Scaffolding has gone up and new wood siding is appearing around the old Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet building on San Antonio's Far West Side, but there's still no sign of the restaurant that's actually moving in. The space at 111 SW Loop 410 has sat empty since the buffet quietly closed in 2023, and now a Houston-based teppanyaki and sushi chain called Shogun Japanese Grill & Sushi Bar is building out its first San Antonio location there.
According to MySA, which visited the construction site this week, the former Dimassi's sign is still standing even as crews work behind scaffolding wrapped around the building's perimeter. No Shogun branding has been posted at the site so far, the outlet reported, and the chain lists its upcoming Alamo City restaurant only as “coming soon” on its website. MySA said it reached out to Shogun on social media for more details and plans to update its reporting once it hears back.
The closest existing Shogun location to San Antonio is in New Braunfels, per the same MySA report, meaning this would mark the chain's first foothold inside city limits. Shogun operates nearly two dozen locations across Texas, including outposts in New Braunfels, Pflugerville, and Cedar Park, according to CultureMap San Antonio. The chain's dining format centers on teppanyaki hibachi cooked tableside on iron griddles, alongside bento boxes, charcoal-grilled robata, and an extensive menu of sushi rolls and sashimi, CultureMap reported.
A Buffet's Short Run, Then Years Sitting Empty
Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet opened its Westover Marketplace location in 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, before quietly shuttering it in the summer of 2023, according to SA Current. The building has sat empty ever since, per MySA's reporting. Houston-based Dimassi's was founded in 1992 and built its business as a cafeteria-style halal Mediterranean buffet offering more than 40 menu items, SA Current noted — a concept that drew steady crowds before the Far West Side location's run ended.
Dimassi's hasn't left San Antonio entirely. The chain still operates a location at 12858 West Interstate 10 near De Zavala Road, inside a former Zio's Italian Kitchen building, which MySA reported opened in 2022. The 111 SW Loop 410 building itself has changed hands before; Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permit records show the site operated as a T.G.I. Friday's through late 2017, before Dimassi's eventually moved in.
A $350,000 Remodel, With Timelines Still in Flux
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filings indicated Shogun is expanding the property to add an additional dining room, with state records reviewed by CultureMap showing the renovation will add 2,860 square feet of dining space to the existing building. The same filings estimated the remodel's cost at $350,000 and projected completion by early April 2026, according to CultureMap's August 2025 report — though the TDLR filing reviewed by MySA listed a slightly earlier target completion date of March 1, 2026.
The site itself sits inside Westover Marketplace, a busy retail and dining corridor on San Antonio's Far West Side, as SA Current has previously reported. With scaffolding still up and no Shogun signage posted as of this week's site visit, exactly when the doors will open remains unclear. CultureMap also noted that the incoming chain has no connection to Shogun Japanese Steakhouse on Babcock Road, an unrelated San Antonio restaurant that permanently closed in 2024.
