Rarely do we have a restaurant of this nature making a comeback. But that is precisely what Ike's Kitchen has done. This Japanese popular restaurant that used to be on Electric Road and shut down during the pandemic, to then close down in March 2022, after its owner retired, But it seems that retirement wasn't in the Stars for Chef Ike who had been bringing traditional Japanese cuisine to the Roanoke Valley for over 35 years as Head Chef of other restaurants in the area and then in his own restaurant. It didn't take long for Ike's Kitchen to announce its comeback grand opening at its new location in the Lamplighter Mall off Williamson Road, in Roanoke, Virginia. Located where the old Wonju Korean Restaurant used to be located. With this background and never haven gone to eat at its first location I decided to go try it out today, and to my surprise I was pleasantly surprised to what I discovered. A quaint little cozy restaurant, with a rich menu, wonderful creative Japanese Japanese cuisine, and very friendly servers who provided exceptional customer service to complete an extraordinary dining experience. To start off with I ordered a Hot Green Tea. As appetizer I ordered a Miso Soup and an order of Gyoza. Both tasted amazingly delicious with a unique, one of a kind flavor, that only a Master Chef is able to produce. For my main entrée I ordered a Hibachi Steak medium rare. The meat was so tender and tasty, and the accompanied fried rice with other ingredients had a unique magical taste, that immediately revealed and allowed my to discover the reason for the popularity of Ike's cuisine. For dessert I had the Taiyaki, which was something I had never had before, with a sweet indescribable taste that only the viewing of one of my photographs accompanying this review can do justice. Before leaving I asked my server Rebecca if I could take a peak at the bar of the restaurant which is not yet quite finished and take a couple of photographs to give the readers of my review a sense of how it would look when finished. And of course she graciously complied. Needles to say that while I was eating several groups of people and a couple of individuals came in to dine and they seemed to be regulars of the place. For all of the above mentioned details and more, I am so happy to highly recommend this wonderful restaurant with an amazing Japanese cuisine and give it five stars for an extraordinary dining experience. read more