Looks like a 36th year on Calle Ocho isn't meant to be. We're out. Last day is Oct 30. We'll take a R&R break & return to new a location.
— Hy Vong (@hyvongmiami) October 29, 2015
Update: Hy Vong announced on Twitter that it "worked it out with
Hy Vong, the Vietnamese restaurant that's considered one of Miami's finest eateries, is closing after dinner service this Friday.
The Little Havana restaurant is the latest casualty of a rapidly changing Miami, where property is at a premium. According to Miami.com, owner Kathy Manning is being forced to close because her landlord wants the space.
The restaurant opened in 1980 as a collaboration between Vietnamese-born Tung Nguyen and Manning. The two women actually met in 1975, when Tung Nguyen fled her war-torn country as a young mother-to-be. She and Manning, her sponsor, opened the restaurant a few years later, which serves up authentic Vietnamese cuisine with international twists.
Hy Vong, which means "hope" in Vietnamese, quickly turned into a hidden gem with people clamoring for a room in the unassuming dining room for a bowl of soul-satisfying pho — long before the dish was considered trendy.
In a story on Miami's best pho, New Times' Emily Codik described Hy Vong as a restaurant where "service moves slow and meals can take as long as two hours."
Fortunately, the meal is worth the wait.
Hy Vong also took home its share of New Times' best of awards, including being named "Best Vietnamese Restaurant" in 2008 and 2012. Most recently, it was named "Best Restaurant in Little Havana" in 2015.
All is not lost, however. Manning intends to reopen the restaurant, though no location is set.
In the meantime, there are still a few chances to get one last meal in before it closes on Friday.
