Washington’s list of longtime restaurant losses has gained another name: Mi La Cay, the Chinese-Vietnamese noodle house that served Seattle for 34 years, closed after its final service on October 29, 2026. For generations of diners, it was a place where one familiar bowl could carry the taste of home.
Siblings Ha Ong and Trinh Ong announced the closing after decades spent building relationships across Seattle’s Asian communities and beyond. Their farewell thanked customers who supported the restaurant through good years, difficult stretches and the pandemic, when community groups and relief grants helped keep the business afloat.
A noodle house with its own identity
Mi La Cay opened in the summer of 1993 near Rainier Avenue South and South Dearborn Street. Ha developed the broth and fried shrimp that became signatures of the kitchen, drawing inspiration from Chinese-Vietnamese noodle traditions without trying to imitate Seattle’s many pho restaurants. Trinh eventually left accounting to run the front of the house while her brother led the kitchen…