Cuisine: Japanese with two options: 1. All -you-can-eat sushi/tempura 2.Teppanyaki (To be reviewed at another time!) Restaurant Features: Bar, Dinner Buffet Location: Minneapolis
Address: 1333 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55403 (612) 339.0540
Links: Google Map Ichiban Website
Atmosphere:
The sushi bar sits toward the back of the large restaurant and seats approximately 20 people around an "island" in which the sushi chefs prepare sushi in the middle. Little boats carry individual plates of a variety of different sushi and sashimi. The boats float at a quick pace directly in front of you as you eat...see something you like or want to try? Its yours for the taking!
If for some reason you need to wait to be seated at the sushi bar, there is a beautiful coctail lounge situated within the restaurant, with intimate seating. Another cool thing about Ichiban is that all the waitresses wear traditional Japanese Kimonos.
Menu: The sushi chef has full control of what is being prepared and tends to prepare sushi in batches, but will usually take custom requests. Items you are likely to encounter: Vegetable : edamame Sushi:California roll, Caterpillar roll, eel, salmon eggs, flying fish egg (regular or spiced with wasabi), spicy tuna roll, tamago (sweet egg), tempura roll Sashimi: Shrimp, tuna, salmon, makerel, yellow tail, red snapper, surf clam, squid, scallop, octopus Here is the full sushi guide. Included in the price is also your choice of all-you-can-eat tempura: shrimp, chicken or vegetable.
A small dish of either green tea ice cream or mango serbert are also included.
Price Guide: All-you-can eat before 6pm: $27 After 6pm: $31
What I tried: Just about everything! My personal favorites include the spicy tuna roll, Ichiban roll, tuna sashimi, and spicy crab in a wonton-wrap. The quality of the fish was better than I expected for all-you-can-eat, seemed fresh and not too fishy. I also tried an order of the shrimp tempura, and although it had good flavor and the shrimp were a decent size, I was somewhat disappointed that it was soggy instead of crisp.
Service: There is usually only one server taking care of beverages at the sushi bar, so it sometimes takes a little while for drink orders to be filled.
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