Massively popular local sushi chain Oishii is expanding to North Dallas. The chain is opening a location at Preston-Forest Shopping Center, in a space at 11700 Preston Rd. that just experienced a surprising departure: Pei Wei, which closed at the end of February after 20 years.

According to a source involved with the leasing, Pei Wei departed due to a sharp increase in rent. The shopping center was acquired in 2020 by Stockdale Investment Group, who signed Oishii as a new tenant in January, but kept the Pei Wei closure under wraps.

A representative from Oishii said they were courted by the landlord, who wanted a traditional full-service restaurant in the space.

As for opening date, chef and co-owner Tri Tran says it's still TBD.

"We're still early in the process, we're just starting renovations on the space later this week," he says. "There's so many variables that it's difficult to say, but we are aiming for the end of October or early November."

Oishii was founded in 2003 by Tran's uncle, chef-owner Thanh Nguyen, who'd previously worked at restaurants such as Nakamoto in Plano and Steel, and who took over a former Vietnamese buffet on Wycliff Avenue to open his own place. It soon became an in-the-know BYOB (at the time) destination for sushi, and has maintained a devout following even through an expansion of new locations at SMU, in Plano, and Grapevine.

They just earned a nomination in CultureMap's 2024 Tastemaker Awards for Best Neighborhood Restaurant.

The restaurant is beloved for its imaginative rolls, hospitality, and broad menu with not just sushi but also Vietnamese and Chinese dishes, including classics like orange chicken. They serve as a convenient lunch spot with reasonable prices on favorites like the spicy salmon cabbage salad and sushi lunch platter. At dinner, it's specials like Peking duck, coconut sea bass, crab & Chinese asparagus soup, and the Royce sushi roll drizzled with truffle oil.

Preston Forest was only the fifth Pei Wei in Dallas-Fort Worth, a location selected specifically by restaurant guru Mark Brezinski, who co-founded the brand (a journey he describes entertainingly in his recent book Forkfight!).

A story by the Advocate suggests that the restaurant will relocate across the street to 11930 Preston Rd., gleaned from a post on Next Door. Pei Wei did not respond to a request for comment.

Pei Wei, which has recently closed two other locations in Dallas at Knox Village and Casa Linda Plaza, has been moving towards non-traditional stores with a new format focused heavily on takeout and delivery, which they launched in Dallas in 2023 with the opening of a store at 6119 Greenville Ave.. They've also partnered with groups to put the Pei Wei brand in food trucks, airports, college campuses, and inside Kroger Grocery locations.