Ichiban Japanese Steak House & Sushi

In the 10 years I've lived in Gurnee, I've been to this place a handful of times. We used to go for the sushi, which seemed fresh and delicious. I prefer Gurnee's other sushi restaurants now. I'm not sure you could call this a welcoming atmosphere anymore, the place is run down, yellowing walls, fraying carpet, smoke stains, etc.

This last time I went sealed the deal to not return. I tried a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> deal for the teppan room. The food was just okay. I think the golden shrimp appetizer was probably the best part. The sauces were watered down. The cook at our grill was a competent latin fellow, but wasn't much for the kind of theatrics I've seen at other Japanese analogs closer to the city.  

Worst of all, this is certainly no deal. It's overpriced mediocre food. I think you get the same or better quality at the local all you can eat buffet for 1/3 the price.

It makes me sad to pan this place, but it's just really gone down in quality over the years.

Our first visit, we almost didn't  go due to poor reviews but my son had been there and said it was worth the trip.  We arrived at 7 pm on a Saturday night and i was a little worried as the place was empty. We had a party of 8 which is the most the table could accommodate comfortably.  Everyone had a different entree and let me say the food was simply wonderful!  Quick service, not a large wine menu.  The Japanese beer was good.

I'm REALLY sad to have to write a bad review for Ichiban... we have been customers for more than a decade, and they have gone DOWNHILL, so I have no choice. The quality of food and service is really poor, and getting worse. My family and I keep trying every once and a while, hoping it will get better, but it never does.

Most recent experience "highlights":

VALUE:
We had the dinner for two special for $45. This was supposed to include two entrees, soups, salads, etc. Not combo meals, just the one entree per person. Needless to say, this "dinner for two" is a gimmick! It was HALF the normal amount of food (remember we've been coming here for a long time, so I know), and twice the normal amount. What a crock. The alcohol is marked up an extraordinary amount (one glass of wine for a low end box wine was $8, and the glass was only half full).

ATMOSPHERE:
Really REALLY run down, and that's being nice. They have extension cords all over the floor, uncovered, so you're likely to trip at night when it's dark in there. More than half the ceiling lights are burned out, so where it's normally supposed to be dark, this was absurd. The shelf areas are caked with dust and dirt, very unsanitary. The fork in my napkin was dirty, it had caked on food and a piece of rice still stuck to it. Gross... Lastly, the walls, which I think are supposed to be white, were kind of yellowish, with cracked paint that was actually peeling in parts.

SERVICE:
The cooks (not chefs) were unfriendly and not entertaining at all, I was unimpressed. The servers were on the rude side, and not really understandable (their accents were very thick, and I'm not sure they spoke English - they messed up about 1/2 of our very simple order). Worse, they were unattentive throughout the meal, as other reviewers have mentioned it's almost like we were inconveniencing them by being there.

FOOD:
This is perhaps the saddest part. We had teriyaki chicken (me) and steak (my husband). Both were very dry, I'm not sure they were fresh, and tasteless. The dipping sauces, ginger and teriyaki, were watered down, worse than I believe I've ever seen, and were no help in flavoring the food as a result. The rice was hard / crunchy, and the soup was cold - my soup had only 2 noodles in it. This was an absolute tragedy to behold.

Needless to say, this visit was our last. I would rather visit the Burger King across the parking lot and save a LOT of money. Our total bill was well over $100 for 2 people. When we shared our concerns with the woman who said she was the manager, she could have cared less - she said there was nothing she could do about it, and left it at that (no offer to discount the bill, no offer to come back for another chance, nothing). They didn't care, and it's a shame... avoid this place, there are many better out there who value your patronage.