The donburi are disappointing... Pork and chicken. We ordered the pork donburi first but the pork was tough and sinewy. We sent it back and ask for chicken donburi hoping it will be better. It's not. The chicken was pre-grilled and rather dry... You are suppose to simmer the raw chicken in the sauce so it will soak up the sauce! The quality of the sushi was ok. However, it's way over priced... Overall, not recommending this restaurant and we will not go back again. read more

We called ahead to confirm that they will accept service dogs - which they did! Thank you! They were one of the few well rated sushi restaurants in the area that were open for lunch on a Sunday. A few comments: -Very good gyozo -Was able to quickly seat a large party (about 8 people) -There is NO salt added on their edamame -The 007 was sadly not very good at all :( Fishy and too many flavors competing for attention -I personally liked the decor and the tatame mat tables. I see a few reviews where people did not like the decor - to be fair, it's the first and only sushi place I have tried so far in Santa Barbara. read more

Wanted a change of scenery and we were on Cliff Drive so we tried Ichiban based on the recent reviews which were all 4 stars. That rating is about right. Some dishes were a little greasier than should have been (short ribs and the tempura apples), but that's my fault for choosing those dishes in the first place. Their spicy sauces are indeed...really spicy. The spicy edamame with garlic is unique and on point. The "box sushi" is also a unique dish and came out spicier than expected (probably also because they drizzled siracha on the sides. The short ribs were $19, more than they should have been. I may or may not come back, and if I do I'll only repeat the edamame again. read more

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I'd give this place a 3.5 stars if possible. Not quite a 4 but not a 3 either. My friend and I came for lunch. We love trying new sushi places so we decided to come here. It took us a while to decide what rolls to get. There weren't very many options compared to some other places around SB so that was kind of disappointing. Eventually we ordered: 007 roll: we subbed the shrimp for salmon and it was so good! Avocado, salmon, and cream cheese inside. I'm normally not a cream cheese sushi person but this one hit the spot today. Chefs special: spicy tuna and shrimp tempura inside, topped with salmon and special sauce (I want to say it's some sort of miso sauce and teriyaki sauce). I enjoyed this roll as well. My friend didn't like that it was pretty covered in sauce, but I thought the sauce coverage was fine. If you check in on Yelp you get free edamame (which is normally like $5-6 sheesh it's just edamame lol). The server wouldn't let us use both of our Yelp offers, which I guess is expected. This place is a little pricey compared to some of the other places we've been to, but the quality was decent. I'd come here again I guess if I want some free edamame and I'm not feeling adventurous with my sushi, but if I want more variety I'd hit up a different place. read more

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First time visit. Excellent value on food and service. Our server Akiko is very friendly. We will definitely be back! read more

Ichiban - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

These folks are doing a great job keeping us fed with great food during this trying time!

Our favorite place for Sushi! We drive from Carpinteria to the Mesa just to go for Sushi. Friendly staff, laid back atmosphere, and great food! read more

I always come and order their lunch special. It is pretty filling and comes with miso soup, side of rice and then the lunch (with your choice of teiyaki chicken, tempura, little orange slice, rolls, udon noodles, etc. basically a lot of options.) The staff is always friendly and smiling. read more

Ichiban - Lunch Special with California Roll, Tempura & Udon Noodles. Sooo good (: - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Food- three stars. Service- one star. Food was ok, nothing special. I have had much better. Service was poor. Our waitress was disinterested and not helpful. I will never going to this place again. Wouldn't recommend. read more

This place is alright. Definitely over priced I got 2 rolls for 22$ a crunchy roll and a California. It was decent sushi for Santa Barbra. They made it super fast to go around 15 mins. And they had seating outside as well:) read more

