Ichiban Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Their food is exquisite and high on flavor and taste."
• "The flavours were amazing. Spicy, not spicy, sushi, noodles, rice, all the gang is here."
• "Highly recommend the bento boxes 🍱 i think i have discovered a new favourite place!"
• "Food was top notch. Chilli chicken Ramen 👌👌👌 That Kimchi broth mmm."
• "The Ichiban Ramen was amazing, the chicken was perfectly grilled, the Chinese leaf still had a crunch but was soft enough to eat."
• "The sushi is delicious with a nice selection, as are the Bento boxes and the Katsu Curry."
• "The food is amazing and the staff are friendly."

Cons:

• "The rice is not Japanese rice standard."
• "The Gyuniku Maki was awful! It was tough as leather."
• "Shoyu broth with the noodles was very bland."
• "The curry has strong curry powder taste that doesn't seem to blend very well."
• "A flavourless broth is the worst crime to be committed against a Ramen."
• "All the dishes were blend and tasteless."
• "The food here has gone badly downhill."

Service

Pros:

• "Service is kind and good price/quality!"
• "The staff are wonderfully friendly and very accommodating for picky eaters."
• "Had a lovely time, in a great atmosphere with really friendly and fast service."
• "Very relaxed atmosphere and attentive staff."
• "Very friendly staff and always happy to have a chat."
• "Astounding service, exceptional variety in food."
• "The service was awesome. So friendly and quick."

Cons:

• "Usually when major modifications have to be made to a dish to accommodate dietary preferences the waiter clears that with the customer but that didn’t happen here."
• "Starters and main arrived at the same time, waiter couldn’t speak English so we struggled to tell him to keep the mains warm until we were ready to eat them!"
• "The only real downside I can think of is that the waiting staff sometimes don't pay attention when you're looking for the bill."
• "We waited 15 minutes and never had our order taken or drinks offered."
• "Both times the service was disappointing and hard to get wait staff’s attention."
• "While the food was still stunning, the service was lacking."
• "That was great but the table service really let the place down."

Value

Pros:

• "Prices may look high, but the portions are large and filling, sides and extras are well priced for what you get too."
• "The food is great and a good price too."
• "Prices are more than reasonable."
• "£12 for a main meal isn't bad value by any means."
• "The prices are so that you're still happy when leaving."
• "Since it is not too expensive for a bowl of ramen/soba, I would say that visiting this restaurant is worth the money!"
• "Great value for money and sooooo tasty."

Cons:

• "Terrible portion sushi."
• "It's quite pricey for this quality of food."
• "What arrived, while good, was a very expensive bowl of rice with chili sauce, a handful of mushrooms, and a handful of snap peas."
• "Ordered the fried noodles with chicken and seafood, really oily and greasy, bland."
• "The food was on our table 3 minutes after ordering, it was all pre cooked, gmo, dried out and generally tasteless."
• "The ramen is just shin ramen instant noodle packet with some dry chicken meat."
• "The tempura had very thick, tasteless, flabby batter, and the agedashi tofu was tasteless."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "The place was very cosy and comfortable :)"
• "I loved the aesthetic and the all around feel."
• "Just a lovely informal place to be, relaxed atmosphere, friendly unobtrusive staff quietly serving some beautiful Japanese style dishes."
• "Love the refurbishment. The room may have changed but the quality of food has not."
• "This place is an absolute hidden gem in Glasgow's city centre."
• "The atmosphere was nice and easy going and the servers were very down to earth and easy to talk to."
• "Nice atmosphere too."

Cons:

• "Restaurant was very cold."
• "It was initially quite hard to find as its signs are very small and it is located upstairs."
• "Easy to miss the single doorway on Queen street."
• "Not very private since its comprised mostly of long tables and a few 2 seat tables on the windows."
• "We were placed at a bench seat facing a mirror and a staff member sat next to us with headphones in to take his break with food."
• "Sadly no disabled access that I could see; and the restaurant is on the first floor."
• "The dining experience here is benches at long tables. Just something to keep in mind if you need a backed chair for comfort."

Location

Pros:

• "It's easy to walk past this fantastic restaurant because although the entrance is on ground level, it is not immediately obvious."
• "Only a few minutes walk from Queen Street train station."
• "Easy to find on Google maps."
• "Booked last minute for a table. Good location in central Glasgow near Merchant City."

Cons:

• "The main door is easy to miss."
• "Easy to miss the single doorway on Queen street."
• "It was initially quite hard to find as its signs are very small and it is located upstairs."
• "Brilliant little place hidden away out of sight."