Fire closes Japanese restaurant in Gastonia

A Japanese restaurant in Gastonia is closed after a fire started in the kitchen early Friday morning.

The fire at Sake Express on East Franklin Boulevard apparently started after a worker left a griddle on, said Lisa Nguyen, the restaurant's owner.

Nguyen was waiting on Friday to find out how much it will cost to repair the building, "but it looks pretty bad."

The restaurant was closed and empty when the fire started, Nguyen said.

Fire Chief Phil Welch said that when firefighters arrived at around 2:45 a.m., the fire had already made its way from the kitchen to the attic of the restaurant.

"Just driving by it doesn't look that bad, but it does have some extensive damage inside, especially where it got up into the attic," Welch said. "I could not guess at the amount."

"It's certainly not a total loss," he added. "The structure in itself is in pretty good shape… The dining room area, other than some water on the floor, a little bit of smoke damage, is not hurt, but it will take some cleanup."

Nguyen asked that while her Gastonia restaurant is closed, that people support her restaurant in Belmont, which is located at 675 Park St. That restaurant has been closed Saturday and Sunday because it was short-staffed, but "now we're going to have plenty of staff," she said.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Fire closes Japanese restaurant in Gastonia