Overview: 2/10 service, 3/10 food, 5/10 ambiance Would not recommend. To be honest this place is mediocre at best... The service was really slow and the chef was on his phone right in my face! He didn't even answer me when I tried to get his attention. The food was fine I guess... Overall I would not recommend this place. If you're looking for somewhat authentic Japanese food look elsewhere! As an American, I spoke more Japanese than the entire staff combined. There's plenty of great food in Santa Barbara so just go somewhere else. read more

Great spot with quality food. Sushi and donburri are some of my favorites. Small strip mall location. Service is spotty, but acceptable.Enjoy! read more

Ichiban - Rolls!! - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Best sushi. Highly recommend. The sushi rolls were very good especially the crunch roll and the service was fast..one of the waiter looks like Jared Leto too! read more

The front desk lady really ruined this place for me. I went in about 30 minutes before their midday break and literally stood in front of the receptionist for about 5 minutes. I finally asked her if she would seat us and she said WELL WE ARE CLOSING SOON. I don't care! I'm here before closing so seat me. She said WELL CAN YOU EAT ALL YOUR FOOD FAST BEFORE WE CLOSE? What the heck! Of course I told her ya and then I took my sweet time. The food was good and the older workers were very nice, it was just that young receptionist. They even serve big meals in like an old school boat, yes a boat made as a plate. It was cool. They also have tables to sit at and then a section where you can sit on the floor and eat on a lowered table with cushions. read more

Food here is absolutely FIRE. the crunchy roll is delicious and so is the avocado roll. just wow. AMAZING FOOD AND AMAZING SERVICE.

This used to be on of my fave sushi restaurants in SB. But over the last year the food quality has gone down. We have a few servers that we love & a handful of new ones. Service has been hit or miss, so if we go, we try to go when we know whose working. read more

This was my first time trying sushi and it was overall a good experience. The food matches the vibe of the place, and I'll definitely be back for seconds!! The customer service was really good, and the owner was really nice and taught me how to use chop sticks. Made me feel very welcomed. read more

Man this place is good! So fresh, consistent quality, and such nice staff. Nice interior, and Mr Fish is always there to great you. The only thing that could make it better would be a larger selection of special rolls, but that's just my greed talking! read more

Great local sushi!! Love it Box sushi, chef special roll and spicy asparagus rolls are the best. read more

My partner and I came here for Valentine's Day and we had the $20 Groupon deal (buh-less), which we definitely put to use! We ordered the Korean ribs + California roll plate, the 007 roll, and the cliff drive roll. They were all really good and the California roll was the best California roll I've ever had...But maybe that's because I usually don't order it at sushi restaurants. The sauce for the 007 roll was a-maz-ing and the cliff drive roll was okay. The service was great, super immediate, and everyone was nice. The décor was fitting and also felt very home-y. There was the sushi bar, some regular tables and chairs, and tables with mats so that you could sit on the floor if you wanted to. Overall, it was a good experience! P.S. The sushi may be a bit pricey so I def recommend grouponing it. We had a $42 meal for $22!!! read more

During their new POS setup my card was charged twice for my meal. I waited 5 days for my refund to return and continued to be patient. ( working in the restaurant business myself I know this tends to happen) yet when I asked a week later, they said I needed to take it up with my bank and no longer answered my phone calls. I tend to be pretty understanding but when you're paying sushi prices the last thing you wanna be is charged for multiple meals when you ordered one. read more

Chris the waiter was cool, ask for him We were visiting from Orange County Recommend this place read more

Honestly not a fantastic place. We ordered some salmon dinner combos and it was dull and flavorless, majority of the flavor came from the sauce it was drowned in. Cold in the middle, sent back, cold again. Sushi was not the best either, it was clearly not fresh and the staff put us at fault and got upset that we didn't like it. They were clearly annoyed at us and service kept getting worse and worse. The food is super over priced for such bad quality. On top of that, they charge the most ridiculous amount of tax. Don't think I will return here, hope they improve for themselves. read more

We ordered sushi from Ichiban. It was fresh, delicious and came in time. We will order again soon! I highly recommend ! read more

