I don't think that lunchtime in a residential neighborhood is a fair gauge of how well a full-service sit-down restaurant is doing. Most potential customers are at work outside the neighborhood at that time of day.
I live across Warrington Avenue from the new Vietnam Restaurant, and I usually look in the windows as I'm passing by on my way home from work. On any given evening (except for a few Tuesdays or Wednesdays) the place is very busy, and on weekends it's packed (and the thing to remember is that it is even larger than the old Abbraccio, because the Abbraccio porch was enclosed and made part of the main dining room). I ate there twice, most recenty last night at about 6:45 pm. By the time we left at 8 pm, the main dining room was full. I think that Benny Lai and his family will do very well with this restaurant. If anything, some of the other restaurants in the neighborhood may have difficulty competing with it. Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:58:48 -0500 Subject: [UC] re: Vietnam Cafe recommended From: [email protected] To: [email protected] I went for lunch at the revamped and expanded Vietnam Cafe on 47th St. on the old premises of Abbraccio. The food and service were as nice as they were in the former quarters, but the place was practically empty at noon. Fewer patrons than they used to have at lunch in the old place, which was relatively small. Not sure what is going on. I hope that this pleasant and affordable restaurant will have enough support from the community to stay in business! Ann
