Jinya Ramen Bar taking over former Andiamo’s site downtown
A new Japanese restaurant will invest over $1.4 million to move into the former Andiamo’s restaurant location that left Royal Oak nearly six years ago in acrimony over the loss of a surface parking lot.
City commissioners this week approved a plan of operation for the Jinya Ramen Bar. The restaurant will be owned by Michael Bailey in partnership with the living trusts of Kent Ward and James Carmody III.
The plan of operation approval was necessary because the restaurant will have a bar. Cities no longer control liquor license approvals, but have a measure of control in first having to approve a liquor-licensed location’s plan of operation.
Royal Oak Police Chief Michael Moore, following a police report on the restaurant’s plans, said police have no objections to the Jinya Ramen Bar opening in Royal Oak.
Bailey and his partners already hold an indirect stake together in 52 Buffalo Wild Wings, including the one Royal Oak’s downtown.
Jinya Ramen Bar is a chain of restaurants headquartered in California, and there are 50 of them in 15 states, Bailey said.
Bailey told city commissioners this week the restaurants do not serve “fast food” and their menu items are made from scratch.”
“It’s a fantastic atmosphere and it’s wonderful food,” he said. “It takes 16 hours to make the (different) broths. The depth of the flavor is unbelievable.”
The restaurant bills itself as a full-service Japanese restaurant and bar, serving a variety of ramen dishes from chicken to vegan versions in ramen bowls, along with salads, small plates and rice bowls.
“We were very skeptical until we went to a (Jinya Ramen Bar) in California and we had to wait two hours for our food,” Bailey said of the restaurant chain’s popularity.
About 40 percent of the business is carryout.
Bailey said he hopes to have some opening windows, rollup doors and possibly outdoor dining during the summer months for the 5,400-square-foot restaurant at 129 S. Main Street.
He and his partners have franchise rights to open Jinya locations in the Midwest.
“But we wanted to start in our backyard Royal Oak,” Bailey said.
Part of the attraction to the city was its broad demographics that include younger people, families, their incomes and diversity,” Bailey said.
He further cited the large amount of available parking to the east at the 11 Mile Road city parking deck and the draw of the nearby Centennial Commons downtown park.
“We love this community and we think (the restaurant) is going to thrive here,” Bailey said. “We’re going to spend a lot of money to renovate it.”
There will be high-end light fixtures, greenery, wood and other features in the design. Construction is tentatively set to start June 1 and the owners expect to open their doors sometime in the late fall.
The owners expect to spend about $1.4 million on renovations, fixtures, furniture, equipment and inventory, according to a city police report by Lt. Karly Renaud.
On top of that, the owners are paying $105,000 for a resort Class C liquor license and will be leasing the space for $15,558 a month, the report said.
The restaurant is expected to have indoor seating for 175 patrons, including 21 seats at the bar and nine seats at the ramen bar.
City commissioners unanimously approved the plan.
Andiamo’s vacated the location in Royal Oak in 2018 after 19 years.
At the time Andiamo Group CEO and President Joe Vicari blamed rising rent and a lack of parking after the surface parking lot behind the restaurant was eliminated to make room for the $60 million Civic Center project, which brought in the Henry Ford Health System building, a parking deck and Centennial Commons.
There was another parking deck a block away, and Mayor Michael Fournier suggested publicly that perhaps Andiamo’s was serving food people would be unwilling to walk a block to eat.
Vicari later put out a statement suggesting he might sue the mayor over his comments, but nothing further was heard on the issue.
Fournier on Monday wished success to the owners of the Jinya Ramen Bar.
“I think you guys will do really, really well there,” he said. “I think it will be an improvement, and I think with Centennial Commons and some of the other things we’ve been able to do over the years in our downtown, this location is prime for success.”
City Commissioner Brandon Kolo said it was good to have a restaurant operator with an attractive concept coming to town.
“I mean, this corner is going to go from kind of a second-rate Italian to a first-class Japanese restaurant,” Kolo said.