“Over three decades, we have seen kids go through high school, graduate college, and then bring back their own children to the restaurant,” Kenji Ueki stated. “You have no idea how sad my family and I are that it is now closed,” Kenji Ueki stated, adding that he has made many memories with Paly students as Sushi House’s customers and plans to make many more. Village Cheese House closed just last year, on Dec. “Our vision from day one was to create a space that would provide quality Japanese food at a reasonable price with the hope that it would help bridge the connection between Japanese and American cultures,” Kenji Ueki stated.Īccording to Kenji Ueki, he and Nagamine chose the name “Sushi House” because they thought of themselves as the Village Cheese House’s little brother. Some years are leaner, some better, but if I can sustain the business over a year, I call it a success. There have been and always will be set-backs, both in and out of our control, but what I have learned over the years is that as long there is a balance, we will be okay. With a small business like ours, you have to take things day by day, month by month. In 1989, Kenji Ueki and his business partner, the late Masahiro Nagamine, opened Sushi House as a take-out business. Kenji Ueki decided to locate the restaurant in Town and Country because it was family-friendly - “a real center for entrepreneurs,” he stated. “I had a friend who was also in a similar situation, and we both decided we would take the plunge and open our Japanese restaurant.” “After starting a family in the 1980s, I knew I needed something more stable than juggling multiple jobs all over the Bay Area,” he stated in an email to The Paly Voice. Kenji Ueki, founder of the Sushi House business, immigrated to the US from Japan in 1978 and picked up various restaurant jobs to support himself. “This updated order has not really changed our daily operation, except for further decreasing indoor capacity and tightening no-contact protocols.”

“We have only been doing take-out since March,” said Noriko Ueki, daughter of Kenji Ueki.

6 order from the Country of Santa Clara, according to Sushi House founder Kenji Ueki. Sushi House will continue making its time-tested Japanese recipes for customers even given a Dec. Photo: Kenji UekiĪfter 32 years of being a popular lunch-time spot for Palo Alto High School students, the Sushi House is pulling through the pandemic - so far - despite new county lockdown protocols allowing only deliveries and take-out for restaurants. “I can’t speak for other businesses, but I can say that we are blessed - and this is 100% because of our loyal customers and hard-working staff,” owner Kenji Ueki stated in an email to The Paly Voice. DecemThe Sushi House restaurant in Town and Country has survived over nine months since the Center for Disease Control officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

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