Nigiri Iccho

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  5497 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Various sushi plates
English Menu:  Yes, but you can just take plates from the conveyor belt.  If you order, you have to use an electronic tablet that has some English translations (very funny).  The waitress tried to give us an English menu but we waved her off.  It might come in handy or have specific directions for the tablet.
Smoking: No

Sorry only one picture, didn't feel like being obnoxious

Nigiri Iccho was one of our earliest restaurants we ever visited, back when it was in its old building that has since been rebuilt and moved across the parking lot.  We were a bit overwhelmed and disappointed back then, as there were no dishes on the conveyor belt and we had to order everything off of an all Japanese paper menu with only kanji and the like.  Needless to say, we didn't go back.  But then I heard they had rebuilt their building and friends new to Japan were raving about it and comparing it with Chuo Sushi, so we had to go back and check it out.

It's much nicer now, with very modern amenities such as wireless tablet ordering and nice sit down areas for families.  It doesn't feel quite as factory-like or echoey as the 100 yen cheap sushi places, which is good since it ain't cheap sushi prices either.  The actual items were hit or miss in quality, and my wife and I both agreed that Chuo Sushi was definitely superior overall, and also more expensive!  Nigiri Iccho is a nice in-between the hundred yen sushi joints and Chuo Sushi.  It's also more welcoming of a larger group of people.  You might be able to fit 6 at the table seating.

Overall, it was very good I'd say, though if I went a few more times I might know what to steer clear of and what to definitely eat.

Khao Man Gai

Rating: Excellent
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  4600 yen
Payment:  Credit Cards accepted
Dishes: Roasted chicken, avocado salad, ground chicken and kabocha, thai sausage fried rice, fresh spring rolls
English Menu: Yes

Smoking: Kind of...smokers would stand just out the front door and some smoke would blow in

We had to make a trip to the Yokota Air Base this weekend to buy some clothes (they have much better selection) and we were happy to be able to eat at the best Thai I've had in Japan so far...Khao Man Gai.  It's amazingly close to the main entrance, so we parked at the gas station on base and walked off base the 5 minutes to the restaurant.  It looks very cool and authentic with a tuktuk and everything out front.  I can't tell if the cooks are actually thai, but it makes no difference as the flavors are off the charts excellent and multidimensional.  Everything we've had there has been great, and this time was no exception.  We were wondering a bit if our initial evaluation (back before I started this blog) was accurate and we are pleased to say it's still the best.  Here are the pictures:

Fresh spring roll plus home made spicy sweet sauce

Roasted chicken

Avocado and seafood salad

Chicken and kabocha

Thai sausage fried rice

Mandarin Kitchen

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner for 3
Price: Don't recall
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Shrimp, Fried rice, cashew chicken (one came with rice and a veg)
English Menu: Yes
Smoking:n/a

Mandarin Kitchen is another food service run out of someone's home on base.  We tried it last Friday but I didn't get around to putting this up til a week later.  It was not impressive and I doubt we'll do it again.  The link to the web page to put in an order is here:  https://www.facebook.com/mandarin1kitchen/  Since it's facebook I'll never see it, but my wife has an account.  You have to pay cash and you have to go pick it up.  Here's what the food looked like once we got it home:

Umigoya

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 5450 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Various seafood dishes
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

Another Izakaya Thursday and tonight I was hankering for seafood, so we went to a seafood themed izakaya called Umigoya.  They specialize in things you can grill at your table, though that's not my favorite so I avoided that for most of the dishes.  They have a nice English menu that helps with the intimidation factor.  Nothing is more difficult than deciphering hand-written kanji for various obscure sea creatures.  It was definitely a smoking establishment and there is no "non smoking" section.

I don't remember ordering this...probably otoshi

Overall the food was ok...nothing was outstanding, but not terrible.  I guess I'm just not a huge sea food fan.

Tamagoyaki

Garlic fried rice

Hokkaido clams with butter and soy sauce

Ikuradon

Fried tofu in broth

Nigirisushi

Hotaru

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  5240 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Gorgonzola tofu with honey, mushrooms in butter and soy sauce, avocado tacos, stewed pork pie, fried rice with pickled vegetables
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: Yes, but no one was smoking while we were there

Hotaru is another Banzai run izakaya that is located underneath Pepper Lunch.  My son and I tried it out last night and it was quite good!  It was a bit noisy due to all the tables being taken up by a large group of women having a good time, but the bar area was clear so we sat there.  Every dish was tasty except the avocado tacos...the tomato sauce was weird and the meat was sweet.  I look forward to coming back here some day with my wife.

Chiiran

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  3270 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Pork and green pepper stir fry teishoku, mahbodofu teishoku, gomuko fried rice
English Menu: No (not even pictures)
Smoking:Not inside

We discovered another building near the Lalaport Mall that has several restaurants for us to try out.  Every other Sunday we have a bible study after church, so on the off Sundays we try to find some place new to review.  Today was a Chinese restaurant called...Chiiran, which seems to me to be a combination of Chinese and Restaurant (in romaji, restaurant is "resutoran", so Chi from Chinese plus Ran from that).  But I could be wrong, there are two kanji in the name that I don't recognize.

Pork and green peppers

Their lunch specials are a bit more spendy than the usual, but everything had a lot of taste to it, down to the corn/egg soup.  My wife and I both exclaimed several times over the more than usual flavors, even in the mahbodofu.  It is enough to make me think getting adventurous on the  menu might be worth while!  And even though they didn't have any "normal" fried rice on the menu, we asked for "futsu no cha han" and they fried some up for my son, making him mostly happy.

Mahbodofu

Overall, we give it a Very Good considering the noticeable improvement over the run of the mill Japanese Chinese restaurants.

Gomoku chahan

Al Ain

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Dinner for 7
Price:  About 30,000 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Lots of food, plus some drinks and 2 shishas
English Menu: Yes
Smoking:Yes if you count shisha.  Did not see any ash trays.

My wife and I had eaten at Al Ain for our anniversary several years back and hadn't been back since I started reviewing restaurants on this blog.  We met up with some friends of ours who had lived in Kuwait during the time we were there and decided to eat at the only Lebanese restaurant I know of in town:  Al Ain.  It's also in Yokohama, which is much closer to us than Tokyo.

The proprietor of Al Ain is very friendly man who was very solicitous of us.  He was also delighted by the children and very accommodating.  The prices are not cheap, but the food is quite good, as is the shisha.  Unfortunately there were "no pictures" signs posted everywhere so I didn't get much aside from a quick furtive shot of one of our dishes (shish tawouk).  But all of us really enjoyed the food.  The tawouk was made with white meat, not my usual preference, but it was properly marinated in yogurt such that it was very tender and juicy.  For more pictures, check out their website here:  http://www.alaindining.com/index_eng.html

While not Excellent, this Very Good rating is quite high, and since we don't haven't found anything better, it's essentially the best Lebanese in Japan at this point for us.