Sora Craft Kitchen, the 16-seat Turkish restaurant that turned a slab of downtown Los Angeles real estate into one of the city's most talked-about dining rooms, is shutting its doors on Oct. 25. Chef Okay Inak says the closure comes down to a building that simply would not stop leaking, and a one-man operation that could no longer absorb the damage.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Inak primarily blames unresolved maintenance issues at his restaurant space, including habitual flooding, for forcing the closure. Every time it rains, he says, the ceiling leaks, and he has to cancel reservations, catch water, check electrical safety and clean the dining room all over again before reopening. The property is owned by AMDT Corp., according to the L.A. County Assessor's Office, per the same report.
Inak, who self-funded the restaurant with his wife, Sezen Vatansever, opened Sora Craft Kitchen in May 2024 with no outside investors. He trained at Eleven Madison Park and Mélisse before striking out on his own, and he grew up in Bitlis, a town in southeastern Turkey, a detail that shows up in the restaurant's menu of içli köfte, kirecte kabak and garlic-spiced kebab. To stretch his budget toward ingredients instead of design, he furnished the dining room with $25 Ikea tables.
A Critical Darling Undone by Its Building
The accolades piled up fast. Sora landed on the L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants list at No. 39 in 2025 and appeared in Esquire's guide to the country's best new restaurants that same year, the paper reports. Food critic Bill Addison described it as a Turkish restaurant like no other in L.A. In June 2026, the Michelin Guide added Sora Craft Kitchen to its California dining guide with a recommended designation.
None of that solved the leaks. Inak told the Los Angeles Times he put in his own money and got stuck trying to run everything himself: “I put in my own money. I'm just stuck. I work hard, I try to take care of everything, but it's very hard after three years.” He is often the sole force behind the kitchen, working upwards of 17 hours a day, and he said the building problems combined with the lack of staff meant he repeatedly had to shut down temporarily, upsetting customers and cutting into revenue.
Fully Booked Through the Final Service
Even with the closure looming, Sora Craft Kitchen remains fully booked through the end of its run at 1109 E. 12th St., where it's open Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. through Oct. 25. Inak said many chefs reached out to propose collaborations once word got out, and he's glad the restaurant is staying packed on its way out. Fellow restaurateurs have offered to cook alongside him and even lend their own kitchens, the paper notes, and he said many people have sent support and promised to follow him wherever he lands next.
Inak hopes to reopen as soon as possible in a new, undetermined Los Angeles location, though his options are limited by budget constraints. If he can't find a space, he said he might work in another restaurant instead. Should he reopen, he wants to hire two or three chefs to ease the demands of a one-man kitchen, telling the Times he needs help because the current format isn't sustainable — though he'd ideally keep a format where chefs also work as servers.
One Closure in a Rough Stretch for LA Dining
Sora Craft Kitchen's struggles land amid a broader squeeze on Los Angeles restaurants. Black Box Intelligence found that 9% of all full-service restaurants were at serious risk of closing in 2026, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles, which also reported that rising food costs, tariffs and regulations are making it harder for owners to stay open. That same report noted the closures of 118-year-old Cole's French Dip and Echo Park's Taix French Restaurant, along with FAT Brands — the Beverly Hills company behind Fatburger and Johnny Rockets — filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy carrying more than a billion dollars in debt.
The city lost more than 100 restaurants and bars in 2025 alone, including Michelin-starred spots and longtime neighborhood fixtures, according to Los Angeles Magazine, which attributed the figure that L.A. shed 18,700 restaurant jobs between July 2019 and July 2025 to the New York Times. Downtown has felt its own version of that churn recently: Eater LA reported that Mona Pasta Bar closed permanently on Sept. 30, while Employees Only in West Hollywood poured its final cocktail three days earlier, with its managing partner citing the citywide dining slowdown and rising operating costs.
For now, Sora Craft Kitchen's last stretch of service is simply about getting through the final bookings before Oct. 25. Whatever comes next for Inak, the response from fellow chefs and regular diners suggests his cramped, Ikea-furnished dining room built a following that isn't ready to let the story end with a leaky ceiling.
