For years, Wong's Place in Tempe was by far my favorite Chinese restaurant in the area. So many memories were made there. I had Wong's Place on speed dial, and picked up takeout there at least a couple times a month. It became a tradition to eat at Wong's Place before going to the Phoenix Suns games with my basketball-loving friend from Tucson. She liked it so much, she usually stopped there on her way out of town to pick up food to take home to her husband in Tucson. I brought out-of-town visitors there, and my kids almost always picked "Wong's" when choosing where to have their birthday or other celebratory dinners.
But alas, good things don't always last forever. In 2016, Wong's Place sold out. They changed their name, their menu (no more blue "Chinese menu"), their recipes, and their unique decor. They even installed a tv in the dining room where you can now watch CNN while eating your dinner. It's completely ordinary. The food servers that worked there for 20+ years aren't there anymore. And the food is completely mediocre. We ate there twice just to make sure. Yup, it is no longer the yummiest Chinese food in the area. So sad.
While I still haven't found a new favorite Chinese restaurant, I did discover Smile Lao Thai at Broadway and Rural Road. Like the name suggests, they serve Laotian and Thai food. I've been there a couple times and it's delicious! The nam (pictured above) is super yummy. I think it's chicken salad that you wrap in lettuce leaves. Every bite is the best! We also enjoyed the pad pet which is like a coconut curry with rice. That was delicious too! I need to go back there to try more yummy dishes!
There is another Thai food restaurant at the corner of Elliot and McClintock called Yupha's Thai Kitchen. It's in the same strip mall as the dollar movie theatre (which now costs $3.50). We walked past this restaurant a thousand times going to Flanny's bar and grill either before or after the movie. Finally, I decided to try this Thai food restaurant. It was good! We had the Vegetarian sampler, which included satay tofu, egg rolls and little pillows of fried tofu yumminess. The grilled tofu satay was amazing! We also had the chicken tom kha soup which was absolutely delicious!
So there you have it. We had to say goodbye to a long time favorite, but that opened the door for us to try some new restaurants that were right here the whole time!
