Rachel Shuster

Located at 401 Park Ave. in Worcester, Wan Wang is a new restaurant, focusing on traditional Chinese food, ramen noodles and authentic Szechuan cuisine.

Now you may be thinking, ‘hm, that location sounds awfully familiar for a Chinese food restaurant…’ And you’d be right! The location is the former Ho Toy restaurant, one of the oldest Chinese food restaurants in Worcester. When the Wan Wang team learned Ho Toy was closing in 2018, they purchased the building and renovated it with a new look and concept.

Wan Wang assistant manager, Pattie Xie says, “To most people, Ho Toy provided a lot of memories. We wanted the opportunity to make new memories with a new concept.” Xie and the rest of the Wan Wang team are no strangers to the restaurant industry. Wan Wang is a family-owned operation, with two other restaurants in their group – Kenichi on Shrewsbury St. and Sake Bomb on Park Ave.

“We’ve been in the business for about 20 years. Kenny [Huang], also my brother-in-law, has been a kitchen chef, sushi chef and is the owner of Wan Wang,” Xie says.

So why open another Asian restaurant in Worcester? “We want to keep the tradition going,” Kenny Huang says. “We need a good, traditional Asian restaurant in Worcester. A lot of people go outside of the city, so we wanted to give the community something in the city.”

What differentiates Wan Wang from other eateries is that the new concept will provide traditional food with a contemporary feel both on and off menu. “We kept some of the old décor from Ho Toy to preserve the history and memories of the restaurant, but did a lot of work to update it,” Xie says. “We added a lot of windows to let light in. We combined modern with traditional.”

After taking about 19 months to open, much longer than expected because the location was old and needed a lot of work, Wan Wang opened its doors on October 20th. So as for the menu – well it’s got everything! It has all your favorites from starters like edamame, egg rolls, chicken fingers, crab rangoons, wonton soup and hot and sour soup, to main dishes like beef with broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, lo mein, house friend rice, kung pao shrimp, and vegetarian options like general tso’s tofu and home style bean curd. Some chef specialties include steamed whole fish and Beijing duck. Wan Wang also has more contemporary takes on Asian food like spicy Szechuan style dishes and ramen with broth made from 24-hour preparation.

Another special treat from the menu? Japanese hibachi style from the kitchen! Have your choice of seafood or meat broiled with teriyaki sauce and vegetables. This comes with miso soup, house salad with ginger dressing and a bowl of white rice.

Prices can range from appetizers to main entrees, but you can expect to get delicious food for a great price regardless. Most dishes come in around $15 with the chef’s specialties coming in at the priciest, in the $30 range. Worth every penny if you ask me!

Don’t feel like going out? Order online! Wan Wang makes online ordering super easy. For more information, visit www.wanwangrestaurant.com or call 508-365-0068. You can also find them on social media!