Owner of Saigon House in Houston "Disastrous crawfish shortage" causes closure

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The ongoing crawfish shortage has hammered vendors for months, but this is the first time we’re seeing a restaurant shut down because of it. Saigon House, the popular Viet-Cajun joint from acclaimed chef Tony J. Nguyen, is closing its last brick-and-mortar location.

Late Wednesday, Nguyen announced Saigon House on 3645 Cypress Creek Parkway would be shutting down operations after seven years in north Houston.

“We survived hurricanes and a global pandemic,” Nguyen wrote. “Unfortunately, we could not survive the crawfish shortage of 2024.”

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An exceptionally fierce drought in Louisiana and freezing temperatures in Texas have disrupted the crawfish breeding season, leading to sub-optimal harvests this season.

Sticker shock was never a discussion when it came to crawfish, but now folks on social media are reporting bags coming in at $14 per pound. Over at BB’s Tex-Orleans, founder and CEO Brooks Bassler railed against the current conditions, noting consumers were already hanging back instead of diving in.

“Today’s economic conditions surrounding crawfish are incredibly challenging because the consumer is ONLY going to take so much, and they will not pay for these crazy elevated prices,” Bassler said in mid-February. “What this means is that the restaurants will be forced to take a much lower profit on crawfish … until prices stabilize.”

Elsewhere, restaurants have attempted to adapt to the less-than-favorable conditions. While Bassler scoffs at the use of frozen crawfish, there was at least one restaurant in town swearing they taste just as good as the live ones.

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Saigon House has had a colorful timeline:

2015: The original concept, owned and operated by Duc Dinh opened at 3101 Main Street as a Vietnamese fusion restaurant

2017: Nguyen joined the restaurant as a chef and partner two years later, revamping the menu and introducing the popular H-Town Bang crawfish.

2019: Nguyen led the restaurant's first expansion to 3645 FM 1960 in north Houston. (The restaurant would open a year later.) That same year, Saigon House permanently closed its Midtown location

2021: The north Houston location closed. Nguyen said they made the decision not to re-sign their lease while the Better Business Bureau said they locked the doors to the restaurant after they didn't pay rent.

2022: Nguyen reopened the restaurant at its present Cypress Creek Parkway location

Saigon House will continue as a food truck as Nguyen puts all his focus on Xin Chao, according to Nguyen's social media post. Xin Chao opened in 2020, a joint venture between Nguyen, MasterChef winner and restaurateur Christine Ha and her husband John Suh. The partnership dissolved last year, leaving Nguyen the sole operator of the restaurant.

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