Tori Japan, the counter-serve chain known for teppanyaki-style teriyaki meals cooked fresh in front of customers, is opening four new locations across Greater Boston, including a spot just steps from Ashmont Station in Dorchester that still needs to clear a zoning hurdle before it can serve its first bento box.
The chain, founded in Jamaica Plain and now operating a dozen counter-serve locations across Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, plans new restaurants in Dorchester, near Boston University, in Malden, and in Taunton, according to WhatNow. Owner Tony Wu's Massachusetts footprint already includes the original Jamaica Plain shop plus locations at 1110 Boylston Street near the Back Bay and Fenway line, at 950 Hyde Park Avenue in Hyde Park, and in East Boston, per Boston Restaurant Talk.
Ashmont Site Faces a Parking Fight
The most complicated of the four is the roughly 1,600-square-foot space planned for 1970 Dorchester Ave., which would seat around 30 guests for dine-in and takeout but will not carry a liquor license, and Wu's team has no plans to apply for one. The site sits on the ground floor of Ashmont Flats, also known as The Frances at Ashmont, a five-story, 56-unit residential building the city approved in 2019 that opened in 2025 with its retail space sitting empty until now, according to the building's own site.
Under the current zoning code for the Dorchester Avenue subdistrict, the restaurant needs nine off-street parking spaces it simply does not have room for. At an abutters meeting on August 24, attorney Ryan Spitz, who represents Wu, told neighbors the nine-space requirement is not feasible at the site and that the team will seek a zoning variance, leaning on the restaurant's proximity to the MBTA Red Line, the Dorchester Reporter reported.
Neighbors at the meeting raised concerns about takeout drivers double-parking and how trash would be handled at the site, the same outlet noted. The parking questions echo an existing sensitivity around the building: when Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal approved the 56-unit complex in 2019, it attached a binding condition barring future residential tenants from getting neighborhood residential parking permits, according to Universal Hub. The Dorchester restaurant is expected to open sometime in 2027, pending how quickly the variance process moves.
Boston University, Malden, and Taunton Round Out the Push
Closer to opening is the roughly 3,000-square-foot restaurant planned for 961 Commonwealth Ave. near Boston University, targeted for late September 2026. The storefront previously housed Boston Halal, an Indian-Mediterranean fast-casual concept that opened in spring 2025 in a space that had been occupied by Blaze Pizza, per the same account from the Dorchester Reporter's coverage area context. The property itself sold for $5.7 million in November 2024, when Boston Realty Advisors brokered the deal bringing Minnesota-based Nolan Properties Group in as owner, with the retail leased to restaurant tenants alongside co-tenant Brigham & Women's Hospital.
In Malden, Tori Japan is planning a location at 245 Pleasant St., legally listed in city land records under the address 2 Florence St., a four-story, 32,358-square-foot office and retail building built in 1977 next to Malden Center station. That location is expected to open around the end of 2026.
The fourth location, at 65 Taunton Depot Drive, is anticipated to open around the same time. It sits inside a 28,042-square-foot retail strip within the larger 412,000-square-foot Taunton Depot power center, anchored by Target, Kohl's, and Home Depot, a suburban, parking-heavy setting that stands in sharp contrast to the transit-squeezed Ashmont site.
A Chain Growing Beyond New England's Borders
Tori Japan's menu centers on quick snacks, sushi, teriyaki meals, and bento boxes, according to the chain's website. While its roots are in Jamaica Plain counter-service, its first out-of-state expansion opened in March 2024 inside the food court at the Bridgewater Commons mall in Bridgewater, New Jersey, as reported by Patch.
The four-site Greater Boston push also lands amid a broader climb in the city's Japanese dining scene, which has stretched from budget teppanyaki counters to marquee fine dining, highlighted by South End's 311 Omakase earning Boston's first Michelin star in late 2025, as noted by Dorchester Reporter on Facebook. Whether the Ashmont site clears its zoning variance, and how the four locations navigate parking, delivery traffic, and opening timelines between late 2026 and 2027, remains to be seen.
