Kalbi Ichiban — Restaurant in Pensacola

The fish is absolutely the most amazingly fresh fish ever! Sushi men at the bar know what they are doing and the standards for "fresh" are great here! We were extremely pleased with that aspect! We got to over hear one of the guys at the bar sniffing a fish saying it didn't smell fresh and another gentlemen say it was that days load... The guy slung it in the trash!👏👏 I have shellfish allergies, the other 2 people eating do not. The chefs were able to keep soft shell crabs, crawfish, and all sorts of deadlies away from me at the same table, just because of proper handling and plating. I was able to safely eat fried sushi roll piece here also, just FYI for those wondering just how clean are they...... AMAZINg!🤯 The greeter/hostess (and also the one who said goodbye to us) was wonderful and sweet, we loved the coffee candy! We really enjoyed trying different sakis and even trying different beers. I got to try a jasmine saki🤯 Mango nigori better lol. I love that at one point; I'm sure it might have been a manager or even the owner, caught my eyes looking around the room to see if I could snatch some chopsticks from a bar and he asked what he could get. He grabbed us all chopsticks and dipping cups! He ALSO brought out water just because he saw we were out with not only water but a lemon that none of us had ever gotten which was very nice. Which brings me to my only complaint/suggestion.... Our waitress was gone most of the time. She actually left the table TWICE during taking our order. She CONTINUED to try and leave after each person gave their order also. Which made my boyfriend "afraid to order because she looked mad we ordered so much food".... which really sucked as he tried to throw out random sushi rolls to a waitress we couldn't find. Have I mentioned there were only 3 of us. I needed water but the pitcher pours more ice then water at a certain point and when the 2 sips are gone.... And so was she.... It just will be better with better glasses or people pouring water properly instead of filling glasses with all ice and no room for water. We came to eat and spend money.... At a point my boyfriend again was left staring at the bar waiting for his Asihi beer so he could have it with a special roll he ordered. So .... Some issues in wait staff. It's never a good idea to stop or slow people down spending money, having to tell a waitress 'wait he has to order.... 'Wait he has to order.... Our bill was more then $225, we got their at 4pm. The end of the meal was finished off by her disappearing FOREVER after delivering the bill ... then reappearing with open arms saying "oooooh here I am...." She bent down next to me, looked at my stomache and said "are you celebrating mother's day tomorrow?" And I kinda looked at her funny and she motioned at all the sushi and the shrapnel of our table (lol) and said "like celebrating!?" I smiled and jiggled my belly and said "no I'm just fat and I like sushi" .... But who wants to here 'we just buried my grandmother today and I'm burrying my pain in your beautiful yummy food.' Soooo, yeah..... wait staff and their customer interaction skills are your only big...

(Newest update October 13, 2023) We have been several other times before this update & brought more friends to try this place out. They also loved it. Specifically this date, though, we went as part of our 30 yr anniversary and tried the seafood platter, and some drinks that were new to us. My husband had never liked any of the martinis I've tried in other places, but we both loved the green tea martini. It was not too sweet & perfectly smooth going down.

(Update: We returned in March 2021 to celebrate a combined birthday celebration for our 2 adult daughters and, again, loved the service & food. We always order big with plans to take home & this time the owner or manager came out to meet us. It was really awesome since my husband is half-Korean & we were able to tell her just how great their food is. I've added new pictures.)

Our family went this past Saturday evening to celebrate my birthday (December 11, 2020) and really enjoyed the food. My husband is very knowledgeable about Korean food, and he was very happy he didn't have to cook everything from scratch at home that we ordered.

There were 4 adults and 1 toddler (they have high chairs) so we had the kalbi sampler platter, bulgogi dish, 2 bibim bop, 1 spicy, steamed rice, fried rice, miso soups, & 2 fried raspberry cheesecakes. The fried rice was good, but everything else was delicious! We had enough left over for us to make fried rice for breakfast (we fried eggs to put on top.) I had the fried, raspberry cheesecake slice with most of the drizzle on the side and overall it was a delicious deesert. I do not have a sweet tooth, so I could not handle the sweetness of the crust, raspberry drizzle, or cheesecake middle part. The textures were creamy & fried just right, however, my family members who love sweets & daughter who ordered one, too, said that it was just right on sweetness! The flavored Sojus were a big hit! We bought a green apple & a strawberry to take home. SO good! I've added more pictures.

One thing I have to add is that we ordered a bottle of wine and was unable to finish it, but was extremely happy to know that since we paid for the price of a whole bottle, it was nice to know we could take it home.

Lastly, the atmosphere was warm, inviting, clean, & the service & cost were just right. We will be...

We were excited to try the place and met with some friends for a casual business meeting. However, it was not a good experience. Our server encouraged us to try the coal burner and we all agreed it sounded fun. It was not. Our main course was brought out before our appetizers and the fire would not stay lit. The server had to keep trying to get it to work and we could smell the gas really strong- so much so that our meat tasted like gas because he couldn't fix it. Eventually, the owner came out and swapped it out for another one (all the while our raw food got passed around between three different people while they tried to figure it out). After swapping out that burner, it started and stayed lit for about 5 minutes, this process went on (no exaggeration) for a total of 45 minutes of having to flag them down to restart the burner. We asked twice if they would just take the meat back to the kitchen and cook it because it was no longer even entertaining, it was frustrating. Every time we would try to talk about any business, we would be interrupted and eventually decided to have the conversation another time. Our entire meal was ruined, for everyone. I have an onion allergy and stated it from the beginning. I was brought fried rice with onions and then when they took it away, was told they would bring me some other rice (which I never did receive). When the check came, my husband decided to wait, as we didn't want to create a scene in front of anyone and it was already embarrassing enough. The total bill with tip was $370. My husband called the next day to talk to the manager who said he would refund us the money for the coal but nothing else (this never happened) and he told my husband to call back. So my husband called back and talked to the owner, the owner asked why my husband didn't say anything the night before, and he explained it was a business meeting and didn't want a scene. Honestly, he shouldn't have had to ask for something to be done. The management were all aware of the issues. The owner said he needed to investigate it more and would call us back and it's now been 2 days and no return call. I don't know anyone who would be pleased with that experience especially for that amount of money. The bill before the tip...