A new restaurant called Grand Restaurant is planned for 12777 Atlantic Blvd. in Jacksonville, the East Arlington space vacated this summer by Fushimi Grill & Modern Buffet. A Florida restaurant plan-review application was filed Sept. 16, and state records point to continuity in ownership at the address.
What Grand will actually be remains the important question for buffet diners. No menu, pricing, opening date or service format has been announced, and nothing located so far confirms that the restaurant will keep a buffet or other all-you-can-eat component. Local reporting has described the planned concept as Asian, with secondhand reports suggesting a more upscale direction.
The address has already been through two substantial abundance-dining identities. Yi Liu Hot Pot Sushi BBQ opened there in November 2020 with self-service meats, seafood and dumplings for hot pot and Korean barbecue, along with sushi, sauces, fruit and desserts. Tables were equipped for both hot pot and grilling, and vegetables and noodles traveled through the room by conveyor.
In 2023, the operation was converted into Fushimi Grill & Modern Buffet. Jacksonville permit records from that transition show a $79,000 renovation that included relocating a hood. Fushimi broadened the offering into a large Asian buffet, later advertising more than 200 items spanning hibachi, sushi, sashimi, Chinese, Korean and American dishes.
Fushimi then expanded across Jacksonville. A second location opened at River City Marketplace after a 2025 build-out, while the original Atlantic Boulevard restaurant closed July 1, 2026. The River City restaurant remains the continuing Fushimi location.
Corporate and licensing records make Grand look less like an unrelated tenant taking over a vacant buffet and more like another chapter in the same address’s restaurant history. The address-specific business entity associated with the earlier operation remains active, and the Grand plan filing is tied to the same ownership. No detailed construction scope for Grand has surfaced in the available reporting, however, and the state review was still listed as in process when the project became public.
That leaves 12777 Atlantic Blvd. with an unusual three-act progression: all-you-can-eat hot pot, Korean barbecue and sushi; then a broad modern Asian buffet; and now a restaurant whose exact format has not yet been disclosed.
For Buffet Authority, that last part is the piece to watch. If Grand opens without an abundance format, it would mark the original Atlantic Boulevard operation’s move away from AYCE even as Fushimi continues elsewhere in Jacksonville. If buffet service survives in some form, the address will have reinvented itself again. For now, the paperwork has arrived before the menu – and the steam tables, if there are going to be steam tables, have yet to declare themselves.
