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    Ichiban

    3.9 (77 reviews)
    ModerateJapanese, Sushi Bars
    Open 12:00 pm - 10:00 PM

    Ichiban Photos

    ICHIBAN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Quiet
    Dogs allowed
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - Ichiban

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    The tempura is quite heavy and filling!
    Sarah A.

    Was craving Japanese food after not having any for months now! Since Ichiban is close to where my partner works, I thought it'd be a good plan to try this hidden Japanese place out. Was greeted by friendly and accommodating staff members who were attentive and were very quick to serve us. My partner ordered the vegetarian bento box and I had the tempura bento box; both with miso soup. My food was pretty good and very filling! It made me a happy girl at the end of our dinner :) A bit expensive but what Japanese restaurant isn't expensive in Glasgow right? All and all a good experience!

    from official website
    Gavin M.

    Japanese restaurants seem to be going further down the road of Chinese ones with each passing year. Over-long, standardised menus of food that's never actually eaten in the country it represents, and generally poor quality all round. Thankfully as one of the pioneers of Japanese food in Glasgow, Ichiban is a good bit above all that. It does feel properly Japanese, does great bento boxes and pretty much anything they have with noodles in it is excellent.

    Egg fried rice with chicken
    Emma H.

    Ichiban is one of the restaurants I will continue to return too time and time again. The food is simple and tasty and the service spot on. My most recent trip was on Friday after doing some shopping in town. I normally always go for a noodle based dish but this time opted for egg fried rice with chicken, vegetables and soy. I also got (several) side portions of sushi including some amazing California rolls. My food was delicious, salty and filling but I have to admit I was rather jealous of my boyfriends Bento box. We both quenched our thirst with some Sapporo which came with a very nifty glass! There are some great places in Glasgow for sushi but make sure if you haven't already, to give Ichiban a visit.

    Chicken Katsu curry
    Jay M.

    Ichiban has been an ever constant in Queen Street and for one very good reason - it's quality food. Based on an authentic Japanese noodle bar don't expect fine dining or fancy tables, this has long tables and benches, and is all about one thing giving you quick, reasonably priced, delicious food. The menu is a westernised slant on Japanese food and it is top quality. Their most popular dish Chicken Katsu curry is easily the best Katsu curry in Scotland. There is a lot of selection on the menu, and a good portion of them are suitable for vegetarians. The drink selection is good with a good wine and soft drink list, they are also well stocked in a great selection of Japanese beer, sake, and teas. The desert list is limited to a small "interesting" selection of ice creams. I can recommend the green tea or the black sesame flavours.

    Auburn L.

    I love this place :) Between this one and the smaller cafe one on Dumbarton Road, I think it's the most regular place I eat in Glasgow. The staff are always fantastic. The food is always prompt and well priced. The menu has a good selection, and while it is not necessarily the best food, it is always tasty and done well. The food is actually the reason I only gave it 4 stars. Usually it would be 5, but this time, I'm not sure what it was, I guess just not quite as flavourful as it usually is, I'm hoping this was just a one off, but it was still very enjoyable. The space for this one is a bit more dressy and suits an evening meal as well as lunch. It's usually busy but we've never had to wait more than a few minutes for seats. There are TVs usually showing the news but the sound is off. I love the opening cooking area, especially listening to everything sizzle! It really gets my appetite going :D Overall a great place, which I will likely continue returning too again and again.

    taken by Adele
    Adele R.

    Ichiban is one of my favourite places to be for dinner in Glasgow. They offer a delicious menu of authentic Japanese dishes, that can be tailored to suit the individual diner. As a vegetarian, I was particularly impressed by the veggie offerings, including the delicious vegetable tempura, which I have with curry sauce accompanied by thick noodles. This delish dish packs a punch at meaty dishes, offering a filling alternative when you're after a filling curry dish, without the grease and horrible feeling that generally comes with takeaway curries. Ichiban is in a class of its own, serving consistently good food; not forgetting their spectacular jasmine green tea, which is served in a large wine-like glass with a real jasmine flower inside, that you can watch open beautifully before your eyes. I love Ichiban. A few more visits and I might just be able to get my head around using chopsticks, to save myself from the uncultured embarrassment of asking for a fork.

