Acclaimed Sushi Omakase Destination O Ya Permanently Closes

Heralded sushi omakase spot O Ya — from hit Boston restaurateurs Tim and Nancy Cushman — has permanently closed after five years in New York, a spokesperson for the couple’s restaurant group Cushman Concepts tells Eater.

The closure was prompted by the reported shuttering of Kips Bay’s Park South Hotel, where O Ya is located. Phone calls and an email to the hotel went unreturned. The Cushmans’ other two restaurants in the hotel — the Mediterranean-inspired Covina, and the Roof bar — have also closed.

O Ya had been closed since the state-mandated shutdown on dining in due to COVID-19 went into effect in March this year. This past week, however, former employees began posting on Instagram about the closure of all three venues. The original Boston outpost of the sushi restaurant still remains open as does an outpost in Mexico.

The Cushmans opened the New York outpost of their Boston sushi restaurant in 2015, more than seven years after the debut of the original. In New York too, the restaurant quickly became one of the hottest — and priciest — reservations in town.

The restaurant was just as popular even before the pandemic-related closures, and was known for serving more eclectic options like a foie gras topped with chocolate kabayaki. O Ya, Covina, and the Roof now join dozens of restaurants and bars across the city that have permanently closed due to the financial fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.