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Light Drizzle Palace gates are closing
After nearly five decades, Palace of Wong will shut down at the end of the month
After nearly 50 years in business, the owner of Palace of Wong has announced that he is closing his restaurant.
David Wong said that it would serve its last customer later this month. “We’ve been here for 48 years,” he told the Herald. “It’s time to move on.”
Palace of Wong was opened in 1967 by David’s father, John, who is 91, and it has been a staple in the village for years. Its large neon “Chow Mein” sign on the roof has become one of the more well-known landmarks in town.
David Wong, who’s 57, started working in the restaurant with his father in 1988, when he was 27. Soon afterward, his father retired, and David took over. “My father comes in sometimes to say hello to the old customers and things like that,” he said.
Some of their regulars still come from the city for dinner. “When the customers come in, they go to their favorite booth and are served by their favorite waiter,” Wong said, adding that many of the waiters have been there for 20 years or more.
Through the restaurant’s history, its menu has remained relatively unchanged. It serves traditional Cantonese food, Wong said, as opposed to the Asian fusion that many modern restaurants specialize in. Also, Palace of Wong doesn’t deliver; customers must come in and order.
“People like our traditional food,” Wong said. “When people come into the restaurant, they say, ‘This reminds me of when I used to live in Brooklyn.’ And it seems like everyone used to live in Brooklyn at some point.”
Palace of Wong has also become known in the community for its charitable work. It hosts events for the Rockville Centre Youth Council and the Sandel Senior Center, and is the longest-running sponsor of basketball teams at the Recreation Center, which it began supporting in the 1960s.
Wong said that he was unsure exactly when the restaurant would close, but it would most likely be at the end of this month or the beginning of November. There’s also the possibility that someone could purchase it and keep it open, but that is also uncertain, he said. “Either someone is going to take it over or I’m going to retire and close the doors,” said Wong.
Over the years, the restaurant has had many loyal customers, and Wong said he would miss them the most. He always made Shirley Temples for their children, he said. “Now they’re 30 years old,” he added. “As a joke, they come in with their wives or husbands and I give them Shirley Temples.”
Wong said that if the restaurant closes, he will do it quietly, with no special events. There will, however, be a farewell party, with the date yet to be determined.
“We’re going to miss it,” he said. “But it’s time to move on.”
