Downtown Duluth restaurant closes
Slow business and mounting bills led to the closure of the Saigon Café at 114 W. First St. on Sept. 21, say its owners and the landlord.By: Candace Renalls, Duluth News Tribune
A Duluth restaurant considered to be one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the Twin Ports has closed.
Slow business and mounting bills led to the closure of the Saigon Café at 114 W. First St. on Sept. 21, say its owners and the landlord.
“Because of slow business, they couldn’t pay their bills,” said Donald Pasek, the building’s owner. “Before you know it, they owe you thousands of dollars.”
Pasek sought his attorney’s help to remove the tenants. Waiting in the wings were a couple who are currently remodeling the space to open a Giant Panda Chinese restaurant. It’s the latest in a series of Asian restaurants that have operated at the site.
Saigon Café owner Khoe Tran said a family member came up with $10,000 to save the business, but it was rejected by the lawyer. So she sold her business to the Giant Panda owners for $20,000, which she said was half what was originally negotiated. Of that, $10,000 went to the landlord and $10,000 went to pay her bills, she said.
“I paid all my bills and now I don’t have anything,” said Tran, who ran the business with her husband Nhanh Dinh.
“I (am) so upset,” she said, adding she has looked for work at other Asian restaurants without success.
Tran said she and her family miss their restaurant, which they started in 1996 at 915 W. Central Entrance, below Cub Foods.
From the beginning, the restaurant got high marks from customers for its authentic Vietnamese cuisine, including its spring rolls, Pho Tai (beef rice noodles) and tilapia which shared the menu with Chinese-style dishes.
About 2005, the restaurant moved to Mountain Shadow Drive behind Bridgeman’s in the Village Mall, with many of their loyal customers following. About three years ago, they moved downtown.
“Rent was so high,” Yome Tran, Tran’s son, said of the Village Mall location. “So we sold that one and went downtown, because it was cheaper in rent and cheaper in maintenance. At the time, there was a Thai restaurant there, and they moved out.”
At first, business was sufficient. But as time passed, customers dwindled.
“The location was bad,” Yome Tran said. “There’s no parking. People don’t go down there at nighttime.”
Still, he didn’t rule out the possibility of his family running a restaurant again someday.
“If we can find a better location at a reasonable price, then my mom might open again,” he said.
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