Sushi Ki-ichi — Restaurant in Tigard

My husband and I have been to this place at least 10 times in the last several months (together or separately). I will say that the food quality has been, for the most part, solid 4 stars. For the price, we always thought that the quality was great as pointed out by other reviewers, but nothing extra-ordinary.

The incident that REALLY disappointed us (and our guests) happened very recently. We walked in with a total of 7 guests and the server told us that there would be a wait. OK, fine, but she was not able to give us any kind of estimate as to how long it would take. When we asked her again, basically, she was like "I don't know.....maybe 20 minutes?" I would not mind if the wait was substantially longer but I was a bit shocked by her apathy. Then, the owner lady came in and THIS IS WHEN THE WHOLE EPISODE STARTS. She greeted us definitely with some attitude. When I politely asked her how long it might take (given that I did not feel like I got a good estimate from the previous server), she tersely said: "I don't know." with a very bad attitude that just increased the level of discomfort that we also perceived. She just couldn't care less! Then she went on: "Oh, this is what it's like during the weekend and you should have made a reservation." It definitely sounded like she (the owner lady) was blaming us for not knowing how busy they could get and for not making the reservation in advance. I felt horrible for my guests (since they all heard what she said). Needless to say, my guests were shocked by her attitude. Unfortunately, this was not the end.

If you go into the restaurant, there are 3 main seating areas: the sushi bar, the left side of the restaurant that has a bunch of tables that could potentially be moved around, and lastly, a section of "booth" tables (not exactly, but I will call it for simplicity). After a series of very uncomfortable conversation with the owner lady, I asked if there is a potential possibility to be seated in that booth table area because I (as well as my friends) noticed a couple other customers eating in that area. Shockingly, the owner lady said: "OH, that area is closed for dining during the dinner time" Really? Have I just seen some ghosts in there? How can you say that to someone when there were clearly other people eating in that area? All of us were surprised and simply could not understand what she meant. As a final action of her arrogance, apathy, rudeness, and dishonesty, she asked us: "If you want to put your name on the waitlist, let me know." I regret that the words here do not necessarily convey her arrogance, apathy, and rudeness, but basically she wouldn't care if we wanted to dine in or not and implied that we could go somewhere else.

All of us were immensely outraged by the owner lady's ARROGANCE, APATHY, RUDENESS, and DISHONESTY and decided to leave the place. Probably, my low rating here would not affect their overall rating substantially, but I will say that it was the worst restaurant experience that we had in the last 3 years or so. Thanks Sushi Ki-Ichi for ruining my husband's birthday. We will never return and I suggest that everyone think once more before...

To be fair with this review, the two-star rating is a reflection on the overall satisfaction and service, not on the food itself. Based on the food itself, it would be at least a four-star rating. I'm a big supporter of local businesses. I believe you should support local restaurants when you can. So I decided to forgo my usual fast food or Sub shop stop, in order to patronize this local business. The gentleman at the register was very nice young man, I ordered the katsu Don, which is pork cutlet with rice egg and onion. The young man even took the extra step of checking with the chef so he could give me an exact time of how long it would be for the carryout meal. When you told me it would be 10 minutes, I decided that I would have a cup of tea while I waited. This is when the issues began. The staff would not permit me to sit at a table because I was only having a cup of tea. I tried to sit up the counter that was in front of where they were preparing the food, but despite the thick plexiglass shielding between the counter and the food preparation staff, they told me I could not sit there. since in Oregon you cannot remove your mask except when sitting at a table, I now had no way to drink my tea. The staff treated me like I was a second class citizen. I felt like I was an intrusion into their busy day because I was only getting a carryout order. Now maybe your experience will be different if you died in there they might be the greatest staff in the world, however my simple request to be able to sit down and drink my tea seem to be asking too much. In the end I took my tea and went into my car and drank it there. At least the staff for meeting me to take the cup outside the restaurant. And so far as a food itself was concerned, the pork cutlets were great. Crispy breading on the outside moist and juicy on the inside. The rice was not dried out the egg and the onion and whatever seasonings they use were fantastic. The portion size wasn't bad either probably about half a bowl total. Like I said my only issue with this place was the way I was treated when all I wanted was to sit down and drink a cup of tea. now I understand they have to sanitize a tables between customers, but I would have been happy with just a chair away from the other tables that I could sit in and drink my tea while I was waiting for my meal. So my recommendation is check this place out maybe your reception will be better than the one I received, and you might have an enjoyable meal. I can tell you the food is really really good. The one bright spot in all this was a young man who waited on me at the register and took my order, he alone treated me with respect and like a...

One of the best sushi restaurants I’ve ever been to. This is not an “above a sushi train” place, it’s much better.

An initial stand out is their tea. Get it, possibly even on a warm summer day, as it’s good tea.

They have all the regular stuff plus a good handful of less common or positively altered items.

Try dashimaki tamago, karaage, or buta-kako for an appetizer. Try creamy scallop or sea urchin, both better than average. Try fatty tuna, something I’ve known of for a while but have never seen at a restaurant before. For rolls, try salmon skin. They leave flesh on the skin and decorate the dish with more than you would expect. Oh, and definitely get a hand roll - they’re simple and reasonably priced.

Why only four stars? Strangely, they’re not very good during lunch hours. Everything from poor preparation to poor cooking happen about four out of five times at lunch. No idea why.

edit: It had been a while since I had visited for lunch, so I’ve returned a couple of times.. and it’s now about six out of seven times that the food isn’t as good as it is at dinner time. I still highly recommend this place, just don’t be surprised by moist rolls...