The Ichiban Sushi & Noodle Bar

Absolutely love coming to this place to eat. by far the best japanese restaurant around town! my favourite dishes would have to be their teriyaki dishes and their specials, but the menu has so much choice that I have something different every time I visit!
I regularly eat here with friends and family, each time receiving great food and service, I also love the atmosphere of this place, surely makes you feel welcome and warm! waitresses are friendly and help if you are unsure of the menu and need help with.
I would highly recommend this place to everyone as its my all time fave place to dine. Catch you all there!!

OH MY GOD! I have heard about this place so many times, it was only when i have decided to catch up with my friend I have found out how its really is!!! Staff was so unpleasant from the very minute we entered the restaurant. We went there last Friday at 6pm, restaurant was nearly empty only 1 gentlemen 'enjoying' his meal. We were suggested small table next to the entrance, and when we asked for a nice one we were turned down by apparent company policy that they offer 2 people only table for 2- RESTAURANT WAS EMPTY- even when we left an hour later!!! What a bad start to our evening, but then at that point we thought never mind its just a table. I have been working in a catering industry during my university studies, I had a pleasure to be a Duty Manager in one of the places, so I know a bit about customer service in a restaurant! Waitress attitude was unexpected, our starters’ didnt arrive at the same time, which wasn't an issue as it was sushi and we could wait few minutes, but we haven’t even managed to eat half of our portion when waitress asked if she can bring our main course now. Our answer was no as we havnt finished our starters yet- this wasn’t taken very well by the waitress- and we were shown her bad attitude. Any way, after the starter my friend's main course arrived... as with the starters we had to wait few minutes for my main to arrive. when eventually i got my meal and we wanted to enjoy it my friend realized that her food is COLD, not a problem as she though they can just re-heat it and problem will be solved. When she stood up to ask a waiter to do so (of course there no no one around) she got back an awful attitude from 3(yes not 1) waitresses rising their voice at her what does she expect. After 2 minutes of arguing that she would like her noodles to be at least warm I had to join the discussion as all 3 waitress starting to shout at my friend, saying that its our fault that the food is cold! we were told that it was our responsibility to ask for our food to arrive at the same time! I was shocked with not only what i heard but the way i was told that as well! it wasnt discussion but arguing with waitresses, that were very sarcastic and ironic. They havent calmed down when i asked for manager number, it looked as if they didnt care at all. At that point we left that HORRIBLE place, we went for take away and enjoyed our food by the Roath lake. I would never ever recommend this place to anyone with exception when you would like to learn what service NOT TO Provide in your restaurant, I am so surprised how they are still in business!!!!!!!!!!!

Love it, love it, LOVE it!
I have a mate who comes to Cardiff from Reading on the weekends and we always meet here for dinner. It's really tasty!!
I think I have tried most things on the menu but I always go for the box meal. Think it's called Teishoku? and you can have beef, pork, chicken, mackerel, salmon and tempura. It is deceptively filling tho! Very tempting to pig out on everything but that rice will expand in your belly!!
I have been to all the Sushi restaurants in Cardiff and this is definitely my favourite! It is much, much fresher food than the chain Sushi places. (Yes, Yo Sushi I'm looking at you!)

By far my FAVOURITE place to eat in Cardiff. the staff are very polite and always on hand if you need anything. The food is absolutely amazing! I'm a chef myself and know quality when I see it. Its not cheap compared to other restaurants in the Cathays/Roath area, but worth every penny! My partner and I go there for birthdays and annaversaries, usually costs us about £50 for two and we walk out with very full tummies!

If you plan on going on a Friday or Saturday night its best to call and book a 'booth' table.

Whereas Tenkaitchi is more of an original noodle bar with long tables and a high turnover of diners, Ichiban has more of a restaurant atmosphere. With tables and booths diners are not sharing a table with strangers but have a more intimate meal. I think both ways are fantastic, it just depends what you are in the mood for!

The meal I had here was fantastic, nibbling away on some edayame beans whilst we waited for our dishes to arrive my friend and I were able to have a good catch up - and congratulated ourselves on eating our greens and being very healthy!

All the food was freshly prepared and hot, the tastes were amazing. Service is unobtrusive yet there always seemed to be a waiter on hand if we needed anything.

I even tried some hot sake. I still don’t like it.

I didn’t think it was as cheap as some places but it was still reasonable for the amount of food we had.

Slightly more expensive than it’s nearby competitor 'Tenkaichi’ but has the added bonus of better seating and being less busy.
Good variety of food and drink on offer but not many vegetarian options.
Take-away also available

In my opinion, hands down the best Japanese restaurant in Cardiff. The food here is delicious and you get great value for money. The staff are very friendly, the decor is pleasing to the eye and the food is amazing (did I say that the food was amazing yet?). Went on Saturday for a friend’s birthday and had a fantastic time. We all chipped in £24 each and for that we had mountains of food, a bottle of white wine, sake to share, a couple of beers and a big tempura ice cream dessert with 5 forks! I can heartily recommend the edamame beans, spiky yaki soba (a delicious, slightly hot, chicken noodle dish), salmon and tuna sashimi, rainbow maki, tempura prawns and chicken teryaki. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
It gets busy at the weekend, so you may have to book in advance. They also do lunchtime offers.