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Seattle Vietnamese restaurant hopes for community support
Mother and daughter duo Oanh Nguyen and Huong Huynh are appealing for community support to save their Rainier Valley restaurant, Thien Phat, from potential eviction.
SEATTLE - On Mother's Day, a mother and daughter duo who own a restaurant in Seattle's Rainier Valley are hoping for a little love from the community.
Restaurant owner Oanh Nguyen spent Mother's Day serving up Vietnamese food with her Mom, Huong HuYnh, aka "Ma Huong".
They hope their Vietnamese restaurant, Thien Phat, will stay in business after multiple attempted break-ins over the years, along with pressure from their landlord to pay higher monthly payments on money that is still owed from the pandemic.
Ma Huong often spends her days watching Asian dramas while making Banh Mi and sweet, crispy waffles for charity.
What they're saying:
"If you caught her on the day she does it, she’ll give you free waffles," said Nguyen.
Thien Phat is located at 3330 Rainier Ave. S and various members of the family chip in to keep the restaurant going.
"I’m technically 100% owner of this place, but my mom is the boss lady, so she calls all the shots no matter what," said Oanh Nguyen, owner of Thien Phat. The two are pictured at work below.
The backstory:
The family gives food freely to those who need help when they can, and serves up a side of mom hugs for patrons and even reporters who happen to pop in.
However, Oanh says the community gathering place is now under new pressure due to break-ins and other activity in the area such as fires and shootings.
She says one of the recent break-ins, caught on camera, damaged their door so badly, it required thousands of dollars to repair and the person who broke in was only able to steal $7 left over as an offering for Buddha.
"We don’t leave nothing here, so he just took some coins the customers put near the shrine," said Oanh.
They've also had new pressure from their landlord who is now asking them to pay the full amount of their Triple Net ( NNN ) fees and taxes that were left over from COVID.
Though Oanh says they've been making good progress, steadily paying extra for it, on top of monthly rent, there's still about $30,000 - $40,000 left to pay, and Oanh says the landlord wants it within a much shorter time frame, or they will be evicted.
What you can do:
The family started an online fundraiser to try to get that paid off in the time-frame requested.
"We just need to do more payments and make bigger deposits for them," said Oanh.
"Everybody in our neighborhood goes here, and it would be a shame to lose this awesome family business," said Sean, a customer.
"We would miss it so much if it were to be gone," said Lisa, a customer.
The family says you can also help them stay open by simply stopping in to dine at the restaurant for lunch or dinner or by choosing Thien Phat for catering.
The mom and daughter are asking the city to help cut down on crime by patrolling the area.
"It's also like a lot of kids live around the area too. I want to make sure they are safe," said Nguyen.
When her dad passed away recently, Nguyen says her mom poured her love into the community and the restaurant. Now she's hoping the community can help her as well.
"A lot of mom-and-pop shops are still here, and we want to make sure they stay here because they are not only serving customers, they are serving their communities," said Nguyen.
The Source: Information in this story came from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.
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