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Old Pasadena restaurant contractor
Restaurant remodeling in Pasadena, CA often means fitting a working kitchen into an older building, such as a brick storefront in Old Pasadena. Los Angeles Home Remodelers, a restaurant remodeling contractor in Pasadena, builds commercial kitchens, hood and ventilation, grease interceptors, flooring, dining rooms, bars, storefronts and patios.
One project manager runs Building & Safety plan check and permits, the Pasadena Public Health Department’s food-facility plan check and your landlord’s approvals. Licensed specialty trades install the hood fire suppression, and we book after-hours or phased work. Most restaurant remodels take about 4–12 weeks on site once permits are issued. A free walkthrough brings a written, itemized estimate.
Bonded & Insured | Written Workmanship Warranty
Send your floor plan, menu and target opening. We’ll walk the kitchen, roof and frontage at no charge.
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Old buildings, busy kitchens
Serving Old Pasadena and restaurants across Pasadena, CA.
Restaurant remodeling in Pasadena runs through two city reviews, not one, because Pasadena keeps its own health department. We take your project from the first walkthrough to the health final and opening day under one contract.
Plenty of the city’s dining rooms sit in older brick buildings, and Old Pasadena’s storefronts are the best-known example. Those buildings bring tight ceiling space for a grease duct, aging drain lines and little room for a walk-in, so we look for each before we price anything.
Power and water come from Pasadena Water and Power, the city’s own utility. When a fryer bank, a dish machine or an electric oven needs a bigger service, we size it and coordinate the request with PWP while plan check runs.
Restaurant services in Pasadena
Book one scope or the whole build. Your kitchen, plumbing and front-of-house trades follow a single set of plans and a single schedule.
Older Pasadena storefronts often need new glass, doors and an accessible entry before a restaurant opens. We rebuild the frontage and build patios on private property with paving, shade and railings.
If your building sits in a landmark district, visible exterior changes need a Certificate of Appropriateness, so we check that first.
Exposed brick, high ceilings and tall windows are worth keeping. We rebuild bars, back bars, banquettes and lighting around them, and tuck new conduit and ductwork where guests won’t see it.
The bar’s lowered section and the accessible seats follow the CBC accessibility rules for your scope, and plan check reviews them.
A new grill or fryer calls for a Type I hood, and in an older building the hard part is the duct’s path to the roof. We plan that route, the fan curb and the makeup air before demo.
A licensed specialty contractor installs and certifies the fire suppression, and the fire department inspects it.
We lay out the cook line, prep, dish and cold storage so your crew takes fewer steps, then rough in gas, water, drains and power to your equipment schedule.
Pasadena’s public health reviewers look closely at sink counts, wall finishes and floor sinks, so we build to the approved plans line by line.
Remodeling a Pasadena dining room usually reaches the restrooms and the path from the front door. We rebuild both with clear floor space, grab bars on blocked walls and finishes that stand up to constant cleaning.
We build to the CBC accessibility rules for your scope, and plan check reviews them.
Signing on a space a previous restaurant left? We check the hood’s length and suppression tag, the interceptor’s size and access, and the walk-in before you commit.
If they suit your menu and the reviewers accept them, reuse can save weeks. If not, you’ll see the replacement work priced in writing.
How it works
Price, permit path and dates are settled in writing before anyone picks up a saw.
Send the floor plan, equipment list and opening target. We’ll set a walkthrough before lunch or after the last seating.
We lift ceiling tiles, check the roof, gas meter, panel and floor sinks, and note the building’s delivery and work hours.
Each item has its own price, matched to your equipment schedule and the landlord’s work letter, so you can trim before signing.
We submit to Building & Safety and to Pasadena Public Health, send insurance certificates and order the hood and other long-lead items.
Expect two plan checks. Pasadena requires a building permit for most construction and sends remodeling through plan review at the Building & Safety Division, where we file through the Citizen Self-Service portal. Your food-facility plans go to the Pasadena Public Health Department’s Environmental Health staff, not the county.
Some trade work moves faster: the Express Permit Portal issues stand-alone electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits within minutes, and we check whether your scope qualifies. For the interceptor, we follow your city’s sewer agency’s grease rules, which we confirm for your site. The city’s 2025 codes apply, the Energy Code and CALGreen included.
Inside older Pasadena restaurants
An older brick building can make a handsome dining room and a hard kitchen. Ceilings hide old wood joists, floors sit over aging cast-iron lines, and the roof may be a long climb from the cook line.
On the walkthrough, we check these first:
Facade work gets its own check. In eligible and designated landmark districts, Pasadena requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for publicly visible exterior changes, which can include new storefront glass or an awning.
Anything hidden that turns up after demo, from a cracked sewer line to a rotted subfloor, gets priced as a written change order before we touch it.
Restaurant remodel cost
Your building and your menu set the price far more than the number of seats.
A long duct run in a brick building or a new interceptor under the slab can outweigh every finish in the dining room. Your written, itemized estimate after the walkthrough is the number to plan around.
A Type I hood with a long or crooked path to the roof needs more duct, more fire wrap and more roof work.
Floor sinks, an interceptor and new drain lines mean saw-cutting, trenching and patching an older slab.
Extra gas capacity or a bigger PWP service adds equipment and runs on the utility’s own calendar.
Overnight crews protect your sales but carry a labor premium; a short closure can cost less.
Storefront glass, a landmark-district review or path-of-travel work adds lines once your scope triggers them.
One visit shows whether the hood, the drains and PWP’s service can carry your menu. It’s free and commits you to nothing.
Questions
Short answers on the city’s two reviews, older buildings and staying open.
Yes, for almost every restaurant scope. Pasadena requires a building permit for most construction and sends remodels through plan review, and food-facility changes also need health plan approval. We prepare both submittals and confirm the path for your exact scope.
The Pasadena Public Health Department’s Environmental Health staff, because the city runs its own health department instead of relying on the county’s. They review your food-facility plans before construction and inspect the finished space before you open. We file with them and book the final.
Often, for part of the job. Dining room, bar and storefront work can run in phases after the last seating. Work that shuts off gas, water or the hood usually needs a short closure, planned for your slowest days.
Only if the new load outgrows what your space has now. Electric ovens, a dish machine with a booster heater or a bigger walk-in can push it over. We run the load numbers and coordinate any upgrade with PWP.
Yes, with the right review. Publicly visible exterior changes in eligible and designated landmark districts need a Certificate of Appropriateness, so we check your address before drawings are final and add that step to the schedule if it applies.
Most take about 4–12 weeks on site once permits are issued. Design, landlord approval and both plan checks come first, and a restaurant build-out in an empty shell runs longer. You get the dates in writing before work starts.
A licensed fire-protection specialty contractor installs, tests and certifies it, and we coordinate the gas shutoff and any alarm tie-in. The fire department inspects it, and we confirm which inspections your scope needs.
More restaurant services
Every restaurant scope we build, from a bar refresh to a full kitchen.
Cook lines, prep and dish areas roughed in to your equipment schedule.
Type I hoods, grease duct, exhaust fans and makeup air, routed to the roof.
From the blog
Now booking free walkthroughs
Show us the space and what you plan to cook. You’ll leave knowing what the hood, drains and power need, and the price follows in writing.
Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm
Tell us about the space and your opening target. We’ll check the roof, drains and panel, then price each line.
Thanks — we got your request. We'll call you to set up your free in-home visit.
