Tepanyaki Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar has permanently closed and now has a “For Sale” sign on the front door after serving Grand Junction since 2013.
Tepanyaki was the closest thing we had in Grand Junction to a Benihana, a restaurant where cooking was a performance as chefs combined knife skills, showmanship and fire with humor while grilling up delicious Japanese specialties directly in front of guests.
In comments on Facebook, people told of their love for the place and talked about how they would go to Tepanyaki for special occasions like birthdays. They largely expressed sadness at its closing.
Explanations for the closure from friends of the owners, former employees and spouses of employees who posted on social media reveal that many of the restaurant’s employees were from far-flung parts of the world like Bali and Indonesia, and came here on work permits. Despite having those permits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the restaurant and detained many of its employees. The owner was reportedly working with an attorney to gather the necessary documentation to show that everything was in order so their employees could be released.
One person wrote,
“ICE arrested everyone folks. Everyone was sent to Denver, including workers with valid work visas. [T]here was no problem with visas. The Indonesian workers had valid work visas. ICE raided, arrested everyone, sent them to Denver overnight. I know one family had to pay $1,000 to get their husband released and then they left, went to CA to their embassy there for safe passage back to Bali, rather than risk being shipped off to Somalia or somewhere else in the globe. These were hard working people with families, NOT murderers and rapists folks. GET THE FACTS.”
In a comment on Facebook, a woman said that she is married to Tepanyaki’s sushi chef and that ICE detained him for two weeks with no explanation. “We have our social security and work permits and pay taxes,” she wrote. She added that her husband decided to voluntarily self-deport and is now back in Bali. In a separate post on another page, she added, “The ridiculous part was, when they released my husband at the airport (because my husband choose to
voluntarily [depart] and my husband ask[ed] them why they detained him, their answer was ‘just come to the UNITED STATES legally next time’ and then my husband showed his visa and then they said ‘Oh then I don’t know, I just follow the instructions.'”
The Facebook account for Conchita’s Mexican Tamales wrote,
“We are very good friends with the owner, and it’s heartbreaking to see what he and his restaurant are going through. Unfortunately, several of his employees were here in the United States with work permits, and with everything currently happening with immigration enforcement, their sushi chef and a few other employees were detained. The owner was working hard trying to help get everything resolved, and unfortunately, he was also detained. We personally watched him build this restaurant into what it is today after taking it over. We saw the time, hard work, and dedication he put into making it successful. It’s incredibly sad to see someone who has worked so hard for his business, his employees, and his community going through something like this. Our thoughts are with him, his family, his employees, and everyone affected. We truly hope everything gets resolved soon and that we get to see him back at the restaurant he worked so hard to build.”
Every Asian restaurant and spas in GJ are in danger of closings!
How’s that going to work for our local economy?
What will be done to undo the damage done?
Horrible. On top of the human cost, there is one less business and loss of taxpayers, and lots of business revenue. Just another way our economy is being flushed down the drain.
It’s only the business opportunity. The real estate isn’t for sale
Despite the ill-treatment of the original Native Americans, this country was built on, and found prosperity from, immigrants. Working hard, paying taxes & Social Security, enhancing and expanding our cultures and diversity by introducing aspects of theirs, etc., etc., etc. Lately from the White House, it’s been more than xenophobic . . . it’s been *racist* and I surely don’t like it! We need to stop this self-defeating madness!
Something terrible must have happened to the Commander-in-Chief, his henchman Stephen Miller, C.F. Vance, and their coven. To plan, to scheme, to rub each other into a murderous frenzy. Twisted hyenas who delight in tearing wings off living insects, fracturing families, kidnapping children. Call it the GOP; call it ICE. And, by God, call the International Criminal Court. The enemy is within our gates, and its rotten core is 1600 Pennsylvania.
“I don’t know, we’re just following instructions” …just following orders” wasn’t tolerated as justification @ the Nuremberg WWII trials and shouldn’t fly here either!
Utterly maddening!!!! Whatever happened to “the worst of the worst?”
Where are Colorado’s senators and our local representative?
Maybe Jeff Hurd can help?
Hahahahahaha.
Oh, wait. You’re serious.
Let me laugh harder.
Hey, let’s make Jeff Hurd own this. He’s the one in power looking the other way and who voted for the Big Beautiful Bill vote on July 3, 2025, that paid for all this anti-immigration madness. He apparently doesn’t have a problem with this or with other craziness, such as a U.S. mailman in uniform on duty being harassed by ICE in Grand Junction, or with the brown person coming out of Catholic Mass at St. Joseph’s Church being picked up by ICE in front of the church, right in front of his upset wife.