Business & Tech

Mansfield Residents Open Peking House in Rockville

A sparkling new Chinese / Japanese Restaurant has replaced the old Big Tang.

Mayor George Apel grabbed the ceremonial big scissors on Thursday and, flanked by Wei Wu Guo and Mu Lan Lin, sliced the red ribbon to officially open a new culinary chapter in town.

The Peking House was in business after its owners transformed the dilapidated former Big Tang property at 176 Union Street into a sparkling new restaurant that features both Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

While reading a mayoral citation commemorating the day, Apel said Vernon was the "crossroads of opportunity," and the statement could not be more true in the case of the Peking House. It is the second restaurant for Wei Wu Guo and Mu Lan Lei, who goes by Linda. They also own a Peking House in Willimantic at 1601 Main St., near the Mansfield line. They reside in Mansfield.

It was just more than a decade ago when the two landed in the United States from China, unable to speak English, unable to find a place to stay and just $900 in their pockets. 

Their journey began in the Chinatown section of New York City, where they worked long hours to save some money. They took what they made and headed to Philadelphia and in 2004, they opened their first restaurant. 

They were in a tough section of the city, and Wu was robbed at knife or gunpoint 11 times. They eventually sold the restaurant in 2007, found their way to Connecticut with their first child, a daughter, and Linda pregnant with their second daughter.  They purchased the Peking House in Willimantic and made it into a success.

They currently have two girls and a boy, and the next expansion was another restaurant.

"We were looking for a new place and we saw this building in Vernon for sale," Linda said. "We looked at it and bought it. There is a lot of traffic going through here and we think we can do well."

One thing for sure, Big Tang's food might have been good, but the place was not the most attractive. That has changed drastically with an inviting  modern dining room and sushi bar area, newly paved parking lot and brighter facade.

The reasonably priced Chinese menu features 86 regular items, seven "delicious" specials, five diet dishes and 32 combination platters ranging from chicken or pork chow mien and General Tsao's Chicken (both $7.95) to Crab Rangoon and chicken teriyaki ($9.25).

Peking House has 19 chef specials like coconut chicken ($9.95) and prawns and beef ($12.95) and 19 Hunan and Szechuan dishes like Kung Po chicken ($9.95) and curry shrimp ($10.95).

The menu also features three pages of sushi and Japanese dishes. Even to a person who traditionally does not eat sushi, the California roll and the spicy tuna roll were tasty.

The crunchy noodles were obviously homemade and tasted as good as any in the area.

The restaurant delivers within a 3-mile radius.

The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here