I took my sister and my nephew here yesterday after my sister got out of the hospital. She is pregnant and had been in the hospital for several hours. She was craving Chinese food and had requested a buffet. I knew of this place only because it is on my way to work and I'd been here once or twice before, but it'd been a couple of years ago. Therefore I didn't remember much, if anything about the place nor the food.
The restaurant itself quite nice and rather upscale looking in comparison to most of the Chinese places that I've been to all of my life living here in the Springfield area. I know that it says that they are, "Shanghainese, Asian Fusion" but they do serve a mix of Chinese food as well, since this is the Ozarks and "Springfield-Style" Cashew Chicken is kind of our thing here lol. We came after the lunch rush had long since passed and the dinner rush was barely beginning to trickle in.
The fried chicken itself (without any of the sauces on it, since it's a buffet the sauces are served separately) was extremely dry and hard. They seemed to prioritize quantity over quality is what I felt like. What I mean by that is, instead of throwing out the little bit that was left of the chicken that was dried up and hard they just kept it out and seemed to hope that the customers would eat it until it was mostly gone, if not all gone, and *then* they would replace it. Hopefully they are keeping up with the chicken's temperature and expiration date...
I've worked in a professional kitchen environment for years, eventually working my way up becoming a kitchen manager with a Servsafe food handler license for years. So I know what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to sound like a snob, I just don't like being fed hard rocks being passed off as food... Sadly, their sugar coated donuts were the exact same as the chicken. =(
This was not even the worst of this experience for me honestly! it was only after I'd gotten home later that evening and fallen asleep for a few hours that the real horror began to kick in. I'd woken up once to some mild abdominal cramps, but luckily they weren't too bad at that point and I was still at the point where I could fall back asleep. Then after less than an hour I awoke to some of the single worst abdominal cramps I've ever experienced in my entire life. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the restroom. I was in so much pain I was crying... After thirty minutes in the bathroom on the toilet crying in pain, I went back to bed. I was finally done with Ichiban... Or so I thought...
This morning I woke up with the worst taste in my mouth! And I brush my teeth every night before bed! Not only that but I woke up with terrible nausea. And I NEVER get nausea!! Shortly after I'd woken up Chapter Two of Ichiban Bathroom Nightmares started ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!! It could have been the chicken and the donuts that were dry and hard as a rock or God only knows what else.
All I know is that I am avoiding this place like the Plague... read more
