Hibachi Japanese Steak House near Newark has closed

Hibachi Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar, a 20-year fixture in the Astro Shopping Center near Newark, closed its doors on Thursday. 

The Japanese steakhouse, where customers sat around an iron teppanyaki griddle and watched a chef twirl spatulas and flip vegetables and shrimp, had been at the Kirkwood Highway location since 1998. 

So, after two decades, was the eatery losing steam?

"We closed because our lease expired at this location," said a woman who answered the phone Friday at the restaurant.

She said there are no plans to reopen in another Newark-area location.

This marks the second closing of a Hibachi in Delaware.

Hibachi Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar at 5607 Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred, a part of the Market Square Shopping Center since 1993, closed in 2015.

At that time, a staffer told The News Journal the restaurant closed because the lease in that shopping center also ended.

Hibachi still operates interactive steakhouses at 1160 Pulaski Highway in Bear and 691 N. Du Pont Highway in Dover.

The chain also has locations in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and at Philadelphia's Penns Landing.

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico.

Peaceable estate in Lewes features historic depot-turned-pool house