Ichiban Sushi & Tapioca Express

Ichiban is the most delicious Japanese food I had in Chinatown in this price. I will definitely come here again. Thanks!

The food was very good. The prices are reasonable. Sushi was great, had the fried chicken rice also which was out of the world. The milk tea with tapioca tasted like the ones from Taiwan. Definitely will be going back.

5 stars for service. The lady who served us was attentive and friendly (? Owner)
The food was pretty good. Some were better than others. But, here’s the breakdown.
Ten Don — 5 stars. Batter was light and crispy, and went well with tempura sauce
Spicy tuna and spicy salmon rolls 5 stars — large and delicious. Especially the salmon roll. They shoved big pieces of it into the rolls.
Fried Oysters 5 stars– Yum! Crispy and not too strong of an oceany taste.
Fried Chicken wings 5 stars– nice and crispy. The batter was nicely seasoned with various spices. It did come with ketchup as the dipping sauce, but we didn’t need it.
Katsudon 4 stars — large bowl that’s enough for 2 people. The taste was a little bland compared to Hokkaido, but it was still decent.
Black Dragon roll — 2 stars — Eel on any sushi in Houston to me is not fresh. This sushi was no exception. But my sister wanted to try it.
Pan fried Gyoza — 3 stars. It wasn’t crispy like I wanted it to be. But the flavor of the gyoza and dipping sauce were ok.
Miso soup — 3 stars — kinda bland. I think they just need to add more miso paste and tofu to the soup
We did use a Groupon for dinner here. But we’ll be coming back without it.

Went there for lunch the first time and the sushi hand rolls was pretty good. Had the salmon skin and it was better than other places around. They didn’t dress up the skin with any sauce so you get the full smokey flavor. The scallop for appetizer is very highly recommended albeit for $ 5 for 4 scallops might be a little meh for some but trust me, it’s worth it. Service was good granted the time we went wasn’t really lunch or dinner so it was empty. Bubble tea wasn’t bad either though the selection is limited however the hot tea was soothing on a cool day. Will be going back as it’s our new go to place for sushi.

I went in for lunch today, already knowing I wanted a bento box of some sort. Their bento box lunch specials are priced at $ 7.95−8.95. When I entered I was greeted by 2 petite women. They were very pleasant and courteous. The menu offered many options, but I stuck with what I came for. I ordered the Teriyaki Salmon Bento Box ($ 8.95) and an iced green tea. I was given toasted peanuts as a snack «on the house» which was a plus for waiting.
I was served a miso soup first. Afterwards the entrée came out. It consisted: a piece of grilled salmon, white rice, salad, edamame, and a California roll (you have other options on the menu if you don’t like sushi). This was more than enough food! At first I thought the salmon was too thin of a slice, but after all the food that was in the bento, it was just right. Each time the women came to my table, they made sure my dining area was clean. The straw wrapper and chopstick wrappers were cleared before my food came out.
One of the women saw me playing with my phone and told me they have free wifi if I needed the password. I replied, «no thank you, it’s okay.» (I have a lot of data on my plan) They were observant, but gave me space instead of bombarding me every few minutes like some places. Overall, I enjoyed the dining experience and you can’t beat the price for the bento boxes!

Nice little place with a very friendly older lady who I am guessing is the owner.
Very fast service and inexpensive sushi rolls.
Glad to have a go to sushi place that is so close to home.
We ordered the seaweed salad, tempura, chicken and onion udon, Godzilla roll, caterpillar roll and tiger eye.
We had a great first meal and we definitely be returning!

Ichiban specializes in delivering fast sushi experience at cheap, reasonable prices. Offering one of the most extensive sushi menu in town, Ichiban sells decent-​quality sushi. If you are looking for stellar sushi though, Ichiban is not your place.
However, Ichiban’s biggest winning point is the owner lady. From the moment we walked in, the owner lady was extremely friendly and helpful and was not shy to make small talk to make us feel comfortable and homely during our dining experience. In my honest opinion, this owner lady’s niceness is much more than all the Houston Chinatown staff’s niceness combined! Being a Chinatown regular, having the restaurant staff not messing up your order is already a blessing, but this owner lady truly pushes the area’s service quality to a higher standard. Like the other reviewers said, she is perhaps the main factor of why I am willing to give this place a high rating.
Looking a place for a good but quick sushi without busting your wallet or dealing with potentially bad Chinatown-​level service? Ichiban is it!

