Classic Vietnamese restaurant closing after 38 years in the Bay Area

San Francisco Comical ^ | September 18, 2023 | Mario Cortez

[Vendome]

After 38 years, a popular family-run Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland is closing at the end of the month. 

Owners of Le Cheval announced on social media that the restaurant’s last day at 1007 Clay St. will be Sept. 30. While “this chapter comes to a close,” they wrote, they will seek a new location elsewhere.

Owner Son Tran told KPIX that Le Cheval is closing due to slow sales, which were around 25% of pre-pandemic levels, he said. He also cited criminal activity in the area as a deciding factor. 

Diners at Le Cheval in 2012. The 38-year-old Oakland restaurant is closing at the end of September.Lance Iversen/The Chronicle

Le Cheval opened on Clay Street in 1985, offering Vietnamese cuisine with French colonial influences. Menu favorites include stir-fried cube steak in a sweet garlicky glaze, spicy chicken wings, steamed Hanoi-style striped bass, and garlic noodles. 

In its farewell message, the restaurant’s owners thanked the community for its support and as they look for another location for Le Cheval.

[Vendome]

A really good restaurant...

[PGR88]

they will seek a new location elsewhere.

Translation: we need to get out of this sh**hole, and are looking for a spot in an upscale white/asian neighborhood where the rent isn't insanely high.

[Red Badger]

Come to Florida!

We always need new restaurants!....................

[ClearCase_guy]

Communism ruins everything. But these people have seen that before, haven’t they?

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I could be mistaken but I believe I also heard the other day that the psychopath Gavin Newsom is also raising minimum wage for restaurant workers to $20 an hour?? So I would imagine that would pretty much be like nuking the Titanic as it’s sinking when it comes to restaurants. I thought these DemoMarxists loved eating out and being served

[ifinnegan]

“ Communism ruins everything. But these people have seen that before, haven’t they?”

Yes.

And back in the 70’s the Democrats were vociferously opposed to Vietnamese refugees coming here.

[Verginius Rufus]

Le Cheval?

Do they serve horse meat? I understand the French eat horse meat.

[Gen.Blather]

Civilized people cannot coexist with feral animals. I saw an elegantly dressed woman park her car on a city street and start toward my customer’s business just a sidewalk depth away. She was intercepted by a homeless man who DEMANDED money. She politely said no. He rocked his head back, pressed a finger against one nostril and blasted her with snot, right in the face. She didn’t wipe it, she just turned, got back in her car and drove away.

Later I related the story to the storekeeper. He said he’d seen it, and the homeless guy was trying to get him to pay the man to leave his customers along. The woman was a decorator who regularly bought several thousand dollars’ worth of antiques from him each month and he lamented he’d never see her again.

What we see happening in blue run cities today is much worse because the cities are promoting homelessness with free needles, free food and free medical care. You subsidize it and you get more of it.

[Vendome]

I would go to Walnut Creek and be done with it.

[Levy78]

That POS should be dealt with and then dumped on the side of the road 100 miles outside of town. He can crawl somewhere else.

The men of society use to not tolerate this kind of shit and ‘policed’ their own communities of these types of degenerate trash.

[drwoof]

Correct. Witnessed same growing up in rural California. Problems were simply solved.

[Myrddin]

We've been losing some restaurants in Pocatello lately. Family owned/operated businesses where the parents are ready to retire and the kids have no interest in keeping the business open. All 3 Greek restaurants are gone now. A startup Indian/Nepalese place folded for lack of business. A favorite barbecue place in Idaho Falls failed, but was rescued by employees.

[lee martell]

The infamous San Francisco Mayor London Breed points a well manicured index finger at the squalor and says “I Did That!”

[Jamestown1630]

I wonder if this family will even be able to sell their restaurant for what it should be worth.

I can’t imagine anyone wanting to start a business there.

[Chode]

Le Cheval is closing due to slow sales, -which were around 25% of pre-pandemic levels, he said. He also cited- which are due to criminal activity in the area as a deciding factor.

there, fixed it...

[Pocketdoor]

20 for fast food restaurants, with more than 6 chains I believe.

[NorthMountain]

The men of society use to not tolerate this kind of shit

The men of society used to not get thrown in jail for not tolerating this kind of shit.

[Sicon]

Well, the Bay Area may become another “food desert”, but at least it will never be a “poop desert”.

[exPBRrat]

The Amish can break an anvil.

[roadcat]

... as they look for another location for Le Cheval.

I live in South San Francisco, a separate city in a different county than SF miles to the south down the Peninsula. Restaurants are doing great business here, some of which are Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese and a lot of Chinese restaurants. What I hear and see, are a lot of people shop here that formerly shopped in SF. They don't want to eat in SF, preferring to come down the Peninsula where it's safe and pleasant. Same goes for shopping at retail stores. SF and the East Bay (yep Oakland), are riddled with crime and gangs. A vast different experience on the Peninsula (San Mateo County).