Formerly located at 6112 W Flamingo Road, in the retail center on the corner of the South Jones Boulevard intersection, Munchyroad Authentic Korean Street & Homey Food has closed, but a local cafe brand is now preparing to take its place: Mama Mai Vietnamese Cafe.
“Our whole brand is about family,” owner Tram Nguyen told What Now in a phone conversation. “I started this with my mom, Mai. It’s named in honor of her persistence and hard work in giving me and my siblings a better future. And she’s a great cook.”
Mama Mai began simply, Nguyen says, as the family started selling Vietnamese coffee and bao buns within Vegas’s Vietnamese community. After receiving great feedback and a lot of support, Mama Mai began operating out of a commercial kitchen.
“Word spread and people gave us a lot of love. We started doing Vietnamese festivals, selling at the Area 15 farmers market. And now we’ve decided to go all in on this passion, and we’ve secured a place for our first brick-and-mortar cafe.”
Mama Mai Vietnamese Cafe will have a cozy, homey atmosphere—one meant, Nguyen says, “to create the feeling of home in the food, the drinks, and the space. When you walk in, you can imagine you’re visiting a friend’s house.” With seating for about thirty, the cafe will operate quick-service style, with guests ordering from a counter and then making themselves comfortable.
The menu, meanwhile is getting an update: the main items on offer will be coffee drinks and banh mi—both traditional banh mi and new variations. That, plus other drinks, like the ever-popular matcha.
“For the coffee, the recipe was developed with my mother-in-law. She’s behind a lot of our success: a great person who represents persistence and the drive for the highest quality.”
Taking over for Munchyroad, Mama Mai Vietnamese Cafe will join restaurants like Chickpeas Mediterranean Restaurant, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, and Wendy’s.
You can keep up with Mama Mai at the cafe’s website, mamamaicafe.com.
