Ichiban Sichuan

Having been using this place as a to-​go restaurant since about 3 years ago. The food is okay, w/​most spicy stuff. However, the flavor is too much determined by the sauce they are using and almost all spicy dishes share the same sauce! Also, the menu has not been updated since DAY 1 they opened (was it in 2011???), gee!
Side note, the owner also has a same restaurant opened around Purdue University campus, which is the same taste with the same menu…

I used to visit this restaurant with my friends a lot in college. Even now It’s my third year since I moved to HK, I still miss the spicy food and good times here. Recommended.

I have tried a bunch of things from here, and have never been disappointed! I love the tripe in chili oil! Not you’re typical americanized asian food. Great Sichuan food for a decent price. Don’t order out though– very expensive and food often comes cold. Better to eat in.

The spicy chicken is delectable. I used to order it once a week. Customer service is a little slow but the good food makes up for it. The chicken broth in mushroom sauce is my second favorite.

After trying a whole bunch of restaurants (most more than once) in Madison for two years, this is the best Chinese restaurant in madison in my opinion. Other places do have some great dishes, but the overall menu are not as strong as Ichiban.
We dined in and ordered delivery for more than 20 times (possibly 30), tried various dishes including several new ones, and they rarely disappoint. But since we never order the Americanized dishes, I cannot speak for those.
As for the service problem mentioned in some comments, I personally find it to be pretty standard restaurant service in a Chinese restaurant. Granted, the waitresses do not make small talks or try their best to take care of you or put on smily faces, but they take the orders, deliver food in time and refill your water constantly, which is quite enough for me.
The restaurant is not perfect, for instance some dish can be oily, lighting in some area is poor, and some dish can arrive late or not cooked as perfect every single time. I am giving 5 stars only because in comparison to other restaurants in madison that are way worse and are getting 3 or 4 stars, it deserves it.

Literally the best Chinese restaurant in Madison, in my honest opinion. The tofu pot and fuqi feipian, are two of the best dishes I’ve ever had at any Chinese restaurant, and trust me that says something.

Always count on Ichiban when we crave authentic Chinese!!! Everything we eat here is good. Wendy, the owner is the best!!! Love Ox Tongue appetizer, Beef with spicy capsicum and spicy crispy fish!!!

Had another great meal at Ichiban. Arrived at 230 this afternoon — still in time for the lunch specials which ends at about 3 o’clock. Ordered the Thai red curry with chicken served along with steamed rice. Service was excellent — no waiting and very pleasant waitress. Order came out promptly. The red curry was delicious. Always a good experience at this place.

A relatively big Chinese restaurant in Madison. Food are all classical Sichuan cuisines and are all very delicious (a little spicy though, to a Chinese from south China). Very good for a group of people having a dinner together since Ichiban has a big room and many big tables. Food amount for each dish also seems appropriate: 5 dishes were enough to feed us 6 people. One thing really impressive to me is that even in a Friday night like today with maybe more than 50 or more people dining in, we could have our dishes within 10 minutes after we placed our order. Our waitress was also very nice and filled in our water cup frequently. Overall 5 stars :)

Amazing authentic Sichuan Chinese food! Don’t come here if you’re expecting your typical Americanized Chinese food, because they specialize in the typically spicy Sichuan cooking.
My personal favorites include the dry braised chicken with spicy sauce in hot pot (under gan guo), the spicy shredded potato, ox tongue (be adventurous! it’s so good), and twice cooked pork.
Seriously the best REAL Chinese food I’ve had in Madison. A real local treasure.

Lunch. The restaurant is almost empty. 10 min after we order — one main dish arrives. My order cannot be made — so they asks me to pick something else. The soup and appetizer doesn’t show up yet… lets see…
The food was good tho — so I give them 3 and not 2 (for bad service)

When it’s late on a Monday night and you don’t want to venture out onto the snowy roads, there is always takeout and Ichiban was our pick.
I went with the spicy and crispy chicken and my girlfriend opted for the wonton soup.
The s/​c chicken was interesting. It doesn’t come with a sauce (basically popcorn chicken bites) but the seasoning and breading was excellent. You can’t miss the floral heat from the sichuan peppercorns and the amount of hot pepper that was left was impressive. The spiciness was not overbearing but definitely had a zip.
The soup was also solid. The broth was well made and flavorful and the wontons did not suffer from the gumminess that is often the case.
Definitely think I need to return and try other dishes. Fair warning: the menu is humongous so it may be a little tough at first to decide what to go for.

