Photo by Ben Hensley

Fresno’s Villaggio shopping center is the soon-to-be home of a new restaurant coming to the former California Pizza Kitchen location.

The storefront, empty since August 2020, will be the new home for Tsukiji, featuring all-you-can-eat Japanese cuisine, according to a “coming soon” banner at the site. 

Just how soon is still unknown.

Tsukiji is named for a district in Tokyo famous for its food markets.

City of Fresno planning documents and state business filings offer only a glimpse at the team behind the restaurant. TW Designers, a Fremont-based construction company, was the applicant for a conditional use permit for alcohol filed Oct. 25.

Attempts made by The Business Journal to contact TW Designers — which is listed as applicant on several planning department filings — were unsuccessful as of Tuesday.

Corporate filings with the California Secretary of State’s office list Hai Sheng Zheng as the CEO of parent company Tsukiji Ayce Fresno, Inc.

Tsukiji’s future home at 7985 N. Blackstone Ave. remains unoccupied, with signs still posted announcing initial COVID-19 mask requirements from June 2020. California Pizza Kitchen’s closure was attributed to lease challenges with the landlord as well as the pandemic. It opened in 2002.

Villaggio and nearby River Park shopping centers do not have an all-you-can-eat options, with the closest buffet-style restaurant — Lin’s Fusion — located several miles away.

Renovations to vacated restaurant buildings are no stranger to the shopping center, with Lazy Dog opening in the former home of Elephant Bar in late 2018.