Sapporo Ichiban — Restaurant in New York

I’ve been combining here over the last 6 years, sometimes have my business meet ups here. It was always an easy go spot- good lunch deals.

However I was left pretty disappointed with an experience there. We chose this spot to celebrate my 13year old for his birthday, who loves sushi and wanted fried fish very cream for his birthday.

We sat in the garden and ordered a bunch of rolls appetizers and an order of fried rice. Veggie fried rice.

The fried rice came when the sushi was just about done, but one bite and it was soooo spicy none of my kids could eat it. I was confused because it’s just fried rice. Turns out it had jalepeños in it. Not a typical ingredients in fried rice and one I would’ve definitely flagged since I cannot eat jalapeños or any pepper for that matter. Not only do I have a nightshade sensitivity. I have a pollen allergy that limits me from eating most fruits. Again something I’ve been able to navigate very well for the past 20 years.

When none of the fried rice was eaten on the waitress came over I said we cannot eat it this because it has jalapeños in it it’s really spicy. Can we just get the dessert menu?and her reply was well you should’ve told me beforehand “ i said, but it didn’t list that there was jalapeños. He brings over the menu and she points to small lettering that says list your allergies. And I said I get that and I have lots of allergies too much to list. Whether I’m very careful what I order and I’ve never had fried rice that was made with jalapeños, unless it was a specialty rice and it listed you guys should be listing this unusual ingredient.

She replies well we can’t take it off the bill.

So I reply I’m not paying for this

She goes back I guess to speak to the manager and she comes back and she says well we’ll remake it for you

At that point, I’m frustrated. I said I don’t want you to remake it and I don’t want dessert just cancel.

I paid I tipped her. And I’m so turned off to go back to the space that are so incredibly petty. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry a long time. My husband is a chef and I’ve never.

when I arrived at the restaurant and sat down, they were three other tables every table had carafes with lemon cucumber water and she brings us instead 5 cups of regular tapwater so I said can we have the cucumber lemon water everybody else has. It’s important to know we’re the only obvious Latino family there, everyone else being white and it’s hard to think that this wasn’t a race thing.

I was most upset that we went here to celebrate my son’s 13th birthday and we didn’t even get to have dessert and sing happy...

Okay. I'll admit it: I'm not objective when it comes to Sapporo Ichiban.

Frankie, the owner, has run a sushi restaurant in Williamsburg/Greenpoint for just about 30 years. He's still there making sushi many nights, though thankfully he's brought on and mentored some talented staff.

I've been going there for almost 20 years, and had many important moments in my life there.

Here's the thing: This is all because it's a FANTASTIC place.

It's a sushi place. They make everything pretty well... Ramen, Tempura.... But it's a SUSHI place, and the sushi is AMAZING.

Is there better sushi in NYC?. Yes, of course.

Is there better sushi reliably in NYC within several miles for anything approaching normal-people prices? Not even close.

Wednesday is fish day.... So maybe don't go Tuesday and order giant chunks of tuna, but everything else is amazing.

Presentation is always efficient but good. They're fast unless they're slammed. The free sake is always a bonus.

I like the special sashimi, the blackened tuna appetizer, the eternal love roll and the ume shiso roll. They're famous for the Hamachi kama.

Please just do us all a favor and give Franky all your money? I effing dare anyone to really go toe to toe on quality, speed, price, reliability and presentation... For SUSHI. It's a...

the food is pretty great! i love coming here for the food especially the lunch special but the female worker who works at the front needs to have some customer service training. she always has an attitude whenever i order and she never says thank you nor you’re welcome nor anything. she has no manners. she’s not just rude to me but my friends who also order from here and she’s rude to my coworkers. she has a serious attitude problem. if you’re going to work in a food serving business then customer service should be considered when handling customer orders. i always try to be nice and kind even when the female workers are being impatient and are projecting their attitude with me but they just continue with their attitude. one time my friend was ordering and wanted to know what her dish came with and the girl gave her so much sass and such a weird rude tone which switched up the entire vibe for us. she’s really the one who has a bad attitude… everyone else is pretty kind and overall the food and place is nice and so i will continue ordering and buying from this establishment but please consider some customer service training for the young lady...