For Mai's Restaurant, fast-changing Houston could mean tough decisions

Anna Pham’s grandparents founded Mai’s Restaurant, Houston’s first Vietnamese restaurant, 46 years ago. She was raised there, waiting tables and cooking from a young age. As Pham grew the restaurant flourished, representing her family’s successes.

But it hasn’t always been smooth. Over the decades, Mai’s has been through nearly everything, standing strong as communities change and tragedies threaten. Now, Pham owns the Midtown eatery with a long legacy, but as she looks into the future, Pham isn’t sure if her family’s restaurant will be there forever.

“I hope we can continue the restaurant for the next generation,” Pham said. “But, my mom and I talked about this: We’re also okay if it ends up ending in my lifetime.”

Growing in Houston

The story of Mai’s began decades before Pham took over and, like most Asian restaurants in Houston, starts with immigration. Phac and wife Phin Nguyen fled their native Vietnam in April 1975 at the fall of Saigon, but they originally landed in South Dakota.

But the Nguyens faced challenges in South Dakota, including the freezing cold climate and the lack of Vietnamese community. By happenstance, Pham’s grandmother Phin Nguyen got into contact with some people from Vietnam living in Houston, who invited her to visit and see the budding Vietnamese community in the city. 

“There was a small community of Vietnamese immigrants that were living in one apartment complex and there was … a church with a Vietnamese Mass,” said Pham, detailing the appeal of Houston.

After visiting, Phin Nguyen decided to move the family to Houston permanently. At the time, Houston’s Asian community, which included Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants, were spread out between Midtown and current-day East Downtown. Little Saigon was in Midtown, which is where, at Holy Rosary Church on Milam Street, the Nguyens  attended Vietnamese Mass. Close by, the Nguyens decided to open a pool hall as a Vietnamese community spot. 

The pool hall opened in 1978 at 1511 Bell St., conveniently selling authentic Vietnamese food to players. Quickly, the food became more popular than billiards and the Nguyens switched to operating a restaurant in 1981. They named it after the Nguyens’ sixth child, Mai.

“They named it Mai’s because it was the easiest name of the eight children to pronounce,” clarified Pham, dispelling rumors that Mai was the Nguyens’ favorite child.

Mai’s initially featured a Vietnamese menu and an unlimited $2.90 Chinese buffet, meant to lure in crowds unfamiliar with Viet cuisine. By 1984, as the restaurant had grown in popularity, the Nguyens moved Mai's from the Bell Street location to its current storefront at 3403 Milam St., right in the heart of Little Saigon.

The early 1980s marked the peak of Little Saigon and Old Chinatown, critical centers for Asian businesses and restaurants. But in the 1990s, these small businesses began moving west to Bellaire Boulevard, deterred by rising rents and the growing gentrification of both Midtown and East Downtown. By the 2000s, Mai’s in Little Saigon and the Old Chinatown Kim Son (whose owners previously worked at Mai’s, Pham said) were the only veteran institutions left.

Standing strong through tragedy

Despite the migration of a once-flourishing community, Mai’s stayed its ground and continued to serve Houston as a defining Vietnamese restaurant. But on Feb. 15, 2010, during the Lunar New Year holiday, tragedy struck. A morning fire caused by an unmanned wok burned down the entirety of the restaurant, while Pham was on shift. In just two hours, Mai’s was gone.

“It was engulfed in flames. You could see our second floor, there was no roof left,” Pham said.

After seeing news of the fire on television, Phin Nguyen and her daughter Mai fled to the restaurant, watching their legacy burn. 

“My mom was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Pham recalled. “She fainted.”

At first, Mai Nguyen wanted to give up. But Anna Pham refused to believe that the restaurant was gone for good. To that point, the family rebuilt Mai’s over 14 months, reopening on Apr. 16, 2011. Through the fire, the community continued to support the restaurant.

“When we reopened, it was like a blessing in disguise,” said Pham, noting that the restaurant hit peak business from 2014-19. During this period, Mai’s became the near-Downtown destination for late-night eats and stellar Vietnamese dishes. The eatery was praised by the late Anthony Bourdain in 2010, hailing Mai’s as his favorite restaurant in Houston and one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the country, which likely helped its reputation after re-opening. Other notable diners included the iconic Patti LaBelle and former President George W. Bush, who once dropped by to order 100 spring rolls. 

Like the rest of Houston, the restaurant was hit hard by restrictions during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With Downtown offices emptying, leaving a dying lunch rush, Mai’s customer base declined overnight. In addition, the restaurant was no longer attracting crowds of Asian cuisine fans, who were more frequently visiting areas west of Mai’s.

“I think now when anybody … want[s] to eat Asian food, they’re gonna go to Bellaire or Katy Asian Town,” Pham said. “It’s really more if they have any reason to be in Downtown, they’ll go to Mai’s.”

Changing cityscapes and personal challenges, including the 2010 fire and pandemic restrictions, have taken their toll on Mai’s. Pham’s grandmother Phin passed away in 2017. Even Pham stepped down from her position as the restaurant’s general manager, pivoting to a career as an attorney. But despite the changes, Mai’s Restaurant still perseveres and is still very much a family business. Pham’s husband currently manages the restaurant alongside Mai Nguyen. As for the next generation, everything is still up in the air. A mother of four, Pham doesn’t feel the familial pressure to pass the restaurant onto her kids, instead hoping they pursue their own paths.

“I want my kids to get an education and do whatever … their heart desires,” said Pham. “They love to cook and … I teach them things and my mom does [too]. They’re all passionate about food.”

Maybe that passion translates into many more generations of Mai’s Restaurant. But that’s the future. For now, the restaurant continues to stand strong, and its present is set in stone.