Azie shows some class
The new Villanova restaurant will accept gift cards issued by the building's previous tenant.
Win and Sutida Somboonsong have great news for those who found themselves stuck with a gift card to Maia, which closed in Villanova in April.
On Friday, they'll open Azie on Main, a branch of their high-style pan-Asian eatery in Media, in what was Maia's second-floor space. It's just off the Blue Route behind the Villanova post office: 789 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, 610-527-5700.
Until Aug 31, the Somboonsongs will take $25 off per table at Azie on Main when a customer presents a Maia gift card. It's one per customer.
Classy.
They didn't have to do this, as they have no relationship to Maia's previous owners.
The former Maia owners have scattered to the winds, though they have interests in such restaurants as Yangming and Nectar, and for the most part have shunned requests to make good on their cards -- even in the interest of goodwill.
The Somboonsongs also own Teikoku, Mikado, Flavor and Thai Pepper, and soon will be opening a steakhouse called Parker's Prime in Newtown Square on the site of the former Roux 3. (And if you have a gift card to Roux 3, you are also out of luck, as that corporation professes to have nothing.)
Don't get me started on gift cards; if I had a dime for every call I have received from an aggrieved restaurant patron, I could have retired 10 years ago.
Here's a story about gift certificates that I wrote a few years ago. My advice holds just as true now.