Outstanding No-Frills Sushi Bar Atari-Ya Shuts Down After Decades in Ealing Common

Renowned no-frills sushi bar Atari-Ya has closed in Ealing Common, after 30 years of occupying the space on Station Parade. Listed as “under offer” on commercial property agent Rolfe East, a new “let agreed sign” is now above the recognisable blue shutters.

Connected to the Japanese fishmonger and ingredient importer of the same name, which has numerous markets across the city and supplies some of its best sushi restaurants, the space was buzzy and full nightly before the novel coronavirus pandemic, joining the broader Japanese offering of Kiraku a few doors down — which symbiotically uses its fish for sushi — and quality supermarket / deli Natural Natural in serving Ealing Common’s sizeable Japanese community.

One of Ealing’s best restaurants outright, it served gossamer tempura and Iberico tonkatsu alongside pristine sashimi, exactingly seasoned and body temperature nigiri, and a seriously opulent chirashi of chutoro, otoro, scallop, and eel. The closure leaves Atari-Ya with sushi bars in Golders Green and Oxford Circus, the latter trading as Sushiology, as well as stores in Finchley, West Acton, Golders Green, Hendon, Kingston, and Swiss Cottage.