If I could give ZERO stars I would! Went last night to celebrate a birthday and service was absolute shit The staff was hurrying us up in ordering and when the chef showed up, we tried engaging in conversation and he didn't want to, just kept focused on cooking the food and that was it. Our food tasted completely bland, absolutely no flavor or seasonings. Noodles tasted like NOTHING. We weren't even halfway done with our food when another staff member comes and starts placing to go containers in our table. We NEVER asked for them and we just felt super rushed. And they also just handed the check to us when we weren't even finished. No one came to ask if I wanted anything else to drink or if we wanted dessert, it was all business. It's not our problem if they overbook and want to get people in and out of there. Everything about this place has gone completely downhill. We used to come here a lot and actually enjoyed it but last night was absolute bullshit. This place is known for dinner and a show but it's a SHITSHOW We ended up paying about 400 dollars for the blandest food. Will never come back here again that's forsure. Really sad what happened to this place I heard the noodles from the mall in mission Viejo are way better but you have to eat them while they're hot bc if you don't, it goes downhill from there (little advise from our Lyft driver on our way home) read more

A solid Teppanyaki place! I'm not the biggest fan of Teppanyaki restaurants. I'm more about just getting in and eating a good meal without the show, but I brought my sister and nephew here on Christmas day for an entertaining dinner, and it was a pleasant surprise. We ordered the Filet Mignon and Chicken plates, and man unlike all other teppanyaki places i've been this place does not shy away with the portions. Unlike the other places i've gone growing up with the tiniest amount of meat, here I actually had big pieces of perfectly cooked filet mignon and chicken which were accompanied by grilled veggies, noodles, fried rice, soup, salad, and 3 shrimp. Oh yeah, also with a side of Volcanoooooooooooooooooo (thats a teppanyaki joke -_-). The tricks weren't too flashy, but i mean for me again, i dont really care about all the tricks. Trick style scale maybe a 5 of 10, but they whipped it up with the quickness. My nephew is a sushi fan and approved of the California roll he got, and we even got some of their salmon sashimi which was surprisingly fresh (i usually dont hold these kind of places too high in the fish dept) and the cuts of the sashimi were thick! These were priced just right too! Overall for being the only teppanyaki style restaurant in the area (unless you want to drive 20+ miles to the nearest benihana) I'm going to give this place a solid 3.5 stars. The portions and prices here are just right, and what makes it better is that the food was actually pretty good. I'll take those 2 things over more cooking tricks any day! read more

The kids love eating at the Teppan table. The food quality is excellent. Call ahead for a reservation, there will be a line out the door.

Absolute favorite Teppan restaurant EVER!! And we love teppan so we have been to a lot of them. Our favorite thing about Ichibiri is that you get fried rice and noodles with all teppan meals! Plus soup, salad and shrimp appetizer. I recommend doing a combo because you will truly get so much food! We come here all the time and the chefs are always so accommodating, friendly and make absolutely delicious food! You must go here!!! read more

Essentially a family owned Benihana. Pros: huge portions filet was great unlike Benihana noodles are included with meals convenient location tucked in a corner by Gelson's very easy parking Cons: seafood items weren't very fresh the cooks didn't do fun tricks :( takes forever to get in and out, we got there at 7 and we left around 9 read more

The food was terrible. The service was okay at best knowing the servers based they're service off of stereotypical profiles when it comes to their costumers. The food was made in a rush and was sloppy. Honestly the food lacked flavor and was overpriced. We spent two hundred dollars on food that was slightly better than a local McDonald's. read more

DANK. Great value for the price, good food and good times. I was literally so stuffed, and the chef was great. Onion tower? They got it. Zucchini? Catch or die. Free shrimp also included. 10/10 read more

Great food, amazing presentation and show, and good service. We love it here! Got tons of food. Thanks guys will be back soon!

Tucked away in the corner of Monarch Plaza, by Gelson's, this sushi bar/teppan restaurant has always had very fresh fish and great service, although it seems the sushi bar part is less popular no than it once was. Their loss is your gain, they currently offer $10 off for an order of $50 or more of sushi and considering their prices, this puts them in line with other places! If you are looking for a sushi choice in the area, give this one a go. Be sure to try their smoked salmon sushi and Yelowtail Kama...both are great! read more

Ichibiri - Yellow tail, spicy tuna roll, rainbow roll....all to go! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Dana Point, California

Don't waste your time or money. The New York steak was so old it was sour and not from the lemon they doused over everything. Clearly thawed out 5 days before serving. So gross. The soup was soy sauce and chunks of mushroom. Everything was seasoned with cheap soy sauce and salt and nothing else. I spent $105 here and haven't regretted something so much in years. Don't waste your money. read more

Everything was just ok. It's a very poor man's Benihana. I think it's a nice place for locals but I hoped for more.

