Ichiban Toms River Japanese Steakhouse Hibachi And Sushi — Restaurant in Toms River

My husband and I brought my daughter here for dinner, for doing well in school (she's 14), Hostess wasnt even friendly, no smile. We were sat at hibachi with 2 different parties and they were just finishing up their soup/salads.

As soon as the host sat us, the waitress was right there and asked for our drinks, comes back and asks if we were ready to order. We were not because we were just scanning the QR code to look at the menu.

A minute later she came back, asked if we were ready. We again said no.

A minute later.....she came back again and was standing there, just staring at us.......still staring at us, and my daughter looked up and the waitress was staring at here and again asked if we were ready and my daughter got so upset and just shook her head and got overwhelend she said she didnt want anything.

We weren't there not even 5 minutes and this waitress kept rushing us to order because they sat us with other customers that have been there longer....and now they're looking at us because the whole situation was just awkward.

So once my daughter felt flustered it then irritated my husband and he got a little snippy with the waitress and told her "again...no...we're not ready to order." And then told our daughter to take her time looking through the menu.

It definitely killed the experience and was absolutely the fastest dinner out we ever had, and we will no longer be going to this place ever again....rather travel to Brick. Lol It used to be really good when it first opened and now there's just nothing special about the place and no one seems happy to be there. $80 for dinner that we didn't even really...

Ichiban has been our go to Hibachi place for a few years now. On one of our first visits we had an amazing chef named Felix. He was friendly, welcoming, entertaining (great magic tricks & conversation), and of course and A-mazing cook. We frequented this establishment a few times and had a few other chefs but their were a few things that made Felix stand out to us as a great chef. After we decided he was our chef, we frequented the location about once a week and requested Felix every time. Whether it was for a quick date night meal or a Birthday dinner with the entire family. Felix had become apart of our lives, he knew about us and us about him and his family. Recently we returned for dinner with friends and as we requested him we were informed Felix is no longer working at Ichiban. This makes me sad as he was an asset to them and we always waited for him because he has multiple requests each weekend. We have also learned many other chefs are no longer there and hope things don't change much. Before I wrote this review, I read a few... one in particular stood out to me as odd. Another patron claimed Felix begs for tips, I don't know about you but I was never begged for a tip. Yes, all the chefs would like to be tipped for providing you with their services but I have seen many patrons tip and not, it is a choice you have. To be honest we always tip the chefs and waitstaff at this establishment and others as it is what you do when you go out to eat. I just hope that one day Felix reads this and knows he will...

I would like to start off by saying I have eaten there many times. Unfortunately today was the worst. As we sat down we were given a menu. We ordered Filet Minion hibachi dinner. The soup and salad came immediately. We didn’t get a chance to finish the soup and salad when the chef came and started cooking. He went through the whole “show” in such a rush it was like he had a train to catch. The noodles were undercooked and tasteless. The Filet Minion was tasteless. The meal itself was so rushed. The waitress brought to go containers while we were still eating and took our ice cream order while we were still in the middle of our meal.

I spoke to a manager who was very nice and agreed with everything we said. He saw exactly what was happening and he apologized for the bad meal. We get our check and he did nothing to accommodate us. I said something to him and he said he told the waitress to give us a reduction. He came back with the 20% reduction. This was a terrible meal and I was a very unsatisfied customer. He said he would call the boss to see what could be done. After a few minutes he came back and told us that is all he could do.

This is the reason why many small restaurants fail. They don’t own up to and fix their problems. Unfortunately Ichiban is a terrible value for your money and has terrible...