King Fong Cafe

Temporarily closed until June per OWH.

This is the best Chinese restaurant in Omaha for sure. The place is old but has lots of charm. This family has been in business in Omaha for decades and does Chinese food right. The lunch specials are prices perfectly.

This place is totally unique– it has been the same forever, according to my parents, the food is always good, and the authenticity can’t be argued.
They are cash only, so be warned! They do have many signs to warn you as you enter, so it’s reasonable. The food is so good it’s worth it! The lunch specials are very generous & cheap! Don’t miss this place.
They do tend to go a little light on the protein in the lunch special, thus the 4 star, but the flavor is good & I’m still very full.

My husband and I would eat at King Fong at least once a week while dating over 25 years ago and loved the food. So since I was visiting Omaha and happened to be downtown I decided to place an order to go. First I was surprised and disappointed that they only accepted cash. Because I only had a limited amount of cash on me I ordered shrimp fried rice. The rice was hard and rubbery it tasted old. And after dishing up two servings there were ony two pieces of shrimp on each plate. Yes, i said pieces, the shrimp were cut in half. I will not be going back.

King Fong’s opened 95 years ago… yes, 95, as in almost 100 years ago in 1920. This is an absolutely wonderful place to eat, and my absolute favorite spot when it comes to Chinese food. Come back in time with me, and I will do my best to paint and project a mental picture that does this establishment justice in my review.
The Place:
Brass-​trimmed doors give way to a single staircase that leads up to the restaurant. As you reach the top step you realize you have been magically transported back in time to the days of the roaring 20’s. Nothing here has changed since the days of Al Capone, prohibition, and the initial proliferation of the automobile. As you read the menu, you briefly wonder if there was ever a speakeasy underneath this place, and then your thoughts turn back to the room where you sit… You think about all of the romantic dinners, birthday parties, and wedding receptions that must have taken place here over the span of 95 years. You think of all of the people who have eaten at your exact spot at this table, and you realize you are part of history at this moment. You are not visiting a museum or reading a book about this place… you are here, just like all of those before you, and it is humbling.
Your eyes make contact with one of several huge, strikingly ornate, authentic chandeliers, all depicting a dragon guarding a beautiful castle. Looking toward the back of the room, you view the handcrafted partial partitions that hang down from the ceiling like leaves on a tree, slightly outlining a small tea room area. As you sit, your eyes feast upon the heavy, wooden tables featuring inlaid mother of pearl decorating the entire perimeter.
Now, make no mistake, this is not a trendy, shiny, or contemporary motif in any way. However, those who would dismiss this place as just «old», because there is no neon backlit sushi bar and no high definition TV, are missing the point. Nearly everything around you is ORIGINAL from 1920. These are things we never see anywhere else, and it all sets the tone for the magnificent meal that is surely to follow.
The People:
The original family that owned King Fong’s had the place for over 50 years. The current owning family has operated this restaurant with the same people for over 40 years– now that is consistency. The friendly greeting from the gentleman at the front, and fantastic service from the ladies who handle the tables creates an atmosphere more like eating at a friend’s home than at a restaurant. They always get the order right, and you can tell that they truly care about the business and the customers.
The Food:
Unlike anything else in Omaha, this food is (at least what we order) is distinctly Cantonese. Plump, fluffy Crab Rangoon is served with an amazing family recipe of Sweet & Sour Sauce. The Egg Foo Young is a large patty of scrambled eggs mixed with vegetables, sort of the Chinese version of an omelet, and it is topped off with a flavorful, brown gravy. For our main course, we get the Chicken Chow Mein most of the time. This is a dish of chicken, pea pods, sprouts, water chestnuts, celery, and almonds in a light, white sauce.
Now, when I say «chicken», I am not talking about the rubbery substance that we all hope is chicken, found in many Chinese restaurants. No, we are talking about all white meat strips of perfectly cooked chicken that is complimented perfectly by the accompanying vegetables and sauce, and served steaming hot on a bed of crunchy, Chow Mein noodles.
The urban legend of being hungry again one hour after eating Chinese food is shattered as the enormous portions are delivered to your table, complete with the traditional, metal lids to keep your food hot. The flavors all marry very well as you attempt to make your way through the feast, while wondering how many people, over how many years have enjoyed this same exact recipe in this same place.
The check comes with a fortune cookie for each diner (as if you have room to eat any more), and you pay the relatively small bill at the front, making sure to leave a great tip for the excellent service.

