SF restaurant owner unsure of future after business rocked by explosion

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) -- Surveillance cameras captured an explosion inside a San Francisco restaurant Monday morning.

It blew out some of the windows at Lapats Thai Noodle Bar in the Tenderloin District.

The owner said his restaurant has been vandalized before -- but nothing compares to this.

While he's still unsure who or what caused the explosion, he says it may be time to move his business out of the city.

Surveillance cameras show an explosion that rattled the restaurant and its owner Monday morning.

"Explosive in my restaurant. I was shocked so I rushed to the scene and I saw the glass everywhere," Charoensuk said. "Big one. Explosives... I couldn't believe it."

Chef Pinyo Charoensuk says there's been a lot of vandalism in the neighborhood over the last few weeks, but nothing like this.

"It's not like simple, like someone threw a rock, cracked your windows. It's different," he said. "It's the bomb. It's scary."

The explosion blew out the glass windows at the restaurant, which will likely cost Charoensuk thousands to fix.

For him, it's just another blow to his business.

"It's been tough for me already because of the pandemic. You know it's been almost two years now and this situation is going to scare my customers, my people who want to come and eat at my restaurant," he said. "They're going to feel like oh this is an unsafe neighborhood, kind of a sketchy neighborhood. They don't want to come to my place. it's going to affect my business of course."

While police are still investigating what or who caused the explosion. Charoensuk says it may be the final push to move his restaurant out of the city.

"It's kind of unsafe for me. You know I pray for my family's safety. I'm really scared right now," he said. "If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone else. Neighbors need to be careful. Police should take more action about it."

Thankfully, no one was there when the explosion happened so nobody was injured.

However this explosion has created a lot of damage to the restaurant, and now the owner is unsure how much longer they will last in business here in the city.

from KRON4 https://ift.tt/375ydXK