Ichiban

Fresh ingredients. Nice flavors. This is a little jewel on 8^th ave and 30^th street. Only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is the lighting. A little too dim for me

I was looking for something quick and easy for lunch while working in midtown. A co-​worker recommended this place and I was pleasantly surprised. I got the two roll lunch special with a salad and it was excellent. The prices were decent as well. I will definitely be returning here for a quick sushi lunch next time I am working in midtown.

I came here with my improv class members as it was a choice by whim. Even after reading the not so great Unilocal reviews, we still decided to come here anyway.
Most of us stuck to the sushi rolls which were $ 4.50 per and choices were standard. I ordered the sweet potato roll and the eel roll. The sweet potato roll was rather hard as I expect more of a semi-​firm, semi moist consistency. I’m not sure anyone would like practically raw sweet potato chunks in sushi. The eel was recommended after I mentioned that I didn’t like sushi raw. Weird? Probably. Care? Don’t. The eel was fresh but the extra fishy taste made it a little difficult to eat. The presentation was pretty though.
The space is standard for a sushi bar. Ample spacing, good lighting, and good location. However, when we came in on a Saturday night it was empty. Except for the Seamless order ring, one would have thought that this place wasn’t that frequently by people.
The price for everything else was on the high side. $ 11 for Udon and even higher pricing for dishes with rice and other orders. I wouldn’t come here for anything else other than sushi and even that I’d probably stick to the California roll only next time.
Last note, service was good.

Fast, efficient, and quality. It’s not my first choice sushi lunch place, but it’s close and pretty flexible on the lunch specials, as others have noted. I wish the 3 rolls special could be under $ 10, but that’s the market price in the neighborhood.

Hmm, where to begin… Well I wouldn’t say that this place is terrible, but it definitely doesn’t qualify for my list of go-​to thai/​japanese restaurants in the city. As it is conveniently located across from Penn Station, you will constantly feel the rumbling of departing NJ Transit trains under your feet throughout the course of your meal. The quality of the food & its preparation is questionable. I had a thai iced tea that was watery & wasn’t properly strained so there were chunks of (i’m assuming) black tea floating in it. The pad thai was solid: not great, not bad, but on the cold side. I also had a taste of the sushi which was actually pretty good, as I was expecting something less fresh. I can’t say if I’ll be back… Honestly, I would probably prefer to grab a few slices of pizza at Penn Station. This place isn’t bad, but not worth going out of your way for.

Not sure where all these good reviews come from, went there today and almost threw the sushi out. Fish is not fresh, only thing good here is fast service.
Go across the street to Ramen spot for much better fish, my stomach is killing me.

Small little hole in the wall with the best sushi around. They do a time of take out so they always have fresh fish. You can even order from the restaurant next door which is Thai if you have someone in your party that wants Thai. Serves wine and beer. Super great value with $ 14-​$ 15 bento boxes.

Working in Midtown is tricky when it comes time for lunch. There’s a million options on the LIRR Penn concourse, but they’re mostly fast food, unhealthy and expensive. I took to the streets to find good food at a good price and stumbled in here (after checking Unilocal of course!)
Had a great 3 roll lunch special for $ 13 which included choice of soup or salad. Ordered to-​go so I can’t comment on service. The sushi seemed fresh and the salad was nice and crisp. Worked out to be quite a bit of tasty sushi for just $ 13. Very good lunch special considering most food in Midtown is so expensive

Complete hole in the wall… with unexpected good food. Usually don’t get good results with thai/​japanese fusion places. Even more amazing is that it’s near the busy Penn Station/​MSG area.
service was lackadaisical. Our waiter actually kept bringing us food that wasn’t for out table. 30mn wait despite the place not being packed.
Impressed by the New York Roll (crunchy shrimp tempura) and crunchy yellowtail roll. Also enjoyed the cucumber/​asparagus/​avocado roll. All the sushi was very fresh. My husband liked his chicken pad thai. Looked a little bland from my view
Great bargain for the area.

I love the food here, I order somewhat often. Usually Udon noodles and sides. I always get the relatively slow delivery. Today was it. Food took over an hour to arrive, was totally cold, including my miso soup, and my asparagus roll was falling apart. This is the second time. I may not come back.

Ok sushi place thats close to the MSG. Prices are really good given the location. Fish is somewhat fresh. But hey when your running late for a show and want something quick to eat thats Japanese Ichiban does the job.
FYI they won’t fill your hot tea unless you ask them every time. I guess since its free they don’t care so much to fill you up.

