Fans of this restaurant are starting to wonder if it will ever reopen. Here’s the latest.
The owners of My Tho, a Vietnamese restaurant at 500 E. Central, are known for taking long breaks from the business to travel back to Vietnam, and it’s not unusual for them to close for several months at a time.
But soon, My Tho — which closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — will have been closed for a full year, and many of its longtime fans are starting to wonder if it will ever return. I frequently get questions about it from readers, and those questions have multiplied as the temperatures have dropped and cravings for a hot steaming bowl of pho have intensified.
I’ve checked in with the owners several times during the course of the pandemic and have gotten the same answer. They’re worried about the virus and don’t want to reopen until they feel safer. “A few more weeks,” they’ll say.
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I called again this week, and the owners said they will definitely reopen the restaurant, but now, they’re aiming for spring.
My Tho is owned by Mai Vu and Hai Van, who in 1987 took over Sang’s Billiards Hall in Wichita. They ran it as a billiards hall that also served Vietnamese food but were forced to move when Via Christi needed their land for an expansion project. In 1995, they took over the Central and Emporia space and adopted the name My Tho, the name of the city Hai is from.
The restaurant is best known for its pho, which is a popular Vietnamese soup, and for its banh mi sandwiches. My Tho was named as the home of one of Wichita’s favorite bowls of pho in this year’s Wichita Eagle Readers’ Choice poll.
I’ll let you know when My tho is ready to reopen.
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