(At left, burned-out original restaurant in March 2023 traffic-cam image)
By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Teriyaki fans who have been eyeing the corner of S. Michigan and 4th Ave S for the last several years for signs of reopening won’t have to wait much longer. I Luv Teriyaki (6500 4th Ave S), whose original building was destroyed in a fire in March of 2023, is planning to reopen by the end of February. (Though the restaurant’s just outside West Seattle, it has enough of a fan base here that we get periodic reader questions about its status, so we’ve been following its progress.)
We reached Eva Lo, who owns the business with her husband Dong, the day after a city inspection that allows them to start moving in equipment and training employees in the space. In the coming weeks, she says they will be hiring staff and getting ready to open while they take care of the finishing touches on the building. “We have a few things left.” The new 2050-sf building, on a prominent SODO/Georgetown corner, has looked mostly done for many months, so speculation about an opening date has been growing.
The fire in 2023 started overnight in the kitchen and caused extensive damage, which was followed within days by theft and vandalism that the Los detailed on their social media pages. But they were not deterred, and pushed ahead with plans to rebuild the restaurant. It took more than a year after the fire for permits to be issued, and then another year and a half to build and get to the last of the required inspections.
The extended time it took to rebuild means their former staff are now working elsewhere, but Lo said they will reach out to them to see if they’d like to rejoin the business. She said they plan to start with a soft open and then have a grand reopening celebration. She said details about the menu and open hours should be available soon.