The Hatae family, who fans will know from the Sushi-Ko restaurant from Kitchen Nightmares, seems to have moved on with their lives after the restaurant closed.
Filming for Kitchen Nightmares is a notoriously grueling experience.
And before restaurant owners (and their families) can come out on the other side with a wonderfully redone restaurant, they first need to face the unrelenting wrath and standards of chef Gordon Ramsay. Not to mention the show’s tightly-packed filming schedule.
And while most owners seem to agree that it is all worth it in the end, there are a few owners who never really got to see the results of their hard work to transform their restaurants.
This includes owners like Lisa and Akira Hatae, who owned the Sushi-Ko restaurant from Kitchen Nightmares’ third season which ended up closing just weeks after Ramsay’s visit.
The Hatae family after Kitchen Nightmares
This episode of Kitchen Nightmares aired more than a decade ago.
And, while the re-runs and late-night re-watches of the series have made many of these episodes feel like they happened just a few weeks ago, the Hatae family has actually had years to get over the relative fame and failure of their family restaurant.
Moreover, it actually seems like the Hatae family is doing much better now (all things considered).
In fact, they even had time to attend a Grateful Dead concert in July of 2023, which was apparently was just one of many of the band’s concerts that this family has attended over the years.
All about Sushi-Ko’s abrupt closure
Although the “Sushi-Ko” episode might have made it seem like the Hataes had some hope that they could keep their beloved family restaurant afloat after Ramsay’s intervention, the reality of their situation proved to be much direr.
Lisa talked to the Ventura County Star in 2010 and confirmed that they lost their lease at the old Sushi-Ko location just a few weeks after Ramsay and the Kitchen Nightmares filming crew hit the road.
And when they were unable to secure a new space for the right price, Sushi-Ko was forced to close its doors for good.
In the end, this restaurant’s rather confusing timeline is as follows:
| Date | Event |
| May 2009 | Ramsay and his team arrive in Thousand Oaks to film the Kitchen Nightmares episode |
| August 2009 | Sushi-Ko closed |
| May 14, 2010 | The “Sushi-Ko” episode premieres |
Sam Hatae is still an avid photographer
Whilst it was pretty evident at the beginning of the “Sushi-Ko” episode that the restaurant was slowly falling apart, it also became evident later in the episode that the Hatae family had many talents unrelated to the hospitality industry.
This includes Sam Hatae (who now goes by Samson online), whose photography skills were so impressive that the Kitchen Nightmares team even decided to use his photos as décor in the family’s newly-revamped restaurant.
And fortunately, it seems like Sam has stuck to it through the years, as he now runs a successful photography business and he was even involved in creating a short film called “Theory Of Motorcycles”, which is available to watch on YouTube.
Hana Hatae is now pursuing her passion for interior design
Hana Hatae, who most Kitchen Nightmares fans will recognize as Sam’s sister, and Lisa and Akira’s eldest daughter, who helped out at Sushi-Ko back in the day – has also gone on to start her own business called Hana Hatae Design.
It does not seem like Hana pursued her childhood acting career any further (after her brief appearance on Kitchen Nightmares, of course).
But besides her new design business endeavors, Hana has also seen some major changes in her personal life in the last couple of years.
Hana’s Instagram page reveals that she tied the knot with her long-time boyfriend in 2020 and the couple recently celebrated their three-year wedding anniversary.
What Lisa and Akira Hatae are up to now
Lisa spoke to the Pepperdine Graphic back in 2014 after she had accepted a job working at the University’s coffee cart.
At this point, Lisa confirmed that their family never regretted their Kitchen Nightmares experience (even if things with the Sushi-Ko restaurant did not work out as planned) and that people still recognized her from the series several years later.
However, Lisa also explained that even though they enjoyed filming for Kitchen Nightmares, losing the restaurant was incredibly difficult for the family.
Especially for Akira, who “couldn’t find another job” and ultimately had to resort to moving into the cosmetics imports business.
Fortunately, both Lisa and Akira have now seemingly found their feet again, and Lisa frequently posts about their new, much more relaxed way of living on her personal Facebook page.