Ive gotten take out from here quite a few times. This is the most authentic Chinese food I’ve had in Madison so far. They offer Americanized food too like sesame chicken, but I’m a fan of the spicy crispy chicken and the pig stomach in chili sauce.
Do you like bacon? Try twice cooked pork

I am so like it spicy food, spicy crispy chicken. too many special food, if you like spicy food, you will be come here try it. eggplant with chili garlic sauce. string bean,

one of the best Chinese food in Madison area! The spicy dishes are great and truly spicy!

It’s the service. The food is great. But twice in a row I’ve received half my order and had trouble getting them to deliver the second half. This most recent time I’ve had to contact Eat Street and have my meal refunded. I’m sure in the store it’s different, but if you plan on delivery, plan on a better experience elsewhere.
Note: I’ve recently recommended going here instead of Orient House because of the service there. I swear, the only thing I’m asking is to have a complete warm order arrive when they tell me it will.

Pretty standard Chinese delivery. It was a little greasier than I usually like but it was still good. It’s a decent amount of food as well.
Delivered in about an hour which was fine and got everything right in the order

Protip: Do not wear a white shirt when you go to eat here. Cause it’s chili peppers and hot sauce galore and you will get some on your shirt.
I love coming here for their lunch specials. $ 7.50 for about 30 different items.
I have had the L17 which is Noodle w/​spare ribs and chili sauce. It is served as a soup dish even though it doesn’t list as a soup. Every bite you take your mouth will be coated in chili flakes. If that’s your thing awesome, I guess it’s sorta my thing. I love the spiciness, maybe not the constant choking though. The L14 Noodle with Hot special beef. It is very similiar, noodles in soup, some veggies, and cilantro (love the cilantro touch!). I think I prefer this dish because the cuts of beef seem a little bigger and more satisfying. The other dish with the spare ribs can be a little cumbersome.
The twice cooked pork is basically bacon. Lots and lots of bacon in chili sauce. I love bacon. But I felt guilty eating this much bacon.
The sichaun style cucumber is a refreshing appetizer. Cool and crunchy but spicy snack.
I’ve enjoyed most items here but the two dishes that I’ve gotten that I would probably pass on next time would be the walnut shrimp. This dish is a bout 15 or 16 dollars and was medicore. The broccoli was simply steamed with no spices and the shrimp is coated in like sweet and sour chicken batter but there were only a few pieces. The scallion pancakes appetizer wasn’t particularly amazing, I’ve had better.
I hope to go there one day with about 2 other people to do their hot pot! It should be a lot of fun I think. And they allow you to split the pot into two broths. One spicy and one regular.

3 star is being nice. I was here last month with colleagues from the office. We ordered quite a variety to share. The Mao pao tofu was delicious that day! Couldn’t wait to come back to have it again.
Back today with the family for lunch… boy were we disappointed. Ou Mao pao tofu had so much food enhancer my hubby and I could feel our lips tingling. Not a good feeling. Out beef lomein was greasy (especially since I asked for less oil). The Chinese vegetable dish with fresh garlic was blah… lack favor & salt. Where can we go for good healthy flavorful Chinese food???

This place is pretty authentic as to all the spicy Sichuan dishes comparatively to other Chinese restaurants in town.
Just don’t expect any good service. If anything prepare to have your utensils tossed on your table, water cups overflown, and dishes to arrive in unprecedented manner.
The prices are a bit of a sticker shock for a Chinese establishment, the are comparable to Peking Palace or PF Chang’s, but as others have echoed, the portions are huge.
I love the mapo tofu, west lake beef soup, dan dan noodles, steamed chicken slices in chili oil sauce, spicy garlic string beans, fried rice, and gyoza.
They have hot pots!