Ichiban Sushi

While I appreciate the quaint and traditional interior of Ichiban, there just wasn’t anything about it that made it stand out amongst all the other sushi restaurants in Toronto. Sushi was underwhelming as a whole. The shrimp roll in the sushi bento actually tasted kind of off.

Went on a weekday for lunch and ordered the salmon teriyaki lunch bento box.
Portions are tiny! Miso soup was too salty and their california roll was 80% cucumber with just hints of avocado and crab meat. The vegetable sides were basically just boiled in water with no flavour or seasoning.

I tried this place after an exhausting day — I went into ichiban with 3 friends and they had a 4 out of 5 stars. I was very hungry and ordered a tempura udon. The ones I had back in Vancouver were delicious. We waited for an hour for our food !!! There wasn’t that many people in the resultant, in fact we were the only 2 table. We came before 8 and got our food at 9.
The glass was dirty on the bottom. I guess I don’t mind but it’s not a pleasant view to see when you can see it from the top of the cup. That was a big turn off.
The tempura udon was just sad (please see photo). It was ¼ of salty soup and the udon was not al dente. I was hungry so it was my only option. Will not return.

Call me a sushi snob, but I’m not a fan of any sashimi that is still thawing the middle. All ingredients are clearly not fresh which is a necessity for my sushi enjoyment. Skip this one.

This is literally the worst sushi I’ve ever had. If you look at some of my reviews, you’ll notice that I mostly review Japanese restaurants… I might not be a sushi chef, but I can at least tell when fish is fresh or not.
I’m not saying they served me product that had gone bad, but there is literally no way I am ever coming back here to eat again. My friends and I had a Sushi Boat B, tempura, and one of my other friends ordered a chicken teriyaki.
The sushi boat was kind of pathetic and the fish selection was low even with sixty pieces. The red snapper and grouper were horrendous (the kind I’ve come to expect at all you can eat Japanese places), the salmon was off, and their two varieties of tuna were both bland. Even the pickled ginger and miso soup were off! The Miso soup was not flavourful at all, and the pickled ginger had been cut up really strangely so it was extra dry.
Our salad had vegetables that didn’t seem fresh (refrigerated for too long, improperly dressed) and the ice cream we got had a ridiculous case of freezer burn (instead of ice cream, it has the consistency of snow/​slurpees) and the cantaloupe was not sweet either.
The tempura that we got had yams that weren’t cooked enough…
It costed us $ 59.99 for that cruddy boat and $ 8 for two shrimp tempura along with a couple pieces of yam and squash.
Not impressed. For the same price range I could have gone to Wow Sushi, or at the very least Kaizen which is close by.
TO SUM THIS UP: Why go to a place that serves fish that is worse than the quality of all you can eat for all you can eat prices? We wouldn’t have just gotten three ice creams and four miso soups for five people either (they asked us to buy more in case we wanted anything else).
At the very least, if we had gone to an all you can eat place we’d have been able to eat five non freezer burnt ice creams and had all the miso soup we wanted. Probably just paid like $ 5 more too, for fresher fish and better service. (Did I mention it took forever to settle our bill because the waitress randomly disappeared for like 20 minutes?) Seems like other people already knew better since the restaurant was empty the entire time we were there.

Came in for lunch last week since Take Sushi on Front closed down earlier this month.
As soon as I walked in, the entire restaurant smelled like fried oil. We were seated quickly but noticed that the surrounding tables haven’t been cleared yet.
We both ordered the lunch bento boxes which were reasonably priced for under $ 10.00. Our miso soup came fast but I wish I could say the same for our bento boxes.
My chicken teriyaki was dry and so flat that they must have pan fried it and kept the spatula on it.
This place is nothing special. Take your money and go to Kirei at Church and Adelaide

We went late one night about 35 minutes before closing. We were the only patrons at that time and were treated very well. The service was excellent as was my wife’s chicken teriyaki and my tempura and noodles. If we go back to Toronto, we will be sure to go back to this restaurant.

The restaurant gives off a very nice vibe, it has an open concept which I like. It’s also nice to see the chef making your sushi. The service was great, they are very friendly and the food was delicious! The best sushi I have ever had! They took their time to make it just perfect. The presentation was also very nice! Price is reasonable for the amount of sushi you are getting and the variety is good as well.

Been here a few times now and it was delicious every time! Service is a bit slow but it’s worth the wait. My favourite roll is the spicy salmon.

I’ve been to Ichiban sushi a couple of times now when I’m really craving some Japanese fare and I’m not desperate enough to go to the Loblaws that is literally across the street at lunch. Overall, their food is good — but not great. I’m on a sashimi kick these days and everything is pretty fresh (as fresh as frozen for 6 days and flown overseas can be right?) with the exception of their butterfish which tastes like a fishy ice cube. Like it tastes like essence of fish… in slushy ice cube form. Yes, that’s how I’m gonna describe it.
I would actually place this restaurant around a 2.5 star but I’ll kick in the extra .5 star for the fact that last time we were in here Kai LITERALLY ruined the place, including pushing the owners son to the floor and throwing edamame beans at the other guests. The waitress didn’t even bat an eye!

Located across the street from St. Lawrence Market on Wellington/​Church St.
I thought their dynamite sushi was mediocre and the rolls were smaller than average. Their crab salad and pizza sushi were quite delicious though. Service was quick and friendly.

I mainly frequent Ichiban Sushi for takeout as it’s on the way home. The service is always very good, with my order being ready in ~10 minutes, and now that I’ve come in there enough they will generally greet me by name, which is a nice touch. I’ve eaten at the restaurant once as well and it was also a pretty good experience.
The quality of the sushi is a bit inconsistent — I have had absolutely fantastic sushi a few times with extremely fresh fish, but then have also had sushi where the rice is a bit stale and the fish didn’t seem to be as high of quality.
In short, it’s generally a pretty solid place with friendly service. Probably not worth making a long trek here, but if you’re in the area it’s a good bet.

From the very beginning this place had me smiling.
we were greeted and seated as soon as we walked in.
one waitress was serving the whole place (even though its small) and everyone was still smiling. me and my companion ordered spicy salmon roll, salmon and avocado roll as well as spicy tuna and salmon skin hand rolls. A M A Z I N G!!! the fish was so fresh you could not tell it was fish. the wakame salad i ordered was different (big dark leafy not the light green stringy) but still very very good.
fast and friendly service during lunch hour downtown is a hard combo to find, but you will find it here.
highly recommend this place. I’ll be back later this week and the next.
for a quick lunch bellow 20 dollars i was happy to leave her 5 as a tip. absolutely satisfied!!!

Eh. Ate this chicken-​veggie-​egg dish on steamed rice. Was okay. Miso soup was pretty bland. Salad dressing was good. Server was very friendly though, which gives me guilt.