Difficult to order, servers that don't speak English, and food that's gone down-hill over the years. At this point, I'm finding Ichiza izakaya over-rated. \n\nFOOD: Running around the restaurant trying to order off-the-wall hasn't been easy or successful. My usual for the past few years has been the ahi tuna tartare, mackeral nigiri, and Ramen DX. They are permanent items and not on the ever-changing menu plastered around the facility. After a recent visit, I discovered the ramen no longer tastes the same and the cha-siu has lost the flavor I found so addicting. I was obsessed with the mackerel nigiri (saba) from here because it was cured with a unique balance of salt & vinegar and melded with a bed of yellow fish eggs. Not anymore, its plain old mackerel now and isn't special what-so-ever.\n\nAUTHENTICITY: My friend from Japan worked at Ichiza a while back. She told me stories of under-washed vegetables, a caterpillar in a bowl of ramen, and how the recipes and ingredients are just NOT what the Japanese consider really good food.\n\nSERVICE: Maybe its just me, but I get incredibly angry when my order can't be taken correctly. I speak up, I speak clearly, and I speak in an un-complicated way that should be able to be understood. The girls here don't understand simple restaurant requests and quite frequently get my order wrong. I have little to no patience for people in the service-industry that cannot speak or at least understand English well enough to perform at an optimum level.\n\nFor the sake of my belly and sanity, I probably won't elect to come here on most occasions. Ichiza is no longer the only place for izakaya!
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