[Las Vegas] Ichiza

May 5, 2010
Ichiza
4355 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 367-3151
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ichiza-las-vegas

Ichiza was one of the places that constantly popped up when I searched for authentic Japanese food in Las Vegas. Hence, we went and took the bus to the Las Vegas chinatown to try this place. It was different from any other Japanese restaurant as it was an izakayas-style restaurant (tapas-like) which was good because then we got to try more things :D.

Basically on top of the normal menu that you get when you sit down, they also have many special items that are posted all around in the restaurants. The papers posted filled each wall from top to bottom and it drove us nuts because we didn't want to miss out on ordering anything cool.

Aburi Namagaki
This was basically fresh oyster in ponzu sauce and they were definitely very fresh and the ponzu sauce was nice and simple so it was not too overwhelming.

Fried Shishamo
I am not a big fan of these fried tiny smelt fishes but these were acceptable.

Sushi Chazuke
The Japanese waitress told us this was sushi with a little tea taste and since we both wanted to try something different we ordered it. In the end, we just found it tasting weird.

Ikayaki
This was the grilled squid and it was good because they didn't overdo it with the grill taste.

Fried Sanma
According to Sam the fish was good and it was gone pretty fast.

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Simple enough these were fried spring rolls with mozzarella cheese inside along with a side of ketchup.

Saba Sashimi
These were mackeral sashimi and they were very fresh and thick...just look at the glossiness/shininess of the skin :)

Unimochi
We also tried the uni (sea urchin) on top of a lightly pan fried piece of mochi that was placed on top of a seaweed strip. It was an interesting combo and the uni was very fresh and the chewiness of the mochi added a different texture to this combination.

Chicken meatball skewer
These were very juicy and delicious.

Soymilk Pudding

We thought the top layer of vanilla extract was too sweet and so strong that it covered the taste of the soymilk pudding underneath. So we ended up pouring all the vanilla extract out and enjoyed the soymilk pudding by itself. The pudding was smooth and had a very slight soy taste to it.

Honey Toast
When we were researching on this place, many people recommended the honey toast. It was definitely delicious as it was a nice thick buttered slice of toast (almost a quarter of a loaf of bread) with the insides emptied and filled with vanilla ice cream that was drenched with honey. However we were both really full by this time and just ended up eating the outside crispy part of the toast along with the vanilla ice cream and honey.