The first time I walked into Ichiban Japanese Restaurant, it felt like going to a friend's house.
"Hi, how are you?" the three staffers chorused on a recent weeknight. It wasn't the perfunctory "How many?" you get at many restaurants.
Throughout the meal, the solicitous service included refills without asking and genuinely friendly queries as to how things tasted.
On another visit to this Tucson restaurant, this time during lunch, we opened the place at 11:30 a.m. The service was quieter, less ebullient, but helpful and practiced nonetheless.
Owner Sook Muzyka opened Ichiban in November 2004 on Harrison Road at East Broadway. Her several staff members include two sushi chefs who feature daily specials. Sushi ranges from $3.50 for tuna nigiri to $16.50 for chirashi sushi.
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Ichiban offers a friendly atmosphere with clean designs. A sushi bar runs along the right side of the restaurant, with about a dozen chairs.
The rest of the smallish room holds about 15 tables. A television off to the side often broadcasts sports.
People who don't like sushi have plenty of choices, from noodle and rice entrees to lunch boxes and Korean dishes.
Many entrees come with a bowl of miso soup, white rice and romaine salad. The soup was a warm delight, with bits of seaweed and green onion floating in a Japanese stock called banno-dashi. Like most miso soups, it had a bit of a salty or soya bean flavor. It was a happy beginning to our meal.
With the server's helpful suggestions, we chose a lunch combo of chicken teriyaki with shrimp and vegetable tempura ($8.95).
We were presented with a large tray-bowl-plate combination divided into sections. A scoop of white rice sat in one section, a romaine salad in another, and hot mixed vegetables in another. We liked the dressing on the salad, where we could taste ginger, soy sauce and just a bit of sugar.
The two larger sections were reserved for the chicken teriyaki and the tempura shrimp and vegetables. Chunks of chicken breast soaked in a teriyaki sauce created with such ingredients as apple juice, soy sauce, lemon and orange.
A good tempura tastes impossibly light. With its panko crust, this was a good tempura. The chef's choice of vegetables, from green beans to sweet potato, were excellent. A tempura dipping sauce had a thinner consistency than the teriyaki, but it was just as yummy with its tinges of mirin, soy sauce, apple and orange.
We also ordered the Beef Yakisoba ($8.50), another large dish. Pieces of lean New York strip blended with a bevy of vegetables that included broccoli, peppers and carrots. The slightly overcooked noodles didn't stop us from devouring the meal.
With our full bellies, dessert eluded us, but the restaurant serves a variety of ice creams ($3.75), including a tempura fried ice cream ($5) and a fried banana ($5).
Tucson restaurant review: Ichiban Japanese Restaurant
• Where: 64 N. Harrison Road.
• Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. daily.
• Phone: 393-7777.
The bill:
Chicken Teriyaki and Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura: $8.95.
Beef Yakisoba: $8.50.
Pot of green tea: $2.
Total, before tax and tip: $19.45.