Have been loving this place since i was a kid. I don’t mind that nothing about it has changed. Depending on what you order the food is unique and can’t be found anywhere else in Omaha. The fried rice is the BEST outside of Chinatown in San Fran. If you go during lunchtime, the specials are delicious and filling. Order the #2, you can’t go wrong! Just don’t forget your cash! They don’t accept credit cards.

I don’t understand the justification for this place to still exist: it is located in a building under construction for the last year or so, the food is straight up bad even for cheap Chinese food standard, they have competition next door with Panda house who is filled with customers during lunch time unlike the deserted King Fong (good that the place is clean cause I would definitely hear the crickets). I get that the unchanged décor for the last 100 years is appealing but not when you serve uncle ben’s microwaveable rice, frozen bland breaded chicken thrown in sea of brown sauce and called that sesame chicken (I think my chicken was microwaved too).

My party of 4 waited 20 minutes to get our food. The food was luke warm. There is like no meat to any of the dishes; half rice and quarter vegetables. The décor hasn’t changed from the 1920s. The place is clean but looks dated. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it.

I hadn’t been here for a while and decided to stop in tonight. The food was better than I remember. The triple delight was really good. The portions were very generous. The décor could use some updating while keeping the great old chinese elements. I wish they would do dim sum. This would be a great place for dim sum carts.

may Fong’s never close. you can imagine you’re going back to 1920’s Hong Kong when you walk in there. yeah this place has seen better days and could use some cleaning up, but still, people should appreciate it for it’s good food and historical significance. once places like this are gone you lose part of the character of your city.

I hate to give this place such a bad rating because the service was good, they were very nice But that didn’t compensate for the bad food. Other than some cool old lighting fixtures there isn’t really any reason to visit this place.
I got the hot & sour soup, it was to thick and didn’t taste good.
The veggie chow main was worse. No flavor. The sauce was a weird texture. The chow main was soggy. The veggies were few and far between, just lots of celery.
The fortune cookie was the only safe bet.

They don’t even deserve the one star. Order shrimp fried rice and there was literally one shrimp in the whole carton. Not that I ever plan to go back but you should know that they ONLY accept CASH

This is undoubtedly the worst restaurant I’ve seen in Omaha. I’ll admit, the décor inside is beautiful even though it’s in sore need of rennovation. But the food is just bad. Just… bad. Absolutely no effort went into it. The beef chow mein was a gloopy, MSG-​laden mess composed almost entirely of celery. What little beef there was was chewy and tasteless. The chicken and broccoli was coated in a sauce that looked and tasted like the sort of gravy you’d put on mashed potatoes. The food was so bad that my girlfriend and I walked out, leaving our dishes three quarters uneaten.
Also, there’s a sign on the door going in that says «no checks, no credit cards». That doesn’t imply no debit cards, so I was a little miffed at finding out it’s cash only. I wonder how many people have gotten in an awkward situation thinking that a debit card would work.
Under no circumstances should you ever eat at King Fong, period. It’s gross and they don’t seem to care about the food, even if they once did.

I’m a big fan of King Fong’s. This restaurant has been in the same location for almost 100 years. Few restaurants have décor like this. Carved chandeliers, silk tapestries, and lot more beautiful pieces. This is not the place to go to get your typical breaded, fried Chinese you find a lot of other restaurants. As other reviewers have said, it is not true authentic Chinese, but early attempts to bring Chinese cuisine to American palates. The sweet and sour sauce and mustard are the real stuff and not the cheap imitations you find in a lot of other places. Crab Rangoon has actual crab in it. The lunch special is a great deal, easily enough food for 2 – 3 meals for $ 6. CASH ONLY.

They don’t make them like this anymore. This Chinese restaurant has been here since 1920 in the glory days of art deco design. While this restaurant looks to be in it’s twilight it was an honor to step into this time capsule replete with chinoiserie flair. The massive intricately carved wooden frames and even more intricately crafted dragon lantern light fixtures with gold accents are works of art that belong in a museum. The tables are all antiques now. Marble set in wood with mother of pearl inlay still clinging on for dear life in places.
You won’t find your Chinese comfort food favorites here such as heavily breaded general tso and sweet and sour pork. I have never had authentic Chinese food before and not sure if this was it though it certainly tasted less Americanized.
It is cash only and a very fair price for what you get.
This was a great discovery and I will definitely return for lunch.