The sushi is good but would not recommend any other dish. Their ramen tasted like top ramen according to my friend and their fried rice was average. My spicy tuna roll was really good and they let me substitute fish inside. If there is a birthday in the restaurant it resembles a rave with all of the strobe lights that went on and it was very much all eyes on you. They also have lots of TVs with sports playing - at least when I went. read more

Another amazing dinner at Ichibiri! I sat at the sushi bar tonight ! Best sushi chef ever!!! Totally surprised me with this masterpiece ! Love love the flowers and hearts read more

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This place is on PCH north of the town part of Dana Point. We have passed it several times but thought we should try it at least once. It was a good thing we did. The prices were slightly higher and the portions slightly larger than our favorite Japanese restaurants. The wife had 10 pieces of shrimp of her tempura meal. My sashimi dinner had good quality fish - a requirement for a good sushi/sashimi place. They slice the fish a little larger than I like, but it "hit the spot". The six tempura grills were filled while the sushi counter had only 4-5 people. The tempura must really be good. Definitely a good destination. The server said it was more crowded than usual but that didn't surprise me. The crowds just follow me wherever I go. Starbucks is in this same strip mall. Sushi. Starbucks. All the makings of a great outing. read more

Ichibiri - My delicious sashimi dinner in a boat. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Dana Point, California

"Best Teppanyaki in Orange County" Ichibiri is a top quality no staple in South Orange County. Superlative service is executed with a smile and a graceful "did I just get a refill , didnt even notice" hand. Elevated culinary skills coupled with fresher than a grocer's ingredients make for a memorable teppanyaki experience that will certainly have you coming back for more. If an entertaining cooking show is not your thing, the takeout includes ALL of the accóutreménts such as homemade ginger dressing salad, mushroom broth soup and lemon butter shrimp. read more

Food is delicious! We had the Teriyaki Steak and the Garlic Shrimp it's was amazing.

We ate here this past Saturday evening with neighbors. This was our first time to this location. We had a reservation and they seated us immediately (great start!) The server was fast and attentive. Our appetizers and rolls came out fairly quick. The tepan cook was funny and did a good job of keeping my daughters attention. The routine was very standard for most tepan places. The food was very standard for most tepan places. The crunchy roll was really good. I like that they have a choice of ponzu or tempura sauces! Front of house - great Service- great Food- average for tepan Pricing - average for tepan Parking is easy read more

bad place...service and food suck far more than the ambiance which is bad in itself.....one star is an over rating.....

We (Wife and myself) went Ichibiri on Xmas night and sit in Sushi bar. We had the order couple sushi as following: - Yellow tail - Tuna - Sweet Shrimp - Fresh Salmon - Salmon Skin Hand-roll - Uni - Ikura - Shrimp Yellow Tail taste great!!! It just melt in my mouth. :-) Uni, Sweet Shrimp and Salmon Skin Hand-roll are great also. I have not tried their Teppan, but we will come back to Ichibiri for Sushi when we visit Dana Point for sure. :-) read more

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I had ramen which is not the specialty and thus not tremendous, it was good enough to scratch the itch. The miso soup and cucumber salad was good. Can't remember what my wife got but said it was okay, definitely not worth $29 considering it was just lots of rice and noodles dried out fish and a handful of shrimp. I don't want to say too much negative until I try this place again. Staff was friendly, the ambiance was cool with the paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. The booths, furniture and flatware were all mismatched which was kinda funny. It's a high end area in a high end shopping center what's up with that? Must try the sushi next time and perhaps the habachi to confirm. read more

