Ocean Zen opened Monday at the former Mr. Yen’s, increasing its seating and employee count in the process.
John Tan, who co-owns the restaurant with brother and head chef Johnson Tan, said the 11,000-square-foot Asian-fusion restaurant at 4117 S. National Ave. is 3,700 square feet larger than its previous space at 600 E. Battlefield Road. The restaurant now employs 120, up from around 70, John Tan said.
Tan said the brothers invested about $1.5 million to renovate the building, which had housed Mr. Yen’s from 1998 until last year, when it
closed its doors after being shut down by Springfield-Greene County Health Department for multiple repeated critical violations.
“We gutted the whole interior,” Tan said of the property the brothers purchased for roughly $1.7 million in November. Fusion Consulting LLC led construction work.
Now, he said the restaurant is Las Vegas themed and can seat up to 400 - including a banquet room - on the inside and another 50 on an outdoor patio. The 2,800-square-foot banquet room holds 200 people, he said.
“We like the area of the southeast side,” Tan said. “We knew we could utilize the space for weddings or meetings, any kind of function that people want to do for 200 or less.”
The Tans hired listing agent Lee McLean III to sell or lease the old Ocean Zen building on Battlefield. The 1988-built structure is listed for sale at $1.8 million or lease at around $12,000 a month, John Tan said.
The brothers opened Ocean Zen - which serves Pacific Rim cuisine, a fusion of Asian, French and Italian tastes - on South Glenstone Avenue in 2004 and moved to East Battlefield in 2007. Via Tan Brothers LLC, the Tans also own 5 Spice, Flo Restaurant and Wine Bar, and Yum Yum Bowl.[[In-content Ad]]
