I had a craving for seaweed salad and a yearning for good sushi. Reading about Japan in my international politics class made me hungry, so we piled into the car and headed out to Stratford Road to give Ichiban a try.

Ichiban is a little Japanese restaurant and sushi bar buried between Dewey's Bakery and the Fresh Market in the Thruway Shopping Center on Stratford Road. I wasn’t particularly optimistic about finding good sushi in the middle of landlocked Winston-Salem but figured that I might as well give it a try. For extra opinions, I dragged along two of my close friends, one of whom had never tried sushi before.

The restaurant itself is rather unimpressive looking, with plain tile floors and hard plastic tables; the kitchen plainly visible to customers. But, even at 7 on a Wednesday night, the place wasn’t overly crowded, and we were able to seat ourselves quickly. The servers were prompt and friendly, giving us each a menu and a piece of paper to write down our orders.

The menu features traditional nigiri, nori maki, and temaki sushi, as well as a variety of cooked dishes including various teriyaki spiced meats and udon, or noodle dishes. We decided to start off with the seaweed salad, a typical appetizer made with seaweed and a sweet-vinegar type dressing. Even Sarah, our sushi virgin, admitted that once you got past the fact that you were eating seaweed, it was quite good.

The service was relatively quick, and the waiter was patient as Sarah tried to explain that she wanted “a sweet sauce” to go with her sushi, rather than the typical soy sauce. If you’ve never had the sushi experience, here are some interesting comments from sushi virgin Sarah:
• On the wasabi-mustard, which comes in a green ball on the side of the plate: “I don’t do green squishy stuff on my food” and when we forced her to try it: “Mmmm spicy”
• On the pickled ginger: “Looks like salmon and tastes like spearmint. I like it”
• On the chopsticks: “How the hell do you use these things?” Five minutes later: “Is it really bad manners to eat sushi with my fingers?”

Needless to say, my friends and I got a kick out of Sarah's antics. The general consensus: The tuna roll was fabulous, but the California roll was a bit on the tasteless side. Although I have not tried the chicken teriyaki or noodle dishes, all looked to be quite tasty with large portions…so even if you’re not a sushi fan, you can still enjoy laughing at your friends as they put “green squishy stuff” on their raw fish.

Overall, our sushi experience was what I would deem “average,” in both price, (prices range from $ 1.50 to $ 15 per item) service (the waiter got a lot nicer when I told him I was writing a restaurant review), atmosphere (hard plastic tables and fluorescent lighting don’t really do it for me) and overall experience. If you’ve never tried sushi before, you certainly won’t be disappointed.

Pay at the counter, where they take cash or credit card, or grab take out. Overall, Ichiban deserves about three out of five stars. While the food may not be world class, one has to remember that they are in the middle of landlocked Winston-Salem, not downtown Kyoto.