We started off our meal with a la carte orders of hand rolls \u2013 yellowtail and scallion for me, tuna for Josh. My yellowtail, though more reddish than normal, was fresh and tasty, and the little bits of scallion really go well with the fish. Josh\u2019s tuna, though beautifully red, was tough and stringy. It was hard to bite through the fish, which is not a good thing. Oh well. This is why we come for the hibachi and not for the sushi.<\/p>\n

$\"Yellowtail$

Yellowtail and scallion hand roll and a tuna hand roll<\/p><\/div>\n

Hibachi dinners start off with soup, either miso or clear. I prefer the clear, which is a peppery and salty broth with mushrooms and scallions floating in it. There are also little bits of fried onions, similar to the kind that tops off green bean casserole. Yum!<\/p>\n

$\"Clear$

Clear soup<\/p><\/div>\n

Next up is the salad, which is a bowl of mixed greens topped with delicious carrot ginger dressing and one sad cherry tomato. I can\u2019t get enough of the dressing though, and my attempts at replicating this at home have failed miserably. Does anyone have a good recipe to share? Ichiban\u2019s version is light, sweet and tangy, and there\u2019s no mayo in it, so it doesn\u2019t come off like a watery thousand island dressing. I could drink this stuff, so I don\u2019t mind that they use such a heavy hand in dressing the salad.<\/p>\n

$\"Salad$

Salad with ginger dressing<\/p><\/div>\n

Now this is usually time for the show, when the hibachi chef comes and shows off his skills (I\u2019ve never seen a female hibachi chef. Why is that?). Our particular chef this evening didn\u2019t seem to keen on entertaining though, and stuck with straight cooking. We didn\u2019t even get an \u201cegg roll\u201d joke out of him when he was making our fried rice. This has never happened before (the lack of entertainment) so I was surprised but I didn\u2019t really mind. Usually I can\u2019t stand when they bang utensils around, but I do enjoy an onion volcano once in a while. Nevertheless, he prepared our food in front of us methodically, only pausing to ask if we liked garlic in our fried rice (of course), and how we wanted our steaks cooked (rare).<\/p>\n

$\"Food$

Food cooking on the hibachi<\/p><\/div>\n

First thing off the grill is fried rice, which I think costs about $3 extra (the hibachi dinners come with white rice). It\u2019s just eggs, diced onions and carrots, garlic, soy sauce, salt and pepper \u2013 you can make this easily at home and it\u2019s very tasty.<\/p>\n

$\"Fried$

Fried rice<\/p><\/div>\n

Next up were our shrimp appetizers, which are three big pieces that come with your set dinner.<\/p>\n

$\"Shrimp$

Shrimp appetizer<\/p><\/div>\n

Then come the mains, which for me were sirloin steak and chicken. He cooked my steak well past rare, rendering it a bit tough, but the chicken was cooked perfectly and still juicy. I guess it\u2019s hard to regulate temperature when everything is cut into little squares. Josh\u2019s order of filet mignon was cooked better and much more tender. The mains are quickly followed by cubes of vegetables that have been grilling on the hibachi, and noodles quickly saut\u00e9ed with soy sauce and garlic. The portions here are enormous; I could barely fit everything onto my plate.<\/p>\n

$\"Crazy$

Crazy amount of food<\/p><\/div>\n

What makes the meal complete for me are the sauces, ginger sauce and mustard sauce. I\u2019ve been to lots of hibachi places that don\u2019t offer mustard sauce, and it completely detracts from the experience. Mustard sauce is to hibachi as ketchup is to fries. I don\u2019t enjoy one without the other (though I\u2019ll still eat it!).<\/p>\n

$\"Ginger$

Ginger sauce on top and mustard sauce on the bottom<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, after most of my food has been placed into takeout containers for future meals (seriously, I can stuff myself silly and still have enough leftovers for at least two lunches at work), we get ice cream. They offer green tea and red bean, as well as chocolate, vanilla, and sherbet (usually orange). I always go for the green tea. Josh likes to mix it up and chose the red bean this time. The ice cream is always just a bit icy but it\u2019s included in the meal, so that just makes it a bit more forgivable. I wouldn\u2019t pay extra for it though.<\/p>\n

$\"Green$

Green tea and red bean ice cream<\/p><\/div>\n

Overall Josh and I both love the hibachi dinners at Ichiban. It\u2019s one of our more frequently requested dinners when we\u2019re in NJ with his family. The prices are reasonable, especially for the amount of food that you get. I usually order steak and chicken because it\u2019s only about a dollar or two more than just getting steak, and you get full portions of both (I\u2019m a pig, but like I said, I also take home a lot of leftovers). Josh\u2019s filet mignon is pricier, but most dinners top out at under $30, and that includes the soup, salad, white rice, shrimp appetizer, noodles, vegetables, and ice cream. For us, it\u2019s always a nice treat since there aren\u2019t many hibachi restaurants in the city (Benihana doesn\u2019t count), and the food at Ichiban is consistently good.<\/p>\n

Ichiban Japanese Restaurant<\/a>
\n414 Hackensack Ave.
\nHackensack, NJ <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"