Moon Temple Restaurant

Anybody know where Johnny ended up? I run the Moon Temple FB page. If you know where he is, please post there!

je suis moon temple.

Toodles

Sadly closed after all these years to be replaced by a CVS Pharmacy… I’ve had some crazy drunken nights and some really nice first dates… Moon Temple… RIP…

Whoa. To say the drinks are strong is a gross understatement. Based on the recommendations below, I ordered the Russian Tea and sat at the bar to watch Game 7 of the World Series. The place was empty. The bartender started with a pint glass with ice. From there she poured in 9 different liquors, AND NO MIXER. There was Vodka, several rums, 101 proof bourbon, cordials, triple sec, blue curacao, coffee liquor, etc. It tasted like you would think — sweet and very high octane. I challenge anyone to knock back a couple of these and walk unassisted. Food was classic 1960’s Chinese. Who makes Egg Fu Yung these days. Apparently they do at Moon Temple. Sad this place is closing doors in a month. Great, great dive bar.

To tell you all just how old the Moon Temple is, I was going there with my parents in 1965. We went about 2 – 3 times a month. Glad to see that it is still going!

VERY sad that they lost their lease. Esp to be replaced by something worthless like a chain pharmacy that Wallingford certainly does NOT need.

Think of this as an amazing dive bar that also serves some greasy, incredibly unhealthy (but for these reasons, very tasty) Chinese food. Come here with a friend or a group to order a ton of bar-​food-​Chinese-​grub and get cheap/​strong drinks at a dive with a great atmosphere and friendly patrons/​staff.

I came to visit a friend who lived up the street from this place. He promised stiff drinks. He wasn’t wrong, and after just one Jamo-​Ginger I was buzzed. While I was ordering, the guy next to me recommended I get the pot stickers.
«They take a while since they’re made to order, but they are worth it.» We got two orders and some Orange chicken. My God. Those were by far the best damn potstickers I’ve ever had! And the Orange chicken was superb. Also a huge portion of the chicken. I highly recommend this place to anyone.

Man, am I going to miss this place!
I went to college at nearby UW and have been of legal drinking age for 4 years and I just recently got out to Moon Temple for the first time, and soon it will be closing to make room for yet another pharmacy in Wallingford. What a waste…
There are two important things to know about Moon Temple before you come here so you know what you’ll be getting:
1. You must come with an open mind and you must be prepared for item #2. If you want extravagant ambiance and romance, save MT for another night. The inside is dark, the furniture appears to be from the 1970s, and it smells vaguely like rubber. But…
2. You’re going to get drunk on the cheap. You’re going to get drunk even if you only come for one drink (unless you have absurdly high alcohol tolerance). The Russian Tea is a glass of pure booze and it’s only $ 12. I watched the bartender make our drinks and she only put liquor in it. Pure. Unadulterated. Booze. It doesn’t taste very good, but it certainly gets the job done! Even a simple gin and tonic is mostly gin and very little tonic. I ordered one thinking it would cut the boozy taste in my mouth from the Russian Tea, but I was wrong.
I haven’t eaten the food here, so this review is based primarily on the bargain you get for the amount of alcohol in the drinks. But I’d like to get the full moon temple experience before it’s gone forever, so I’d be willing to give it a try.
If you’re not a fan of Chinese food but you still get the drunchies (drunk munchies), the Wallingford Dick’s is a short walk (or stumble, depending on how many Russian Teas you drank) from this restaurant.

This review is based on my last visit where my friend and I neared the $ 100 mark solely for White Russians. In other words, I’ll be formulating my opinions partly off clouded memory, and part imagination.
What can I say, Moon Temple pours a meeeeeeaaann drink. The bar has many of the standard killers like what you might find in any pub. Nothing extravagant, but I’m sure you don’t aim to get such drinks when you go here. I am aware of many stories of friends exiting Moon Temple in a semi-​blacked out state, so keep the potency of their drinks in mind.
To be honest, I’m not sure why we loaded up on White Russians, since that’s not typically part of my repertoire of drinks. But yes, they were good. And cheap. And plentiful. Which explains why I’m struggling to even remember what food we had.
Ah yes, we had the fried rice and… more fried rice. I think the rationale of this double order was to try and coat our stomachs, so that we had a partial shot of making it out of here alive. I would recommend their fried rice as a tasty life saver. The pork fried rice tasted better than the beef version.
When you come to Moon Temple (and I hope he’s still here, since he was our bartender that night), look for John. Yes, John, the Chinese guy behind the bar.

This is my favorite Asian infused dive bar. I have friends who loves to go clubbing and lounges but we are always down to come here for a special celebration or just a night out.
The reason… They have stiff drinks!!!
Johnny is a great bartender and so is Lisa. I like that this bar is far from sleazy. Which is often the feel at an Asian owned bar. The bartenders are not hot or hip, they are just real people. I know, I used to work at a Thai bar, this is definitely not same same.
Now the food… This place has some of the tastiest beef chow fun I have every drunkenly tasted. They will make it however hot you want it, if it is over the stars limit that is Ok. Just be prepared to shit pepper flakes the next morning. And that is OK.
Their crispy chicken and beef and broccoli is also great. Again this is better than good drunk Food. So take it with a grain of salt, or a shot of vodka.

