Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Waco

I really hate leaving a 2 Star Review, but let me justify this. A VERY disappointing visit tonight Saturday June 18, 2021 @ about 8:40pm. I realize they are new and only open since Thursday, 3 days of service, but they have a LOT OF WORK to do!

We are transplants from Houston and been in Waco for about a year and a half. We are frequent patrons of the Ichiban's in the Houston market. We were excited to see this coming to Waco, even with the unexpected delays, we were excited to see it finally open. We did not want to go on the first day of opening and let the bugs get worked out, but 3 full days in, there are STILL problems. But not in the kitchen. It is outside of the kitchen that needs work IMMEDIATELY!

First with the good. We ALWAYS eat in the dine in section instead of the Hibachi side. We prefer the relaxed atmosphere over the patron and chef involved Hibachi side. So, our visit is on the table service side, not the prepare in front of you side. The Calamari appetizer was wonderful. Nothing needed to be done there. Cooked perfectly and nice portion. The rest of the meal was good, presentation was good, temp was warm, not hot, but warm. Nothing was over / under cooked, Flavor like we are used to.

Now for the bad and why I left 3 Stars.

Tyler was our waiter. Not the smiling and welcoming waiter that I am accustomed to. We placed our orders, (3 Bento Boxes, 2 beef and 1 chicken) 3/4 thru the meal, my wife says, I wished we had gotten one of their delicious salads! WAIT! When ever we have ordered in Houston market, it came with a Soup or a Salad. I had seen it on the menu here. Tyler never asked us if we wanted soup or salad! So when he finally came back around, we were needing our To Go container and I asked him about the Salads! He says, "Oh, Oh yeah. Well, do you want it now?" NO I DON'T WANT IT NOW! We are done with our meals! No apology other than, I forgot it. So, I paid for 3 meals that COME WITH SOUP or SALAD and did not get them. Did he tell a member of management? If he did, they never came to our table to say they were sorry for the error. While on that subject, the restaurant was only about 1/3 full when we arrived. Not packed or crazy busy. I was really thinking I would see a member of management stopping by the tables to welcome the guest to the new restaurant, asking how things were and if there was anything that could be improved on. I was really surprised this was not happening. Not that I saw at all. There was a gentleman with a jacket I saw taking food to tables, but they were not slammed by any means. I think this management team needs some training and so do the employees. For a server to mess up, knowingly, and not even bring it to the attention of management, or to even sincerely apologize was VERY disappointing. There is a disconnect here. I just do not understand how a newly opened restaurant can not have a member of management going around and greeting the customers and getting first on feedback. Maybe there was no management on the property for Tyler to let know he had erred in 3 missed salads, because I did not see anyone, unless the guy in the jacket just taking food to tables and wandering around was a manager.

I think we will just call it quits for Ichiban here until we go back to Houston for a trip. The service at P.F. Chang's is EXCEPTIONAL. Not just recently opened, and almost always have someone checking with us on our meals. And when there has been a problem, it is IMMEDIATELY dealt with then.

One last item. My wife and I took an out of town guest out for dinner here tonight. He had to ask for another refill on his drink as his glass was empty for a long while. I never was asked if I wanted another beer.

I'm really disappointed. The food is good, but the service DEFINITELY needs help

I really hope you get better. But for us, we will just go back to P.F Chang's were Service is...

This was the worst hibachi experience I have ever had. We decided to eat here after my graduation from Baylor and made a reservation for 9pm. Once we finally got to our table we got situated and our waiter Sean (learned his name off the receipt) immediately asked us what we would be drinking. Zero time to look at the one drink menu between 7 adults or to even see what brand of soda products they carried. We felt rushed so we gave him orders like soda and water. We asked questions about appetizers, one particular one was about the hot wings. Asking if they were hot in temp or spicy and he replied "they're spicy to them." I assume this was a racist comment and was it extremely off putting. We received appetizers and after about 10 minutes he came set our drinks down and walked away, no straws or even attempt to give us straws. Another 10 minutes goes by and were hoping to order alcohol, instead he comes over and asked us for our main course. When I told him we were hoping to order drinks he replied "well I guess we can do that". Majority of us ordered liquor, every single drink was awful. Two of us ordered piña coladas blended and three ordered pineapple margaritas. The Piña Colada was watery and had no flavor, the drink was not even blended it was 1/2 liquid 1/2 foam or cream of some sort. When the chef finally came we were all fairly disappointed with our experience and weren't able to enjoy the hibachi cooking/show. Steak was overcooked and tough, when we asked for sauce we were handed the whole container, no dishes for sauces. The drinks were terrible and our appetizers were no better. The braised pork belly was dry and flavorless and the calamari looked like food poisoning waiting to happen. Overall extremely disappointed pointed with the whole restaurant and having to pay automatic gratuity on terrible service and terrible food was not a good time. Automatic gratuity was never mentioned the entire experience. I am a manager at a restaurant myself and I would be highly disappointed if one, this was my staff and two if my guest were receiving this type of experience. Waco cleary is not the spot for hibachi. And the icing of the whole horrible experience was seeing the nasty greasy and food covered shelf our server grabbed our straws from. Sean was one of the least attentive servers, and had no concern for our experience whatsoever. If I could give this place 0...

Update to first review. Spent $400 with tip and feel like the quality was worth half at best. Service and atmosphere are still stellar, but the food flavor just lacks across the board. I found out from a family member that these are the same people who owned Fuji, but the food was much more flavorful at Fuji. Again, the ginger sauce didn't taste "gingery" and the salad dressing was WAY TOO SWEET, so I asked for a bowl of freshly grated ginger to add to both. It helped a bit, bit without time to marinate, still didn't provide the taste I was seeking. The fried rice has no taste without A LOT of help that I added tableside. Grilled veggies are an obligatory afterthought. Shrimp had no seasoning. Unfortunate since this is now the only place I know of in Waco to get hibachi/teppanyaki. I won't go back.

Great experience and atmosphere, just okay sushi and hibachi. The good: great waitress and chef who was risque for Waco. I loved it cause we need some raunchy humor around town. He also cooked the steak medium rare to perfection and didn't mind cutting my meat and lobster extra small. Even though I'm full of words, my mouth isn't cavernous😏. The filet, lobster and veggies were flavorful. I was impressed that the place is clean, and hopefully it'll remain immaculate as time goes by.

Critiques: Spring rolls were greasy and had no taste. That's $7 I'll never get back. I almost gout yakitori and feel like it probably would've been better. Like a lot of hibachi restaurants, the appetizers came at the same time the food was almost ready. Pet peeve of mine. The clear soup is made with beef broth (maybe beef stock), which most Texans will love. It also had no tofu bits or tofu flavor, which I found odd and personally displeasing. The salad dressing is far too sweet, and the ginger sauce didn't seem to have any. The fried rice wasn't flavorful, and it could be because the chef isn't allowed to incorporate more ingredients besides egg and butter. I have a problem with most hibachi places' mixed veggies these days. They're all rudimentary and basic. Ichiban is no different. Keep the carrot, broccoli and onion....but please incorporate bean sprouts, snow peas, cabbage etc.

We sat at the bar for an after dinner drink. It felt sleek and welcoming. I'll go back to the bar for sure and maybe the sushi bar so I can have a tete a tete with the sushi chef...