What Replaced Sears at Ventura's Pacific View Mall: A Local's Guide to YUU Japanese Food Hall and Round1

Which city in Japan is best represented on East Main Street? The answer is Osaka, and it's not close. When Round1 Bowling & Arcade opened in the former Sears at Pacific View Mall on October 10, the whole first floor became YUU Japanese Food Hall. Seven of its 14 restaurants come from Osaka.

That count matters for how you use the place. Calling it a Japanese food court sells it short. It works more like a regional map with one cash register, and the map leans hard toward the Kansai region around Osaka. Read the hall that way and the menu screens are easier to sort, ordering for a group gets simpler, and a late dinner here is about choosing a region as much as a dish.

The address is Ventura, and the recipes trace back to Japan

The Ventura County Star reported the opening on October 10 and described YUU as the first such food hall in the United States. Round1 goes further in its Business Wire announcement, calling Ventura the world's first YUU and saying the hall brings 14 restaurants from Japan to the U.S. for the first time.

According to the release, Round1 staff went to Japan to train with each restaurant, and the original restaurants approved the recipes and preparation. Akira Ide, Round1's president and CEO, said in the same release that "Ventura will be the first community to experience YUU Japanese Food Hall." The name YUU comes from the Japanese word for "play."

Here is the opening lineup as Round1 published it, sorted by home city.

The curry stall's name shows up two ways. The release spells it "Curry bits OMA," while Round1's location page and the Los Angeles Times use "Curry bitSOMA." Both refer to the same Osaka curry shop.

Why the Osaka weighting shapes the menu

Count Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto together and nine of the 14 stalls come from the Kansai region. Those Osaka stalls cover much of the street-food side of Japanese cooking: takoyaki from Osaka Iggy, okonomiyaki from Okonomiyaki Hana, kushiage skewers from SOUI KUFU and yakitori from Yamato. Rice-ball fans get Onigiri Gorichan, and Kidatake Udon serves noodles.

The ramen splits the opposite way. All three ramen shops come from outside Kansai: TOBUTA from Saga on the southern island of Kyushu, Himawari from Sapporo in the far north, and Tonjinchi from Toyama on the Sea of Japan coast. If you're putting together a group order, ramen is where you get regional range and the Osaka stalls are where you get depth.

The Los Angeles Times visited the week after opening and picked out several stalls by name. Its food editor wrote that Okonomiyaki Hana's cabbage pancakes have a light, tempura-like batter, that Curry bitSOMA cooks each ingredient separately before layering the curry, and that Onigiri Gorichan's rice balls are made with Koshihikari rice and filled with salmon flakes, pickled plums, or Spam and egg.

The same story explains one adjustment made for Ventura. At its 23-seat Tokyo restaurant, Tonkatsu Keita uses Roppaku Kurobuta pork. That supply isn't available in the U.S., so the Ventura stall uses heritage black pork.

Two stalls aren't about Japanese food at all. According to the Times, Kyoto's Pizzeria Da Naghino makes crackly-edged Neapolitan pizza, and Gelateria Il Brigante, from the coastal city of Kamakura, serves scratch-made Sicilian gelato. That's handy when someone at the table wants pizza while everyone else orders yakitori.

One check is what lets you sample multiple regions

Fourteen restaurants would mean a lot of separate lines and bills, and YUU's ordering system is designed around that problem. Round1's YUU page lays out the process:

1. Order at a self-service kiosk or on the mobile site.
2. Combine dishes from as many stalls as you want into one order and one payment.
3. Sit at any open seat.
4. When you're notified, pick up each item at its own stall's counter.

The Times adds that order numbers show on a screen above the kiosks and on each stall's own screen. Round1's FAQ lists cash, debit and credit as accepted payment.

So a table of four can order Sapporo ramen, Kobe karaage, Osaka takoyaki and Kamakura gelato on one ticket, then split up to collect it. For families and groups with mixed tastes, that one ticket is the biggest practical advantage over a typical food court.

According to the Times, a wraparound bar anchors the hall, with TVs showing live sports, a full cocktail menu, premium sake and drink specials. Round1 hasn't posted menu prices for the stalls, so you'll see costs for the first time at the kiosk.

The hours run well past dinner

YUU and Round1 are both open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., and food orders stop at 1 a.m., as reported by the Ventura Breeze. If you're heading over after a late show or a long shift, plan around the 1 a.m. last order, not the 2 a.m. closing.

Late nights have rules. Round1's general house rules say guests under 18 need a guardian age 25 or older, and guests ages 18 to 20 need an adult age 25 or older with them after midnight. Round1 notes that policies can vary by location, so confirm with the Ventura staff before planning a late night with teenagers.

Upstairs, games, and what isn't open yet

The food hall is the ground floor of a two-level building. Student reporters at Foothill Dragon Press described bowling, claw machines, rhythm games, karaoke and arcade games upstairs. According to the Times, many of the games are imported from Japan.

Billiards and ping pong aren't open yet. Round1's Ventura location page lists billiards and party rooms as "coming soon," and the Times reported that billiards and ping pong tables would be added later.

Round1's posted rate cards give a sense of cost. Rates change by day and time, so check them before you go.

The large karaoke rooms make this a place for birthdays and team outings, and dinner downstairs goes on the same single-ticket system.

A mall under new management

The opening came a few weeks after a bigger change at Pacific View. In a September 22, 2026 announcement, Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Conversant said a joint venture between them would acquire the 884,000-square-foot mall, with PRCP taking over leasing and operations right away. The announcement mentions the mall's existing anchors and more than 130 national retailers but doesn't lay out a redevelopment plan.

Opening weekend was busy. Foothill Dragon Press quoted locals who called it the busiest they'd seen the mall in years. The Times quoted Round1's Takahashi saying the goal is an all-day destination for locals as well as day-trippers from Los Angeles and the Central Coast. Ventura's head start won't last long. The Times also reported that a second YUU, with a different lineup, is planned for Escondido later this year.

The other end of the day on East Main

If YUU covers late nights, early mornings a mile west are covered too. 805foodie reported that Foster's Donuts Bagels & Coffee reopened October 5 at 2294 E. Main St. in Seaward Plaza under Robert Bee. It added house-made bagels, potato-flour doughnuts, smoothies and coffee drinks, and opens daily at 5 a.m. Between the two, this stretch of East Main has food available from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

To get there, YUU and Round1's official address is 3295 E. Main St., Suite 2, Ventura, CA 93003. The mall's directory lists the food hall on the lower level.

Heidi Golff follows what opens along East Main as closely as what sells there, because both are part of knowing a Ventura neighborhood well. If you live near Pacific View and want to know where your home stands as the mall changes, request a What's My Home Worth? estimate. Heidi will walk you through it.