The historical Yamashiro Restaurant is getting ready to expand to a second location in San Pedro, located at 1190 Nagoya Way.
The new restaurant, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, will be right on the water at the West Harbor waterfront development, a new multi-million dollar project replacing the Ports O’ Call Village. Expected to open in 2023, the new Yamashiro Restaurant will be slightly more modern than the original restaurant, with similar design elements and menu items. The original Yamashiro Restaurant, located at 1999 North Sycamore Ave, was built over a three-year timespan beginning in 1911.
Both Yamashiro restaurants will be co-owned by Elie Samaha, a high-profile movie producer, and several property developers, including the BMG Group, TCL Chinese Theaters, and Sugar Factory, which Samaha also co-owns. Due to the pandemic, the original restaurant has been on and off over the past 16 months but recently reopened for indoor and outdoor dining service. While the restaurant was non-operational, the kitchen and patio space was being used by the popular breakfast restaurant, the Griddle.
The new Yamashiro will replace the San Pedro Fish Market, one of the county’s highest-grossing restaurants, at roughly $30 million per year. The fish market, founded in 1956, is moving to a larger location further down the waterfront. The West Harbor waterfront development is a $150 million replacement of the Ports O’ Call Village, built in the 1960s. Other businesses have either been evicted or moved to a new location due to this new multi-million-dollar development.
