Beloved local sushi restaurant forced to shutter after 20 years as owner blames Meta for their closure

Published: 21:33, 5 July 2026 | Updated: 21:39, 5 July 2026 A beloved California Japanese eatery had to shutter its doors after more than two decades, as its heartbroken owner claims Meta is to blame for its downfall. Dashi Japanese restaurant, a long-standing fixture in Menlo Park's Belle Haven neighborhood, served its final customers on Friday after 23 years in business. The discreet strip-mall eatery, tucked along a corridor once packed with lunchtime crowds, had built its reputation on speedy service, neatly packed bento boxes and a fiercely loyal local cult following. However the restaurant's recent death was cemented by tech behemoth Meta's expansion, fluctuating development plans and decision to pause its 'Willow Village' redevelopment project across from Dashi, one that local businesses had been relying on to revive foot traffic. For owner John Bek, who opened the restaurant in 2003, the collapse has been slow, painful and financially devastating. 'I started using my kids’ college fund, my life savings,' Bek said to SFGATE, revealing the drastic economic toll the business had taken, 'I’ve been completely drained of money just trying to keep the doors open.' He also recalls the peak years vividly - when nearby office buildings poured out workers every weekday and lunchtime queues snaked through the door. 'If you didn’t get there before 11.30, you were waiting half an hour to an hour for a table,' longtime customer Joanna Martinez recalled. Back then, Bek says, the restaurant barely had a quiet moment. Dashi, a Japanese lunchtime staple in California closed on Friday, taking with it not just affordable bento boxes but a cherished place many customers say felt  like a second home John Beck and his wife Sunny Bek (pictured) have operated the restaurant together for the last 23 years had been hemorrhaging money as they struggled to keep the business afloat The final nail in the the restaurants coffin came when Meta acquired the Menlo Science and Technology Park, which supplied 90 percent of Bek's customer base But over time, the rhythm of the neighborhood changed. And with it, the restaurant’s lifeline began to disappear. But for Bek, the turning point came after Meta moved its headquarters nearby in 2011 following its expansion onto the former Sun Microsystems campus. As the tech titan grew, more employees stayed on campus for meals, drawn by free, on-site dining options and internal amenities that reduced the need to leave the corporate bubble.  For nearby restaurants including Dashi, that shift meant fewer lunch crowds, emptier tables, and shrinking margins. Then came the promise that briefly sparked hope - Willow Village. The ambitious redevelopment set to rise across from Dashi's location was pitched as a sweeping transformation, new homes, offices, shops and public spaces, designed to bring thousands of residents and workers into the area.  For Bek's struggling business it sounded like salvation, the possibility of a whole new roster of clientele. Instead Bek says it became a waiting game that never ended. Years passed. Plans shifted. Timelines slipped.  Instead of throwing the business a lifeline, the Willow Park development fluctuated before halting completely before work could get underway. Pictured: Bek and his young daughter For Bek who had worked tirelessly to maintain his customers, taking out multiple loans and even relocating many times, the problem became too vast to manage and he surrendered, closing his doors last Friday Bek is not the only one facing problems caused by Meta's ever expanding empire. Adnan Siddiqui owns Hajis Restaurant, located in the same retail center as Dashi. He said that the development was a motivating factor for him when he signed the lease a year ago Eventually, this year, Meta confirmed the Willow Village project was being put on hold, citing changing economic conditions and business priorities. 'After careful evaluation, it was determined that the current environment does not support advancing a project of this type and scale at this time.' The company previously wrote in a statement on the development’s website, which has since been deactivated. The announcement came just after a round of layoffs at Meta and the company’s shift in focus toward artificial intelligence. By then, Bek says, the damage was already irreversible.  The Menlo Science and Technology Park, which supplied what Bek said was 90 percent of his customer base, emptied out, leaving what was left of the restaurants original client base to wither away. 'Facebook was going to build the Willow Village right across from Dashi,' he said. 'And we’re still waiting. I’ve been waiting for 10 years.' Bek, angry at Meta’s decision, was frustrated that he was not informed about it years ago. 'If that wasn’t the plan, I could have done something to relocate while I was able to,” the restaurant owner told outlet SFGate. 'To Facebook, it may be not much, but to me, it’s my livelihood.' The final blow came in May, when he received a 60-day notice terminating his lease from LLBG Properties, a landlord linked through public records to Meta-associated holdings. For Bek, it was the end of the road. By that point, he says, he had poured everything into keeping the restaurant alive -personal savings, family funds, and years of borrowed time. He continued repaying a pandemic-era federal loan of roughly $500,000, even as income dwindled. At home, the pressure mounted. Having never taken vacation during the 23 years he has worked Bek shared he moved house to cut costs and has now began preparing to sell his home entirely just to pay employees. Miguel Sanchez, the owner of Mi Taqueria, which is adjacent to Dashi, also voiced a similar experience and said that business has been very slow lately. 'When we got the contract with Facebook, they said we will build a new shopping center,' Sanchez said, referring to his lease at 875 Hamilton Ave., which is owned by Meta-affiliated LLBG Properties. 'But it never happened. If the lease increases more, we have to quit. We have to move from here.' Meta, however, has pushed back on suggestions it abandoned the area or failed to support local businesses. A spokesperson for the landlord entity managing the property said Dashi received years of assistance, including reduced rent and financial accommodations totaling about $170,000, and rejected claims that the business was left without meaningful support. When SFGate reached out to Meta and CBRE for comment, the outlet was told that Belle Haven Center voluntarily handed more than $170,000 in financial support to Dashi’s owners over the years and recently gave them discounted and 'flexible month-to-month' lease terms. 'Despite the unprecedented financial assistance from the retail center, Dashi chose not to pay rent or meet basic lease obligations for long periods,' said Adam Alberti, spokesperson for Belle Haven Center, in a statement. 'The center is not in a position to permanently subsidize Dashi’s operations. Further concessions are not warranted and are detrimental to the center’s ability to serve all of its tenants.' Bek rebutted this statement, saying that he always paid rent on time, and when he was unable to, he would receive approval from the property manager to pay late. And the restaurant owner added that the financial support and rent discounts were nowhere near enough to make up for the decline in customers he’d experienced. 'Let’s just say if you take away $80,000 worth of sales, when you give $2,000 off, that’s not enough to survive,' he said. He added that while Alberti characterized a month-to-month lease as 'flexible,' in actuality, 'for a restaurant, having a short-term lease is like a death sentence.' As emotional regulars gathered to say goodbye, many described what made Dashi unusual saying it wasn't just the food or convenience, it was the way the restaurant functioned as a second home. For customer Walker Kellogg, it was even the first place he and his wife took their son, a few days after he was born. When he heard Dashi was closing, he was 'devastated,' he said. In the 20 years she’s been going to Dashi, Martinez said she became a close friend of Bek’s. Her kids even call him 'tío,' she said.  Bek says he remains proud of what he built, even as he watches it come to an end. 'I am proud of my staff, I am proud of my customers' he declared, 'but unfortunately I can't fight Facebook'. The Daily Mail has reached out to Meta for comment.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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