The goodbye post thanked everyone for being part of the journey, which is not language a restaurant uses when it plans to come back.
Matsuzushi, the family run sushi counter at 3130 St Johns Street in Port Moody, closed at the end of 2025 after 23 years.
It is reopening in early August at the same address.
The return has been in motion since December, when a post on the shop’s Instagram said the business was being passed down to the family’s son, with a new owner taking over the shop.
That post put the reopening around February.
February arrived and another post said the team needed more time to get everything ready.
Then came a mid-July update, the most concrete one yet, announcing that renovations were finally underway to improve the room and create a better dining environment.
The same post said the aim was to open in early August.
Two missed windows is a lot of waiting for a sushi counter, and the comment section shows it.
Regulars have been asking the same two questions under every post.
Is the chef coming back, and will the menu be the same?
Apparently chef Hataguchi is opening a omakase spot in Japan, but this iteration of Matsuzushi will largely remain the same in menu experience.
That gap is the whole story here, because Matsuzushi was never really about the room.
It was run by chef Hataguchi and his wife, who opened the original shop on North Road in 2001 and moved it to Port Moody in 2016.
When they announced the closure in 2025, the note read like a retirement.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this journey,” the couple wrote at the time.
What they built in the meantime was one of the quieter omakase deals in Metro Vancouver.
The last version ran $50 for eleven pieces of sushi, a miso soup and a hand roll, up from $25 back in 2017, which is still one of the lower entry points to an omakase seat in this region.
How much of that survives the handover is unknown.
For a shop whose entire draw was a specific husband and wife making sushi in front of you, that is not a small blank.
What is confirmed is the address, the account, and the timing.
Same unit on St Johns Street, same Instagram, doors targeted for early August after a full renovation.
Given the track record on dates, watching the account before making the drive out is the sensible move.
Matsuzushi joins other recent Metro Vancouver returns and openings like Como Ultramar, Nami on Main Street, and Mello West End.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 3130 St Johns Street, Unit 4, Port Moody BC