Mosaic District’s Four Sisters to close on Mother’s Day after 30 years

Four Sisters will serve customers at the Mosaic District for the last time this Sunday (May 14).

The family-owned Vietnamese restaurant will permanently close after 30 years of business, about half of them spent anchoring the prominent corner of Strawberry Lane and Yates Way in Merrifield.

With the restaurant’s lease expiring, Four Sisters co-owner Lieu Lai says the family decided the time had come to wrap up their three-decade journey. She wants to spend more time at home with her kids, making Mother’s Day a particularly fitting final day.

In addition, Lai’s sister Le Lai — who has owned the restaurant with her since 2014 — and brother-in-law hope to travel, she told FFXnow.

Four Sisters has been a Merrifield mainstay since 2008, moving to what was then a mostly industrial area before it redeveloped as the Mosaic District in 2012.

Prior to helping jumpstart the mixed-use neighborhood, Four Sisters began life in 1993 as Huong Que at Falls Church’s Eden Center. Lieu and Le’s parents, Thanh Tran and Kim Lai, founded the modest restaurant with money they made selling hot dogs after they immigrated to the U.S. from Bien Hoa, Vietnam, according to the Washington Post, which broke the news of the impending closure.

Huong Que soon became a local favorite, expanding with a second restaurant in the Eden Center to accommodate its growing customer base and even appearing on the late chef Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations” in 2008, according to Viva Tysons.

When the restaurant moved to the Mosaic District, the family renamed it as a nod to Lieu, Le and their two sisters, acknowledging that the original name was too often mispronounced by non-Vietnamese customers.

Since then, the family has extended their reach elsewhere in Northern Virginia, opening the fast-casual Four Sisters Grill in Clarendon and the 4 Sisters Snack Bar in Ashburn. Both of those locations, which are respectively run by oldest sister Ly and youngest son Thuan Lai, will remain open, per the Post.

An eventual return of Four Sisters hasn’t been ruled out either. Lieu says her sister and brother-in-law may open another restaurant in the future after they finish traveling.

“Deep down, I think that potentially I may open another Four Sisters somewhere,” Le told Post food critic Tim Carmen. “That would make my mom and dad really happy, for sure.”

For now, supporters still have a few more days to get in a final order of pho or a vermicelli rice bowl, among other dishes on the menu of Vietnamese staples. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Mondays.

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