I would’ve rated it a 3.5 but Unilocal needs to get with the times.
I heard about this place because of their bento boxes, but my friends and I didn’t know better because we didn’t know they didn’t serve that after lunch time… But the owner was sweet enough to still give us the option to get the bento boxes! (We came at 6 which is reaaaally late for their lunch special). She was adorable talking to us. She wasn’t pushy or anything. Which is probably the reasons for my stars because the service was great. The other employees would ask if we are okay, if we need anything and make casual talk with us since we were hungry college students.
Out came the miso soup and miso soup is just miso soup to me. It didn’t taste any different than any other place.
We ordered the seaweed salad and chicken wings as our appetizers. The seaweed salad was not crunchy as I usually like it and very wet. The chicken wings were very crispy and honestly didn’t even need ketchup.
We all got bento boxes. I got beef teriyaki while my friend got chicken. It came with your choice of side (we both chose California rolls), edamame, a salad, rice. It was nicely presented. Even though I would have liked the California rolls to be more… neatly rolled? It was decent. The salad was good even though it was drenched with dressing. Can’t go wrong with edamame. Rice was steamed well. The beef teriyaki was good. But my friend’s chicken was not good at all. It was cold and lacked flavor.
Meh. In the end, the owner have us yakult and I love yakult which may make this review biased.
BUT OVERALL. 3.5 stars would’ve been more preferable. Maybe I will go another time.

Came here yesterday with my friend for lunch and used the Living Social Deal. I ordered the Chirashi bowl and my friend ordered the chicken teriyaki bento box. Can’t really say much for her chicken teriyaki since I didn’t try it, but it just looked okay… lacked a little color. My chirashi bowl came with a miso soup and salad. I was expecting my chirashi bowl to be in a bowl but it was on a plate. Oh well. I just poured on the soy sauce anyways and dug in. It tasted pretty tasty to me. From the pictures I thought they were only going to give me like one piece of each sushi, but they gave 2 each so I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t remember how comparable is it to Hokkaido. But it’s 9.75 which is still a good deal. I think Hokkaido is 10.95. Either way it all comes out the same, one place with tip and one optional tip. It was a quaint restaurant… very casual, and the people there were very nice. So yay for another lunch option in Bellaire. Their milk tea tapioca was actually not too bad either. $ 3.

This place is 2 stars, however due to the amount of fake or questionable reviews which are present at the time of the writing i have to amend mine to 1 star to balance the reviews for a true representative rating.
I got the Chirashi and a sweet/​savory soup to go. They both were very mediocre and bland. Prices are inexpensive, but I would much rather go to Hokkaido down the street.

Followup time! We haven’t been here in a while, but since Livingsocial and Amazon Local were doing deals again we thought we’d stop by. And we weren’t disappointed; incredibly, during our absence, this place has gotten even better!
Not only did they recognize us after a full two months of not coming here, but they’ve actually improved on some of their menu items. The salmon skin roll now comes topped with bonito flakes (dried smoked tuna) — the same savory stuff you find on top of Okonomiyaki. And when my husband tried the Philly Roll, all six pieces were stuffed with the most generous cuts of salmon I’ve ever seen outside of straight sashimi, and cost just $ 5.
The iced tea wasn’t worth writing home about before — it’s something I order in every restaurant because it beats plain water — but this time it was outstandingly good. And when we finished our meal, they gave us a couple of yogurt drinks (think off-​brand Yakult — very much appreciated after a heavy tempura bento box) and a couple of peppermint candies. Compared to the understaffed hustle and bustle of Oishii at lunchtime, the incredibly attentive service here is a welcome change of pace.
It was still pretty quiet when we came here for lunch (though there was one large table), but I really hope these changes and the online deals will help bring more business to this lovely little place. It really does deserve it. We will definitely be returning!

Good prices & good food make me a happy girl!
We came here on a weekday night because I had a Livingsocial deal. I paid $ 15 for $ 30 of food and I don’t think I’ve ever been so content. It was a little awkward because my boyfriend and I were the only people in the restaurant during dinner time so I was a little skeptical of the food but there was no need!
We ordered the crab puffs and fried tuna sushi rolls for appetizers. The rolls came out after all our entrees so I’m not sure why they made it an appetizer but regardless they were delicious even though I’m not a fan of sushi.
I ordered the Katsu-​Don which was only $ 6.95! And trust me, it was a huge portion. My boyfriend ordered the Spider Roll and the Shaggy Dog and couldn’t even finish it. I find the prices at this place to be very affordable for the quality of the food. The staff were very nice and welcoming and provided great service.
I will definitely come back!

This place is like a more expensive Hokkaido where you have to tip. On the other hand, their service is amazing — really friendly waiters/​owners who are attentive to your meal. We tried two lunch specials — the chirashi and the sushi combo — which came out to about $ 9 each and came with a salad, miso soup, and an odd dessert. I wish I could say more positive things but the food was mediocre quality/​flavor and more expensive than a comparable cheap Chinatown sushi joint… I’ll pass.

