Itadaki Yakiniku has permanently closed its street-level restaurant at the Bellevue Connection, less than two years after the Japanese steakhouse opened with an ambitious fixed-price menu of A5 Wagyu and French-inflected fine dining. Online business listings now show the restaurant, located at 550 106th Avenue Northeast, as permanently closed.
The closure was first reported by Downtown Bellevue Network, which detailed the restaurant's roughly two-year run at the space. Itadaki Yakiniku opened in September 2024 as a single location with no larger restaurant group or chain behind it, according to the outlet, and was managed by James Cheng.
At launch, Itadaki leaned hard into luxury. The menu featured Japanese A5 Wagyu tartare topped with Hokkaido uni for $24, pan-seared foie gras toast for $35, and an A5 Wagyu filet mignon katsu sandwich for $40, according to a menu listed on Uber Eats. The restaurant initially offered a curated eight-course set menu alongside custom omakase experiences tailored to guests' preferences and budgets, grilling meats table-side over ceramic charcoal and rounding out the concept with A5 Wagyu, American Wagyu, locally sourced Angus, seafood, Japanese-inspired dishes, and a vegan option.
A Pivot to À La Carte Couldn't Save It
By summer 2025, Itadaki shifted to an à la carte format, per the Downtown Bellevue Network's reporting, adding a lunch menu that included a Wagyu burger, chashu ramen, and a beef lunch special that let diners grill their own meat at the table. The restaurant had also been working toward opening an outdoor patio for cocktails and open-air dining, and had planned to add weekend brunch service — expansion efforts that ultimately weren't enough to keep the concept afloat.
The space has a history of turnover even before Itadaki arrived. Tap House Grill operated there for 13 years before closing in November 2015, and COCO Asian Cuisine Izakaya-Sushi Bar ran from 2017 until its 2022 closure, the same outlet's reporting shows.
Fox & Kit Moves In Next Door
Filling part of the void is Fox & Kit, a coffee shop and indoor playground concept developed by interior designers Devin and Kyoko Westberg, which plans to open at Bellevue Connection next to Itadaki's former location. The business will mark the brand's first Washington state location after originally opening in San Rafael, California, in 2018, according to the Pacific Sun, which profiled the Scandinavian-Japanese cafe and play space when it debuted.
Bellevue Connection, situated along 106th Avenue Northeast, also includes Don't Yell at Me, a boba tea chain, and BA Artisan Bakehouse, which focuses on artisanal baked goods. The property originally opened in 1999 as the 11-screen Bellevue Galleria movie theater before its 2008 conversion into a mixed-use office and retail complex, according to background from Unico Properties, which co-owns the 227,811-square-foot building alongside global investment manager Partners Group after a December 2019 off-market acquisition that included a 797-stall subterranean garage.
A Landlord Betting on Foot Traffic
Video game developer Bungie anchors the office space above the retail level, leasing floors that help drive daytime customer traffic to the ground-floor tenants, per Bisnow. Unico completed a multi-phase redevelopment of the property in 2022, designed by ZGF Architects and Venture General Contracting, that modernized the building's exterior and updated its retail spaces, as reported by the Downtown Bellevue Network at the time.
The property also sits along Bellevue's official Grand Connection, a city-designated pedestrian corridor meant to link Meydenbauer Bay Waterfront Park, downtown shopping, and the Bellevue Transit Center. Its central courtyard, Compass Plaza, regularly hosts community activations including the Bellevue Downtown Association's Pop-Up on the Plaza series and summer live music, according to the Bellevue Downtown Association. It isn't the first major tenant loss for the complex — LA Fitness permanently closed its multi-level facility there in November 2020 after failing to agree on lease renewal terms with Unico.
Part of a Rough Year for Downtown Bellevue Dining
Itadaki's shutdown adds to a string of high-profile restaurant and bar closures across downtown Bellevue in 2026. Legion Sports Bar at Lincoln Square and Adrian's tequila bar shuts down in Old Bellevue both closed earlier this year, part of a broader wave of upscale concepts struggling to stay open in the district. Even a prime location with strong office anchors and heavy landlord investment wasn't enough to guarantee Itadaki's survival, underscoring how difficult the current environment has become for niche, high-end dining concepts on the Eastside.
