A difficult-to-read-for-the-glare sign on the door of Yamato at 2610 S. Horner Blvd. indicates – along with some other illegible information – that restaurant has closed.

We don’t have much to add to the headline, but here’s some sad news if Yamato was your favorite place for Japanese food in Sanford: the restaurant at 2610 S. Horner Blvd., which had been serving hibachi meals and (occasional) sushi has shut its doors.

We’d heard reports about the closing through the grapevine, but a sign on the door and other sources (in addition to the overgrown landscaping in the parking area) confirm the place has served its last plate of Yaki steak.

Despite there being other restaurants with the same name, Yamato isn’t a chain restaurant as we understand it. But the closing is the second in as many months for Sanford. Sagebrush Steakhouse – that one’s a chain – shut down without any warning in June.

There’s no telling whether any other eateries are lining up to fill the space, but the Yamato building had been a Fazoli’s back in the 1990s, so it’s at least theoretically possible that something else could work in the location.

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