Owners of 30-year-old Dayton restaurant vow to come back following destructive fire

The uncle and niece say the Vietnamese restaurant has been closed since a kitchen fire damaged the stove, hood,  gas system and other equipment between Thursday, May  24 and Friday, May 25.

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Tran, who runs the business for her mother Nga Tran, said she appreciates Little Saigon's loyal customers.

“The customers keep coming back and coming back,” she said “We love that place.”

Tran runs the family restaurant for her mother, Nga Tran. Her husband also works there.

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Thoi said the restaurant is very important to him. He has been an owner seven years.

“This is almost like home,” Thoi said. “I work from 8 a.m. to 9 at night. I eat here. The only thing we don’t do is sleep here.”

Thoi and T.D. Tran suspect the fire started on the stove between closing on that Thursday and when Thoi arrived that Friday morning.

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It was extinguished by the restaurant’s fire suppression system.

“When I came, the fire was gone,” Thoi said. “There still was a little bit smoking, but the fire died.”

Thoi, the restaurant’s main chef,  said he has had to throw out thousands of dollars of supplies.

He is disappointed the restaurant is closed, but said he was taking it as part of life.

“We don’t want it, but it happened,” he said. “In life, sometimes it happens.”

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