Modern Vietnamese Favorite Simbal to Shutter Saturday in Downtown

Eater has learned today that Downtown’s Simbal restaurant will close on Saturday following service. The tucked-away Little Tokyo eatery had a small but loyal following, including more than a few restaurant writers and critics around town, but ultimately couldn’t hold on.

Considered by some to be one of the best chefs cooking in 2016, owner Shawn Pham says that the tough decision to close didn’t come lightly. He sends along the following note:

With much sadness we are announcing that Saturday February 4th, 2017 will be the last day of service for Simbal Restaurant. We want to thank all of our staff past and present, many who have been with us since the beginning who have contributed in making Simbal what it is. We will miss our regulars, friends & family, supporters, and the guests that we’ve been fortunate to serve since opening.

We experienced tremendous ups and downs through the life of the restaurant and in the end we could not weather through the slow periods. As a restaurant we did everything we could to ensure the success of Simbal from food and beverage to service and ambiance. In the end we found our location too challenging, our neighborhood of Little Tokyo and Downtown LA are still in a transition period and we don’t know how long it will take for it to come around.

It is with great disappointment that we are closing. All the effort and hard work we put into giving Simbal its unique identity was a labor of love. We want to thank all our guests and staff for the support we’ve received.

The final night of service at Simbal will be tomorrow.

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