Midweek Meanderings: Is Nam An Closed? What about Luong Hai Ky on Convoy? And other stuffs.....

So, is Nam An Closed or What?:

Was the question posed to me by "Peter" on my original post on Nam An. I was kinda surprised, I know that Nam An had gotten away from serving lunch, but didn't know they had closed for the always ominous "renovations". So I placed a call to a very reliable source who told me that even though the sign says under renovation, the placed has closed down. Sad, this place had potential, but the folks running it had really no restaurant experience and though we enjoyed some of the dishes the service was spotty at best.

We visited a couple of months back and the signs were already there. It seemed that prices had gone up a bit, not a terrible sign in this economy, but we had also noticed that the portion had gotten noticeably smaller.

For me, it wasn't the regular menu of noodle and rice dishes that I enjoyed at Nam An. Rather, it was the appetizer menu that really made things interesting. Sadly, it now seems that there's no good Vietnamese in the area bordered by Aero Drive, the 52, the 15 and the I-5.

Personally, I hope Nam An gives it another shot......but things just don't look promising.

Speaking of which, what's going on with Luong Hai Ky?:

I actually went to check out a different restaurant in that strip mall and noticed that LHK wasn't open. Which was odd since from what I recall the place is open seven days a week from 10 to 10.

The photo above was taken close to noon when I drove by to check things out. Still not open. Well, I wouldn't be surprised, LHK was never the same after the original owner passed away. LHK opened a second restaurant in Mira Mesa and this location became the ill-fated Phat Restaurant. Which eventually failed and the location turned back to Luong Hai Ky. So now what? Well, I dunno....

Meanwhile, since we're on a losing streak:

The place I went to check out is called Apple Korean House.

MrsZ mentioned this place to me, so I wanted to check it out. The hours 5pm yo 2am made it seem like one of the soju houses, but I wanted to see. Of course, with my recent luck....wouldn't you know.....

Well, at least this one is a "small remodeling"...so hopefully they're open already.

But with my recent luck........

Comments

[MrZ]

Bad feng shui all around! Maybe the existing restaurants on Convoy soaked it all up already.

[caninecologne]

About Nam An - i had lunch there with carol last year and bit into a shard of plastic in my iced coffee (i thought it was an ice cube). turns out that they scooped their ice with their plastic cups. WTF, right? good thing i didn't swallow it and rip my throat up. the least they could have offered me was a free coffee. but no.

another closing - tacos el poblano in downtown cv is now Tacos el Toro!

[Lynnea]

So, Matthew and I have noticed the same thing regarding LHK. it hasn't been open the last couple of times we've been in that strip mall. But I'm surprised that you didn't find Apple House open since we just walked by it a week ago or so and it was busy with lots of tables filled. didn't see a menu outside but we are planning on trying it out soonish.

[Kirbie]

How funny. I went to check out Apple this weekend after seeing the grand opening sign and reading some good reviews and saw the same remodeling sign. I hope it really is temporary. I also saw LHK closed. I'm not surprised about Nam An. The last time I went a few months ago, we went on a Saturday during dinner hours and the place was completely dead. We were the only customers around. And the food quality has really dropped our previous trips. After that, we stopped going because it seemed like a goner. It's too bad because I really enjoyed it when it first opened.

[Kirk]

Apparently so MrZ!

Hey CC - I remember reading about that.

I think Apple is probably reopened by now Lynnea. Hopefully they were really just doing a "small renovation".

Hi Kirbie - It seems sad they were never able to sustain things....