Nam-Viet will serve its last papaya salad and pho on June 25. The Cleveland Park Vietnamese restaurant’s next door neighbor, Ripple, is also closing one day earlier on June 24.

Ripple proprietors sent out a letter earlier this month urging its fellow businesses on the strip betweenMacomb and Porter Streets NW to stay strong. “We know that many of our neighbors are also suffering, and we encourage you to support these local businesses and restaurants,” it read.

A similar letter issued to Nam-Viet patrons last night (below) also suggests a dining neighborhood in decline.

It reads, “In recent years as the District of Columbia has grown, we have seen new neighborhoods sprout almost monthly, and commerce [to] move from one end of the city to the other. Competition to remain significant and relevant in this fast-paced D.C. restaurant market has presented a challenge to Cleveland Park businesses the past few years.”

Cleveland Park Bar & Grill, Bindaas, St. Arnold’s Mussel Bar, Atomic Billiards, Fat Pete’s BBQ, Ardeo + Bardeo, and more still operate in the area.

The Nam-Viet letter reads as follows:

Dear Cleveland Park,

After 20 years, we have made the very difficult decision to close our Cleveland Park location later this month.

As we complete our 20th year in Cleveland Park, we want to take a moment to thank you for your patronage and support these last two decades. Over the past 20 years, we have served countless meals, taken numerous take-out orders, and catered many special events from private small personal gatherings to weddings out of this very location. We have been fortunate to be in a community that has blessed us with lasting friendships with residents in and around the neighborhood.

We would especially like to thank our supportive landlord, the Abbo family. We are grateful to Marcia Abbo, widow of the late Robert “Bobby” Abbo, for her kindness and grace in taking over Bobby’s responsibilities.

To our dearest friends, we will not forget your loyal patronage and friendship all these years.

Special thank you to: Whit & Mitch, The Paige’s, Aunt Shirley and Michelle, The Crowley’s, The Stopfer’s, Tanc & Tiernan, Robin & Quin, Ed & Amy, The Petruzzello’s, The Lesser’s, The Kennedy’s, The Reffe’s, The Muldoon’s, and The Lopez families for your patronage of Nam-Viet and most importantly for your friendship. Your visits, along with the visits of other patrons that extend this entire neighborhood, have been a gift to Nam-Viet every day we have been open.

Lastly, our neighboring storefront businesses over these past 20 years—from Byblos Deli to Fat Pete’s BBQ to Ripple—thank you for being the best neighbors. We greatly enjoyed our relationships of generous reciprocity through the years. We have grown together in this neighborhood, and to every one of these businesses, we thank you for your steadfast support and friendship.

In recent years as the District of Columbia has grown, we have seen new neighborhoods sprout almost monthly, and commerce move from one end of the city to the other. Competition to remain significant and relevant in this fast-paced DC restaurant market has presented a challenge to Cleveland Park businesses the past few years.

We thank you again, and hope that the community welcomes the next business that takes over the storefront that we have called home for the last 20 years with the same open arms, faith, patronage, and support that you gave to us.

Farewell, Nam-Viet Restaurant

We will remain open through dinner service on June 25, and we hope that you can stop by to enjoy one last lunch or dinner with us until then.

Nam Viet, 3419 Connecticut Ave. NW; (202) 237-1015; namviet1.com.