Celebrated Chinese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung is set to open a whopping 10,615 square foot, indoor/outdoor location with ocean views on the third level of the property located across from the newly announced Arte Museum.
Din Tai Fung is a Chinese restaurant specializing in Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings. The chain currently has one outlet in Las Vegas, five in Washington state and seven dotted around Southern California, plus another 160 or so locations in 12 other countries worldwide. With a menu that now includes steamed buns, house-made noodles and vegan dishes, the brand has won many awards and accolades.
"Santa Monica Place is an ideal location for our newest restaurant in Los Angeles," said Aaron Yang, Vice President of Din Tai Fung. "Santa Monica is a neighborhood we have been eyeing for a long time, and we are excited to have finally found the perfect place for us to expand our footprint across Los Angeles."
The announcement was made by Macerich, the Santa Monica-based real estate investment trust that is the third-largest owner of shopping centers in the country. The same company is responsible for bringing the Arte Museum — a "50,000 square foot immersive, digital art destination" — to the old space that used to be the ArcLight Cinemas location at Santa Monica Place.
Arte Museum is Korea's largest immersive media art exhibition organized by a world-class digital design company d'strict. They created the colossal computer-generated "Wave" displayed at the Coex Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea, that you might have seen when it was circulating on social media.
Set to open in early 2024, the Arte Museum is expected to draw one million visitors annually to Santa Monica Place shopping mall.
"We are so pleased that Din Tai Fung has chosen Santa Monica Place to expand their world-famous restaurant concept, which is already incredibly popular across Southern California," said Guy Mercurio, Vice President of Restaurant Leasing, Macerich. "As we redevelop key elements of this award-winning property to welcome new experiences, like Din Tai Fung and Arte Museum, we continue to demonstrate Macerich’s successful approach to re-imagining our well-positioned, high-quality real estate for what people want today."
