Longtime Upper East Side sushi shop closed by the NYC Health Department | Upper East Site
Longtime Upper East Side sushi shop closed by the NYC Health Department | Upper East Site

Longtime UES Sushi Spot Closed By NYC Health Department

A message taped to the dining structure in front of a longtime Upper East Side sushi shop informs customers that the restaurant would be closed Monday and Tuesday to renovations, but something behind the locked door to its dining shed tells a different story about the shutdown. The unmistakeable bright yellow closure order from the NYC Health Department.

“Closed by order of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene,” reads the  notice stuck to the front door of Tenzan 89, the popular Japanese restaurant located at 1714 Second Avenue, at the corner of East 89th Street in Yorkville for more than a decade.

Tenzan 89 was closed by the Health Department on August 29th | Upper East Site
Tenzan 89 was closed by the Health Department on August 29th | Upper East Site

However, passers-by on the sidewalk likely wouldn’t notice it. That’s because the front of Tenzan 89 is enclosed with a dining shed, with the door to the shed itself padlocked, so no one can get inside to give the official shutdown order a closer look. 

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Right next to the padlocked door, the restaurant has added a printed out message of their own for customers reading, “we are closed for renovation on August 29, Monday and August 30, Tuesday.”

A padlocked door keeps passersby from getting a closer look at the closure order | Upper East Site
A padlocked door keeps passersby from getting a closer look at the yellow closure order | Upper East Site

It also says the sushi spot would be reopening on Wednesday.

However, rather than observing construction being done, Upper East Site saw workers cleaning inside Tenzan 89 on Wednesday morning.

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It’s no surprise, considering the restaurant immediately shut down following its required inspection on August 29th. 

On Monday, a Health Department inspector found a total of seven violations, most of them critical in nature, and slapped the restaurant with a total of 51 violation points.

The closure order can be seen clearly from the side of Tenzan 89's dining structure | Upper East Site
The closure order can be seen clearly from the side of Tenzan 89’s dining structure | Upper East Site

The presence of filth flies, live roaches and evidence of mice were found by the inspector, who also noted that the facility is not vermin proof and could be attracting rodents or other pests. soiled wiping cloths were also being used at Yorkville restaurant, according to the inspection report.

The Health Department also found cold food items were allowed to get dangerously warm, though its not clear if the affected food was Tenzan’s fresh fish for sushi. 

It’s not clear when the restaurant had last been inspected, that data wasn’t immediately available.

Upper East Site’s calls to Tenzan 89 for comment were not answered.

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