Tigerly Ox, the Vietnamese eatery nestled in next to Julia’s on Wallingford Ave, will be closing their doors for good this Wednesday, February 15th. They posted to their Facebook page:
It is with a heavy heart that we inform you we must close our Tigerly Ox – Wallingford location, due to complicated issues with re-negotiating our lease.
Thank you, Wallingford, for your loyalty to this location. We would love for you to visit us at our Tigerly Ox – East Madison location at 2207 E. Madison Street! We are also looking to expand our Seattle locations into South Lake Union and Downtown in the future.
Our last day in Wallingford will be Wednesday, February 15th from 11:30am to 8:00pm. Thank you, again, and we hope to see you soon!
The news came suddenly: at least one employee heard the news from a customer. From what I understand, there was a disagreement between owner John Tran and Julia Miller, who owns the building, that they couldn’t resolve. (Yes, that’s the same Julia as in “Julia’s”, except she sold the restaurant business to an employee back in the early ’90s. Not the building, though.)
So, head on over to get your last taste of bánh mì, cơm and xà lách while you can! And good luck to whatever business comes next. There have been a series of short-lived endeavors in that space, let’s hope the next one breaks the curse.
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bummer…
Thank you for the post Wallyhood! You were there with us when we opened and now in our closing.
We wanted to shed some light on some incorrect information in your write-up. There was never a disagreement between any parties that led to the closing of our Wallingford location. In fact, we’ve never met or dealt with Julia Miller or know who she is; however I am sure she is a lovely person being that you are referencing that she started Julia’s.
We simply made many attempts to both come to agreeable terms with our current space and looked other retail options in the neighborhood for quite a while now however, sadly, nothing pan out. We’ve been on the hunt for quite some time but the Seattle retail space market, just like the housing market, is really hard for us little guys.
Tigerly Ox – Wallingford
Is there ANYTHING we can to help? I wish there were more time to spread the word. You never know, someone in Wallingford probably knows a place. I’d like tot think! I hate to see you go.
soo look in Wallingford Center.. how about a stand at market when it returns/ or below the apartment building on 44th & Stone Way? or put in for a place when Dunn expands? What about the building on Green Lake Way N jus tnorth of Spuds Fish n Chips? It had a vacancy
Bummer! It seems like business was brisk lately, and the tofu banh mi is the best in town! I hope you keep looking in the neighborhood. You’ve already gone through the hard part of building up a loyal customer base.
Sorry, I misunderstood. Julia owns the building, so I assumed she was who you were working with. I will correct.
Don’t worry Seattle, all these little businesses we love will soon be helped by more regulation like the proposed Seattle expanded family leave, increased B&O Taxes, Property Taxes (leading to higher rents) etc……..
The factors you listed aren’t the significant factors for quirky little businesses. The bigger the city, the denser the population, the more likely you can have enough people to support the weirdest businesses with the smallest niche. Also the competition would be the most fierce, ensuring better quality.
There is actually no lack of food options similar to Tigerly Ox, with one pretty similar recently opened in U District and one food truck with the same options often parks on Northlake.
Seattle food scene has become much better and much more competitive over the last decade. It’s not like Tigerly Ox itself is an establishment with history. It’s just another decent place that didn’t work out in this neighborhood.
There’s nothing like it anywhere walking distance of Wallingford. Wallingford has a huge lack of quick, healthy, affordable food. I’m pretty sure Tigerly was the cheapest full entree in the whole neighborhood. Even a medium pho costs 9 freaking dollars at Than now.
Curbside is on Northlake Way most of the time, and offer about the same thing.
Price is a separate issue. Just as housing price has been insane in Seattle, restaurant prices have been skyrocketing also, and the only cheap options left are the ones that have been around for awhile and probably locked in with low rent. Getting licenses for restaurants are often lengthy procedures. Coupled that with high rent and high minimum wage it means restaurants are more likely to aim for the high-price high-margin market as opposed to the low-price high volume model.
If it’s price you want to suppress, then indeed jeffreylindstrom’s point of regulation and cost of business are important. That’s not the direction Seattle overall is going. Seattle is going the way of yuppie.
Oh TJ, you write “The factors you listed aren’t significant factors” Do you own a business with employees by chance? It’s not easy, as we have a small business right here in Wallingford. It keeps getting harder and harder for us to stay in Seattle, and now the council is suggesting more regulations that only large businesses can easily manage.
I invite you to join your local Wallingford Chamber of Commerce, which is a great organization, and you might learn a lot!
The point got nothing to do with how easy it is to run small businesses, and it got nothing to do with if it’s easy for any specific business. The point is that the critical factor is demand. No businesses would start just because there is no tax and no regulation, and you’d get a lot of stores when there is high demand. If taxes and regulations are that important. then New York and San Francisco would be dying cities. Maybe you should go visit the big metros around the world and you might learn a lot!
Regulations are easier to handle not just by larger businesses with a larger resource pool, but also by businesses with higher incomes. If you go visit the small businesses around the world, you’ll see how some managed to not just survive but thrive despite the high cost of doing business. The places where you can find smaller businesses still competing well with big companies are mostly dense cities. That’s something even hard to do in Bellevue, since it’s so suburban.
So sad. It’s become our go-to place for a quick, healthy lunch.
John Tran, I’m really sad to see you go. We’ve been to Tigerly Ox many times and we’re so happy to have you nearby for a quick lunch or for take-out when friends came over. Please keep the door open to a future in Wallingford again if a space opens up.
It is one of our favorite places in town, so healthy and affordable. Those spring rolls are the best! Please stay! 🙂 Thanks for the wonderful food and service.