Tsukiji Fish Market in Ala Moana closing
STAR-ADVERTISER / JUNE 21, 2007
The exterior of Tsukiji Fish Market and Restaurant located at the Ala Moana Center.
Tsukiji Fish Market and Restaurant will close after service Saturday, after its owner was unable to reach new lease terms with Ala Moana Center management.
The restaurant, on the center’s Ho‘okipa Terrace, was purchased from its original owner some years ago by locally based Paradise Inn Hawaii LLC, led by Ronald Kim.
Kim had been “operating all this time on the contingency of getting the lease,” said Jacob Li, the restaurant’s former director of operations.
Li has been authorized by Kim to speak on his behalf, Li said.
There were three years left on the lease, plus two five-year options, Li said.
Unable to reach new lease terms, Kim no longer wants the restaurant, and the original owner, Venfu Inc., “is not in a position that they want to run the restaurant anymore,” Li said. Venfu was led by Daisuke Matsuura.
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“Ala Moana wants the keys Monday morning.”
The restaurant will serve customers tonight and Saturday, and Sunday will be spent cleaning up.
Li estimates that the restaurant may employ roughly 80 workers, though he did not have an exact headcount.
The restaurant was in the news last year when Paradise Inn was assessed more than $57,000 in tips and unpaid wages for some 68 employees by the U.S. Department of Labor. Investigators for the Wage and Hour Division found that Tsukiji servers had been required to contribute tips to what the Department characterized as an illegal tip pool.
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23 responses to “Tsukiji Fish Market in Ala Moana closing”
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Another familiar establishment vanishing into the sunset!
Ala Moana…no longer our friendly mall…all about the dollar and the upscale shopper. Bye bye
Vacancy rate at Ala Moana starting to creep up….
Yet another victim of Hawaii’s great, “business friendly”, economy. And the corrupt Democrat Party thinks we should punish small business more by placing more regulations and taxes on them.
Uh, it was lease negotiations with a big business (i.e., GGP). No recognize?
LOL! Little tunnel vision there. Not so pono.
That place was plain awful. The food quality was sub standard and they spread the serving stations out over the entire floor to give the illusion that there was a grand selection. If you pushed all the actual food offerings together it could all fit in my living room. Also, the controversy over non-payment to employees served up some cold feelings. Get over your political self.
Look for an upscale restaurant to take over.
Offering the usual “upscale” corporate chain blandness
Tsukiji started going downhill after the management change from Japanese to Korean owners. The crowds were not there as before. Not the first time for this to happen around town after such a change. Even the selection of food and beverages started to bear the subtle but definite Korean change. The knowledge that the new owners were demanding payback on tips was probably what hastened the decision to close it down. Ala Moana management was wise to terminate the Tsukiji lease.
Good points one and all.
Great comments.
Their food was much better when they opened.
It’s about time. This place sucks! It’s almost as bad as Nico’s!
Make way for yet another Prada or Gap store….just what the locals need.
Not on the Ho’okipa Terrace Level.
Yeah, Hawaii people deserve more mediocrity…like Olive Garden!!
Pearl closed couple years ago on that part of Ala Moana…. now Tsukiji, hmmm. Last time i was on that side of the island, Pearl was still closed. Last year, Ruby Tuesday closed because they could not agree with new lease terms with GGP as well…. hmmmmm
Tsukiji is a big space. Hopefully some new restaurant new to the islands will take its spot.
Olive Garden.
No thanks. Would rather they stuff 3 In N Outs in the space! :O)
I prefer Olive Garden over Romano’s any day.
Tough to compete at Ala Moana. It’s either upscale or the other extreme, bargain hunters! Food quality was not quite up to snuff, with like something was lacking. Sashimi for example should be served thick, not very thin where the freshness and bite is lacking to taste the ahi taste or smell. With food it has to be right or one has to want to go, not hesitate.