New Asian Fusion Restaurant, Sei Bar, Coming to Water Street

A new restaurant, serving sushi, Thai, Japanese, and other Asian cuisine, is coming to Water Street.

Sei Bar, which already has locations in Medford and Everett, will open at 109 Water Street in the coming months.

The menu has everything to be expected from a sushi bar, with sushi, sashimi, maki, special rolls and more, and the noodles, rice, and entrees of Thai and Japanese dishes. Prices range from up to $10 for appetizers, and up to $20 for specialty entrees.

In addition to the sushi bar, the restaurant will also feature an all-types alcohol bar. The owner and manager of the restaurant, Jen Lin, a property owner in Wakefield, came before the Board of Selectmen on June 13 to apply for the alcohol license.  After his presentation, the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to allow him the license.

 “From your plans and your menu, it sounds like a wonderful addition to the town to help enliven the Water Street corridor and present new development,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Patrick Glynn, adding that he thought it was “wonderful” that Lin is “taking a building that was getting close to being blighted and investing some capital in it and bringing it back.”

The building, currently under renovation for the downstairs commercial property, which was most recently the home to now-closed Detorre’s Italian Deli & Bella Cucina, also features apartment housing upstairs, which Lin is also renovating.  

Selectmen Jim Good noted that he historically did not support an alcohol license at this location, but given that no neighbors of the property came to the public hearing or submitted documents to voice their complaints, he said he supported the license for the new restaurant.

The approved alcohol license is from Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday, 12 p.m. to midnight.