Chaya, Downtown’s Upscale Japanese Restaurant, Closes After Nine Years

The Downtown Los Angeles location of Chaya has closed, ending a nine-year run for the Japanese dinner spot. The company traces its roots back to 17th century Japan but has been operating in Los Angeles for more than four decades, and now only has one remaining outlet left on the Westside in Venice.

Downtown’s Chaya first opened back in 2009 as an upscale dinnertime option for the business set, relying on crowds from the attached City National Plaza and beyond. For a time the restaurant was among the busiest places to catch a post-work drink and bite during the week, but in recent years an explosion in the Downtown dining scene made it harder to compete. Now comes the official closing, on the heels of last year’s similar shutter up in San Francisco.

In a closing notice forward to Eater, the company also laid some blame for the slowdown on enduring Metro construction in the neighborhood, saying:

When the Metro construction started just over two years ago, we knew that it would ultimately be a positive thing once finished, but as time has gone on we could not sustain the volume of business we were doing prior and we ultimately had to close the doors.

The final day of service for Chaya in Downtown was over the weekend, leaving only the recently-remodeled Venice location up and running. There’s no word yet on what, if anything, will take over at that prime Flower Street location.

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