Pho Hay To Moves Into the Restaurant Room Next to C.S.P.S. Hall

"We weren't planning on reopening at all," Lan Do told the Minnesota Star Tribune in August. Her family had run Tay Ho on University Avenue for more than two decades, and that restaurant closed in May after its building changed hands. Then someone suggested a space on West Seventh. The family agreed to look, and by late August the menu was back under a new name, Pho Hay To, at 605 W. 7th St.

That space is the brick-lined room connected to the historic C.S.P.S. Hall, the Czech-Slovak Protective Society hall built in 1887. Restaurants come and go in this room about once a decade. The hall next door keeps the same calendar every year. Pho Hay To is the newest tenant, and the room shapes what the family is cooking.

A Room That Outlasts Its Tenants

This is the third restaurant at the address in a little over 25 years. The Pioneer Press reported that Glockenspiel opened here in 2000 and served its last meal in November 2015, when its lease wasn't renewed. Pajarito took over in late 2016 and closed in March 2026. Co-owner Stephan Hesse said the lease was ending and the owners decided not to renew.

The hall itself has a much longer timeline. Sokol Minnesota says its unit formed in 1882 and has been based at this site since 1879. The current building went up in 1887 and was named a National and State Historic Site in 1977. A 2021 historic-resources report hosted by the City of St. Paul also lists C.S.P.S. Hall at 605 W. Seventh Street on the National Register. Tenants change and the building stays the same. Each new restaurant has to work with the room's size, its brick and its history.

Pajarito was at the address for nearly ten years and drew steady praise from Pioneer Press writers for its well-worn feel and its cocktail list. Its Edina location at 50th and France is still open. The family that moved in next is known for soup.

What Twice the Space Lets the Kitchen Do

The Star Tribune says the room is twice the size of the old Tay Ho and seats 114. Do said the original recipes are the same, and the extra space is going into a bigger menu. According to the Star Tribune's reporting, here's what's new:

• Bun rieu every day. The tomato and crab meatball noodle soup was a weekend special at Tay Ho. Now it's on the daily menu, and the Star Tribune called the family's version one of the best in the Twin Cities.
• Three kinds of bun bo Hue. Tay Ho was one of the first local restaurants to serve the spicy beef noodle soup. The signature bowl now has two new versions with different proteins, including pork sausage.
• Build-your-own bowls. Pho toppings include brisket, chicken, shrimp, tofu and quail eggs. Noodle salads can come with egg rolls, grilled pork, shrimp or stir-fried chicken, beef or tofu. Do said regulars at the old location often asked to customize their orders.
• Rotating specials. At opening, the specials were a Vietnamese chicken, potato and carrot stew with baguette, plus garlic noodles. Specials change every few months.
• A longer drink list without alcohol. Iced fruit teas come in peach, lychee, strawberry and mango, and the coffee list now includes egg coffee and coconut cream coffee.

Prices stay in weeknight range. Banh mi are $8 to $9, rice platters $11 to $17, noodle bowls $16 and noodle soups $14 to $20. The restaurant's website lists hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. There are a few parking spots in a small lot next to the building, plus street parking. The website's menu was last updated Oct. 1, 2026.

The Bar Is the Last Piece, and It Goes to the Council Wednesday

Pajarito was best known for its drinks, and the bar is the one thing Pho Hay To doesn't have yet. The family plans its first-ever cocktail program, with Asian-inspired drinks made with lychee, longan and herbs. As of this week, the restaurant's website still says alcohol service will start once the license comes through.

The city's records show where that stands. Resolution RES 26-1657 would approve a change of ownership for the on-sale and Sunday on-sale liquor licenses at 605 7th St. W., transferring them to Pho Hay To LLC. Council Member Rebecca Noecker is the sponsor. The Department of Safety and Inspections mailed the required notice on Aug. 27, with a response deadline of Sept. 11. The item is on the City Council's agenda for Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 3:30 p.m. Its status is still "Agenda Ready," and no final action has been recorded.

The resolution is a change of ownership, so the licenses already belong to this address and are moving to a new operator. The room has carried a bar through two tenants, and the drafted text includes no new license conditions. Until the council votes, the drinks at Pho Hay To are the teas and coffees.

The Other Half of the Building Feeds People Too

Michigan Street wraps around the same corner, and Sokol Minnesota uses the hall entrance at 383 Michigan St. Sokol's events page lists fall dates from October through December without a year. Each weekday it gives matches the 2026 calendar, and the hall calendar dates the first Friendly Friday Oct. 9, 2026. Several of these events are built around food. That puts Czech and Vietnamese cooking under one roof at this corner, on a schedule anyone can plan around.

1. Friendly Friday, Oct. 9, 7 to 10 p.m. Sokol lists the evening as a family-friendly night of cards and board games with no fee. Guests bring their own drinks or snacks to share. The same evening repeats Nov. 13 and Dec. 11.
2. Schmidt Fall Art Crawl, Oct. 16 to 18. This one is about a mile up the street at Schmidt Artist Lofts, 900 W. 7th St., with more than 80 artists and food trucks listed.
3. Tastes from the Czech Republic Dinner, Sunday, Oct. 25. Doors and the bar open at noon, and service starts at 12:30 p.m. The menu is schnitzel, Czech potato salad, garlic soup, rye bread, apple strudel and coffee for $40 a person. Reservations are online only and must be prepaid by Monday, Oct. 19.
4. Pancake Breakfast, Craft and Koláče Bake Sale, Sunday, Nov. 22, 9 a.m. to noon. This is the listing that says "public welcome," with no reservations needed. Prices are $12 for adults, $6 for children 10 and under, or $30 for a family of four. Koláče in apricot, cream cheese, poppy seed and cherry are $2 each.
5. Children's Holiday Party, Friday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m. The evening includes performances by children's and teen dancers and the Sokol Singers, plus visits from Saint Nicholas, the Angel and the Devil.

Sokol also runs adult Czech and Slovak language classes that nonmembers can join for $150. Registration for the fall trimester is already closed.

One Corner, Two Kitchens, One Fall

Saturdays and Sundays are a good time to visit both halves of the building. On the hall's Sunday events, the restaurant opens at 10 a.m., so the Oct. 25 Czech dinner falls in the middle of its open hours. The Nov. 22 pancake breakfast ends at noon, early enough for a late-afternoon bowl of bun rieu next door. By Friendly Friday on Nov. 13, the liquor question will have been settled for more than a month, though the outcome still depends on Wednesday's vote.

There's one small gap in the public record. The Villager reported hours for Pho Hay To that don't match the restaurant's own website. The website lists the same hours as the Star Tribune's August report, so check it before a late weeknight visit. Sokol's event pages also don't show when they were last updated, so it's worth checking them before you go.

Since 2000, three restaurants have used the room at 605 W. 7th, and Pho Hay To's year-one checklist has one item left: the council vote at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 7.

If you own a home within walking distance of Michigan and West Seventh and want to know how a historic corner like this one affects the value of your block, Christian Klempp can walk you through what he's seeing on West Seventh this fall. Schedule a Consultation.