First time here and the spicy beef ramen is the business! Great service. The hostess greeted me very politely when I came in, gave me a seat and poured me a glass of water.
I sought this place out looking for authentic Japanese style ramen. While it was in a Chinese food shop, the ramen reminded me of Japan. I lived in Japan for three years and coming back to Houston one would think all I wanted was some BBQ. But I just miss Ramen!
I ordered Ramen, pork gyoza, but I also got wonton soup and sliced celery as sides for free. China town has many good restaurants, this one is one of the better ones.

We were looking for a new place we hadn’t tried yet and came across this one. We got there about 15 minutes before they opened, but they went ahead and opened for us, which was very considerate on a rainy afternoon. It looked like we were supposed to order at the counter, but they came and took our order at the table as soon as we sat down. The owner is absolutely the nicest, most adorable woman and we were given both a small appetizer and small dessert on the house. Very nice surprise.
We ordered the shrimp and vegetable tempura bento, salmon teriyaki bento, both with crab puffs, and the Ichiban Roll. We had our 16 month old with us and asked the owner’s advice on what menu item would be the best for her. She recommended the Fried Tofu squares and our girl LOVED them. The bento was pretty standard, salmon and tempura were good enough, but the crab puffs were killer and the Ichiban Roll was pretty good. Our total bill was under $ 30, pretty reasonable.
All in all, we will definitely go back to try more of the menu but mostly due to the owner and excellent service. I seriously cannot say how adorable the owner was! Go just to meet her!

While the food here is cheap it really isn’t that great. I prefer the sushi over at Hokkaido much more compared to Ichiban.
The owner is really friendly but unfortunately I don’t see this restaurant lasting very long.

This is a newly opened Taiwanese-​run Japanese restaurant. So be prepared to have your sushi from a Chinese perspective.
I would recommend sticking to their sushi rolls, which are pretty good. One I had was low-​carb with no rice. It was interesting and a viable alternative if you are on that kind of diet. Also ordered tempura. They give you a big batch but it was not as crisp on the vegetables as other places and the dipping sauce was not strong. This may be because I burned my tongue in my haste to eat it. The shrimp tempura was better. In addition to tempura, I got some fried oysters that seemed very fresh because I could not make out any fishiness. The miso soup was good. The udon noodle soup was good but more Chinese in style.
They have great green tea. When you first pour it, it is almost neon green. Over time, it develops into the standard brown.
Desert was very tasty. They gave us a wood ear sweet soup with wolfberries. They should sell that by the jar.
Service was exemplary. I think what bumped this from a 3 to a 4 was the nice owner who was genuinely interested in her customers’ comfort and satisfaction. She is absolutely adorable. Probably will go back just to see her.
I didn’t get a good look at the bathroom. But the sink was definitely agreeable, no scalding-​hot water.
Again, stick with sushi rolls. Apparently, my appetite has changed and fried foods are somewhat less preferred.

Great place for sushi if you’re on a budget, or if you’re looking for a quick sushi fix. Also has a good variety of dishes for those who do not eat raw stuff.
I definitely recommend the agedashi tofu, shaggy dog and shrimp tempura roll (for non-​raw stuff eaters), anything with salmon and spicy mayo, and the tonkatsu (for the non-​sushi eaters who like fried stuff).
There weren’t many sushi restaurants in Chinatown besides Hokkaido and Sushi Miyagi, so having another sushi spot is a plus (especially for those who work in Chinatown, like me!). Staff is friendly and helpful if you’re having a difficult time deciding what to order. If you have been to the Sugar Land location, the Chinatown location is owned by the same people. Only difference is that there’s tapioca at this one!
Jennifer.

Nice food, fresh, and quiet place.
People who work there are friendly.
Most important thing is, food is not expensive but quality is pretty high.
It is really worthy to try!

This new Ichiban seems to be the same one as the one in Sugar Land, which I never really liked. I wanted to give this new one in Chinatown a chance though.
I came here for lunch one day during the grand opening (10% off) and got the salmon teriyaki lunch special, which came with miso soup, salad, edamame, and a California roll. We also got free seaweed salad! One of the waiters was very friendly and asked us if we wanted refills on the miso soup, which was nice.
The salmon teriyaki itself was average, with a portion size that left something to be desired. The piece of salmon looked big, but the filet was actually very thin. The edamame seemed to be cooked without any salt, so it was completely bland. Ew. The California roll was mediocre, as was the dressing-​drenched salad.
Overall, a nice place with good service but average food and sushi. It’s about the same price as Hokkaido, which I don’t think is very worth it. I probably won’t be back unless I’m really desperate to get sushi into my belly.