Went to King Fong after finally getting the crew to go. I personally found the décor of King Fong appealing in its nearly 100 year splendor. In an age where restaurants are often merely the same copy over and over, the uniqueness of King Fong was refreshing. The décor (at least to me) was part retro 1920s Americana and part Tang Dynasty. The cash only policy was also a endearing throwback which I had not anticipated and just happened to have Mr. Jackson in my wallet.
When ordering at a Chinese restaurant for the first time I always order egg drop soup and green pepper steak as a benchmark. The green tea was quite delicious. The egg drop soup, while tasty, was a bit tepid. On the other hand, the green pepper steak was a pleasant surprise. The green peppers seemed exceptionally fresh, and the meat was flavorful. The kind lady brought out the dish on a covered plate that was a nice touch. The tables were old and worn, which I though gave them character.
I am not completely objective here as I try to find local institutions to frequent and avoid instances of the ubiquitous restaurant chains.

Went here with co-​workers and they raved about it. Normally I trust them, but…
First, it’s on a kind of dingy, scary street with boarded up places, so I don’t think I’d go on my own at night.
It’s got a lot of cheesy charm to it — it’s up a flight of stairs and has all this old Chinese décor in it. It seems to have a history.
With history comes the hazards of old buildings – it was FREEZING in there. We all ordered tea just to warm our hands. I don’t know about you, Unilocalers, but I can’t enjoy a meal if my teeth are chattering. So, minus a star right there.
We were seated quickly and got our food quickly.
The waitress waiting on us seemed a little sloppy with the tea; as she was refilling, she spilled it on the table and stuff. Come on, I know the tea cups are small, but can you look at what you are doing?
And, that messiness gets me to the next point. I ordered the lunch special – minus the chicken. And, what was delivered to me was a piling high plate of goodness knows what. There was rice, egg foo young and something else. But, they were allonthesameplatepiledsohighthatalotofitfelloffwhe­nItriedtoeatit. Yes, that word is hard to read, and the food was hard to eat. So, I was aggravated by that, and honestly, as it cooled, it became a kind of slimy mess. I could have gotten similar quality food at the mall Chinese place – the food would have been served in neat little SEPARATE compartments on a plate.
I might have given it one star, if it didn’t have the cutesy charm, but I doubt I’ll go here again.
And, it’s cash only, folks!

I will definitely try it again to see if I like a different dish better, but this place was just average my first time there.
They had a lunch special for for chicken chow-​mein, which isn’t my typical order at a chinese restaurant, but I decided to switch things up this time. It also helped that the typical meals were like $ 11, which made the $ 8 special seem like a good deal.
Overall, the food ended up being over-​priced mediocre food.
The building was very cool though. Before going in, I knew nothing about the place, but the building is super old and very neat on the inside.
Also, it is cash only. I do not have cash on me 99% of the time and I went with a group that is the same way. When we went to pay, luckily, I had enough cash to cover all of us, but if it hadn’t been that freak occasion where we have cash, it would have been much more frustrating.

This is a great long standing place. The ingredients in the dishes are fresh and home made. In my opinion some of the best eggrolls in the country. Home made sweet and sour sauce is wonderful. The fried rice is wonderful and they have the best egg fu young around. It is not a fast in and out place. If you are looking for something fast you need to go to a chain or a place that has the food already made waiting for you to order it. I for one can not wait to go back again

I’ve heard about this place for years but haven’t had the chance to stop in, primarily because the reviews I’ve heard have been über-​mixed. A friend and I had tickets to a show at the Orpheum and she wanted to have pre-​show din at King Fong. How could I say no? Her first taste of Chinese food was 40 years ago at King Fong, so what better way to celebrate this anniversary of her foray into non-​Nebraska cuisine?!
The worn down, beat up yellow sign out front (LOVE) indicates its location and a steep stairway takes you to the restaurant. It’s all the glory that I imagined. Ornate Chinese furniture and décor that was once glamorous and spectacular worn down by generations of customers sharing Americanized Chinese food. According to my dining companion, for all of the years she’s been coming to King Fong she has never, NEVER seen anyone else other than the male host and the two waitresses (who appear to be sisters).
I had some difficulty deciding what to order and we finally settled on an order of crab rangoon, chicken and broccoli, and shrimp chow mein. I am the first to admit that the food is less than spectacular, but if you’re food obsessed like I am and have read books like the «Fortune Cookie Chronicles» or «Bento Box in the Heartland» or have invited your childhood white friends over to your house for dinner and your mama is Asian, you get what these places are about — restaurants that introduced adapted Asian food to the American palate. So, for food, I give one star. For history, décor and expanding the palate of the folks in Nebraska, I’m giving two more. Dinner for two, $ 25, cash only.