Ichiban

Need to knows:

Stroller or sling? Stroller

Baby friendly restrooms? No — plan accordingly

Parking validation? No need — free parking lot out front

We’re nowhere near the sea, but every bougie parent has the odd sushi craving. Driving 200 miles to the sea with a baby is quite the undertaking, but brava if you’re braver than we are. We wouldn’t even attempt that, but we do need our sushi.

What to do?

Enter: Ichiban. This Japanese/Korean fusion spot on Burnet Road serves more than sushi — they have bento boxes and bulgogi also — but their most extensive options are on the sushi menu.

It’s a popular place for dinner, apparently, but if you’re going for lunch you shouldn’t have any trouble in their smallish parking lot. It’s a pretty nondescript building from the outside, so it doesn’t immediately read as bougie.

Oh, but it is.

Your first indication that it’ll meet your standards is the lovely koi pond on the walk to the door. The pond has brightly colored flowers and a little waterfall, which brings a nice serene touch to an otherwise bustling Burnet road.

Once inside, a host will greet you. Masks are required for everyone until you’re seated at your table, so it’s Covid-times compliant. They’ve also closed off part of the restaurant where it wasn’t as easy to social distance.

There’s a number of small tables in the dining room, but the bougiest choice is definitely the large spacious booths. You’ll leave your shoes below the couple of steps leading up to the booth, so be conscious of your foot game before heading there. We recommend parking your stroller just outside the booth on the main restaurant floor and bringing just the top attachment with the baby into the booth.

The lighting inside the booths is like elevated candlelight, which would be ideal for a fussy or sleeping baby. They play pop music at a medium volume, so very sensitive babies may struggle to sleep even inside the booth. The private enclosed space is great to prevent overstimulation in babies, and if yours has a meltdown it’s also an ideal place to hide from the rest of the diners.

The restrooms are not baby friendly, so plan accordingly. There is no changing table and there is just one small stall which is tight for even a smaller stroller. The path around tables to the restroom is also tight for a stroller, so if you have a companion with you when nature calls, I recommend answering it on your own. Otherwise you’ll run into too many tables and/or diners with your stroller, so if you can avoid you should.

The sushi is solid — they even have a number of cooked and vegetarian options — along with sashimi, nigiri, and specialty rolls. They also serve wine, beer, and sake if you want to treat yourself.

Service is great — fast, friendly, and accommodating. The prices are definitely bougie — be prepared to spend about $30 for two specialty rolls — but they do have less bougie options like bento boxes if you’re price conscious. Also, apparently they have all day happy hour on Sundays and normal happy hour from 4-6 pm every day except Tuesday. We’ll have to check that out sometime and report back.

Check out their website for more info.