Tan Wong Restaurant

Great prices, great food, friendly service.
We came here after reading it was noted as best of on
. And the review was right. We thought the food was very good and well priced. We made it right before the end of happy hour, so able to get better priced wine and $ 3 pork and lobster dumplings. Dumplings had a good amount of filling, flavor and served with a complimenting sauce. Also to start we had the short rib dumplings. Meat was smoky and spicy and the noodles were cooked just right. For dinner we had the Lobster Foo Young and the Cha Ca Something. Dessert was light and delicious — a tea flavored ice cream, small pumpkin cake, topped with ice cream.

(Ting Wong)
Need Cantonese butchery items to go? Best prices and best quality.
I often pick up Chinese Roast Pork, or a Soy Sauce Chicken to go and enjoy for the rest of the work week here, but this place has been a staple for my family and local community since I can remember… probably opened even before the 1980’s.
If you plan to eat in here, it’s not that large of a place, and some of the wait staff are kinder to you if you speak in Cantonese rather than English. On the other hand, some of the wait staff are just belligerent, but is humorous knowing the Chinatown culture.
I’m so happy they decided to re-​open after a fire gutted the area establishments. This is a staple establishment in the Chinatown Cantonese community with the changing demographic of Fujian offerings quickly overwhelming the market.

Best congee in Chinatown and solid roast duck, but all other dishes are mediocre.

The best thing about Tan Wong are the jokes I can make about its name. But I digress… Tan Wong has been around since the early 1990’s under two different names, first Tan Wong, then E.B. Restaurant and then back to Tan Wong. A fire this past fall had temporarily shut down Tan Wong for nearly six months and now has reopened and serving what it has always served which are congee, soup noodles, rice plates, wontons and assorted barbequed meats.
The great thing about Tan Wong is it’s consistency through the years. I can’t remember the food changing much through the years. As for the food, specifically congee, Tan Wong makes the variety that is very well boiled. There are no rice remnants and the congee is very thick and white. Everything else from the roast meats to the rice plates are standard and good Cantonese dishes. Prices are still reasonable with everything around the $ 5 mark.
The one thing that I love about Chinatown are all the «Wong» restaurants, starting with the old standby Big Wong is that they are all similar, even though they’re not owned by the same people. It fits a niche that hopefully doesn’t die out. Sadly, Hon Wong and Fu Kee near Canal Street have dearly departed Chinatown. I hope Tan Wong hangs on!