Banh Meee, the Vietnamese restaurant that has fed downtown Hartford pho and banh mi since 2018, is packing up and heading to Simsbury. Owner Dung “G” Tran says the restaurant will leave its Ann Uccello Street home in December 2026, trading the city for a spot closer to his family's other business.
Tran announced the move on Tuesday, telling the New Haven Register that Banh Meee will relocate alongside his wife's business, Revise Salon and Cafe, on West Street in Simsbury. The decision, he said, comes down to wanting to be closer to his wife's salon rather than splitting his time between two towns.
Tran has a wife and three young children who are starting school, and he said the stretch between family and business has worn on him. “For over a year, I've tried to juggle both family life and running a small business,” he said, adding that the balancing act left him run down and spread too thin, per the same report.
No Exact Closing Date Yet
Banh Meee isn't vanishing overnight. The restaurant will keep serving weekday lunch, Monday through Friday, until it eventually shuts its Hartford doors, though an exact closing date has not been announced, the outlet notes. Tran said he is working with his Hartford landlord and a new business owner to find a tenant for the space once Banh Meee departs.
The restaurant has built its reputation in Hartford on pho noodles, bun thit, banh mi and dumplings, the dishes that made it a lunch staple downtown. Diners looking for one more bowl before the move still have a window to get it, even without a firm end date on the calendar.
From Food Truck to Two Storefronts
Banh Meee's Hartford story goes back to a food truck Tran launched in summer 2017, according to Hartford Business Journal. That mobile operation led to a brick-and-mortar debut on Capitol Avenue in February 2018, giving the brand its first permanent foothold downtown.
The business later expanded to a second downtown location at 126-130 Ann Uccello Street in 2020. That same year, the original Capitol Avenue spot shut down for good, according to the Hartford Courant, which reported the closure followed a temporary shutdown in July 2020 after sales there had fallen by as much as 80 percent. Tran told the Courant at the time that rising COVID-19 case counts had made him rethink the location's long-term prospects, and the Ann Uccello Street restaurant carried the Banh Meee name forward. New owners later moved into the vacated Capitol Avenue space planning a fast-casual Latin restaurant and bakery, the Courant reported.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Suburban Moves
Banh Meee's exit cuts against a trend of suburban operators pushing into downtown Hartford rather than out of it. The Courant reported in 2024 that Wethersfield-based restaurant owners Bryce and Kerri Hardy were expanding into the city with a second location, The Drake, expected to open by the end of that year. Around the same time, Manchester's Urban Lodge Brewing Co. had opened a Pratt Street location, and Victus Coffee, tied to West Hartford's J. René Coffee Roasters, had begun serving at 777 Main.
Those three expansions drew city support through Hart Lift storefront revitalization grants ranging from $67,500 to $225,000, according to the Courant's reporting. Banh Meee's move runs the opposite direction, with a longtime downtown fixture choosing a suburban address instead.
