Luong-Loi reopens restaurant in new downtown Wheaton space (with video)

WHEATON – For months, downtown Wheaton has been missing one of its longest-tenured tenants, the family-owned Vietnamese restaurant Luong-Loi.

At long last, it has reopened after months of construction at its new 111 N. Main St. location, just across the street from the storefront it had called home for the last decade.

The restaurant, owned and operated by Vietnamese immigrants Hong and Vien Nguyen with other members of their family, made the move after their lease was up and the long-vacated nearby property went up for sale.

It was important for his parents to stay in Wheaton after spending most of their professional and personal lives in the DuPage County area, said their son Bang Nguyen, who continues to help his parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles run the restaurant.

"That was the most important thing to [my mother], staying in Wheaton," Bang said. "She didn't want to leave the customers she built rapport with."

He said the restaurant used the interim from the closure of the original restaurant in October 2015 through when it reopened in mid-December to refresh its look and simplify its menu to focus on its specialty homemade Vietnamese fare.

The building, long vacant, run-down and held as a key target of downtown improvement, is now adorned with pictures of the Nguyens' home village in Vietnam, exposed brick and a bright interior.

And at the back, the same homemade food cooked by the same family.

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About Luong-Loi

Address: 111 N. Main St., Wheaton

Hours: Closed Mondays; 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

Contact: 630-653-8250

More info: luongloi.com