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. Â
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.
Review Source: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.
What a pleasant surprise. Â We were greeted warmly when we walked in the door by an Oriental woman. Â Our server was friendly, smiling and attentive. Â I never had to ask for my hot tea to be refilled. Â The fried rice, vegetables, scallops and filet mignon were prepared fabulously. Â Our hibachi chef was adept and cordial. Â Oh, we also had agadashe tofu for an appetizer. Â It was prepared perfectly.
We left Great America to come across the street to Ichiban. Â Come on. Â Great America is fun. Â But, there is no good entree food in the place. Â We enjoyed our meal here and went back to the park until closing.
Wow! Â I live in the northwest suburbs and this place was worth the drive. Â I like hibachi grill places and this place is by far the best.
1. Sushi - is always fresh and tasty
2. Staff  - is very friendly and the hibachi cook was great.  I was even greeted by the owner who made sure we were satisfied
3. Golden Shrimp - Â Topped with this amazing buttery sauce made from the heavens.
4. The filet, lobster and scallops are perfectly cooked.
5. Hibachi grill show was better than most places.
I'll be making the drive back up here soon!
I'm not sure quite what to say about Ichiban. Â The service was good, but the food was basically what I would call a "hot mess". Â Being by myself, I sat at a regular table. Â Lately, I have had a craving for golden shrimp, so I ordered a combination steak and golden shrimp. Â This came with a small bowl of onion soup that tasted as if it had come from a package and a small salad which was okay. Â The main course was where things definitely turned bad. Â It was a gloppy mess underlayed with oil. Â My entree came with a bowl of fried rice that had an oddly sweet taste resembling maple syrup. Â Maybe some people like that, but I expected something a bit more savory. Â The hibachi steak was good (ignoring the prodigious amount of oil on my plate), but the golden shrimp (which is what I was actually craving) had just a few small shrimps which seemed to be embedded in the egg sauce.
Had this dinner been in the $20 - $25 range including tip I might have given an extra star or two, but with the price I paid I simply expect higher quality food and more care to be given to preparation and presentation. Â There are other Japanese steak houses within easy driving distance that are priced the same, but offer a higher quality meal.
With all that being said, I might try coming back here for sushi when I am in the mood for it since I noticed a few interesting items on the sushi menu. Â If/when I do, I will update this review with my findings.
When I lived in the burbs, I went here ALL the time. Â Even now that I live in the city, I always try to find an excuse to trek over for some killer teppanyaki (Six Flags right across the street definitely helps).
Fav things on the hibachi grill (in order): filet, golden shrimp, garlic shrimp, lobster, scallops. Â I order a combo of 2 of these items, and then make the wife order 2 different things so we can share. Â and ALWAYS get the fried rice!
The sushi here is great also, really fresh stuff. Â Getting one as an appetizer before eating hibachi is perfect, and I also see a lot of people going here strictly for the sushi as well (they have regular non-cooking tables also).
If its somebody's birthday, make sure to let them know! Â They do the loud embarrassing song+dance stuff, and it makes for a hilarious show.
Well, I had to purchase 2 of their combo dinners in order to use my gift certificate from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a>. The combos were $26 $27 and I felt it was worth about $15. It tasted decent but not for the price. The place needs to be redecorated for sure.
Review Source:yum! i was at gurnee mill shoppiing so we decided to eat here. Â If my friend didn't tell me, I would have no idea that this place also had Teppanyaki.
The chef was awesome and really gave us a great experience. The filet was well worth the upgrade and the shrimp is amazing! Took the advice of eating the shrimp with gold sauce AND garlic sauce (my bf order gold and i got garlic.. and we shared)... it was DELICIOUS! The gold by itself is kind of heavy for me but the mixture of the garlic gives it a bit of texture.
That fried rice.. omg. He cooked it like I would... it looks pretty plain... but HOT DANG that was good. shoot... i just salivated at the thought of it. It's not salty but it was still flavorful so I love love loved it!
Just ate here the other day and I'm already craving it again. Â The sushi we had was delicious (they told us the salmon was just caught that day). Â Plus the filet, the garlic shrimp and golden lobster were just so good. Â And although I'm not the biggest fried rice person, I really really love their fried rice. Â It's pretty far from me since I live close to downtown Chicago but I'm tempted to go back again really soon.
Review Source:We were excited to take the family out for dinner while on a special family weekend. We were sorely disappointed in both the service and food.
We were seated quickly, but could not understand why we could not get service. Multiple people walked in, sat down and ordered while we sat there with the menu. Â We were told that they only had two chefs. As time passed, we asked again and were told we only had six people at our table of eight and they were waiting for two more people to take our order. Which was it? They were busy and couldn't keep up or interested in making the most profit while we waited? Well, we finally got service when two additional people joined us.
We ordered both sushi and hibachi. The sushi was subpar - it was not flavorful and did not taste fresh. The $4 edamame was the smallest order I have ever seen. We got our bill and were disappointed to learn that the usually customary free refills on the soda were not customary. We paid and as we were on our way out realized they had never offered us the dessert that come with our meal.
