I hope you all have been having a fantastic weekend so far :) The weather, while warm out still, has at least been good enough to have a picnic outside or go to the pool-not that horrendous week or pouring rain. Anyways, I know that everyone may not be the biggest sushi/sashimi fanatic, but I am! If I could afford to live on fresh raw sashimi every day, you bet I would. Not only is it healthy for you with all those omega fatty acids, but there's no nasty oils/carbs/sugars in there that could harm your body. Sounds like a win win to me-which brings me to today's review~
Since I'm often in the Duluth/Gwinnett area because of work and friends that reside in the area, I'm always on the lookout for affordable and nicely portioned meals. While it's great to go on food adventures every once in a while in my free time, it can get pricey and be quite a drive out to the city. So, I like to look for places nearby-and this is where Haru Ichiban comes in. My family, friends and I have been dining here for as long as I can remember-definitely over the past eight years or so-or whenever they opened. Their food has always been top notch and on par with those popular sushi houses here in Atlanta (Sushi House Hayakawa, RA Sushi just to name a few). Very affordable, an extensive menu to please every palate and a very welcoming staff-all the qualities that make an establishment great. While I've tried so many dishes off of their menu over the past 8+ years, these were some dishes ordered on a recent visit.
Let's get started:
☯A nice cup of hot green tea-very refreshing & soothing
☯Before your entree comes out, steaming hot miso soup & their house salad is brought out
☯Haru Ichiban Chirashi Bowl ($12)
☯Special: Deluxe Bento Box ($16.95)
☯FOOD (5/5): I've always been a fan of Haru Ichiban and will continue to be a fan! From their ramens, to their bento boxes, and all of the sushi and sashimi you can imagine, it's a great deal for how much you get in terms of quality of the seafood itself and the price. In terms of the dishes we ordered on this recent visit-I love getting a nice warm cup of green tea. It's supposed to "prepare" the stomach to eat, and it really does. Before the meal arrives, you're given some steaming miso soup and a green salad with that delicious ginger dressing. The miso soup is standard with tofu and seaweed bits, and the green salad is super yummy especially with their house made dressing. Bye bye ranch, hello Haru Ichiban ginger dressing. So, while I usually order the chirashi bowl, my mom ordered it, while I decided to order the deluxe bento box. The chirashi is usually my favorite, since if you can tell, it's topped with such a variety of freshly slice tuna, mackarel, salmon, tako (octopus), tamago (egg), shrimp, salmon roe, crab meat all on a bed of sushi rice. I'll tell you right now-you won't find a better bargain anywhere else in Georgia! Super fresh and delicious. Sometimes, the only thing I wish is that they had some Korean hot pepper sauce (gochuchang) to mix the rice and the sashimi together (more of a Korean thing rather than a Japanese thing). It goes perfectly like spaghetti and meatballs, so mouthwatering! Once you walk into the restaurant, the daily specials are written on a chalkboard stand. On this visit, I happened to notice the deluxe bento box-and it sounded so tantalizing so of course I had to order it and I'm glad I did. As you can tell, there's a great mix of things in this one box: 6 pieces of sashimi, grilled miso cod, potato salad, squid ceviche, chicken karakke, tempura shrimp, boiled veggies and more. It might not look like a lot, but I had two other people helping me finish it since it ended up being way more than I had originally thought. While it is a little pricier than most of the items on the lunch menu, it's a great way to try everything, especially if you're not in the mood to eat one specific thing, like I was that day. If you like ginger, be sure to ask for extra housemade pickled ginger, it's so delicious!
☯SERVICE (1/5): Sometimes their service is pretty iffy-some visits were absolutely fabulous where our waitress was very attentive, talkative, helpful and kind, some visits were just okay, and some visits have been a nightmare where orders have been mixed up multiple times throughout the night, very slow and you get the gist. But this rating is based on the service of this particular visit. My mom and I came in around 12:30 in the afternoon to grab some lunch. Just an FYI, Haru Ichiban does get pretty slammed at lunch and dinner time, so be sure to make a reservation (if they accept them) beforehand. Since most of the tables had been filled, we had to wait fifteen minutes before being seated (there were 4 empty tables open, just no one to clean them). If business is this good, I think hiring some busboys would be a good idea so customers aren't waiting around to be seated. We were finally seated. It took the waitress quite a while to finally come by, even though there were only a few tables around us. To put it simply, it took her over half an hour to bring us our waters, take our orders, and to bring our green tea, soups and salads-that's a little ridiculous considering the lunch rush was slowly dying down. Not too long afterwards, our meals arrived. Well-we weren't brought any silverware and our waitress never came by, so we literally had to flag down and get the attention of another employee to bring it for us, which she happily did. After our meal, without ever asking us how our lunch was, simply dropped the bill on our table and left to tend to other customers-pretty absurd if you ask me. It seemed like she had no problem tending to all of her other tables, especially with that big smile on their face, except for us, so we know it wasn't just her "bad day." Suffice to say, she barely received a tip-and we're usually pretty generous tippers too. The one star is for the other employee who had brought us our silverware and asked how everything was. But for our service alone with this waitress, it was a 0/5. The service here is RARELY this bad, of the dozens of times I've dined here, it just happened to be this incidence.
☯DECOR (3/5): Haru Ichiban, in my opinion, is a pretty small and jam packed restaurant. Everything is so close together and it's hard to wiggle your way through. For example, as soon as you walk in, you see the cashier/hostess station. To the left are mini party rooms, good for groups, while the right is the main dining area. There are small tables (made for two), booths (1-4 people), or sushi bar seating if you'd like, so there are plenty of seating. Usually, when I used to come, we'd sit in the party rooms, because it gets pretty loud in the dining area. Because all of the tables are so close to one another, it's hard to have intimate conversations without hearing what's going on on your left and right-so probably not the best place for a date. I really like the sushi bar set up though, the glass displays of all the fresh sashimi are really eye catching and watching them prepare everything is soothing, to me at least. With the food being so great here though, I don't think people mind the compacted seating though, I certainly don't.
Overall, obviously I'm still a fan of Haru Ichiban's japanese cuisine, or else I wouldn't have come back ever since my first visit. For sushi/sashimi, they're hands down my favorite restaurant in the Gwinnett area, maybe even Atlanta while I'm at it. Even though there are plenty of other Japanese restaurants area, the freshness and quality of the fish just does not beat out this place. While nowhere, not even the most expensive sushi restaurant in the US, could compare to the restaurants in Japan (based on past trips there), it's definitely some of the best I've had in Georgia, and it won't cost you an arm and leg to eat like a princess. Even if raw fish or sushi rolls aren't your thing, there are so many other types of food on the menu for you to enjoy, I promise! Their udon noodles and ramen are pretty awesome, too! Who said that you can't eat like the Japanese just because you're not a fan of seafood, especially raw
seafood? No one, that's who! :) So go out there & enjoy it for yourself!
Here's the physical address: 3646 Satellite Boulevard Northwest
Duluth, GA 30096
Have a great day,
-Sandy
FTC: I was not paid or compensated for this review, all reviews and opinions expressed are my own.
If you'd like to invite Bella Vivere to cover & share your restaurant's media events, tastings or parties, feel free to shoot me an email at bellavivere@gmail.com-Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment