screwed everything up they just needed to look at what they had to find our food. About half an hour later my brother gets a call from another person that was there saying the manager “Paul” called her and told her that we did not pay for our food and he had us on video and if we didn’t call to pay he would be turning the video over to the police.

By this point I was furious. So I called the restaurant and spoke to “Paul”. I told him how his waiter messed up all the checks and we were told that our food ended up on another check. I told him that for him to say he was going to report us to the cops was way out of line. I told him we never got a check and he proceeded to tell me that we did. That it was placed in front of us and that we must have not seen it. It’s funny how the check was supposedly placed in front of us but when my brother was called the first time they said they couldn’t find our check. We were never given anything. We were 3 and all 3 of us didn’t see a check that was placed in front of us?? I think not. So when I spoke to “Paul” he completely disregarded what I was saying every time I mentioned the cop thing. He just kept saying it was a misunderstanding. I paid the stupid check, which I might add had a 20% tip tacked onto it. I paid $108 for 3 dinners (no drinks) where their was a crappy show, crappy waiter and on top of that I was threatened with action from law enforcement. Who the hell runs this establishment and is okay with having paying customers treated like this? Needless to say I won’t go back to this place again and will share my experience with...

Had an event in rhode island and drove up from CT. Hibachi is something we all can eat with adults, teens, and kids. Parking lot was pretty full. We took it as a good sign the place is popular. Walking in, you're greeted by a waterfall. Thought there'd be fish, but were none :( . We went to host and were seated pretty fast as our whole party (4) was there. We ate at the hibachi table. Our table was soon filled with about 2 or 3 other parties. One thing that bothered me was that the tables went straight to the floor with no foot test or anything, and the chairs don't have a foot rest either. Yet the chairs are tall, so your feet just barely touch the ground (I'm 5'9"), and I really just wanted them to be rested on either the ground or a foot rest. Back to the service- We ordered edamame for appetizers and I got a seaweed salad. The beans were cold. Tasted like they were frozen and reheated but not even fully. I make them better at home. The seaweed salad was okay. They served us a nice soup (which was welcome bc it was chilly inside) and a salad with a tasty ginger dressing. Then came the show with the cook. I wasn't really in the mood for it but I've learned you get better food at the hibachi table than ordering table service at these types of places. We had the kids hibachi with chicken, and 3 regular dishes with shrimp and chicken, shrimp and scallops, and one with just salmon. We got rice and veggies with that. We had a decent serving of food. But i must say at other hibachi ive been to, it's been quite a lot more, and also usually with rice AND noodles. We didn't have much to doggy bag. I asked the server secretly if they could sing happy birthday to my nephew. He got fried ice cream, and the other had cheese cake. Everyone left with full bellies. But the two of us that had the shrimp also left with bubbly stomach! Uh-oh! But all in all, it was a good vibe, the staff was nice, friendly, and accommodating. I thought it was going to be bad because of some of the reviews, but it was decent. I'd possibly go back if in the neighborhood and...

TL;DR: Used to be good but they are in "business" to process as many people through the place as they can and the staff do not care about your experience. I've found a better place in Taunton.

Before Covid, this place was great. After Covid, it has been a frustrating experience the last 3-4 times.

The service at this place is now so bad that I will no longer be patronizing them. We were a party of 6 and I made the reservation earlier hoping service would be better but it wasn't, actually slightly worse. We were put at a table overcrowded by 1. You'd think it wouldn't matter but they portion they food for normal occupancy so all of the rice, veggies, and noodles were off. I ordered noodles and didn't receive any until I told the chef I was skipped.

The wait staff couldn't care less it seems. She came to take drink and food orders, then to bring drinks. We didn't see her again until mid-meal where she only attended to part of the people at 2 full +1 grills and myself and 3 others were never attended to again. Except of course to deliver the bill which they included a 20% tip that they didn't earn. I was out of water and walked to the bar to get it myself.

The chefs are pretty good but I feel like their 'performance' has declined slightly but not to the point of boring. The chef we had messed up the portions and NO ONE received the two-shimp appetizer.

In a previous visit, we went much later when they were really busy, when are these places not swamped? Waitress was MIA for most of the meal and the support staff bringing soup, salad and clearing plates were all young kids with Air Pods in their ears. One kid cleaning plate was actively in a phone conversation. Seriously!? You're at work get off of the phone.

I won't go back unless management makes changes but I suspect the people they hire just don't care about the diners. When they include the tip, where is the incentive to deliver quality service?

YMMV

Wish we could go back to pre-Covid when things were good and...