Lots of good sushi and hibachi restaurants around - I would pass on this one.
I went there on my b-day last month First of all the chefs are great (BJ-one of the fun, good cooking  and good looking guy  ;)! The server was okey (average)! But sushi was so so bad! I think the salmon and tuna taste were like some kind of nasty taste! And I told the sushi chef but he was like kind a mad! This place should be casual and nice but when I walk in looks so cheap like chinese restaurant! I felt like I am in Chinese restaurant or something ( I expected nice and casual)!
Review Source:Meh... I could take it or leave it. Well, if by take it I get my meal free and if by leave it I get to travel back in time and not spend the cash... then yes.
My date was super excited for this dinner and I was as well (mainly because I'd never been to this kind of place).
Our first disappointment came when our cook wasn't even Japanese... or heck, I woulda settled for any Southeast Asian nationality :-/ He was Mexican and talked way too much. I don't wanna so mean, but he did... and clearly I don't have anything against Mexicans, unless I'm one of the self-hating types... which I'm not. I just wanted a more "authentic" experience to accompany a "fun" dinner date.
Our second disappointment came when we got our food. Everything was kinda bland. It wasn't bad... but it also wasn't anything I couldn't have hopped over the hibachi and prepared myself.
Our third disappointment came when we got our bill. This place isn't super expensive... but it also wasn't a bargain. Factor in the medicore food and I was had.
I believe the saying goes: Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice and I was clearly stuck in Gurnee with a flat or I was starving and all the surrounding establishments were closed or condemned.
Went with a group of about 10 and we sat in the regular section of the restaurant. Â Once we were seated it took the staff 45 minutes to take our drink order and bring our drinks. Â After another long period they took our food order and it took 30 minutes to bring our food. Â During this long period of time none of the waitstaff asked us how we were doing, if we needed refills, or anything else. Â The sad part was the restaurant was not busy at all and by then it did not matter how good the food was (average) it could not make up for the lack of class overall.
THE worst run restaurant I have ever experienced and considering that the one in Vernon Hills was very nice quite a surprise.
Stopped by here after a day at Great America , it's right across the street. Was seated next to some late teen/early twenty something goofs , a common hazard in teppanyaki restaurants. They actually turned out to be ok after 10 minutes of negotiations on a sharing fee ($6) for 2 grown men (barely). The server had a difficult time communicating and was a bit hard to find , but did get our order right. The other party wasn't so lucky , as they received an extra order of fried rice and a separate large order (they only wanted one large order to share). Â The chef on the other hand was a pleasure to deal with (Nino) , and straightened out the rice dilemma as well as sharing all the extra fried rice with the table. We got the potstickers and a spicy tuna roll as appetizers , I really enjoyed both , my son lover the tuna roll , and my mother was only moderately pleased with the potstickers. The food is standard fare for a similar style place , fried rice ($2 extra) , grilled veggies , soup , and the entree. We all got the sirloin and it was very good , Nino even convinced my son to try the steak without the terriyaki sauce by giving him a piece of both.I also got the golden shrimp which was good. Â I can only compare this place to 2 other Japanese steakhouses , but it was up to snuff with both of them. The prices of this place are on the lower end , but they do not include the shrimp with the meal as other places have . That being said prices were still pretty low for the quality of food you got. I can easily see our experience going the other way if our chef was at all like our server , the food was probably closer to 3 and a half star . Our chef was cool , so I'll round up to 4 stars.
Note , there were signs put up letting the patrons know they will no longer be serving lunch there.
I was surprised when I saw that there was already another review for this restaurant given that it's a bit out of the way of most Chicago area Yelpers. Â Anyway, this is a hidden gem in the Far North suburbs of Chicago. Â It's basically right off the Grand Avenue exit just east of I-94, making this a perfect lunch or dinner if you're in the Gurnee area either for some factory outlet shopping at Gurnee Mills or you're checking out the rollercoasters at Six Flags (note: please ride the coasters first and THEN have your meal to prevent some unnecessary barfage). Â It is also convenient if you're traveling between Milwaukee & Chicago. Â Alright, so basically I found this restaurant while fiddling with my GPS system when I was in the area, and I was pleasantly surprised. Â They have a lunch special that runs for about $7.55 or so, and you get a huge serving of food. Â My personal fave is the Chicken Teriyaki with Fried Rice that comes with a side of soup and salad. Â You get this whole thing as part of the $7.55 lunch special. Â At dinner their portions are bigger, but the cost will also be double (roughly $14 something, add $1.95 also at dinner for fried rice instead of steamed rice). Â They might not be the flashiest or fanciest Asian restaurant in the world (ie. it's not like some of its counterparts further down in the North Shore suburbs and in Chicago), but the excellent food more than makes up for that.
Review Source:I have been here for lunch and they have some of the best sushi in the area. Â I get a little nervous ordering sushi when I am away from my downtown comfort zone, but I was pleasantly surprised. Â They have yummy tempura asparagus rolls. Â I haven't been here for dinner yet, but they have individual tables with the grill in the middle for dining entertainment.
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