(Image: Aoki Sushi)
It isn’t clear what is coming next but customers at the Broadway constant are getting the bad news.
Aoki Sushi is set to close later this month.
A call to Hitoshi Nishitani’s 600 block Broadway E sushi joint produced only a brief confirmation — the folks at Aoki were eager to get back to their customers. You still have a few weeks to visit before a planned mid-month closure.
According to liquor permit applications, new ownership had plans for the space but we have so far been unable to reach the Everett-based company listed in the paperwork.
If the restaurant goes quiet for a time, it will join its downstairs space in transition. Metrix Create:Space closed its doors there last August.
CHS will also have to plead ignorance about just how long Aoki has been part of Broadway’s restaurant scene. The corporation listed for Nishitani’s ownership was formed in 1971. Hopefully some CHS longtimers can help us out. We know it can’t be older than the neighboring DeLuxe.
UPDATE: Thanks to Linder in comments and the Seattle Times, we can mark Aoki’s birth to 1986 when founders Tak and Ruth Aoki debuted their “Japanese Grill and Sushi Bar.”
I remember seeing (possibly here) that the business was for sale. Hope Hitoshi managed to sell and get some retirement savings out of it.
It’s sad to see a long-time place close, but I have to confess I’d only gone to Aoki once in the past ~10 years.
First mention of Aoki in the Seattle Times is from February 26, 1986:
Tak and Ruth Aoki, whose Mignonne Swiss Pastry Shop and Tea Room was phased out by the Westlake project, are a couple of weeks away from opening Aoki Japanese Grill and Sushi Bar at 621 Broadway E. Natsuyoshi Toyoda is the Japanese certified sushi chef.
Oh no.
I used to hit this place once a month before SLU got built up and traffic got ridiculous to go cross town. And the difficulty finding a parking spot nowadays.
I’ll miss this homey spot. Came here before I had kids, then came with them when they hungered for avocado rolls, ebi, and tobiko. Afterward, we used to trot over to Dilletante for chocolate and coffee. Or hit Harvard Exit for a good movie and late nite Dicks after.
So many of our friends have moved away from Broadway to the hinterlands, we rarely make it back here anymore.
I think it depends on where you live on the Hill, because my wife & I would frequent Aoki at least 2-3 times a month over the past several years. We’ve grown to love the place as it represented good quality sushi without paying trendy high prices for it.
So yeah, this is quite the bummer, but if it’s a retirement situation, it would certainly be understandable, especially after 30+ years of continued service.