Decent lunch value, especially for the area - lots of food for about $13/pp. I was very disappointed with the quality, taste, and service. Overall 2.5 stars. My lunch meal: miso soup, small salad, tempura, steamed rice, and a bowl of udon all for about $11. But the food was bland, americanized, and just not that good. The tempura was heavy, oily, and a dark golden brown - a far cry from the airy, light fry normally desired. My udon was limp, pasty, and without much other than the noodles floating in a nondescript broth. The miso soup was similarly flavorless. The small green salad was actually pretty good, though, as it was topped with a few good, fresh veggie pieces. The restaurant was nearly deserted at noon on a Wednesday - with only one other party besides my table of two. Of course that means the waitress, though very sweet, had little to do and thus got busy wiping silverware and doing anything/everything OTHER THAN providing service to our table. No drink refills + my companion asked for something mid-meal which our server immediately forgot (though after it was too late and we were leaving she suddenly remembered and came up and apologized). You can almost guarantee you will get lousy service if you walk into an empty place - apparently when bored most folks are simply unable to stay focused. Human nature, I guess... Anyway - it's been at least 10 years since my last visit - and it will likely be another 10 before I return. My tip for those nonetheless coming for lunch: get a teppan lunch plate - as that looked better than the few traditional japanese items I witnessed. read more

I have been eating at Ichibiri for the last 37 years since I moved to Orange County. It has been a place for family and friend celebrations, date nights, and random lunches and dinners. Tonight was exceptional. Our Teppan meals were cooked to perfection--melt in your mouth filet mignon-and the service was excellent. The Teppan Chef was very experienced, and generous with portions--offering me the noodles and fried rice that were extra and not included with my meal because the others portions were already huge. There is a reason that Ichibiri has remained successful for so many years--generous portions, quality ingredients cooked just right, and wonderful customer service. read more

I was not impressed. The food was good yet not great. Service was the problem. Very slow and the chef was just mediocre. We went on New Year's Eve and had a nice dinner with a group of 9. The food is excellent, service and cleanliness ok. Bathrooms out of paper, they ran out of beverages. read more

Ichibiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - Dana Point, California

Love this place. Great location, great ambiance, awesome service and our very own chef, Jose. He was entertaining, fun and did an amazing job. Food is amazing. Their fried rice is beyond yummy. Noodles and veggies were equally delicious. Chicken, fliet mignon were great. Fish was a little dry. Salad was good, and so was their soup. read more

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We are visiting from out of state and were looking for a nice little sushi spot. We were blown away by the food!! Will definitely come back, what a find! read more

A very casual spot which seems really popular for teppenyaki but we dined at the regular tables and had great food. Both quality and quantity were above average! I love sukiyaki ( soup) and its hard to find. This place has it! read more

I'll start with the good: Jorge (George) was awesome! He was so kind and accommodating to our group. Definitely gave us a 5 star experience. The bad: The restaurant lacked strong air conditioning. Our guests were visibly sweating and fanning themselves with their menus. Our waitress saw and did not care. I asked many times to turn up the AC, but our waitress just said "it's already on" and dismissed me. We were getting up to leave when our chef showed up, so we decided to stay. Jorge really turned this experience around. Without him, this was a 1 star experience. Thanks Jorge! read more

I recently brought a party of 18 here. They were able to get us 2 teppan tables together so we did not have to split the group up. I did reserve the day before. A wide variety of items were ordered teppan style and also some sides of sushi. Everyone thought the food was great: steak, chicken, fish, shrimp. I personally had the beef filet, and it was like butter. The sides were well prepared: fried rice, vegetables, noodles, soup and salad. There are not a lot of teppan places in South OC these days. I think Riptide is the only other option. I would pick Ichibiri first for the quality of the food and service. We were celebrating a special occasion and the experience was great. read more

Been coming here for years and it's one of my favorites. Note: Ive only done Teppan. The food is consistently fantastic(especially the fried rice) and my family and I have never had an issue here. The "show" of the grill is always well done and entertaining. Tonight, Jorge (goes by George!) was entertaining, funny, personable, and all around amazing. Can't recommend Ichibiri enough whether it be for a random evening or a birthday dinner. read more

Great place!!!!good food, good staff... great place for teppan in south county. Would highly recommend.

Over rated. Food too salty. Too expensive for the value. Bathrooms smelled awful. Lots of alternatives are much better.

