For more than 25 years, Pacific Rim has been an extension of owners Anne and Veth Senenoi’s home, a place where he says customers and employees became family. Now, after an early-morning fire on Saturday, July 18 left extensive damage inside, the Southside Village restaurant known to locals as “Pac Rim” will remain closed until further notice.

“I got so many responses,” he says. “They touched my heart so much. I cry every time I see a text or I see a message on Facebook.”

No one was inside or injured when the fire damaged the restaurant’s back office and bar area and sent smoke throughout the building. “Thank God nobody was there,” Veth says. 

He says he left the restaurant around 9:45 p.m. Friday after checking on the remaining tables and turning the dining room over to a manager. Around 7 a.m. Saturday, a woman cleaning nearby called to tell him his restaurant appeared to be on fire. When he arrived, fire trucks surrounded the building and firefighters wouldn’t allow him inside. He waited about 45 minutes before eventually entering.

“Oh, my God. It’s devastating,” he says. “Everything was crazy.”

A photograph posted on Facebook Saturday shows extensive damage inside the dining room, including a partially collapsed ceiling, exposed ductwork, blackened walls and damaged furnishings. 

Veth Senenoi believes the fire began around 3:30 a.m. and may have been electrical. Sarasota fire officials haven’t publicly confirmed the cause. Although the flames were concentrated around the back office and bar, he says smoke traveled throughout the restaurant. “My kitchen is white,” he says. “When I went in, it was all black from smoke.”

The heat was intense enough to melt plastic fixtures and ceiling fans, he says, and smoke entered a neighboring nail salon and tailor shop. Veth believes an overhead water pipe broke during the fire, helping slow its spread and sending water out the restaurant’s back door.

“Thank God that happened,” he says. “If not, it probably burns the whole plaza down.”

The full cost of the damage remains unknown. He says the restaurant’s wood floors will likely need to be removed, while much of the interior must be cleaned, repaired or replaced. He’s waiting for insurance adjusters to determine what will be covered.

Located at 1859 Hillview St., Pacific Rim opened in 1998 and has become a fixture in Southside Village. The family-run restaurant specializes in Japanese-Thai cuisine, including sushi and sashimi, curries, pad Thai, drunken noodles and tempura. Beyond its colorful dishes and bright flavors, Pacific Rim made birthdays memorable by playing 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” as dessert and candles arrived.

Veth, a native of Laos and Thailand, arrived in the United States without knowing the language or understanding the culture. He taught himself how to run the business and, within a few years of opening Pacific Rim, had built a thriving restaurant.

In a 2017 Sarasota Magazine profile, Veth said Pacific Rim operated without titles or a hierarchy. Everyone was expected to contribute, including him, and he wouldn’t ask an employee to do anything he wouldn’t do himself—even cleaning the toilets. “Our restaurant is an extension of our home and our patrons are family to us,” he said at the time.

That sense of family has become especially visible since the fire. He says customers have texted, posted messages online and visited the damaged restaurant to offer help. Other restaurateurs have approached him and offered to feed his family.

“The Sarasota community is made up of such amazing and wonderful people,” he says. “They help each other no matter what.”

The closure has temporarily displaced about 20 employees. Veth says he’ll use whatever money he can to help them, though some may need to find other work while repairs are underway for what he hopes will be no longer than three months.

A friend of the owners established the GoFundMe to help cover immediate expenses and losses not covered by insurance. Supporters have also encouraged customers to visit Bangkok Restaurant Sarasota, which they identify as Pacific Rim’s sister restaurant. So far, donations have almost reached $91,000.00.

Veth doesn’t yet have a firm reopening date, but he has set an ambitious goal. “I’m praying for Nov. 15,” he says.

When Pacific Rim returns, he plans to make some changes and step into the kitchen as chef for as long as a year. “I want to make sure everything comes out perfectly,” he says.

For now, the messages from customers continue to overwhelm him. “Even when talking right now, my tears came out,” he says. “Happy cry, you know?”

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