15-05-2025
Energetic Tacoma ramen restaurant abruptly closed. Here's what we know
Sister restaurants Indo Asian Street Eatery and Moshi Ramen Bar, which have served Tacoma's Stadium District since 2015 and 2018, respectively, are in the process of being sold to new owners. Only one will survive the transition, leaving the staff distraught at the loss of their jobs and of a space that had become known as a safe haven for the queer community.
Moshi, with various styles of the Japanese noodle soup, izakaya-inspired dishes, fun cocktails and an energetic atmosphere, was one of the only dedicated ramen shops in the area. Its last day of service was Saturday, May 10.
On Monday, incoming co-owner Kevin Merrell informed the approximately 16 employees that Moshi was permanently closed. He plans to renovate and replace the concept with 'authentic Thai,' he confirmed to The News Tribune on Tuesday. He and his wife Thip finalized a deal this week to buy the restaurant from Yu Nanakornphanom and Buoy Ngov.
The Merrells are also buying neighboring Indo, but that sale is separate, both parties said.
Merrell declined to reveal the name of the new Thai restaurant or further menu details beyond that the price point would be similar to Indo's. Despite the potential conceptual overlap and physical proximity — the two restaurants share a basement for prep and storage — he added only that it will 'be different enough that it makes sense.'
Next door, he said, 'Indo will continue to be Southeast fusion, just as it is.'
Merrell was raised in Tacoma and has been a business owner for decades, he said, including a local landscaping company and a motorcycle tour company in Thailand, where he lived for eight years and met Thip. After moving back to the Pacific Northwest, he said, she wanted to 'get back in the restaurant business.'
They filed for business licenses in January and applied for updated liquor licenses in February, according to state records.
The Indo-Moshi sale has been in the works since last year.
Nanakornphanom and Ngov had stepped away from day-to-day operations to spend more time with family, caring for their own health and their aging parents. They left both restaurants in the hands of managers, but the couple said they didn't share details of the sale with most employees due to confidentiality terms of the purchase agreement.
That void left several former and current employees disappointed in the situation that transpired over the last eight months, according to several who spoke with The News Tribune. Thip Merrell had been working in the kitchen at Indo, they said, and Kevin Merrell began formally managing Indo in December.
Moshi's employees were by then aware of the pending sale but said they were told little else about their fate.
'Officially we knew absolutely nothing. Especially in retrospect, there were some signs,' said Samuel Kirbawy, who had managed the Japanese restaurant since it opened in 2018 with late chef Aaron Grissom at the helm. He felt they had been 'misled into thinking that the restaurant would continue' under its new ownership and wished 'it had been handled in a more respectful way.'
Lane Parrish worked at the Japanese restaurant for four years and loved it, they said in a phone call on Tuesday. The pay was fair with consistent raises for tenure, but beyond that, 'The biggest thing was really just the environment,' they said. 'Everyone was welcome. We were able to create a welcoming environment because we were able to be our genuine selves.'
'We all would've liked to have said goodbye to our community,' added Kirbawy, who started a GoFundMe to support the cooks, bartenders, servers and hosts who were paid hourly. 'Moshi was providing employment for a lot of marginalized people. It's a pretty big blow to some people.'
Some local business owners have encouraged Moshi's staff to consider applying for positions at their restaurants, they said. A few also chimed into Instagram posts to extend that invitation.
In phone calls this week, Nankornphanom and Ngov said that Moshi had not been financially sustainable for some time. They were struggling to make payroll and had considered closing it earlier, they said, but the sale process complicated that picture.
'It wasn't personal with anything. We just couldn't make it anymore,' said Nankornphanom.
In some ways, they continued, Indo and Moshi had ballooned into much bigger and more complicated enterprises than the mom-and-pop, 'real family restaurant' idea that started their entrepreneurial journey in 2015.
'We're sad, too,' said Ngov.
In the future they might consider a small, family-run restaurant but for now will focus on family.
At the Monday meeting, Merrell offered employees the opportunity to apply for a position at the new Thai restaurant, which he anticipates introducing this summer. He confirmed they would need to pursue unemployment insurance in the meantime.
'We made that offer. No one took it,' he told The News Tribune the next day, noting the common practice of what's known in employment law as 'technical termination' during the sale of a business. Existing employees must be terminated if they are to be rehired by the buyer at similar wages and in similar jobs. To avoid being categorized as a loss of employment, the rehiring must happen within six months of the sale, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
'We'll be down for a little bit rebranding the location,' added Merrell.
▪ 110 N. Tacoma Ave., Tacoma, 253-503-3527,
▪ Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
▪ New owners will maintain Indo Asian; new Thai restaurant coming to Moshi space next door
