Sushi And Ramen Heavyweights Fill Ponce City Market's Empty Japanese Stalls

Two new Japanese dining concepts are set to fill the space at Ponce City Market's Central Food Hall left behind when a pair of long-running restaurants closed their doors earlier this year. NoriFish, a sushi and hand-roll concept, and Okiboru, a ramen and tsukemen brand with Michelin recognition out of California, are both scheduled to open Friday, August 28, at the historic Atlanta complex.

The two stalls are stepping into space vacated by Ton Ton Ramen & Yakitori and Miso Ko, a pair of Japanese restaurants from Atlanta chef Guy Wong that shuttered in January after multi-year runs — Ton Ton had operated in Ponce City Market since 2016 and Miso Ko since 2018, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As WhatNow reports, NoriFish and Okiboru are both led by chef Sean Park and restaurateur Justin Lim, and the pair say the two concepts combine traditional Japanese techniques with their own takes on sushi, ramen, and tsukemen. Park said NoriFish expresses the team's approach to sushi while Okiboru expresses its approach to ramen and tsukemen, per the outlet.

A Tokyo Supply Line And A Michelin Pedigree

NoriFish will serve sushi, hand rolls, Japanese small plates, and drinks, with a menu that changes according to seasonality and availability, the same report notes. The chain flies seafood directly from Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market twice weekly, according to Rough Draft Atlanta, which also reports that NoriFish launched its original restaurant in Sandy Springs in 2022 and added a Buckhead location in April 2025 — making the food hall stall its third Metro Atlanta location.

Okiboru, meanwhile, will serve house-made noodles, rich broths, appetizers, and rice dishes, along with cocktails, sake, beer, tea, and other nonalcoholic drinks, per the WhatNow report. The brand was founded in Los Angeles in 2018 to popularize tsukemen, a Japanese dipping ramen served with concentrated broth and thick house-made noodles, and it earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation in 2019 as the only ramen establishment included in the inaugural Los Angeles Bib Gourmand selection, according to the Michelin Guide. Before opening at Ponce City Market, Okiboru had already built a five-location Metro Atlanta footprint spanning Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Duluth, Buford, and Kennesaw, plus three outposts in New York City, per Hospitality & Catering News.

The Team Behind Both Concepts

Chef Sean Park brings 15 years of formal traditional Japanese culinary experience and sushi training to both brands, which he co-founded with Lim, per the same Hospitality & Catering News report. The pair also operate other Atlanta dining concepts together, including Japanese steakhouse Prefecture. Lim separately launched Scoville Hot Chicken in 2020, growing that fast-casual brand to six Metro Atlanta locations and a New York outpost alongside his Japanese culinary partnerships with Park, according to Tomorrow's News Today - Atlanta.

The drinks program across both new stalls was created by Atlanta mixologist and certified sake advisor Hendry Kurniawan, featuring craft cocktails, curated house and premium sakes, Japanese lagers, and wine, the Hospitality & Catering News report states. Kurniawan previously directed beverage programs at major Atlanta venues including Poor Hendrix.

Part Of A Bigger Food Hall Shuffle

The arrival of NoriFish and Okiboru is part of a wider 2026 vendor refresh at Ponce City Market that already included the June openings of Thai street food stall Terminal 26 splashes down and mezcal lounge La Cueva, a cocktail lounge and listening room. Jamestown leasing executives have described the turnover as routine, noting that lease expirations allow the food hall to continuously modernize its dining lineup rather than reflecting distress among departing tenants.

Ponce City Market draws roughly 10,000 daily visitors — about 3.6 million annual visits — driven largely by its direct connection to the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, according to Urbanize Atlanta. The Central Food Hall now houses more than 25 culinary vendors representing global cuisines inside the 2.1-million-square-foot former Sears, Roebuck & Co. regional catalog hub, which developer Jamestown redeveloped starting in 2011 into what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has called Atlanta's largest adaptive reuse project. Ponce City Market is located at 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE in Atlanta.

The rotation follows the same complex that recently saw former Ponce City Market chef Guy Wong open a second location of his restaurant Ruby Chow's on Trabert Avenue, a move Hoodline detailed after his original Central Food Hall stalls closed. With NoriFish and Okiboru now filling that gap, the food hall's Japanese offerings return under new ownership, backed by Michelin credentials, a Tokyo supply chain, and a beverage program built specifically for the space.