A longtime Old Town restaurant is closing, but a new restaurant is taking its place

After 27 years in business, Eunice Kim is closing her Hana Cafe.

I’m going to retire,” she said. “I need a break.”

Kim opened the restaurant on Rock Road in late 1996 and moved it to Old Town Square in 2006, becoming a downtown staple.

However, due to some personal issues, Kim closed the restaurant for some time and reopened only two weeks before the pandemic forced her to close for another four months.

Kim said her business never recovered.

“We lost a lot of customers.”

Now, the owners of Wasabi East at 3242 N. Rock Road are buying Hana from Kim and renaming it Sushiya.

“It means home of sushi,” said Jiyeon Kim, who is opening the business with her husband, Sean. The Kims are not related to Eunice Kim.

Jiyeon Kim said she and her husband would have liked to rename Hana after their Wasabi, but other owners have another Wasabi downtown, and there’s another one out west, both of which are separate from Wasabi East.

The Kims will keep some of the more popular Hana items on their menu along with adding their own sushi, sashimi, special rolls, bento boxes and noodle and meat dishes. They’ll also serve alcohol, including sake. They’re still creating the menu and will share more details closer to the opening.

Hana’s last day in business is Feb. 25.

The Kims will take a few weeks to do some renovations and plan to reopen by late March for lunch and dinner daily.

Eunice Kim plans to return to her native Korea, at least for a few years, but she’s keeping her Old Town condo and will return yearly to see her daughter.

Kim said she wants all her customers to know how much she has appreciated them through the years.

While she said she and her knees are not going to miss working year after year on a concrete floor, “I’m going to miss the . . . customers.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 4:24 AM.