Pho Grand, the Vietnamese restaurant that became an anchor of the vibrant South Grand commercial district, will permanently close next month after 33 years. The final service is June 13, as Sauce first reported.
Owner Tami Trinh said while Pho Grand’s business is “tremendously good,” now is the time for her and her husband and co-owner, My Trinh, to step back from the restaurant.
“When we first opened, we wanted to have a job and get our kids through school and things like that,” she said.
“And now that my kids are finally graduated, and with everything that’s going on in life nowadays, we thought, ‘Well, you know what, life is short. I think it’s time for us to think about ourselves….’”
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The Trinhs own Pho Grand’s building, but they have not decided what they will do with it. Their own future plans are open, too.
“You know, we’re just saying it’s not goodbye, it’s maybe see you later,” Tami Trinh said. “We might come back and do something little. (We’re) just taking some time off to relax and, you know, enjoy our life first.”
Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Joe Pollack first reviewed Pho Grand in April 1989.
Pho Grand opened in 1989 in its original location at 3191 South Grand Boulevard in Tower Grove South. That April, the late Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Joe Pollack called the restaurant a “grand addition” in his review.
In 2000, Pho Grand moved to its current home at 3195 South Grand.
More than anything, Trinh said she will remember her loyal customers: “Every one that walks through the door has become like family.”
Pho Grand will be the second South Grand mainstay to close this spring, following Café Natasha in April.
