Ichiban Japanese - St. Petersburg

Please note this is a take out only, lovely family owned restaurant! Food was wonderful and true Udon noodle soup! Sushi was wonderful and the staff lovely. Make sure to order ahead of time as it gets very busy.

Long overdue review.. I've been coming here since 2014. Ichiban is a diamond in the rough. It's a small little spot on the end of a shopping center, you wouldn't expect it to be as amazing as it is. I've had multiple things from here- everything hasalways been wonderful. The Rickyson roll is my favorite and I can't get enough. I've never once had a roll that wasn't fresh,I've never once gotten ill from eating here, I've only ever left satisfied and wanting more. The quality and portion sizes areperfect in comparison to the price. The staff over the years have always been pleasant and recognize me now, which makes me feellike I'm a part of the family. The interior of the place is very mellow and quaint, wouldn't hurt to have a little renovationone day, but it's not a big deal. I'm patiently waiting for the day they open dine-in again, where I can sit down and feel athome. You don't know if you like it until you try it, so I hope that if you're debating coming here you'll give it a chance, andmaybe fall in love just like I.

Mostly eat the sushi here. Each time I grab two regular rolls and try a new specialty roll. They have all been great so far. I really enjoyed the two friends roll. Lucky this place is so close. Usually 45 minute wait on sushi orders so call before you arestarving but worth the wait each time.

Been going here for a few weeks. Always order salmon avocado roll. Which is 5.75. The lunch special was 11 dollars last week. Which means I was saving a bit of money getting two of those rolls. Even though they won?t give you miso soup since they arestill ?take out only? for no reason. Today we get the same lunch special order and now suddenly it?s 12 dollars (so worse dealthan regularly ordering the rolls) and now suddenly the regular sushi menu disappears entirely off their website. They now onlyhave a menu for specialty rolls and you can?t order regular rolls at night apparently? They have clearly upped all their pricesovernight without mentioning it and it?s a huge disappointment. Taking my business elsewhere.

So I've always enjoyed eating at the Ichiban chain so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were close in an area I was visiting. The Tampa location on Fowler was amazing! I got the Yaki Soba, I believe it was, and it was fantastic. A delightfulmix of vegetables and thin noodles cooked to perfection in a savory sauce. So when I visited the St. Petersburg location severalweeks later I was excited to have the same dish for lunch again. Well let me tell you, it was nowhere close to being as good.The noodles were a different noodle that was very overcooked and soggy (like overcooked Ramen yuck! And there was egg thrown inwhich I did not expect or would have opted out. The shrimp seemed like it was cooked separately and thrown in last minute, andthere were seeds sprinkled about in it. It was like I had a completely different dish and the only thing I ordered different wasthe shrimp instead of chicken. I tried eating it anyway because I was so hungry, but after a few bites I just couldn't do it. Iwill say that the staff was very friendly! They do Take-out only at this location in St. Pete so I didn't realize any of thisuntil getting home. They were also being inspected at the time I walked in so I guess I will chalk it up to the chef beingnervous. I attached 2 pics to show the difference in quality. The dish on the white plate in the second pic was from the Tampalocation, which was much better.