A longtime fan of Upper Kirby restaurant Mai Thai sadly informs us that the 21-year-old pink-trimmed restaurant at the northern end of the 59-Kirby restaurant ghetto will close on June 26th. The landlord has reportedly told owner Mary Le that the lease will not be renewed. Did that little “For Sale” sign on the corner of the building — advertising a 10,000-sq.-ft. lot at the corner of Kirby and Algerian Way — work its magic? Our source tells us Mai Thai will not be reopening, and that everything inside the restaurant is for sale. The inevitable development rumor: a new “high rise complex” is planned for the property, with construction beginning in August.
Is this all true . . . or just a clever plot to drum up a rush of Pad Thai orders? Writes our source: “The food is delicious. I’d urge you, if you’re a fan or if you’re never been before… make a point to go sometime in the next week.”
Photo of Mai Thai Restaurant, 3819 Kirby Dr.: Swamplot inbox
The inevitable development rumor: a new “high rise complex†is planned for the property, with construction beginning in August.
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What are they going to call it? Fool’s Tower?
People actually eat at that place? I drive by it all the time and see at best 1 or 2 cars parked out front. I guess I assumed it was some sort of front operation.
A “high rise complex†on 10,000 SF lot??????
I hope they build it because I would like to see that!
This address has been owned by Dissen J W since 1988, so it sounds weird for the plans to be a high rise, unless he’s just taking a stab at it?
SAY IT AIN’T SO. I live right across the street(ish).
We don’t need another stinkin’ high rise.
I’m with jb3. I’ve hardly ever seen anyone there and wondered how it stayed open so long.
The food is far from delicious. I won’t miss it at all, but I agree, we don’t need another highrise.
From LandGuy:
A “high rise complex†on 10,000 SF lot??????
I hope they build it because I would like to see that!
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Huh? 20 – 30 story towers are built on less than 10K all over the world. Ever been to NY, Chicago, SFO, or perhaps checkout 5000 Montrose, The Highland Tower, or several others in Houston.
People actually eat at that place? I drive by it all the time and see at best 1 or 2 cars parked out front. I guess I assumed it was some sort of front operation.
Haha. Ditto. But I plan on giving it a try now.
I eat at Mai Thai quite often and the food is terrific. In fact, I had dinner there last night (and had the leftovers for lunch today). So there “JA” and “jb3”!
Mary (the owner) said that Mai Thai’s last night in business will be Sat. June 26th. Apparently the owner wanted to double her rent in order to renew the lease or else sell the place to her for $1MM. The red brick house directly behind it is also for sale. My hunch is that a bank will go in here – like Houston needs another dinky bank branch on Kirby.
Actually, per the “real property records” on the Harris County Clerk’s site, it looks as if this place in Gretna Courts has been in that family since at least 1970, and maybe earlier.
I don’t know about this place. I’ve been there twice in the last 60 days. While the food may taste pretty good– the food quality is questionable. But what totally freaks me out are the bathrooms. DO NOT GO IN THERE. Also there is something very wrong with the sewer system. And there is only one basin for hand washing for both the mens and women’s bathrooms. The plumbing for this place….hhuuummmmmm.
Not a fan…ate there once. I used their website to check out the menu and logistics. The website recommended reservations, but the online reservation tool wasn’t functioning. I expected it to be packed, but when we arrived, there were maybe 5 customers in the whole place. The food was so-so, nothing to write home about. If it had been a more popular restaurant, they could have generated more revenue to stay in existence. Sadly, money is power.
Algerian Way was always such a nice secret cut-through and then Haven came along and clogged everything up.
Meanwhile, over on the less pricey side of the street, the Taco Cabana drive-thru has been a good vantage point to watch the efforts of Medusa properties in trying to provide some curb appeal for that old red brick multi-family next to Mai Thai. It’d be a shame if a high-rise was the end result.
Medusa does some nice things with those “old red brick multi-family” buildings.
It’s a shame they didn’t have the money to buy Wilshire Village.
Update on this corner: Elevation Burger is set to open up in the near future. Jonathan Kagan Properties (http://www.jkaganproperties.com/index.html) bought the property and did a fairly extensive update to the structure, then turned it over to Elevation Burger for their build out, which is currently well under way.
Trust me, Mai Thai’s closing was a good thing. I own the property next door and saw a steady parade of roaches, rats, and various other vermin going in and out of that building over the past few years. Anytime you see a blue tarp on the roof of a building for months and months on end, it’s a pretty sure sign that they are in decline. If you don’t have the funds to fix your leaky roof in Houston, the end can’t be far off.
Elevation Burger. http://www.elevationburger.com/EB.php#ingredientsmatter
ps. Trust me, Matt, I would have LOVED to have gotten my hands on Wilshire Village–I circled that like a hungry shark for a good decade–but it never actually came up for sale. Deals like that are backroom, good ol’ boy, “who you know” kinds of deals. It wasn’t a lack of funds or a lack of interest, I assure you. :)
However, that being said, I think the HEB was a better use of that land than the rag-tag collection of 4plexes that was there before. I would have definitely renovated those buildings if I could have–but it would have only put off the inevitable for a decade or two. Even the property on Algerian Way will be gone before too long. I get unsolicited offers on that building almost every month. It is only a matter of time before someone makes me an offer I simply can’t refuse….