Ichibon Seafood & Steakhouse — Restaurant in Pasadena

My daughter and myself happened upon this location one day after shopping a several months ago. We were seated promptly however, the servers were a little slow in taking our orders. We were the only ones at the table as it was the middle of the day. Our chef however, was extremely knowledgeable and made sure our food was cooked to perfection just as we wanted it. He put on a spectacular show and made us laugh the entire time. After our food was served, he made sure he asked if we needed anything else and if our food was to our expectations. After such a delightful experience, we decided to return a couple weeks later. To our disappointment that particular chef was not working so we had another cook for us. It was horrible compared to our previous experience. The food was absolutely bland, no flavor no nothing. The chef was monotone in his performance and we didn't even finish our food. After careful consideration a couple weeks later, we decided to take our chances again and go back to see if the original chef was there. When we arrived, my daughter described him to the hostess and she told us he was there. He remembered us from our first time there, and again, we had an exceptional experience. At that time, we did find out who this young talented chef was so that in the future we could call ahead to make sure he was scheduled to be working. There has been a few times, that he was not working that we took our chances and used other chefs, and each time led to disappointment as the food never has any flavor. Ichibon has become our family favorite restaurant and we will continue to visit weekly provided that our food is prepared only by Mark. We recommend to all of our friends and family to go there and request him as their chef so that they will not be disappointed in the entertainment but more importantly the food. This young man takes pride in the way he cooks for others...

Went for the first time today at noon with my sons. I convinced them Hibachi would be fun. They are young 6 and 8 kinda picky when it comes to food.

Service was friendly, the place was clean bathrooms as well. Our server was nice and patient with us.

The place was practically empty they opened not long ago. We sat and ordered our food. I had the shaggy dog pretty good shared with my youngest. My sons had the 6pc Asian wings they looked great, the boys liked it.

The calamari they wanted to try it and liked it. I had some too, not bad wasn't a fan of the cocktail sauce tasted like straight ketchup.

Tempura they give you 2 pieces of shrimp and I think it was 4 different types of vegetables. I gave the boys the shrimp and had the veggies I liked it.

Oh they give you a complimentary crab salad. I'm pretty sure it's imitation crab that wasn't bad, but too much dressing for me. However I liked the flavor.

Hibachi time! We had two other ladies sitting at the table with us. Our chef comes out. Great energy, happy, making jokes with all of us. The boys were taken by surprise by the flames of fire it was quite big lol and they do the volcanoe thing with the onion.

I ordered the steak with fried rice. The rice is a separate charge though, was unaware of that, but it was less than 4 bucks. It also comes with some mixed veggies as well with it. The boys also had fountain drinks water for me.

The bill was less than 80 so about 25 bucks each per person or so. I also had leftovers from the hibachi the portioning is generous too me.

There probably was a kid menu section but I was more into the sharing. I did add tip as well. I had a great time. If you wanna avoid a lot of people and waiting...

Some of the best, most reasonably priced and well prepared Japanese food in the Houston area. The sushi, in taste, quality and variety, is top flight and not over priced as you might expect from some establishments. Also their hibachi, whether sitting at a grill or a sushi side table is excellently prepared and some of the best I've had even considering my rather extensive travels of the US. Also, it must be noted that their tempura is perfection and the kitchen will work with you regarding special orders of the veggies. If you want only zucchini, or half onion half sweet potato, or perhaps you just want to see to it that no bell pepper tempura makes it onto your plate either due to preference or allergy concern the kitchen will make it happen. If you're eating at the NASA area location (which is slightly heads above the other locations since the one in Kemah closed) and your dining sushi side ask for Tina; she is an older Japanese woman that excels at customer service to the point that your order is spot on and if you eat there often enough and have lunch time constraints she will get you drink order to the table as you are being seated because she has it memorized. Definitely try this restaurant because I sincerely doubt, if you like Japanese cuisine, you could be at all...