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One major downtown dining hub is going to clear out soon. After six years, renowned restaurateur Tom Douglas and his company Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen decided not to renew the lease for their businesses inside the Via6 luxury apartment complex on 6th Ave and Lenora. That means the bento-filled restaurant TanakaSan, the massive Assembly Hall (with its juice stand, cafe, bar, and kitchen), and the market and deli Home Remedy will all close by the end of January.
”We are very proud of each of our operations at Via6 and gave it our all; awesome employees, mouth-watering food quality and distinctive interior design,” Douglas says in a statement provided to Eater Seattle. “We would like to thank all of our guests and Via6 residents and families for their patronage over the last several years. We look forward to seeing everyone at our neighboring restaurants, Palace Kitchen and Cantina Leña.”
While there are no plans to relocate the businesses, guests can say their goodbyes over the next couple of months as the various teams for all three operations celebrate their favorite menu items, including coconut beef and sake slushies at TanakaSan, Assembly Hall’s pressed fruit-filled juices, and Home Remedy’s rice bowls.
Opened in June 2013, the 10,000 square-foot Assembly Hall became a multipurpose food destination unlike any of the projects Douglas had done in the past. It combined a cafe and bar, an event space, retail (Home Remedy), and a more traditional sit-down restaurant (TanakaSan), across the street from the Amazon Spheres. All three operations blend in with the lobby of Via6, and include access to the open mezzanine level, where there are shuffleboard tables, vintage video games, and a spacious lounge. There’s no word yet on what will take over those soon-to-be vacant locations.
Meanwhile, this announcement comes after an up-and-down year for Douglas. The chef recently expanded his brand to New York for the first time, opening two restaurants in the city’s much heralded Nordstrom flagship store. Then, earlier this month, Douglas settled a $2.4 million class action lawsuit with former and current employees, regarding alleged improper disclosure for service charge fees. But a rep for Douglas says “the closure is not related to the lawsuit,” adding, “unfortunately, the Via6 businesses were not financially viable concepts for us and we felt it best for the health of the company as a whole to refocus our efforts on our other properties.”