I’m intrigued by another reviewer’s secret tip that you can actually order any roll with the lunch combo, not just the ones listed on the back of the menu. They don’t seem to have too many rules for the lunch deal, so I believe it’s certainly possible. They also don’t limit you on the pieces of nigiri you get if you do the roll plus 4 pieces deal. Salmon roe? Yep, you can have that. Eel? Sure thing. Etc.
I had been here a couple times with coworkers and felt it was not much different from other quickie lunch deal sushi places. But then on a whim the last time I was there I got the roll plus 4 pieces lunch deal and I was blown away by how good the sushi was for a relatively inexpensive sushi joint. Besides the salmon roe and eel, I also got a piece of yellowtail and a piece of salmon. Each one was top notch. Definitely better than any other similarly priced option in this neighborhood. If I’m wrong about that, please do let me know!
Green tea is free if you want it. You just have to ask. Oh and another secret tip: apparently they share a kitchen with the Thai place next door. A coworker told me you can order off the Thai menu if you want, but I don’t know if this is really true or not.
The only major downside is that no matter the season, it’s always freezing in there.

Sushi here is Ok. Not a terribly stunning selection of specialty rolls, but they are quick, efficient, and reasonably priced.
If you like rolls, a MUST TRY is the Crush Roll — it’s better without the eel sauce though.

The service was very spotty and my friend got his lunch 30 minutes before I got mine. How hard is it to make two rolls? It’s also very loud in the restaurant and we struggled to hear what the other was saying. The lunch deals were very affordable, but the food was only so-​so.
With so many lunch options, I definitely wouldn’t go back to Ichiban. Next!

When I first moved into my building, a nice neighbor gave me couple menus. Ichiban was one of the restaurants presented in my welcoming kit. It sat in my menu box for over a year. I wish I tried them sooner!
I don’t know what the restaurant looks like, as far as delivery goes, they are wonderful.
Very good sushi. Normal prices. Their shumai is delicious and the Rose roll is now my favorite. I usually dislike ordering sushi, because by the time the food arrives, the soya sauce is everywhere, the lids are opening, and the heat from miso soup already ruined the sushi. They are good at it. Slight soya sauce spillage but otherwise, everything came in perfect shape.
I recommend it. They are my new sushi place!

The week of visiting New York, it was raining on and off which really sucked because it made it hard for us to really go anywhere. But luckily, we got menus from this place slipped under the door of our hotel so we decided to order in and try out their food.
The food came in 30 minutes or less, which was quick assuming the delivery person came on a bicycle in the rain (Hint: he was wearing a bicycle helmet and reflector vest).
We ordered a veggie tempura which came with a miso soup and a bowl of rice, salmon skin roll, dragon roll, salmon roll, and chicken udon. To my surprise, the food was good. The soup for the chicken udon and miso soup came still warm. The tempura was also warm and crispy. The sushi rolls were all very tasty and they were pretty big, compare to other sushi restaurants where they make their sushi so small that it doesn’t fill me up.
I totally recommend trying out this place either ordering it for take out, delivery, or eat in!

The fish was NOT fresh. Tuna seemed «iodinish». Salmon was awful.
Shumai were frozen.
Pros: Nice to my DD
Good service from waiter
Cheap. (You get what you pay for.)
Cons: Yucky rolls
Small, dark and not great décor.
Not going back.

My gf works in the area and eats here for lunch on occasion, and likes it. I didn’t actually try the sushi because I was a little fearful after reading some of the reviews. Instead I ordered a house salad and veggie dumplings. The stuffing and dipping sauce for the dumplings was delicious, but the dough used to make they was hard and chewy around the edges. Ginger dressing was a little bland for my tastes on the salad. It was a Thursday night and the place was pretty empty. Also, the waiter kept coming over every few minutes to remove another item from the table while we were still eating (this is a huge pet peeve of mine).

Err another mediocre sushi place that offers lunch bento boxes. The salmon was bland. Everything was just just ehhh, don’t know how else to explain it. Also there is a minimum of $ 15 on a credit card. The wait staff seems nice but there’s nothing nice about the food.
Food: 4
Décor: 4
Service: 5
*ratings out of 10

Got a Teriyaki Beef Noodle Soup (w/​Udon noodles) to go. Quite good. Came in three separate containers (one for broth, one for beef and one for veggies) and really hit the spot. Definitely recommend this place for a quick and very reasonably priced lunch.
Cash only though!