New Sakura Location Would Expand Seating

Roughly four months after being told their lease was ended, the owners of Sakura Japanese Restaurant pleaded their case to the Babylon Village Board during a public hearing to open a new location across the street.

Danny Yei, the owner of the restaurant, told the board he planned to operate the same business as before in the new location at 94 Deer Park Avenue.

"We are just moving across – no changes," Yei told the board.

The new restaurant, filling in a vacant spot between the Argyle Grill and Horace & Sylvia's, would have 56 seats inside and a wider view of the Babylon Village downtown.

The popular sushi restaurant would eventually add a bar, along with being open for lunch.

The village attorney, Joel Sikowitz, asked Yei whether he was concerned about competition from the village's plethora of Asian-food options, including nearby Kotobuki, Monsoon and the soon-to-be-added Ginza of Babylon.

"We have our own following," Yei said, adding he felt it would be the same as before.

Yei also proposed the restaurant would make slight changes to the building's Deer Park Avenue-facing storefront, making it a straight windowed area rather than the current, inwards-facing design.

The board did not make a decision during the public hearing, reserving it for a later time within the next two weeks.

Sakura, along with next door neighbor Nocturne, were closed earlier this year after a new landlord reportedly ended their leases. The spaces are reportedly being turned into another sushi restaurant, Ginza of Babylon.