Closure News
Asian restaurant Howard Wang's shutters location in Uptown Dallas
Howard Wang's closed a location after a dozen years.
A Chinese restaurant in Uptown Dallas closed: Howard Wang's Uptown Grill, one in a family-owned chain, closed its location at 3223 Lemmon Ave. #103, with the final day of service on May 21.
The restaurant had been at that location for 12 years.
A note from founder Howard Wang and the Howard Wang's family blamed COVID, stating, "We tried as long as we could but just could not sustain after the pandemic."
The closure is a bit of a surprise, since the chain just opened a location, called Mandarin by Howard Wang, at Hillcrest Village in North Dallas at 6859 Arapaho Rd. in February.
Patriach Howard Wang opened the first Howard Wang's China Grill at 4343 W. Northwest Hwy. in 2005. In 2011, he opened Howard Wang's Uptown, on the street level of the MAA Katy Trail (formerly Post Katy Trail) apartment building.
While the street address is Lemmon Avenue, Howard Wang's was actually not street-facing but was instead off Carlisle Street.
When it opened, it was celebrated as one of the few Asian restaurants in the neighborhood, but worthy competitors like Malai Kitchen and Crushcraft Thai emerged, and business had noticeably dropped off in recent years.
After Uptown, Howard Wang's subsequently opened locations in Southlake in 2013 and at The Star in Frisco in 2018 — both of which have since closed (Southlake in 2021, and Frisco in 2022).
The menu includes dim sum, fried rice, noodles, and more.
More recently, Howard Wang's was being run by Wang's son Jowin Wang, who oversaw significant investments into the virtual space with their "Mandarin To Go" ghost kitchens, including one in Farmers Branch, and two in Dallas, at 921 W. Commerce St. in West Dallas, and at 4321 Live Oak St., both to-go only.
"The Live Oak to-go location was already picking up much of the take-out business from Uptown," a spokesperson for the restaurant said.
