Ichibantei

Whenever I need to escape the horror of New York’s humans, I visit Ichibantei. The cool reggae beats soothe my raging spirits, and the donburi fills me with happy, sleepy feelings. The staff are courteous to the extreme and the restaurant is warm and gentle. Ichibantei — I love you. New York gamma males, not so much.

This review is for delivery.
I would give overall the food ¾ stars
and 3 for the size
5 for delivery speed and communication. Arrived lightning fast within 30 mins vs quoted hour.
Ordered:
1 «Kurobata» Tonkatsu. Flavorful albeit i was expecting a bit less hamburger-​esque feel to the cut of pork. I thought this would be a more pork chop-​like consistency. Good portion but the kurobata wasnt nuanced enough for my liking.
1 Agedashi $ 7.00. This was perhaps least favorite dish. Flavor profile was exactly right, however the tofu and the fried cornstarch turned into glue and completely slid off my 2 pieces upon contact with chop sticks. The order didnt take long to deliver so i suspect the batter here needs a bit of tweaking. The broth was nice and gingery.
1 «Wagyu» Hamburger Steak: this dish reminded me of a very good salisbury steak. the hamburger is on the meatloaf texture side. juicy and flavorful, with bits of onion throughout and covered in a sweet BBQ sauce that wasnt too heavy. favorite bite over rice.
1 Chicken Nanban. This chicken dish is essentially Karaage fried chicken thighs with an egg topping sauce. Chicken got soggy in delivery, and i expect again its because it steams in the plastic container. This was a good size portion also came with rice.
Overall we tasted 4 dishes for 2 people, each one came with a side salad although i though miso was an option? It was reasonable for the circa $ 50 dinner.

Cash only place! But so worth it! I support fully. They work very hard to keep the food and services consistent. I respect that! The foods are very delicious and pls look at the photos for references!

If Ichibantai wasn’t the only place open at 230am on a brick Tuesday night in December, I’d give it 3 stars, but it was. It was open, warm, fast, and friendly. It’s décor is also this weird amalgam of Japanese meets Reggae, hip hop battle meets regular east village haunt. The food is thoroughly mediocre. It envoked nostalgic feelings of a dining hall in a Japanese college that I’ve never attended. It’s not even good. But it’s good for drunk East Village munchies, after you’ve been at the club, on a Tuesday.

I love this spot. It has a chill Japanese hipster vibe reminiscent of one of the random spots you could find in Tokyo. The chicken nanban is phenomenal and the beers are served very cold and cheap.

If you are liking for a ramen spot that’s not like the others, come to Ichibantei.
A little removed from Little Tokyo (a.k.a. St. Marks), Ichibantei’s appeal lies in its hole-​in-​a-​wall feel and small but unique menu that changes according to the season. I’ve come here twice: once in the summer and the last time about three weeks ago. During the summer, Ichibantei offered a series of cold ramen; since the weather has gotten colder, they’re now offering soup ramen. Both times, I wasn’t overly impressed by their ramen. I tried their standard ramen the last time around and it was very garlicy and too salty for my taste. But I give them props for their cheap beer ($ 3 for a pint, $ 5 for a giant mug) and their fried chicken. I don’t know why the chicken is so good… maybe it’s the white sauce (because white sauce is always good for some reason). It’s the only reason I’m not rating Ichibantei a «Meh, I’ve had better.» Perhaps if I try the rest of their menu and like it beyond the chicken, I will update my rating.

This was the first time I had cold ramen, which now in my opinion is the best way to eat ramen. The noodles consist of ramen noodles topped with ham, seaweed, bean sprouts, cucumbers, and tomato mixed with a tangy sauce. Best part was the soft boiled egg that comes with the ramen. There was a lot of texture to it, which was the one of my favorite parts. Crunchy, soft, chewy… so good. :L (My drooling face)
Get the combo with the karaage, which also comes with a side salad. It’s listed as Hiyashi Chuka on the back of the menu. You get three choices of chicken: Regular, Garlic Soy, or Teriyaki. The chicken was crsipy and juicy. Only negative thing is everything was really salty, and the water cups were small. The noodle by itself is $ 14, regular chicken $ 15, soy garlic $ 16, and teriyaki is $ 17. The place is cramped and tiny, but the times when I went it was never crowded.