This evening my friend and I went to Ichibiri in Dana Point to celebrate a birthday and were EXTREMELY disappointed to say the least. Both of us are frequenters of the restaurant, but tonight was unlike any other we had experienced. A month prior, we had made a reservation at the Teppan table and had a chef prepare our food who neither of us had seen before. We watched him BURN every single item of food. The rice. The noodles. The chicken. The shrimp. A filet. And even a lobster!! That is completely unacceptable and those around us even looked around in shock. For the price point, this should be unacceptable. My friend and I ordered lemon butter chicken and neither of those things were added to our chicken. The stovetop was not greased and we watched him forcibly SCRAPE our desert dry BLACKENED chicken from his front. He did not care about customer service, and said not a single word as he prepared our food. He did none of the regular activities that the normal chefs take part in (ie: flipping the egg shells into his hat, making a train with the onion, flipping food into patron's mouthes, etc.) and it was just about the WORST restaurant experience I've had thus far. At the end of our meal, we did not eat what was served to us, and packaged it in togo boxes for our family COMPOST. I even felt bad doing that. Prisoners are fed with more respect and decency - I tried dousing our food in soy sauce and to my absolute amazement, not even that could save the CHAR that we were served. We took our bill and approached the hostess and were eventually led to the manager. With that he told us, "He is a part-time chef who we pull in every now and then. Sorry. Next time I'll give you extra rice." We most CERTAINLY do not want extra rice, we want a meal that is WORTH our $50 and something that could suitably fit to a human being. When I looked at the bill I couldn't help but feel that THEY should be paying US (yes, with tip.) I am outraged with this kind of service. The ladies and young men who work there as bus boys, runners, and hostesses are absolutely amazing, but tonight the lack of professionalism within the manager and chef specifically stop out. It will be a VERY long time until I return there again, and I suggest that all other patrons do the same. No respectable business operates this way, or allows customers to go home dissatisfied. On the way home, we ended up stopping for dinner somewhere else, a much cleaner, more professional restaurant with food that is MILES ahead of what was served to us at Ichibiri Dana Point. If this happens to you too (which it very well might), I suggest you go to this place as well after: McDonalds. read more

Noodles are bland, fried rice is meh, food tasted like the grill needed to be cleaned. Our server came twice, everyone wanted more beers but she never came back. Make sure you schedule the reservation 30 minutes before you want to sit, oh by the way it'll take 16 minutes for the waiter to come get your drink order read more

Food was so good and fast and staff was so kind! We'll be back soon! Highly recommended read more

Ichibiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - Dana Point, California

Wonderful special night out! It's been years since I've been to Ichibiri, but I took a fan of sushi (afraid I'm not into raw fish;-) who thought his dinner choice was fantastic. I had their lightly seasoned and delightful Ichibiri salad and a large mixed plate of Tempura which was done to perfection. The service couldn't have been better. Next time we'll sit at the counters where chefs cook in front of you, but for this round, the occasion was special and I wanted my eyes on my date;-) read more

We enjoyed eating here! The chef was fun and had great personality. The food was delicious. We will return.

Mango roll was ok but the eel sauce was a touch too sweet. Then came the crunchy roll... could have been served at Cinnabon it was so sweet. Tasted like it was drenched in brown sugar water. Maybe the teppan is good but I can't recommend the sushi. read more

Nice local place for lunch, dinner and teppanyaki. There is also a sushi counter.When in town we have lunch and it never disappoints.We took the kids and grandkids Sunday night,New Year's Eve.lots of families with little kids at the tepanyaki tables.Great fun for everyone.Grand kids still talking about it.9 read more

Tonight I was feeling rather melancholy so I figured the energy of a teppan grill would make me feel ecstatic. I was seated next to a family I knew nothing of, we gathered together to enjoy a feast prepped by the apprentice chef issac. As I looked over the menu I was extremely distracted over the loud Christmas carols from a group of small aryan children, but I tuned them out over the smell and scene of an onion volcano. I wept in tears over the pure skill of the chef definitely should be promoted to sensei even though he was Hispanic. Ultimately I give the vibe 20 out of 15 stars. read more

While the food is usually really good here the take-out is horrible. Tonight was the last straw. We called in our order and we were told it would take 20 minutes. To give them a little extra time we showed up 25 minutes later. After an hour we were told it would be 'just a few more minutes'. If it wasn't already almost 8:00 on a school night, and overly hungry kids (now getting hangry!) I would have left without the food and gotten a refund. This is beyond ok and such a disappointment. While we like this place, I'll never call for take out again!!! It's important to note that this was not an overly busy Wednesday night!! It's also important to note that we've had delays before for takeout but never this bad. read more