If you spent any time in downtown Santa Rosa between 2003 and 2019, you knew the spot. The building at 515 4th Street wasn't just a restaurant; it was a loud, neon-soaked fever dream. Tex Wasabi Santa Rosa was the place where Southern BBQ and California sushi had a head-on collision, and for nearly two decades, people couldn't stop looking—or eating.
It was weird. It was polarizing.
But it was ours.
Today, that corner of 4th Street looks different. The "Rock-N-Roll Sushi-BBQ" sign is long gone, replaced by the quiet reality of a shuttered institution. Some people called it a "shithole" on Reddit, while others spent their 21st birthdays face-down in a 64-ounce "Bowla" cocktail. Love it or hate it, the closure of Tex Wasabi marked the true end of the original Flavortown.
The Guy Fieri Divorce and the End of an Era
Most people think Guy Fieri just walked away from Tex Wasabi Santa Rosa because he got too famous for Sonoma County. That's not exactly how it went down.
In the late 90s, before the bleach-blonde hair became a global brand, Guy Ramsay Ferry (as he was known then) was just a local guy with big ideas. He partnered with Steve Gruber to open Johnny Garlic’s in 1996, and they followed it up with the first Tex Wasabi in 2003. They were a powerhouse duo in the NorCal food scene.
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Then came the split.
By 2015, the partnership was fraying. Fieri actually filed a petition to dissolve the company. He wanted out. Gruber fought back with a lawsuit, hoping to keep the restaurants alive. Eventually, in 2016, Fieri sold all his shares in both Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi to Gruber.
From that moment on, Tex Wasabi was flying solo. No more Fieri magic. No more Food Network spotlights.
Why Did Tex Wasabi Santa Rosa Actually Close?
On September 30, 2019, locals showed up for their fix of "Gringo Sushi" only to find a note taped to the door. "After nearly 20 years, we are sorry to announce that Tex Wasabi’s had closed its doors." Just like that. No farewell tour. No final round of Jackass Rolls.
Gruber was blunt about the reason: the cost of doing business.
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It sounds like a corporate cliché, but in California, it's a death sentence for independent spots. Between rising labor costs, sky-high rent in downtown Santa Rosa, and the sheer overhead of a massive, fully-staffed kitchen, the numbers just didn't add up anymore.
- The 2009 Disaster: Some might forget that the restaurant almost died a decade earlier. A sewer pipe ruptured, causing catastrophic water damage. It stayed closed for 19 months. Most restaurants wouldn't survive a month of that, let alone nearly two years.
- The Identity Crisis: Without Fieri's face on the brand, it was hard to justify the "XXXtreme" concept to a new generation of diners who wanted farm-to-table organic greens, not BBQ brisket wrapped in seaweed.
- The "Gringo" Problem: The menu literally featured a "Gringo Sushi" section for people who were afraid of raw fish. While it was a hit in 2005, by 2019, the culinary world had moved on.
The Menu That Nobody Asked For (But Everyone Ate)
Honestly, the menu at Tex Wasabi Santa Rosa was chaotic. You could order a Tokyo Cobb Salad followed by a slab of St. Louis ribs. It was the only place in the world where the "Kemosabe Roll" (BBQ brisket in a sushi roll) lived on the same page as "Bonzai Beer Battered Cod."
But the real stars? The drinks.
The "Bowlas" were legendary student staples. If you were a senior at Sonoma State, you’d probably shared a 64-ounce fishbowl cocktail with three straws and a prayer. There was a gong in the bar. Every time someone ordered a Bowla, they’d hit the gong.
It was loud. It was sticky. It was 100% Flavortown.
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What’s There Now?
If you walk past 515 4th Street today, you won't find any Koi Fish Tacos. After the closure, the building sat for a while. It’s a prime piece of real estate, but filling a space designed for "Rock-N-Roll Sushi" is a tall order.
The intellectual property—the names, the recipes, the "Gringo Sushi" brand—was put up for sale by Gruber. But as of now, there hasn't been a revival. The era of the fusion-sushi-BBQ-sports-bar is effectively over in Santa Rosa.
Actionable Insights for the Flavortown Nostalgic
If you're still craving that specific Tex-Mex-Japanese-Southern fusion, here is how you can move forward:
- Visit Fieri’s Active Spots: While Tex Wasabi is gone, Fieri still has a massive footprint. If you want the "Donkey Sauce" experience nearby, you’re looking at Chicken Guy! or his various Smokehouse concepts in larger cities.
- Support Local Fusion: Downtown Santa Rosa has evolved. If you want high-quality sushi that isn't "Gringo" style, check out the smaller, independent spots along 4th street that survived the 2020s.
- Make the Jackass Roll at Home: Most of the "sushi" at Tex Wasabi was cooked. You can easily replicate a BBQ brisket sushi roll at home with some sushi rice, nori, and leftover pulled pork.
Tex Wasabi was a product of a very specific time in American food culture. It was loud, proud, and completely unapologetic. While the "cost of doing business" eventually caught up to it, the memories of those fishbowls and the smell of smoked ribs on 4th Street aren't going anywhere.
To move forward from the Tex Wasabi era, look for the independent restaurants currently struggling with the same "costs of doing business" in Santa Rosa and give them your patronage before they become another note on a door.