Ventura's Old Sears Now Serves Ramen From Across Japan. Here's How to Work Through It.

The first floor of the old Sears at Pacific View Mall has 14 food counters. Each one serves the signature dish of a single restaurant in a single Japanese city. You can get Sapporo miso ramen, Kobe fried chicken, Kamakura gelato and seven different specialties from Osaka without leaving the room. Round1 Bowling & Arcade opened the building on Oct. 10, and the Ventura County Star reported that the YUU Japanese Food Hall downstairs is the first of its kind in the United States. Round1 goes further. Its opening announcement on Business Wire calls the Ventura location the world's first YUU.

The bowling lanes get the attention, but the food hall is the bigger news. Each counter comes with a hometown, so the easiest way to plan a visit is to read the room as a map.

Half the Counters Come From One City

According to Round1, all 14 restaurants are coming to the U.S. for the first time. Before opening, Round1 staff traveled to Japan to train with each restaurant, and the original kitchens approved the recipes. Sort the roster by hometown and one city stands out. Seven of the 14 counters trace back to Osaka. The other seven come from seven different places.

The curry counter's name is spelled two ways. Round1's Pacific View location page uses "Curry bitSOMA" and the press release uses "Curry bits OMA," so the sign may match either one.

The Osaka cluster explains how this room eats. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushiage and yakitori are all built for sharing, and they come out fast. A table of four can order from several Osaka counters, put everything in the middle, and have a full spread before anyone picks a bowling lane. SOUI KUFU, the kushiage stall, sums itself up in one line on Round1's site. "Every skewer has a reason."

Three Ramen Counters, Three Different Bowls

Outside Osaka, the most interesting part of the roster is the ramen. Three counters serve it, each from a different region, and Round1's own descriptions show how different they are.

TOBUTA, from Saga on the southern island of Kyushu, describes its bowl as "Rich tonkotsu. Chewy noodles." This is the heavy, pork-bone style.

Himawari, from Sapporo in the far north, bills itself as "Real Sapporo miso ramen, made the same way for nearly 30 years."

Tonjinchi, from Toyama, goes the other direction with "Clear broth, honest ingredients," and notes that a prestigious food guide has recognized it twice.

So a dense pork broth, a miso bowl and a clear broth sit a few steps apart. Three people can each order a different one and trade spoonfuls, which is a better comparison than most ramen shops in the county can offer under one roof.

For a non-ramen anchor, Round1 describes the Kobe karaage counter, Karaage Agesho Shigemori, as "deeply marinated, golden-fried." The pizza is the only Italian dish here, and it comes from Kyoto. Dessert is gelato from Kamakura, a coastal city south of Tokyo, which seems fitting for a mall a few minutes from the Ventura shoreline.

The Name Explains the Building

Round1's release says YUU comes from the Japanese word for "play." The building is laid out with the food hall on the first floor and bowling and the arcade in the same structure, so "guests can go from dinner to a full night out without leaving Pacific View." Akira Ide, Round1's president and CEO, said in the Business Wire announcement that "Ventura will be the first community to experience YUU Japanese Food Hall, and we're proud to begin here."

Ventura's head start may not last long. Round1's YUU page already lists a North County Mall location as "Coming Soon." For now, Ventura has the only one.

What's Open Upstairs, and What Isn't Yet

As of the week it opened, Round1's Pacific View page lists these activities:

• Open now: bowling, arcade games, karaoke and the Victory Zone
• Coming soon: billiards and party rooms, which Round1 marks with "Party and Billiards are coming soon!"

If you're planning a birthday or a group outing around a private room, wait until Round1 updates that page.

Conejo Valley Guide describes the Ventura venue as having 14 cosmic-lit bowling lanes, a large arcade with American and Japanese games, and private karaoke rooms. Round1's own page doesn't give a lane count. With only 14 lanes, a Friday or Saturday night could mean a wait, which is one more reason to eat first.

Late Hours, and a House Rule for Families

Both the food hall and Round1 run from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven days a week. That covers a late lunch, a post-game dinner or a bowl of ramen after midnight.

Families heading over in the evening should know the late-night policy. Round1's posted house rules say guests under 18 need a guardian aged 25 or older after midnight, and guests aged 18 to 20 also need to be with an adult 25 or older. The company notes that policies may vary by store, so check that page before a late visit with teenagers.

A New Anchor Weeks After a New Owner

The timing stands out. On Sept. 21, the Ventura County Star reported that Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Conversant Capital had acquired Pacific View Mall, in a deal that closed Sept. 17. CommercialSearch reported that Pacific Retail Capital Partners took over leasing and operations, and that no plans for the mall or its 25.1-acre site were disclosed. Round1 opened 23 days after that sale closed, in the former Sears space.

The address is 3295 E. Main St., Suite 2, and the doors open at 10 a.m. every day.

I grew up in this county, and I still notice when an empty department store comes back as a place where people actually gather. If you've already found a favorite counter at YUU, or you just want to talk about how East Ventura is changing, I'm always up for that conversation. Rick Pena is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.