East Dallas shopping center Casa Linda Plaza has scored an exciting new Asian restaurant: Called MiYa, it will open at 9450 Garland Rd. #383, in the former Pei Wei, which closed in December 2023 after a decade.

MiYa is from food & beverage pro David Romano, whose previous ventures include Wok Star Chinese, which debuted at The Hill shopping center in 2021; and Sum Dang Good Chinese, which he helped his uncle Phil Romano open at Trinity Groves in 2020. Romano also served as president of Local Favorites, the hospitality company that owns chains such as El Fenix, Snuffers, and Meso Maya.

MiYa represents the next rung on his Asian restaurant journey, with a discerning eye for authenticity. Romano says he plans to have it open in the fall.

"This is going to be a step up from anything I've done," he says. "It'll have staple Chinese dishes like kung pao chicken and Mongolian beef — everything you'd get at a Chinese restaurant — but with a respectful attitude towards the cuisine that includes chefs from China in the kitchen."

The menu will feature Peking duck, the Chinese classic, as well as dim sum, a tradition in which many small dishes are served at brunch, sometimes on push carts.

"We'll be doing a heavier focus on dim sum with items like siu mai steamed dumplings," he says. "If you want to be an authentic Chinese restaurant, you've got to have the dishes."

His quest for authenticity does not stop at the menu.

"Instead of getting furnishings from the U.S., we bought our cooking equipment, chairs, and tables, in China," he says. "The light fixtures, our uniforms, our to-go bags, chopsticks, our host stand, everything that didn't have to be built in the U.S. is literally on a slow boat from China."

Interior of MiYa, opening in East Dallas in the fall. Rendering courtesy of Coeval

Interior design will feature fabulous furnishings like floral wallpaper and statement light fixtures, with no expense spared.

"Creating Sum Dang Good was like buying my first house out of college — comfortable but I didn’t want to live in for the rest of my life. Wok Star is a concept that was a nice home to raise my family and served a great purpose, but MiYa is the house I always wanted to build," he says.

There'll be a full bar, as well as a small physical bar inside the restaurant that seats about six. Plus a separate door for to-go orders, so essential at Chinese restaurants. He's also adding a major patio presence, which the 3,300-square-foot space did not have previously.

"We're putting in a patio that's about 800 square feet of outdoor dining on the side of the property that faces the rest of the center," he says. "It will be conditioned so that people can enjoy it year-round."

MiYa is going into the southeast corner of Casa Linda Plaza, joining restaurants such as the similar-sounding Maya's Modern Mediterranean; Chili's; and a new place not yet open called Be Home Soon. On neighborhood pages, Casa Linda residents are still lamenting the loss of Pei Wei even while simultaneously noting the inexorable decline of that location, which was owned by someone from out of state.

Romano says he feels lucky to have procured the space, which was sought after by numerous national chains. And his desire to do Chinese food also meshed with the feedback from the community.

"I always try to do things based on what the community needs," Romano says. "I could do Italian, I'm Italian, but everybody wants Chinese and if you do it right and treat people well, you get a loyal following. And I feel like you're not going to see another Chinese restaurant like this in Dallas."