Coco Ichibanya

Sure can improve :)
FOOD

One thing I love about authentic Japanese restaurants opening abroad is that they actually pay attention to details and enforce their franchisees to do just that. However, the attention to detail was lacking during my visit to Coco Ichibanya in Mal Kelapa Gading and I will let you know why as you read further. Everything tasted just "good enough", it was lacking something in flavor unlike the usual stuff that I have had in their other branches - I can't exactly pinpoint what but it was lacking. I ordered the vegetable curry with cream croquette topping and my sister had their seasonal shrimp croquette omelette curry. I noticed some grains of steamed rice left on the side of the plate (check out my picture), this wouldn't happen if they did have attention to detail. This is a small example that can be noticed by bare eyes. Let's just hope for the best. Then, the seasonal menu's problem was that the presentation of actual product and photographed product on their poster were not quite similar (I took the picture of the poster and the real product for your comparison). Real thing was smaller and did not look as good in shape, so they might want to consider adjusting the recipe overall. Other than that, it was an okay experience considering this was enjoyed in a food court setting.
SERVICE

Very lacking. They had only 1 staff tending the whole area of about 40sqm. I understand how difficult it is to find wait staffs during Ramadan, but that is exactly the reason why they should have prepared better if this was going to a seated restaurant setting since they have been in Indonesia for a few years now. Not to mention some wait staffs might find it more challenging to focus due to fasting so having more people will surely help. So, she came to us bearing a small tab, then we told her our orders, she DID NOT put anything down. About 1 minute later she came back to our table and apologized because she couldn't locate the button of seasonal menu on the tab and so we had to repeat everything we ordered - you need to know how painful it is because at each order of curry rice menu, you need to state the amount of rice and the level of hotness. Well, she did say sorry but that should not have been the case, the manager had to ensure that everyone responsible for taking order understands how to run the promotion well. It was stupid. However, the wait staff was polite, presentable and the order time was not that bad - our meal came separately.
AMBIANCE.

Standard, table was large enough, seats were comfy enough, temperature was okay. I believe you can bring the food outside if there was no seat available in their restaurant, just like Pepper Lunch next door.
Expect to spend 250 for 2.