One my second week at the new job, one of the first thing I had to do was head over to Rancho Cordova for an overnight trip. It must sound silly but I was pretty excited but totally nervous about performing well especially since this is the first work trip I have ever taken! When I got there at about 4, I was starving so decided to have a snack and ended up one block away from the Marriot Sacramento at Ichi Maki.
I polished a whole nigri & sashimi combo right before dinner time and was pretty impressed so when my colleagues were deciding on a spot for dinner I suggested Ichi! 2 trips in less than 3 hours!!!
It was Valentines’ day and I couldn’t help by smile at the decor (actually it scared me and I was wondering if they needed to resort to all this because the food is not great).
Menu consists of the usuals: Appetisers, rice bowls, bento boxes, sushi and specialty rolls.
I had:
Assorted Tempura $7.50
Shrimp, Mushroom, Green bean, Carrot, Yam & Onion
The tempura was good, the batter was light and very crispy. The veggies were cut pretty thin so it didn’t really amount to much food.
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Assorted Sashimi $20.95
Maguro, Sake, Hamachi, Albacore & Tai
This was actually a tad disappointing. Not only was there less than the 18 pieces it said on the menu, the slices were uneven and quite measly. The sake (salmon) and hamachi (yellowtail) was pretty good but the tuna was still partially frozen and watery. The tai (red snapper) was the best, light with a little crunch.
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Chef’s choice of 7 pieces of nigiri w 10 pieces of sashimi $20.95
Nigiri: Hamachi, Suzuki, Ono & Sake; Nigiri: Sake, Hamachi, Unagi, Ebi, Tai  & Kani
The first think I noticed was that the sake (salmon) nigiri was way better than the sake sashimi. I guess it was the part of the fish they served but the nigiri was fattier and just fresher tasting. The other nigiri was a tad disappointing but still OK. Not the best quality and it was disappointing to get imitation crab meat as one of them.
The other sashimi were good. The suzuki was a little fishier than I would have liked but the ono was light and fresh, while the hamachi was firm and lemony.
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Rainbow Maki $9.25
California roll topped with sashimi
Pretty decent california roll with a good amount of seasoned rice and thinly sliced sashimi. Simple but fairly satisfying.
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Hurricane Maki $9.96
Deep fried shrimo, spicy tuna, white tuna, snow crab and masago
Best roll of the bunch; the sweet and salty unagi sauce and mayo gives the roll and extra dimension. The masago was nice and salty with their signature crunch along with the warm shrimp tempura. I thought the roll itself was well made.
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Lake Tahoe Maki $9.50
Deep fried shrimp, avocado, scallop & snow crab
A disappointing roll since this was the one I have been looking forward to for the scallop. The scallops turned out to be quite fishy and very unappetising. The sauces were the same as the Hurricane roll but it has more mayo & spicy mayo than the sweet unagi sauce. The shrimp tempura and snow crab was OK but this roll had more rice than anything else.
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Total Damage: N/A (Courtesy of work)
Personal Rating: 3.25 out of 5 (Pretty Darn Good)
Service was good, especially when I sat at the bar the first time around. During dinner time, the place was not packed but service was very slow. The servers were really nice and seemed to be trying but they just weren’t the most efficient. Each time we asked for something, our server forgets and then remembers maybe over 10 minutes later… couple times we asked a different server and the same thing happens.
The food quality is good and prices are more than reasonable. It was nothing short of the good sushi places in the Bay Area. Mind you, it is not fancy with all the imported fish from Japan like Tomisushi but it has all the basics well.
I actually found out later from the locals that this is one of the top places to eat Japanese in Rancho! Definitely lucked out this time around~
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Ichi Maki
11291 Folsom Blvd
Rancho Cordova, CA
(916) 635 8880
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