Pacific View's Old Sears Now Runs Kitchens From Across Japan on a Single Checkout

"We can't say that it's 100% the same because of the difference in ingredients, but we are confident that it's well over 80%." That is how Hirotoshi Takahashi, chief operating officer of Round One Entertainment, described the food in a Los Angeles Times report. He was comparing the dishes at YUU Japanese Food Hall with the originals at restaurants in Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Sapporo and Tokyo.

YUU opened October 10, 2026 in the former Sears space at Pacific View, at 3295 E. Main St., Suite 2. It shares the building with a new Round1 Bowling & Arcade, and the Ventura County Star called YUU the first cafeteria of its kind in the United States. Round1's name is on the building, and most early talk has been about the bowling and claw machines. The ground floor is the bigger deal for anyone who lives in Ventura. It's a food hall built so you can eat from several cities' kitchens in one sitting, with one cart and one payment, open until 2 a.m.

Fourteen Restaurants That Had Never Left Japan

According to Round1's opening announcement on Business Wire, all 14 restaurants at YUU are opening in the U.S. for the first time. Before opening, Round1 staff traveled to Japan to train with each one, and the original restaurants signed off on the recipes and how they're prepared. The Times reported the project took three years. New equipment includes a filtration system that makes soft, low-mineral water like Japan's, and many ingredients are imported straight from Japan.

Here is the lineup Round1 published, with each restaurant's specialty and home city.

Seven of the fourteen come from Osaka. Osaka's food reputation rests on small, fast, hand-held dishes like takoyaki, kushiage and okonomiyaki, and that tells you how to use the room. Most of these menus suit a few bites from one counter and a few from the next. A full dinner from a single stall misses the point.

The Ordering System Is Built for Mixing

The best argument for grazing is the checkout itself. In most food courts, eating from three places means three lines and three payments. YUU runs everything through one order:

1. Browse every stall's menu at a self-service kiosk, or scan the QR code on your table to order from your phone.
2. Put dishes from as many restaurants as you like in one cart.
3. Pay once by kiosk or mobile site. YUU takes credit cards, debit cards and cash.
4. Watch for your order number. It shows on a screen above the kiosks and on each stall's own screen, and online orders also send a ready notification.
5. Pick up each item at the counter that made it.

With one cart, a table of four can order from six counters without splitting checks. A solo diner can put a bowl of ramen, two onigiri and a scoop of gelato on the same order.

What the Early Coverage Says to Order

The Times review gives the most specific guide so far, and its picks fit the small-plates approach well.

• Kidatake Udon: silky udon topped with crispy chicken tempura.
• Karaage Agesho Shigemori: yuzu-kosho karaage, marinated so thoroughly it needs no sauce.
• The ramen counters: styles run from tonkotsu to Sapporo miso to niboshi, a broth made with dried sardines. With TOBUTA, Himawari and Tonjinchi under one roof, two people can order different regional styles and compare.
• Okonomiyaki Hana: cabbage pancakes in a light, tempura-like batter.
• Curry bitSOMA: each ingredient is cooked separately before it's layered into the curry.
• Onigiri Gorichan: rice balls made with Koshihikari rice, filled with salmon flakes, pickled plum, or Spam and egg.
• Pizzeria Da Naghino and Gelateria Il Brigante: two stalls that aren't Japanese food at all. The Kyoto pizzeria makes Neapolitan pies with crackly edges, and the Kamakura gelateria makes Sicilian gelato from scratch.

TONKATSU KEITA shows how Takahashi's "well over 80%" works in practice. In Tokyo, the restaurant has 23 seats and fries Roppaku Kurobuta, a pork the Times describes as "the Wagyu of pork." That breed isn't available in the U.S., so the Ventura stall uses heritage black pork. The recipe and method came over from Japan, while some ingredients had to be swapped. Onigiri, takoyaki and udon rely mostly on technique and rice or flour, so they may come closest to the originals.

A Kitchen Line That Runs Past Midnight

YUU and Round1 are both open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., and the last food order is at 1 a.m. A wraparound bar sits at the center of the food hall, with live sports on mounted TVs, a full cocktail menu and premium sake. At opening, the Times reported specials of $3.99 Bud Light and wine all day.

Those hours make YUU useful in ways a regular mall food court never was. A bowl of Sapporo miso ramen at 12:30 a.m. after a show downtown is now an option on East Main. So is a takoyaki-and-sake stop after a late shift, or Sicilian gelato on a Tuesday night when other dessert counters have closed.

Round1 says the name "YUU" comes from the Japanese word for "play." The company designed the food hall so guests can go from dinner to a full night out without leaving Pacific View. Akira Ide, Round1's president and CEO, said in the release that "Ventura will be the first community to experience YUU Japanese Food Hall, and we're proud to begin here." That first-place status won't last forever. The Times reported that a YUU in Escondido is planned for later this year, with a different set of restaurants. Ventura's lineup belongs to Ventura, though, and that includes the three ramen shops.

Upstairs Is Optional, and Priced Like It

The second floor has bowling, karaoke, rows of claw machines and other games imported from Japan, and The Foothill Dragon Press also reported rhythm games up there. You don't need to go upstairs to eat downstairs, and it helps to know the prices before you do. Round1's posted bowling rates for Monday through Thursday are $34.25 per lane for 60 minutes before 4 p.m. and $39.50 after 4 p.m., plus $5.25 per person for shoes. Karaoke rooms are priced by the hour and by group size. On weekdays, rates run from $16 for one to three people before 4 p.m. up to $87.25 for 16 to 30 people after 4 p.m. These are posted rates, so check them before you go.

Arcade play runs on a game card from a counter or kiosk. Redemption tickets load onto the card, and you trade them for prizes at the Victory Zone. Families should know Round1's general house rules: guests under 18 need a guardian age 25 or older, and guests 18 to 20 need an adult 25 or older with them after midnight. Round1 notes that policies can vary by location. The Ventura location page lists party rooms and billiards as coming soon, and the Times reported that ping pong tables are planned too.

What the Old Sears Space Means for Pacific View

The Ventura County Star describes Pacific View as an 884,000-square-foot center in midtown Ventura. The paper reported that Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Conversant Capital LLC bought the mall in a deal that closed September 17, 2026, less than a month before Round1 opened. No financial terms were released.

On opening day, The Foothill Dragon Press, a local student paper, called the mall "the busiest it's been in years." It quoted one customer who remembered the last time it was that busy as around Christmas 2010. The paper also reported that a Round1 manager put staffing at about 100 people in the arcade and another 100 in the food hall. Takahashi told the Times the goal is an all-day destination for locals, plus day-trippers from Los Angeles and the Central Coast.

The old Sears corner now has roughly 200 staff and a kitchen that takes food orders until 1 a.m. every night.

Robin has watched Pacific View and the East Main corridor change across more than three decades in Ventura County, and new anchors like this one are part of how she reads the neighborhoods nearby. If you'd like to talk about what changes at Pacific View could mean for a home on Ventura's east side, call or email Robin Plain for a personalized Ventura County market consultation.