Ippon Sushi
Last Sunday (Harbour bridge anniversary), my family, Keith and Chris had dinner after church in the city at a sushi train type place called Ippon Sushi. After my experience there I cannot help but write a review on it…
Service: 2/10.
The waiters / waitresses – They don’t keep track of what we’ve eaten already or what we haven’t eaten, they tick off the wrong things, they don’t know the difference between sushi and sashimi, they can’t count, they can’t remember who ordered what, they can’t communicate with the chefs and their English ain’t that great (they were korean and mandarin speakers, but then again it is Chinatown). We had to keep reminding them and I had to personally ask the chef to give us the two sushi plates and the sashimi plate. I wouldn’t be that harsh if they weren’t in the city in Chinatown. But at least we got the food! 2 points 
Food: 6/10
The sushi and sashimi were fine which I guess is the most important thing and the sushi chef made this cool rose with pieces of sashimi salmon. I enjoyed the eel rice and the bowl of hot udon was good. But others of my table suggested that the tempura was not that great. The batter didn’t taste like Japanese tempura batter, it didn’t look like it either.
Atmosphere: 6/10
It wasn’t particularly bad nor good. Our seats were pretty squashed up with 7 people in a space for 6. The good thing was I got a good view of the sushi chefs who were doing a fine job.
Price: 8/10
The portions were pretty large, you had lots of choice of sets, and got free miso soup with particular things. Pricing was actually alright. Although we didn’t have sushi train, we had the set menu, so I can only comment on the pricing of the set menu.
So that’s my own view, but once again, it’s best to get a 2nd opinion!
Hope things are better the next time I go!
As for a second opinion…
Yes, I must admit that the service there was pitifully inept. You’d think that given multiple reminders of what we ordered, combined with the fact that all you really needed was to remember a letter and a number (e.g. B1), it wouldn’t be too hard to work out what we need on the table. Heck, it’s even written down on a piece of paper somewhere and all you need to do is just look at it.
Think again. The word “woeful” doesn’t even begin to describe the sheer incompetence of the waiters there. Maybe if it was just one person, then I might have just passed it off as a new starter. But no, it’s like they all collectively combined forces in an act of coordinated ineptitude.
That said, the food was actually quite nice and not bad for the price.
Hmmm.. you know, we have a claim against Ippon Sushi at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s the same one though. =P
Ippon sushi is just woeful, and is only worth the trouble if you are passing by and need a quick bite to eat.
Definitely not a place you’d go out of your way to visit.
For a much better sushi train experience - go for Makoto at Chatswood (beware of lines).
As for a-la-carte, Sushiya (Chatswood and Artarmon), Juju (Kings Cross), Masuya (Wynyard), many-places-in-Neutral-Bay give you much better bang-for-buck.
It’s easy to spot a good Japanese place. As a first rule - look for a place that is actually run by Japanese people!
Makoto in the city is pretty good too, though a bit more expensive than the one in Chatswood. If you’re in Chinatown it’s but a short walk away