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Ichibankan Express SFU
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
8910 University High StBurnaby, BC V5A 4Y6
Neighbourhood: SFU
(604) 291-2982
- Price Range:
-
$
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
5 reviews for Ichibankan Express SFU
5 reviews in English
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Review from Cody S.
4/19/2011
The only reason we would ever come here is because we were up on the mountain and didn't want to go down for anything better. The staff here are pretty busy and they don't spend much time trying to make anything good. The sushi quality is lower than a mall's food court. But, there isn't much else to choose from if you are stuck at SFU.
The place is quite uncomfortable. Buy your food and leave! Go out and sit on the steps and enjoy the sunshine (it's almost worth it to eat out in the rain). Overall, the prices aren't all that bad and I'm sure that this place will stay ultra busy. -
Review from Joshua N.
2/23/2011
This is sub-par sushi. It's rolled by machine. And over the past 3 years, the prices have been rising steadily to the point where it isn't even a deal anymore. I've also noticed the quality degrading rapidly. They even give you less ginger and wasabi now than they used to.
I realize that global food prices, and especially the cost of rice, have been skyrocketing in the last couple of years. But this place is now at the point where their major redeeming quality -- being a bargain -- is now gone.
However: I will give 2 stars rather than 1 for the simple reason of convenience. Outside of lunch hours, you can walk in and grab a ready made sushi box and pay for it and be out of there before the next 145 bus arrives at its stop. And sometimes, when I'm starving and I have precisely 9 minutes to get something or collapse in the Burnaby Mountain snow, this place is handy to have around.Listed in: SFU Burnaby Mountain, Take-out Sushi
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Review from Sarah D.
2/26/2011
I have such a tumultuous relationship with this place. Indeed, it is very love-hate.
I love it because the sushi is fairly reasonably priced, and I live within a two-minute walk, meaning I can pick up some rolls whenever I'm too lazy to cook. This has saved me on more than a few occasions.
I hate it because the rolls really aren't that good at all, but when I'm craving sushi I just can't keep myself away. Don't even get me started on the hot food items. Those are just plain nasty and should be avoided at all cost. Have you ever watched them being prepared? They literally just stick the plastic serveware into the microwave. Heating foods in cheap plastic is a big no-no in my books.
If you go into Ickibankan around dinner time, the choice of rolls is usually scant to say the least. Also, if you ask them if it's possible to get a roll made, they will (politely) apologize and tell you that they're out for the day. Really? You're out? I have a hard time beliving that, but I'm not one to press the issue.
Also, they have a tendency to close whenever they feel like it. There have been numerous times when I've gone by in the early evening, only to find the lights out -even though their sign indicates they should theoretically be open.
Oh, Ichibankan. Will we see eachother again? Yes, it's very likely, although thankfully my impending move back to Vancouver will bring me much better sushi options.Listed in: Vancouver Crapulence
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Review from Claudia L.
Burnaby, BC
12/11/2008
Cheap eats for SFU Burnaby students who don't want to get on the streets.
The only decent sushi you can get on SFU Burnaby campus. Still, I would rather have a decent meal down hastings to Ki La La or Toyotomi (when not in study-don't-have-time-to-talk-or-do-anything-mode) .
I just wish all take-out places could get biodegradable containers so my chest wouldn't sink each time I bought a dynamite roll. -
Review from Rob W.
Toronto, ON
7/28/2009
Ichibankan Express is the Japanese restaurant at SFU's new Cornerstone complex. To call it a restaurant is an overstatement, but it's too small to be a cafeteria and too big to be a sushi stand. There's a display of take-away sushi in disposable plastic containers and a cashier, who can disappear to a kitchen somewhere in the back. You order at the front and wait, or if you bought sushi, leave. Hand-drawn 8' 11'' signs and ugly photos of the food cover the walls. It feels like a high school cafeteria but with much less food.
The other reviewer mentioned it was "the only decent sushi you can get on SFU Burnaby campus". I'd have to disagree on the use of the word "decent". I also don't know who would call it cheap. $3.75 gets you a 6-piece roll of styrofoamy rice and some minced-up mush of fish and mayo. This includes the california roll (not actually fish), spicy tuna, and a few other kinds. There's also a dynamite roll or prawn roll for the same price that have tiny slivers of shrimp or prawn in place of the mush. There might be one whole shrimp in 6 pieces. I don't see why anyone thinks these $3.75 rolls are special, especially when they're so bad. You could also order a few fish nigiri for $1.50+ apiece, tuna and salmon or something, if you were in the mood to pay an actual sushi restaurant price for a old, gummy sliver of fish. There are also inari and tamago, which are nicer because there is no Inchibankan Express fish in them.
From the kitchen you can get a $7 bento or a don (from $6 to $7.50 depending on the kind of meat). I would like to re-emphasize what a terrible deal this is. Who really thinks $6 is good for a credit-card-size square of greasy meat in a giant bowl of white rice? Even by SFU mountain standards it's a rip-off. The Bamboo Garden chinese restaurant and Donair place both give more and better tasting meat for less money. The sugary BBQ sauce makes the meat more bearable better than the sushi, but sugar and chili aren't strong enough to wash out the taste of rip-off.
I don't usually go into so much detail about such tiny places but I think it's a disservice to perpetuate the weirdly popular myth that this place is such a boon to have around.
