In Seattle’s Rainier Valley, family-run Vietnamese restaurant Thien Phat is scrambling to stay alive as a wave of bills, pandemic-era debt and repeated break-ins close in. The mother-and-daughter team at the counter says the money crunch is now so tight that a landlord deadline could shut their doors for good, even as regulars rally to keep the neighborhood staple going.
Break-ins and mounting bills squeeze family restaurant
Owners Oanh Nguyen and her mother, Huong Huynh, run Thien Phat on Rainier Avenue South. They say a recent break-in shattered the restaurant’s front door, and the intruder walked away with only about $7 that had been left as an offering at a shrine. Nguyen told FOX 13 Seattle that the family has been making extra payments yet still owes about $30,000 to $40,000 in debt tied to the pandemic. She said the landlord is now demanding full NNN fees and unpaid taxes on a shortened repayment schedule. According to the owners, the landlord has warned that eviction is possible if the balance is not paid within that tighter time frame.
Fundraiser launched and local safety concerns
To try to close the gap, the family has launched an online fundraiser. The GoFundMe campaign, created in September 2023, shows thousands of dollars raised toward its stated goal and is still active on GoFundMe. Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Department’s crime dashboard and public data tools show that property crime and safety concerns remain a frequent pressure point for small businesses across the city, a backdrop that the owners say makes costly repairs and security upgrades even harder to afford, per Seattle Police Department.
Neighbors push to keep the door open
Regulars say losing Thien Phat would hit the block hard. “Everybody in our neighborhood goes here, and it would be a shame to lose this awesome family business,” one customer told FOX 13 Seattle. The owners have asked the city for increased patrols in Rainier Valley and are urging neighbors to help by coming in for meals or booking catering to keep money flowing through the register.
How to help
The most direct way to support the restaurant is local and simple: stop in for a meal or choose Thien Phat for catering, which the family says immediately boosts daily revenue. Financial contributions are also being collected through the GoFundMe page, which includes ongoing updates and a running total for donors. The campaign shows $15,223 raised toward an $89,000 goal as of the last update on GoFundMe. The owners say that those combined actions, donations plus steady patronage, offer the best shot at keeping the doors open.
For now, the family is keeping the kitchen running and hoping that a surge of neighborhood support will buy them enough time to work out a payment plan with the landlord. If fundraising and customer traffic fall short, Thien Phat faces a future that longtime diners say would leave a real hole on this stretch of Rainier Avenue.
