One of the owners of Wang’s Asian Cuisine, Sam Wang, passed away last week, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his wife and co-owner Crystal Hunng.
According to a Facebook post, published by a family friend, Wang suffered a massive stroke that led to his death.
“Crystal is strongly committed to keeping the restaurant open,” the post read. “Now that [Sam Wang] has died, Crystal will really need the community’s support as she will keep the restaurant going.”
The Wangs opened their restaurant located at 544 Tenney St., with little fanfare in December of last year and offered the community Asian cuisine. The restaurant filled the void as well as the empty retail space left when the owners of the former restaurant, The Great Wall, left town.
Wang came to the United States from Asia in the early 1980s and traveled the country, opening restaurants in places like South Carolina.
When the opportunity presented itself for a business in Kewanee, the Wangs packed up and moved to town.
Upon opening their restaurant, the owners told The Kewanee Voice that they planned to make improvements to the building, which had fallen into disrepair. Wang said that his goal was continuing to make improvements for his customers.
After being open for just about a month, the restaurant was closed down for a brief period by the Henry and Stark County Health Departments. The health department cited multiple violations that needed to be fixed. Late January of this year, the Wangs announced on social media that they had met the health department’s criteria and reopened. At that time, several customers posted to Facebook that they had eaten at the Wangs’ restaurant and gave the restaurant’s food solid reviews.
Hunng is changing the restaurant’s daily hours of operation to Sunday through Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m to 8 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Wednesdays.
In his Facebook post, the friend of the Wangs put out a plea to the community.
“I do not know if you like Chinese food, but if you do, please support her,” the statement read.