This is a take out review on a Thursday night 5/20/21. Whoa good sushi... I felt the love in how you prepared the sushi! Thank you thank you thank you it has HIT my sushi craving out of the park! I used grub hub to order. I highly highly recommend the salmon sushi, octopus and seared tuna sushi and I got like 4-5 different rolls split among three ppl.... all very good and the descriptions were accurate. I am full like a good year blimp of quality sushi obviously prepared with love and I ain't ordering another sushi place when I'm in the area... please be here next year when I'm here for my annual trip! THANK YOU Ichiban I felt the love in how you made the sushi so well and it hit the spot!!! read more

Omg, the Japanese waitress in this restaurant is so rude and disrespectful to customers. The worst restaurant service experience I have ever had! Definitely don't go there! read more

Always great service. I don't think their sushi is the best in town, but it's not bad. I order the chef special roll and some assorted nigiri. Always a pleasure to dine here! read more

I have no clue where all the 5 stars are coming from on this place. It's so hard for me to believe that in a fish town like Santa Barbara, there is such a lack of good, reasonably priced sushi restaurants. No, Arigato doesn't count...it's not that great and it's horribly over priced. Ichiban is good because there's nothing else to really compare it to here. It's definitely not great and the prices for nigiri sushi are expensive. An order of tuna nigiri is over $6.00! If I want an order of tuna, yellowtail and salmon -- that's 6 pieces of sushi -- I'm already over $20.00! C'mon now! The other thing that bothers me is the older sushi chef -- he's rude. I've been here twice now and both times he's acted almost offended when I place another order for sushi and he has felt that I've already eaten a lot. I'm sorry, do you not want my cash? Is the point of your business not to make money? This trip, I ordered: 1 tuna sushi, 1 yellowtail sushi, 1 spicy scallop hand roll and 1 spider roll. When I placed an order for a Cliff Roll the chef responded with: "oh you're sure hungry tonight...this will be your last roll." Excuse me?! I'm not some obese dude shoveling food into my mouth. I'll keep ordering until I'm done eating! Maybe if you actually filled my scallop hand roll and sliced the nigiri a little thicker, I wouldn't have the need to order another roll. This was the second time he was this rude to me and it sure isn't making me want to come back for a third visit. The other servers were attentive and pleasant. The older sushi chef is rude and should just learn to keep to the task of assembling mediocre rolls and keep his mouth shut. 2-stars: "Meh. I've experienced better." read more

I did not get the sushi here. Refer to other reviews if you want to know about the sushi. Looked up ramen on yelp and found this joint. We ordered the pork ramen and the udon (the one with chicken and an egg). Both were not good at all. The ramen was salty and the pork was chewy with some weird taste to it. The udon was purely noodles with a little bit of other ingredients. The menus smelled like they were wiped with old wet towels. My biggest issue with this place is the service. I had looked at the menu wanting udon (the one you'd expect would have broth). I accidentally ordered some other type that was dry with sauce instead. When I told the waitress that I wanted one with the broth, she just kept explaining that I ordered one that didn't have the broth. Well duh, I can see that I made the mistake since you brought out one without broth. She was not helpful at all. The dish did not smell appealing at all so I definitely didn't want it. I ended up just ordering the one with the broth, waited forever for it, and still had to pay my original order. I basically took it togo, tried a little the next day to find out that it did not taste good just as I had expected, and threw it in the trash. I have never been to a restaurant that didn't let you return something you didn't want. I walked out very unsatisfied. read more

