Meiwah, the Chinese-American restaurant that’s drawn in celebrities, politicians, and journalists for close to 20 years, will close next month.

Larry La, the West End restaurant’s owner, says Meiwah was hit with a rent increase from the building’s landlord, who wanted to expand the restaurant by about 1,000 square feet, which La says would have been difficult to sustain. Washingtonian was first to report the news.

La opened Meiwah in 2000, and it quickly became a destination for local and far-flung celebrities alike. The restaurant’s “Celebrity Guests” page includes 14 pages of photos (La estimates there are between 700-800 pictures total) of the owner beaming alongside public figures: former President Barack Obama, soccer player Mia Hamm, former Senator John Edwards, and actress Nicole Kidman among them. Former President and Secretary of State Bill and Hillary Clinton were reportedly frequent guests. According to La, Meiwah is also the go-to delivery spot for employees at CNN, ABC, and CBS—all the networks have company accounts. And the restaurant is often called upon to deliver to Congress if a meeting of lawmakers runs late, La says.

It’s easy to see why they came in, and, in some cases, kept returning. “I love people,” says La, who moved to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam 40 years ago. “That’s good for my job, too. If you don’t like people how can you run a restaurant?” La has a stunning memory for his guests, summoning up a detailed anecdote of frequent diner and former United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, as well as rattling off his previous government positions. Upon meeting NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, he says he impressed her by remembering her wedding date to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. He mentions often how lucky he is to live in D.C. and talk to “powerful” people.

“I remember them well, I remember their stories, and I can talk about them,” La says of his customers. “That’s how the word spread.”

Meiwah’s closure comes amid a string of restaurants shutting their doors and blaming rising rents. La acknowledges that high rent “kills” more restaurants today than it did when he opened Meiwah 19 years ago. Still, he seems to have found the key to sustaining a restaurant.

“In this business, repeat customers are so essential,” La says. “Any restaurants that don’t care about repeat customers, they won’t survive. In order to get repeat customers, you have to have consistency of the food and service.”

Though Meiwah’s last day is May 14, its Chevy Chase location—opened in 2003—will remain open. La says he’s received plenty of notes from customers since Washingtonian broke the news on Wednesday morning—CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett was the most recent to reach out.

“I just love the restaurant business and love the people and am going to miss a lot of customers,” La says. “Some of them I don’t know well, but I know well enough to talk to them. They don’t have to be a senator or cabinet member to talk to them.”