    Official photo from http://www.ichiban.co.uk/
    Nicola B.

    One of Glasgow's more well-established Japanese restaurant, Ichiban is probably the city's ichiban (number one!). Upstairs on Queen Street, the restaurant has a nice ambiance and a lovely interior, including a tank of colourful fish, which really adds to the atmosphere. Unlike some of its counterparts, Ichiban definitely has a Japanese feel. The staff are pleasant and quick. If you like sushi, there isn't an amazing selection and it's a bit more expensive than Oko Express downstairs, but the bento boxes tend to be good and the noodle and rice dishes are as good as any other. Once, however, I did order a duck bento box and the meat was completely overcooked. You don't get to choose which sushi comes in the bento, so if you're averse to squid and octopus, speak up first! Aside from that, I've usually had a good experience dining here. Definitely Glasgow's most authentic Japanese restaurant, I'd recommend it well above Wagamama.

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    This place is great for the price. Not expensive and the food still tastes good. Portion sizes were average and servers were nice

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    Page 1 of 2

    Review Highlights - Ichiban

    Although, the benches could be more comfortable They do a great offer during the day, any main meal and a side dish for £6.

    Mentioned in 4 reviews

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    Sapporo Teppanyaki

    Sapporo Teppanyaki

    (37 reviews)

    £££

    Merchant City, City Centre

    I saw the generally positive reviews, and typically enjoy Japanese Hibachi and/or Sushi. So we…read morethought we'd give it a try during a brief trip to Glasgow. The staff we interacted with were all very friendly and helpful. But unfortunately, the food was the real weak spot. The hibachi chef used enough salt to cause an immediate coronary - a layer of salt on the grill before adding the meat, before cooking the fried rice, and another layer of salt before the bean sprouts and noodles - you get the idea. The couple next to us agreed that everything was terribly salty, but eat there regularly, and said this was different than usual. So maybe it was the individual chef. At the same time, my Dragon Roll also tasted salty, so who knows. If I were here, I might give it another try, but not likely.

    My eyes nearly fell out my head when I found out I was going here for my birthday. Yasss! I have…read morebeen wanting to go for a long time now but as it's a bit on the expensive side it's put me off. Fortunately it was through an itison deal and it brought the cost down my a massive amount. It was only £19 for 2 people and 2 courses and you still get the pleasure of the Sapporo "experience". Sapporo is a show chef bar, so we had Superman, I kid you not, as our chef. He had a Superman belt and it said on his name badge so it must be true. We sat along with a couple who I believe were from Mauritius, mmm maybe it was Malaysia. Anyhoo, we ordered our drinks and food, which we ordered from an itison menu that Sapporo had created. They must be doing many of these deals, I would double check they are still available as it was it worth it. The sushi was good and the main course was amazing. Superman had many tricks up his sleeve, jumping out your skin most of the time to be honest. They suggest that you tuck in while he's cooking, as it'll just get cold otherwise. Not only Superman but other chef's do make many noises and beware you will also sound like them after a while. Hehe! I swear one of them had a laugh like a looney toon character from Who Framed Rodger Rabbit. I don't want to give away the show as I'm glad I didn't know as I really enjoyed it. It was cheesy but a good laugh, probably even better in a larger group. I need to find out what he used to cook the stir-fry veg as I've never tastied anything like it. The Teriyaki sauce was also delicious including their fried rice. It's an experience, so I say chillax and just enjoy.

    Nanakusa - 来见我的徐宝宝,第一顿可不就是要大吃一顿?

    Nanakusa

    (74 reviews)

    ££

    Charing Cross, Sauchiehall Street, City Centre

    I've been saying to the Mr for at least the last year, that I REALLY want to visit here. But for…read moresome reason never quite made it. Until last night. And thank feck for that! When you arrive, you are met with what I can only describe as a manky curtain - something that would normally really annoy me, but I totally forgive them.. Once you get past that you're presented with a surprisingly large, and very sleekly decked out, restaurant. There's all sorts of deals on here for bento boxes and lunch deals. But the full menu is also very reasonably priced. I had the ramen Chilli chicken. And oh my God! It was easily the best I've ever had. Very, very spicy. But sweet. And full of peppers and perfectly cooked chicken. My friend had the chicken katsu curry - and again, said it was the best he'd had. The staff were super cheery and really helpful. For 2 mains and 2 cokes the bill came to less than £24. I sinceriously can't wait to go back for more.