Dirty. Food is downright disgusting. The cabbage inside the egg roll was actually rancid. Fried rice was good.
Update: both people actually got food poisoning. Avoid this place unless you feel like spending a very fun day afterwards.

dizammm, what’s with all the hate?
This place is on POINT. Moon Temple is what all dive bars should strive to be like.
STIFF drinks, check.
LOW prices, check.
AWESOME food, check.
and that’s Chinese food? BONUS!
Bartenders Johnny and Lisa are awesome and fast. Johnny is quick and mega friendy. Lisa can come off as a bit rough around the edges, but when she warms up to you you know she’ll hook that ish up.
Is CVS really replacing this building?
nOoooOoOoo…

I’m sitting at the bar as we speak (halftime). This place is horrific. The server (Asian lady in her mid 40s ish) is the meanest and most sad person I’ve seen at a bar before. She hates interacting with anyone here.
I started with a sprite vodka and she couldn’t stand the fact that she had to do something. Then I ordered a beer and she gave me a double IPA beer in a bottle. Never seen that before. Anyone who knows anything about beer wouldn’t serve an IPA in a bottle. I asked for a glass and she grabbed a wine glass. I can see the beer glasses from where im sitting. What is wrong wrong with her?
In conclusion, I will never step foot in here again. Awful service, bad vibe from the server, and the music never stays on.
Edit: the drinks are STRONG just like everyone else is saying. But unless you want to deal with a cranky lady, go elsewhere.

I adore this place. Not because it has great atmosphere, because it doesnt. It is the perfect dive bar. The bartenders are attentive, drinks are fast, and I happen to think the food aint bad at all. Not sure what all the complaining about the food is about. I really hope that the building doesnt turn into a CVS pharmacy like they are trying to do!
The Moon Temple is cray cray in a good way. Go there.

So I went to this place for a contemplative place to eat and write. That part may have been a good choice. The food, was not.
I should have paid more attention to the reviews, and to be honest, I did and went ahead and dined there against all better judgment. That said, the bar next door does mix some mind-​bogglingly strong drinks, but you order them to earn a hangover, not for the expert mixology.
Walking in, one is greeted by tepid lighting from dust-​darkened drop-​ceiling tiles that have seen better days. Tables are lined with a sad teal-​green mat, and booth seat a rust or month-​old dried-​blood maroon, that could have been pulled out of your drunk uncle’s el camino, complete with seat backing that could be your grandpa, Dick’s faded plaid golf pants.
The florescent lighting made me feel comfortably ready to commit myself to a sanitarium as I sat 2 booths behind a portly middle aged gentleman, sitting alone, with his metal fork scraping the generic ceramic plate that, too was becoming a bit long in the tooth.
Food wise, I should not have picked the crab rangoon (crab wanton). It wasn’t nearly deep fried enough – oil probably wasn’t hot enough, so it wasn’t as crispy, nor was it filled as much with cheese as crab (or imitation crab — seriously, this dish is supposed to have a net negative nutritional value-​which it did, but normally, you barely see the crab).
The ma-​po tofu was a passable version of the dish, and relatively consistent with my expectations.
In the end, I expect the ambiance would be more convincing if you could smoke at your table while you wait for your food. It’s almost worth visiting out of pity, but the bar is probably reasonable if you want to get a good, completely irresponsible, drunk on.
NB. (The 2^nd star was for the opportunity to get irresponsibly drunk and for the fact that the location’s ambiance, such that it was compelled me to write this review.)
Redeeming feature: As an aside, the service was pleasant and friendly.

I’m terrified to return to the Moon Temple. Not because of terrible service or the atmosphere, because I don’t remember either of those things. I’m terrified to return because nobody seems to be able to piece together what happened the one night I went there. The last thing remember is the bartender laughing maniacally as he over served me a pint glass full of blue alcohol and an upside down Red Bull can.
I also heard that I may or may not have ripped a Chinese religious monument off of the wall so I would like to apologize to the staff of the Moon Temple. It wasn’t done so out of religious intolerance, it was done because I achieved a level of black out that I haven’t experienced in a LONG time.
Please everyone, be careful if you go here.

How have I not reviewed this place yet?!
I have ordered the food before, and I don’t think it’s terrible after a few of their drinks.
But, I come there for the drinks anyway. The food is just a sad byproduct of getting the munchies from the result of their drinks.
Their drinks are AWESOME. And they’re crazy cheap. Seriously.
Did y’all know about the weird dance room they have? I didn’t until I went to use the bathroom and noticed this crazy dance crowd in some random room. I would have signed myself up if I didn’t have a cold! Cheap drinks and dirty dancing at a skeezy chinese dive bar? Sign me up!

Moon Temple has been in Wallingford on 45^th for as long as I can remember. And Johnny looks exactly the same through all the years. And I think he looks that way, cuz he never ever samples the drinks that he doles out to his patrons.
First off, Moon Temple is a DIVE bar. Please don’t go there expecting to have an orgasmic culinary Chinese food experience. Expect to see people having drunkfests. I think Johnny puts about ¼ of any liquor bottle into ALL of his drinks. Asked for a vodka tonic (it’s just one kind of alcohol, so I thought it should be the safest bet), and Johnny filled it 7/​8″ up to the top with vodka then, splashed some tonic as an afterthought. He might as well have spat into the vodka. That’s how little tonic there was in there. We had a vodka tonic and a rum and coke — final bill — $ 8.50.
Secondly, I’ve never had the Chinese food, but I can imagine it’d be good enough to sop up the alcohol that’s swishing around in your body. But I preferred Moon Temple when it was a real dive bar, with drunken middle-​agers trying to remember the way to the bathroom, and sometimes not making it. Having just gone this past weekend, it was filled to the brim with college kids. Great to see all the business that Johnny’s getting, but I miss my quiet, divey bar.
Finally, the décor is great Chinese kitsch. The walls are cork and faux cork. So nice to have it in my ‘hood.