A major Dallas foodie favorite is on the move: Cris and John Vietnamese Street Food, is leaving its location in Far North Dallas at 5555 Preston Oaks Rd, and moving yet further north to 6090 Campbell Rd., in a shopping center at the corner of Preston Road.

The move is in response to a "problem" that every restaurant wants: Too many customers, and not enough room. According to co-owner Cristina Mendez, the relocation has been in the works for years, although it got derailed by the pandemic in 2020.

"We considered a lot of factors for our relocation such as staff, vendors, and rent," Mendez says. "This little spot we’re in now really exceeded our expectations of what Cris and John would become."

They're planning to move in early June, and will remain open at their current location until shortly before the move takes place.

Mendez and her husband John Pham opened Cris and John in 2018, based on Pham's first-hand knowledge of Vietnamese street food, combined with Mexican cuisine in a menu featuring pho noodles, dumplings, and birria bao buns.

They earned lots of attention for their unique Vietnamese-Mexican fusion, in outrageous dishes such as their pho-rrito, featuring all the ingredients of pho wrapped into a tortilla, and its spinoff, the ramenrrito, with all the ingredients of ramen stuffed into a burrito.

Dishes like these not only turned them into a trendy Instagram favorite, it got them on the radar of Nickelodeon, who recruited them to participate in a national celebration of Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. The 2024 promotion took place in a dozen cities including Dallas, with select restaurants called on to create their own version of the cartoon's signature Krabby Patty sandwich. Cris and John was among the 10 restaurants in Dallas that participated.

The ensuing growing popularity brought a need for greater space and especially more parking than they had in their original space.

"John and I are there everyday and that really allows us to listen to our customers and what they need," Mendez says. "We’re so blessed to have customers that will wait in line and that are so patient with us. So when we started looking for a new location, parking was a priority, followed by getting a bigger space to allow more seating."

Comments on their Instagram expressed approval, such as "Praise the Lord.... parking is atrocious but the food delicious."

The new dining room will seat a little over 100 guests — which helps offset the fact that it's 3 and 1/2 miles north of their previous location, further away from central Dallas.

"I think a lot of people were hoping for us to open in the heart of Dallas, but Cris and John started in north Dallas and it only felt right to keep it in the neighborhood," Mendez says. "We’re hoping this new location can be what we couldn’t give Cris and John before."