    I love Nanakusa with all my heart. Partly for sentimental reasons, but also because it is so damn…read moredelicious. Ok, the sentimental reasons. This was one of the first restaurants I dined at in Glasgow with my now husband after our fateful meeting in Japan, so it is very special to the both of us. I'd hopped on a plane to the other side of the world to visit a man I'd known for 14 days, fell in love and moved here. We've returned here loads of times since then, but I haven't been to Nanakusa for nearly a year. In my endless quest of eating out as many places in Glasgow as possible, sometimes the real gems get left behind for the new and exciting places. I was so glad to return last night for a UYE and see that nothing has changed since I first fell in love with Nanakusa (I was already in love with my husband by the time we ate here!) Now, Nanakusa. It does Japanese food, and it does it really well (see the aforementioned reference to meeting my husband in Japan!). I really love sashimi and there aren't enough places in Glasgow that I can eat it, so I always get a portion when I eat here. I also love takoyaki (octopus balls) and can't resist them here. I've tried them elsewhere but Nanakusa's are the best. The service is always friendly, smiling and helpful. It was a little slow last night but there were only two people working the whole restaurant, but none of us were in a particular hurry. I had a small glass of rosé with my meal and they also have a selection of saké and plum wines, as well as Japanese beers for that really authentic taste. The food arrived quickly and as soon as it was ready. Two people had ordered bento boxes and these arrived about 5 minutes after everything else. The waiter seemed really conscious of this and kept coming over which was a nice touch. I loved all my dishes, the takoyaki and salmon sashimi and I also had the chicken teriyaki. Sides like rice and noodles are optional which is great if you're all about the protein. Downsides? As I said, service was a bit slow. I'm also not a big fan of the lighting (the wall panels change colour) as it makes it hard to take nice food photos! Haha! Bench seating can be difficult to navigate getting in and out of gracefully. None of these points are worthy of a star deduction in my mind though as the food is so damn good, I can excuse it all. Thanks Nanakusa for being just as amazing as you were 4 years ago.

    Pickled Ginger

    Pickled Ginger

    (44 reviews)

    ££

    Charing Cross, Finnieston, West End

    This evening we had a party of 6 adults and 2 children. One of our adults was celebrating his…read morebirthday and since it was our first time in Glasgow we went to Yelp to help find a good place to eat. We stumbled upon this location after looking for a place near our AirBnB for some Sushi. We tried to reserve a table online via their website but it didn't work. So we decided to instead walk a mile to their restaurant to see if we could get a table - or even sit outside if we had to - knowing there would probably be a bit of a wait. When we got there I entered the restaurant with my son who is 3 in a stroller and immediately was greeted by a Redheaded woman who smiled at me like I had 3 heads. I then asked kindly for their availability and explained my situation and the woman scoffed at me - as if I was stupid to even ask the question - to which she then turned her iPad around and showed a list of Reservations. I actually managed to point to my reservation that via the website had not seemed to schedule correctly - to which she aggressively said "well there's nothing we can do'. Right as I turned to leave the restaurant the rest of my party trickles in and asks if we can eat outside - One of the kind waitresses said "sure" to which she set us up outside. We ordered 3 bottles of Sake and they were £24 for 300ml bottles. We had hoped that they might be worth the price but unfortunately they weren't much better than what you can get from a CoOp with a liquor license. The Shrimp Ramen was fantastic and the sushi tasted great but was really overpriced for the quantity which they give you. Overall I totally get the lack of vacancy for a popular spot - but being scoffed at as you gently inquire about availability was really off putting. Even eating there despite it was difficult - and the alcohol/sushi being overpriced. Would not recommend. The sushi quality and the waitresses efforts are the only reason it's not 1/5.

    Service is pretty poor. I hasten to add not the fault of the waitress but the cooks. I found myself…read moresitting waiting for my meal whilst my companion was eating away. It's a fairly basic rule that meals should be served to everyone at the same time. As for the food itself it was enjoyable but nowhere near the tastiness of the better restaurants in Glasgow.

    Ichiban - japanese - Updated May 2026

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