Pleasent Surprise

Yesterday I had two events, "eating out", somewhat out of the ordinary.
At Noon a companion and I went to "Ichiban" (Japanese Cuisine) 1020 Delta Ave. Cincinnati 45208-513-321-8686. "Ichiban", which means number one or first in Japanese, almost my total knowledge of that language, opened about 2 weeks ago in Mt. Lookout Square, in the spot previously occupied by "Aqua". The interior remains the same.
Unfortunately, for the restaurant, we were the only guests during the noon to one o'clock time frame. I hope as people get to know this will change as both of our lunches were excellent.
Upon entering we were greeted by an attractive Japanese lady server who showed us the display of the "Ichiban Box" which I eventually ordered. Obviously we had our choice of tables or booth and chose the latter as we had a lot to discuss.
The sever explained the menu, and as I said I chose the "Ichiban Box", six or more compartment each with a different offering, while my companion had the prime rib teriyaki served with fresh green beans and oven roasted potato strips. I sampled one piece of meat and it was wonderful. My "Ichiban box had crisp, not oily, shrimp and vegetable tempura, a beef and onion combination with a scoop of Potato salad with Japanese mayonnaise, a small quiche like wedge of egg, bacon and mushroom again accompanied by green cold veggie salad, 6 California rolls and some mixture of marinated noodle like, gelatinous, unknown except for the marinated mushrooms.
All lunches come with a flavorful Miso soup, ordered with or without tofu, and a small green salad with dressing. My lunch was $10 for much too much excellent food while the prime rib was $14 for again a very filling meal.
Do yourself a favor, be adventurous and go, you'll be rewarded.

In the evening, along with our cousins, we went to "The Cheesecake Factory" 7875 Montgomery Road (Kenwood shopping center) Cincinnati 45236-513-984-6911. it was my second visit, the first being shorly after they opened and before I started "Blogging". The first surprise was the crowd. The place was overwhelmed, to the surprise of management. They had not schedule enough servers for a Tuesday night and so there was a 30 minute wait to be seated, even thought there were plenty of empty tables. We did check one other restaurant, next door, and found the same situation with a 45 minute wait. We stayed the course.
After being seated we were please to receive excellent service for the young man who took care of all of out needs. We all had the "wild mushroom soup", ordering a "cup", which turned out to be a good sized bowel, of delicious, hot, very mushroomey soup. This is a regular Tuesday night offering. The four of us next shared "home made Guacamole" with warm chips, salsa and sour cream, on the side followed by beef sliders and French Fry's. Each order had 4 mini hamburgers with good crisp pickle chips and ketchup. All items came promptly, were hot or cold, as desired, and made for a pleasant meal. For this kind of mass dining( over 450 seats) establishment it was beyond reproach. Our total per couple, with a generous tip and tax was $33.
A very pleasant day as mention in the outset.