A newly filed California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license transfer application shows Oishi Sushi On Blvd LLC taking over the premises at 3023-3025 El Cajon Boulevard in North Park. The company is seeking transfer of CinKuni's Type 41 license, which allows the sale of beer and wine at a bona fide eating place, with the application listed as pending as of September 21. ABC records identify Oishi Sushi On Blvd LLC as the incoming licensee and Leonardo Ramon Cabrera as the company's member and manager, while a four-month temporary permit was issued September 21, allowing Oishi to operate while the permanent license transfer is processed.
Oishi has now confirmed the move directly to SanDiegoVille, explaining that its existing Oishi Sushi on Blvd restaurant at 2850 El Cajon Boulevard will eventually close and relocate into the larger CinKuni space a few blocks east. The transition is expected to take place "in a few months," although an exact moving date has not yet been announced.
"We are moving the existing location in a few months to transfer to CinKuni," an Oishi representative told SanDiegoVille. "Same great tasting food just a bigger space."
The move will give Oishi substantially more room than it has at its current El Cajon Boulevard storefront near the North Park and University Heights border. The restaurant serves an enormous menu of sushi, sashimi, specialty rolls, ramen, udon, curry, yakisoba, rice bowls and other Japanese and Asian-inspired dishes.
The restaurant's menu runs from straightforward salmon, tuna and yellowtail nigiri to elaborate specialty rolls loaded with spicy tuna, crab, shrimp tempura, jalapeños, avocado and sauces. Other offerings include chicken katsu curry, ramen, tempura, fried rice, bento boxes and sashimi, as well as some unexpected items like burgers and chicken sandwiches.
The owners describe Oishi Sushi on Blvd as a longtime dream of the restaurant's sushi chef, who they say has more than two decades of experience in the industry. According to the restaurant, both members of the team behind the concept have more than 20 years of experience and a longstanding passion for sushi.
The North Park relocation comes as Oishi is simultaneously expanding elsewhere in San Diego. The company just celebrated the grand opening of another brick-and-mortar Oishi Sushi at 3298 Greyling Drive in Serra Mesa on September 23, giving the restaurant a second neighborhood presence even as it prepares for the North Park move.
The newly opened Serra Mesa restaurant features a modern Japanese-inspired interior with dramatic red floral decorations suspended from the ceiling. Oishi also operates a delivery-focused outpost from the CloudKitchens facility at 2702 Boston Avenue in Barrio Logan.
The North Park move will put Oishi into a substantially more prominent restaurant space than its current El Cajon Boulevard storefront. The roughly 3,600-square-foot property at 3025 El Cajon Boulevard spent nearly a decade as Tiger!Tiger!, the influential craft beer bar and restaurant from the team behind Blind Lady Ale House that closed in 2020.
CinKuni moved into the space in 2022 as the successor to Sushi 2 on Broadway, the downtown Japanese restaurant previously known as Sushi Deli 2. Owner Kuniko Holmes had operated Sushi 2 since taking over the downtown business in 2012 before deciding to leave Broadway and relocate the operation to North Park.
Rather than simply recreating Sushi 2, CinKuni launched with an unusual Japanese-Italian identity centered around wafu-style cooking, a Japanese interpretation of Western and particularly Italian cuisine. The concept paired sushi and ramen with wood-fired pizzas and handmade pasta, creating dishes that deliberately crossed the boundaries between the two cuisines. The restaurant's current menu still reflects that identity, including items like rigatoni with Italian sausage, mushrooms and vodka cream sauce; a pizza topped with chicken and teriyaki sauce; sushi tacos with truffle oil; and a tonkotsu ramen incorporating porchetta and Italian sausage.
CinKuni also attracted renewed attention earlier this year after the restaurant publicly discussed struggling to remain in business, prompting numerous San Diego food influencers and community members to visit and promote the restaurant. The resulting social-media push brought a wave of attention to the independent eatery, making its impending replacement particularly notable only months later.
CinKuni was still taking reservations and operating at 3025 El Cajon Boulevard this month, with online listings advertising dinner throughout the week and weekend lunch service. A final day for CinKuni has not been publicly announced, and Oishi's statement that its relocation is still several months away suggests the transition will not be immediate.
For Oishi, the move represents a notable period of growth and consolidation. Rather than operating two restaurants only several blocks apart on El Cajon Boulevard, the company plans to trade its existing 2850 El Cajon Boulevard storefront for the substantially larger former Tiger!Tiger! property while simultaneously establishing its newly opened Serra Mesa restaurant.
The change will mark yet another chapter for a North Park restaurant property that has already housed two distinctly different concepts over the past decade and a half. Tiger!Tiger! helped make the address a destination during San Diego's craft-beer boom, CinKuni followed with its unconventional marriage of Japanese and Italian food, and Oishi is now preparing to transform the space into a larger home for its established sushi and Japanese comfort-food restaurant.
Oishi Sushi plans to relocate from 2850 El Cajon Boulevard to the current CinKuni space at 3023-3025 El Cajon Boulevard in the coming months. Its newest location at 3298 Greyling Drive in Serra Mesa is now open, while CinKuni has not yet publicly announced its final day of business.
For more information about Oishi Sushi, visit oishisushionblvd.com.
Originally published on September 24, 2026.