Sushi Ichiban Restaurant

I haven’t been to the new location (Sakura Bana), but Sushi Ichiban is where I first fell in love with sushi. For a long time, it was the only sushi place in Omaha, and my family would go every now and then.
Now that I’ve experienced sushi in a variety of places, I’m sad to say that this is just a run of the mill place. You can’t really go wrong… but it’s not particularly stand out either. Sushi Ichiban had great tea rooms for parties; can’t say whether they moved those over to Sakura Bana or not.

This has been renamed. For decent priced sushi on Dodge, this place is ok. Nothing to brag about, but decent sushi boxed dinners.

The name recently changed to Sakura Bana.
This is another restaurant I’ve been meaning to try for a long time and, craving some shrimp shumai and inspired by joining Unilocal,my husband and I decided to go there this evening.
The exterior is not terribly promising — I believe it is located in a former Arby’s — and the interior makes the best of a bad situation, with a kimono and other Japanese décor barely masking the ex-​fast food flavor of the place.
The food, however, was excellent. Our meal started with steaming towels brought to the table to wipe our hands, followed by a salad with scrumptious carrot ginger dressing for my husband and a bowl of tasty miso soup for me. The steamed shrimp shumai that followed were served with a delicious sauce and were just what the doctor ordered. :) We also approved highly of the sushi rolls (Alaskan and California), which were delicious and beautifully presented, and the Nabeyaki Udon soup.
Despite the packed house, the service was fast, friendly, and very attentive. We’re still relative newbies to non-​California Roll sushi and I am pregnant and not supposed to eat raw fish. Our server was extremely helpful about pointing out which rolls would be safe for me, and also made helpful recommendations when my husband was uncertain of the best salad dressing choice. (Carrot ginger was definitely it — wow, that stuff was good!) Prices were moderate to slightly high by Omaha standards.
The only disappointment of the evening was the mediocre tiramisu cake, but I’m not sure why we expected a Japanese restaurant to have decent tiramisu anyway. Overall, a wonderful dining experience that I’d highly recommend.