We read the reviews and came expecting it to be a good place, but it turned out to be a terrible experience. First of all, the service was awful and the long wait was uncalled for. Upon entering the restaurant, it was as if no one cared if there were customers coming in and waiting for a table. It was like, "hello? Anyone work here?" while servers walked around the place. It took almost 15 min before anyone acknowledged us and then seemed to "forget" about us as 2 bigger groups went ahead of us and got seated. All this time we had two kids who were starving but they had their heart set on Japanese food. I wish we had walked out then. I felt like they didn't want our business. After we waited for almost one hour and finally got to sit down, I ordered promptly since I knew what we wanted. Well, again, slow, indifferent (almost arrogant) service. What bothered me most was the servers wouldn't seat us at an empty table. There were tables but the staff was inefficient at turning tables around. I saw other customers who were seated without any water or menu. Come on, figure out how to get customers seated and get them menu and water, at a minimum. Finally, they served over-priced sub-par food. For example, for an below-the-average sashimi set (3 PC tuna, 3 PC salmon, 3 PC hamachi), it was $25.95 and udon noodles for kids, $15. A small bowl of edamame was $4.95. Funny part was the waitress told me the sashimi set was a good deal. I don't mind paying, but I like to pay for good food and service that match the price. Won't be coming ever again. read more

The sushi was alright... we had two rolls and sashimi. I was confused on why they charged us for the ponzu than included the tip for 2 people and taxed us on top of it. read more

Ichiban - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

I have enjoyed Ichiban for over a decade but recently the rice has changed. It's overcooked so the rolls are just mushy. Please fix!

Good food and good lunch combos (about $10 each and includes rice, miso soup, and a few other sides). Originally gave this place 5 stars based on the lunch combo price, but updated after getting their rolls. If you're looking for rolls, I recommend Goleta Sushi House. Their rolls are about the same price but twice as big. read more

One of the favorite places where we like to spend time with our family. Friendly waiters, quick service, excellent menu! We recommend read more

Ichiban - This is a urchin - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Good sushi place, not the best, but their 007 roll is very good! They have some traditional type of table, and the service is nice. The prices are normal for a sushi place, not cheap, but not overpriced. read more

Ichiban - 007 sushi roll (AMAZING!), fish tempura, and full meal. - Japanese Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

There are all too many mediocre sushi restaurants in Santa Barbara, but Ichiban defies the trend. Their rolls are delicately made. I used to work at a sushi restaurant (see homma's brown rice in palo alto), and know the pitfalls of poor rice spreading technique. Ichiban's sushi chefs prepare rolls that have good texture, and the seaweed breaks easily with each bite, avoiding awkward mouthfuls of sushi on first dates. The sushi ingredients taste...for lack of a better word ... fresh. If I go back on a weekend (i'm a weekday pescatarian...probably a phase but I'm fully aware of it), I'd try the beef sukiyaki. On the pricey side ($20-$30 for a modest dinner), but well worth it. read more

My friend and I decided to go for a last minute sushi run and we decided to go here since it was close to where I was staying and my love for sushi. I ordered the Spicy Tuna roll, the Philadelphia roll, and the Futomaki roll. The service was fine. The spicy tuna was ok. The salmon in the Philadelphia roll was yuck - not fresh at all. The Futomaki roll was even worse. It was made poorly and just fell apart the second I picked it out. Every single one of them did that. I didn't finish my meal. I was visiting from The OC and but I won't be back visiting that place again. No thank you. read more

We were seated promptly and served fast. Their rolls are pretty typical, nothing too creative, but the basics work. We got three rolls and a dinner combination, the fish misoyaki was quite good. The rolls were good, fresh but not anything to write home about. but overall, it was a good dinner. The deco is simple, but I love the fact that they have tatami mats along the side of the room and you can sit japanese style. Total bill about $60, which I found to be affordable for sushi. read more

This place is one if the better sushi restaurants in town. While I often go to places like Edomasa and Ahi, which I love, Ichiban alone with a few others seem to have a higher quality of sushi grade fish. The price is higher but worth it although I don't know if if some of the rolls are worth the price. This place has a good look to it and good atmosphere and I would definitely recommend it. They're also in the SB Axxess book for free roll if you have the card. read more

Cool little sushi place great service all the employees were fast and friendly as well. I ordered ahead to pick up and all the employees asked if I had been helped. They were all fast efficient friendly and professional. read more