This place is pretty small… I came here a few times before with some when it’s not too busy and I usually got seated right away. The food is pretty good here, always end up getting the chicken. Good late night place to eat at.
But, so far every time I came here, there was always only 1 server. And the service was so slow and it wasn’t even that busy… The food took a while to come out and the server wasn’t very attentive. He barely came to our table, I had to get his attention.

This is a wonderful find — Japanese comfort food with Jamaican ambiance. Whatever we’ve gotten here is delicious, but special mention should go to the hamburger steak and the yakiniku. It does take a bit long for the food to come out, though I assume this is because they do everything from scratch. I probably would’ve patronized them more frequently if they accepted credit cards.

Delicious Nanban fried chicken! So tender and so juicy… wow wow… will definitely come back for more and tell all my friends about this place.
Came on a Monday night, the restaurant is kinda empty… don’t be fooled by this, busy doesn’t mean the food is 100% good. It is all about timing.
I think this place is great!

Juiciest fried chicken doe! Yes it’s pricey but the quality and taste of this house is worth it. The chicken was not all batter and had really juicy meat with solid layer or crunchy fry. The garlic sauce was light and not salty. I got the nanban as well but I’d suggest getting the sauce on the side because it makes your chicken a little soggy and less crunchy. The rice was consistent and well done.
Service was nice and pretty fast. The inside ain’t too big but good for one on one. They also got some new age reggae bumping up in here. Other than the cost I’m all in!

This place primarily sells donburis and meat with rice dishes. Very good, casual restaurant with a cool reggae theme.

4 stars is pretty accurate for this place. The chicken is super juicy dark meat and flavorful although the crust isn’t all that crispy. I tried the garlic (not extremely garlicky but an interesting goopy sauce) as well as the nanban (it was okay but I wasn’t the biggest fan, the bf preferred it to the garlic) and I think I’d like the chicken better plain. The rice, as others have said, is somehow perfect and delicious. I really enjoyed the romaine salad tossed with some sort of sesame dressing – more flavorful than expected! And the miso soup was delicious.
It’s a really large amount of food and you can tell the chef puts a lot of care into each dish. Everything was seasoned well and satisfying. I think that’s the best word for it. It won’t blow your mind but it’ll satisfy you for not a huge amount of money. You can’t ask for much else!

They’re known for their fried chicken, because they cook it flawlessly. I’m Korean and I’ll even admit that this might give mad for chicken a run for their money.
Try which ever of them you like. It’s all the same fried chicken in different sauces, so you can’t go too wrong because no matter what sauce is on it, underneath will be the amazing tasting chicken.
Decent portioning. Chicken is served with salad, soup if you spend at least 12 $ (which is most of the menu), and rice.
Can’t wait to try their donkatsu.
Service was surprisingly good considering it’s just one guy running around a tiny shop.

Wow, this place is delicious. My sister wanted to take me to a Japanese restaurant in EV, so I started to mentally plan out what I would order when I got there — sashimi and some salmon rolls. But she actually ended up ordering for me, and I am so sad that I forgot the name of my meal. It was a rice platter with salad and chicken, covered in this amazing creamy sauce. Ugh, it was amazingg.
This place has an interesting ambiance. It’s a small restaurant with very little Japanese inspiration. They play reggae music and have reggae artists on their walls. It’s definitely not the Japanese restaurants I am used to and I like that. The only downside to this place would be their customer service. They only had one server and he was very slow (taking the order, carrying our food, bringing us our check, etc.) Minus that, everything else was excellent.

This quaint small eatery in the East Village serves some quality casual Japanese bar food. The all bar eatery is a fun place to get some grub. You sit around what looked like a dj booth or along the window.
We started with the kaarage which was crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. I wasn’t a big fan of the raw tako appetizer mainly because of the whole texture thing but hey you might. We shared the pork tonkastu was fantastic and my friend ordered the tuna steak which was perfectly cook. To top it all off was a nice cold glass of beer.
This no frills Japanese eatery services solid fare. There’s no fancy tables or candles but you will get good food and friendly service.

