Another new restaurant is calling Gloucester Main Street home.
Sarah Netroe and Kiatisak Phaniphat held a soft opening on July 1 for their new restaurant, Lotus Boba Café. The space at 6655 Main Street was previously occupied by Sweet Tooth Café, next to Hair on Main Salon.
The couple had prepared to get their footing with a small number of customers they anticipated showing up on day one of the soft opening. The high turnout of customers eager to try the new restaurant, however, left them surprised—and out of food.
“We’ve had to cut back the menu to just the pho and boba right now because we had more people than we thought we would,” said Netroe. “We ran out of food the next day,” Phaniphat added.
Phaniphat has worked at his parents’ restaurant, Marigold Thai in Mechanicsville, for the past 10 years. “They operate way differently,” he explained. He’s found that the cafe’s food has a much longer preparation time than what he is used to. “It takes eight hours—getting it going, making it...