Ichiro: Titanic Chirashi Bowl

The first time I ate at Ichiro, I had a terrible cold. I could not taste my chirashi. Now did I mention that the CHIRASHI at Ichiro is so ginormous that it could sink a titanic-sized sushi boat? For real!

This dish was so colorful and so pretty to look at with the sharply cut fish pieces arranged neatly in the bowl.  The humongous size of the bowl was impressive  but I had to go back to taste the quality of the fish. I went back on Veterans Day at 2:20 pm for "me" time lunch. The restaurant was about to close but the servers were so friendly and told me that it was okay. I was the only customer, got my chirashi bowl within minutes and was told to take my time eating.

The servers themselves started eating their meals after tidying up the cash register and had their friendly banter in Japanese. So this place is legit.

The chirashi bowl did not look so impressive until I started dissecting the contents. And one by one I started transferring generous pieces of the fish onto another bowl so I could taste all the fish. Among the ones I recognized were the following although there were more fish types I didn't list:

1. Plenty of ginger
2. Seaweed on top of rice
3. Perilla Leaf
4. 1 shrimp
5. Salmon
6. Saba (mackerel)
7. Cuttlefish
8. Ika (octopus)
9. Tamago (egg)

There was more fish than sushi rice in term of rice:sushi ratio. Quality-wise, it was not bad but not spectacular or great quality. The fish were fresh enough but I bit into a very fishy mackerel that I almost gagged. During our first visit, my fiance ordered a bunch of sushi rolls. He was not impressed.

Tab was $17. 83 (tax already included.) With $4 tip and hot green tea total was  $21.  Pricey for lunch for a little mom and pop in Oakland Chinatown.

Unless your appetite is as big as a titanic sushi boat, I recommend sharing this with a friend. I took my leftover to go and ate it that evening. It was not good anymore.

Sometimes bigger is not better......

FOODIE GIRL'S RATING: 3.25 Stars for average quality sushi.
Portions: 5 Stars
Service:   5 Stars

Key:
0 Star: Never again!!! These people should not be in business.
1 Star: Chalk it to bad experience. Live and learn.
2 Stars: Very disappointing but there it has some good things to offer.
3 Stars: It is okay but do not expect much. I will still return.
4 Stars: I like it! I will be singing your praises!
5 Stars: I will be dreaming of you at night!
6 Stars: Perfection (or close to!)