Japanese soul food and reggae music? I think this is heaven! Ichibantei is worth the hype.
I came here this evening with Japanese friend of mine. They suggested the place after reading about a a couple months ago. They know my love for Japanese food, and reggae music (I’m of Caribbean descent). I did not know fried chicken was a popular comfort food in Japan until my friend told me. According to them, it’s a popular dish on Christmas. Oh my ignorance as an American.
Just as I walked in and hearing Tuff Gong (Bob Marley) playing, I knew I would enjoy my dining experience. We had the age-​tofu for appetizer, and it was good. What stood out to me was the main course. I had the karaage (fried chicken) with a side of potato salad. The potato salad tasted similar to what my mom would make, but a little zestier.
The karaage was amazing. I usually like the skin on my chicken when it’s fried, but I did not miss it during this meal. The chicken was so juicy! There is no special seasoning in the chicken, well, at least not what I tasted. However, it is perfectly fried. The little salad on the plate is a great compliment to the meal.
The only downside to this place is the space, it’s pretty small, and there are no individual tables, so be prepared to share your space with others. However, this is a minute issue.
Great food, great music, great company, what else can you ask for? I can’t remember the last time I felt so at home at a restaurant. I definitely recommend this place to everyone, especially reggae fans.

There is nothing quite like Ichibantei. I’ve never actually been to the physical restaurant but order delivery from them at least once a week and it’s been nothing but perfect. They do Japanese kara-​age style chicken better than anywhere I’ve ever tried and it leaves nothing to be desired. Most of the fried chicken dishes I’ve had use the same base chicken with the sauces on top varying. Nanban is my go-​to, with what they call a tartar sauce on top. I’ve never been quite able to put my finger on what it actually is but I love it. I’ve also tried the garlic chicken and the plain kara-​age and it’s always flawlessly cooked. The black pork dishes are delicious as well.
This is the kind of place I love to support, where you can tell that everything is done with care. Even the salad dressing isn’t the generic orange ginger dressing but something a little different, a little better. The entrees always arrive well packed and super hot, with neither dearth nor excess of cutlery and sides. The rice is always perfectly cooked as well. As far as staff I’ve never dealt with anyone at the store but the delivery person belongs in the delivery hall of fame. He is honestly the nicest delivery guy I’ve ever met and practically bows when he brings the food.
5 stars for Ichibantei, if you haven’t been or ordered from them yet you owe it to yourself to do so. Far and away my favorite delivery food in the East Village. Thank you guys!

The service here is incredibly slow. I came with a few friends for some food before a night out. The venue is small and we all had to sit in a row facing the store window on bar stools. This made for awkward conversation. Most of us ordered the chicken nanban so I’ll speak a bit on that. The chicken was juicy dark meat topped with a slathering of the garlic sauce. Flavors were great. I’m sure our hunger also made the food taste that much better. The chicken came with some white rice, which was properly cooked. Not too dry, not too soggy.
I would come back here again because the food is pretty good and the prices decent. However, I would be much more inclined to return if they would only hire more people. When we came around 8PM on a Fri night, there were maybe 3 other people in the restaurant and two people working the place. Just one more cook during peak hours would make the experience that much better. For now, I’m issuing 3 stars.

Best Karaage (japanese fried chicken) in NYC!
THIS I REPEAT IS NOT A SUSHI JOINT! But who cares the food is excellent, comforting, and filling at a great price!
This is tiny place has about 20 seats or less that plays a lot of reggae (which is a little bit strange). However the food is on point and they do serve limited selection of beer and saki. It’s a bit dive-​y and eclectic, but in a good way.
Favorites on the menu: the karaage (friend chicken), the Kurobata Tonkatsu (breaded pork), Hamburger Steak, side of roasted pork sausages, and the japanese potato salad.
The staff is very friendly. It’s small piece of Japanese comfort food in large sprawl of NYC. Definitely a hidden gem in the East Village that deserves much more attention for its quality of savory food and excellent service.
The owner is super sweet and cooks all the food! You’ll often find «Ruth» chatting with customers about their days. Service can get a little crunched when they are busy, but the wait is worth it!
I’m no fan of reggae that is constantly on repeat, but the food is so good here… that i don’t care! lol
And you can’t beat the prices on eat-​in or takeout! Now, they are on SEAMLESS! So be on the lookout for «Captain» who’s the moped delivery dude!
Dropz mic so i can operate a pair of chopsticks and a frosty mug of japanese brew!
I out!
Zzz