Union Square 'Sushi Boat' Restaurant To Close After 31 Years

Union Square 'Sushi Boat' Restaurant To Close After 31 YearsPhoto: John D./Yelp
Saul Sugarman
Published on December 28, 2016

Sushi Boat, a Japanese restaurant in business for more than three decades at 389 Geary St., will shutter on Dec. 31st.

The restaurant, along with the original Lori’s Diner on Mason, took up residence in the the building bought last year by Axis Development Group, which plans to renovate the building and add a rooftop restaurant.

Signs posted nearby call 399 Geary St.—within the same building and potentially the new rooftop spacethe "future home of Mastro's Ocean Club,a chain of "sophisticated" steak and seafood restaurants with 14 locations across the country.

Confirming the closure, a Sushi Boat employee stated that the landlord is “remodeling the whole building. Then after that, they’re going to raise the rent triple.”

Similarly, Lori’s said they are closing January 2nd due to “leasing issues.”

“Of course it’s very sad,” said the Sushi Boat employee, Junko, who has been working at the business for about 20 years.

The block where this building sits has received significant attention since 2012 for the eviction of the Gold Dust Lounge, a historic bar that had leased space in the building since 1966. The landlords reportedly wanted the bar gone in order to open an outpost of The Limited in Union Square.

A grassroots campaign to halt the eviction followed, along with a lawsuit against landlord Jon Handlery, who was accused of tricking elderly owners of the Gold Dust Lounge into signing an amendment to the bar’s lease.

The efforts failed, however. Gold Dust Lounge relocated to Fisherman’s Wharf in 2013.