Easily my worst sushi experience
Before I begin, I just want you to know that I am usually even tempered about most sushi places here in the Dallas area. I understand that the quality will never be close to what you would find on the coast. With that in mind, I like to keep my reviews relative to other offerings in the area. That being said, here is my review of Ichijo.

After changing jobs, I find myself in a new area of town (Las Colinas). Previously, I had worked in the Plano/Frisco area and had a good handle of what restaurants are good and bad (and all stops between). The Irving area is very ecclectic, especially if you include Las Colinas in the mix.

I had seen Ichijo while visiting one of the area Asian Markets. They had a 2 for 1 Tuesday Sushi Special that caught my eye. Before going there, I did lots of research online and found some very positive comments, but the reviews were mostly dated.

After waiting for the right tuesday, I wandered over to Ichijo to try them out.

Atmosphere: The restaurant is located in a strip mall off of Beltline near a big Asian Grocery store. Inside the restaurant had half a dozen 4 tops, a couple of 2 tops and about 8 seats at the sushi bar. The decor was pretty sparse and most of the wall art were samplings of the different dishes they serve/recommend. At the time that I went, it was about 30 degrees outside, so I was looking forward to a warm and cozy restaurant and perhaps a hot cup of miso. Maybe the restaurant heater was not working, but it was freezing inside the restaurant. They had a couple of portable fan heaters, but the restaurant was still very cold. I was glad that I had brought a coat. The tables were standard restaurant issue and the chairs were in the cheaper plastic cafeteria style. The radio was playing contemporary christian music and a lone tv had barely enough reception to show some Martha Stewart talkshow feed.

Service: The restaurant was run by 2 women, one taking the orders and interestingly enough, one making the sushi. Now before you classify me as a sexist pig, I just want to point out that I make no assumptions about anyone's sushi making skills until the sushi hits the table and ultimately my stomach. Because every other sushi restaurant had a man behind the bar made me notice that Ichijo had a woman. I have already said too much about this. Anyway, the service was pretty slow. It took a pretty long time to get seated, get a menu, and then order. There were 6 other people in the restaurant that I could see. There was a party room in the back, so there might have been people in there. From the time I had entered the restaurant to the time I received my first bits of sushi was about 35 minutes. To the restaurant's credit, the staff was very friendly.

Food: The 2 for 1 sushi special was pretty limited in what sushi qualified. They had a special menu that you had to fill out. The one caveat was that you had to fill out 2 orders and then they would charge you later for 1. The special menu had most of the common sushi items (salmon, smoked salmon, tuna, fatty tuna, red snapper, some rolls, etc...). I decided on an order of salmon and an order of red snapper. In addition, I tried the shrimp tempura roll. After a little while, the waitress brought out a cup of miso soup. The soup was hot and welcomed because of the restaurant's ambient temp. The miso soup itself was very tasty and I was encouraged that the sushi to follow would be just as tasty. After a long wait, finally got part of my sushi order, the shrimp tempura roll. The roll was shrimp tempura, scallop, roe, cucumber, and avacado wrapped california style. As advertised, it was a double order. Initial bites of the roll were slightly favorable. The rice had the right amount of bite to it, but was a little bland. The oil that was used to fry the shrimp might have been old and the result was off tastes and a chewy bite. After 2-3 pieces, I decided to wait for the rest of my order. Again, after a long wait, the rest of my order showed up. Immediately, I was drawn to the salmon. First of all, the salmon did not look fresh at all. It had a "mealy" exterior and was a bit pale. Secondly, the sushi chef had "pieced" together 2 pieces of salmon to make one serving. The taste was as bad as the presentation. Very fishy and, to be expected, was very "mealy" to the tongue. I had to fight to keep the piece down. The second piece did not make any amends, even with a wasabi and soy wash. Moving on to the red snapper was my next course of action. The red snapper presentation was a bit better, but upon tasting, it fared no better than the salmon. Again, fishy taste, but this time, instead of being mealy, the texture was rubbery. If I were eating surf clam or octopus, this would be a good thing, but not red snapper. However, the absolute worst thing about the red snapper was the bone that I bit into. I think the chef cut too close to a fin, because the piece around the bone was hard. I have never ever eaten sushi that had ever had a bone in it. Don't sushi chefs perform Seppuku for serving sushi with fins and bones?

Overall: Easily my worst sushi experience, from the freezing cold atmosphere to the mealy salmon, to the bone-in red snapper. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. One silver lining is that I was definitely not hungry after leaving the place. I do not recommend this place and will never go back.    [16 Jan 2007 15:38:10]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Go to Hooters up the road.

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