ITEM PHOTO BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
Rachel Moy, Dina Robles, Rep. Donald Wong, Paul Thach and Tabbitha Bono, from left, at Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — Ordering Chinese food has long been the tradition of New Year’s Eve and Thursday night proved the tradition is here to stay.
Kowloon Restaurant on Route One saw more customers than it does on any other day of the year, said owner and State Rep. Donald Wong.
“New Year’s Eve is the busiest day of the year for our restaurant,” Wong said.
“A lot of people come for takeout too,” he said.
The second busiest day of the year, Wong said, is Mother’s Day.
“If you don’t take mom out for Mother’s Day, you’re getting TV dinners for the rest of the year,” Wong said.
Kowloon Restaurant was started by Wong’s grandparents in 1950, he said. At that time, the restaurant seated a maximum of 24 people. The restaurant was then passed on to his parents in 1960 and later to Wong and his three brothers and two sisters.
“My mother still comes in every Saturday to tell us what we’re doing wrong,” Wong said.
The restaurant has seen a lot of growth with four expansions. It now holds 1,200 seats, all of which were full on New Year’s Eve, he said.
“It was full the whole time,” Wong said. “The turnover was pretty good too. People were going in and out and there was a lot of takeout.”
“New Year’s Eve was very hectic,” said Rachel Moy, who works in the takeout section of the restaurant.
The takeout portion of the existing restaurant was once Kowloon’s in it’s entirety, Wong said.
“One customer said we should have crowd control,” said Tabbitha Bono, who also works in takeout. “There was so much going on, it doesn’t compare to a regular night.”
“The phones were ringing non-stop,” Bono said. “It was amazing. It was really a cool experience.”
The chaos carried on, if only a little, into New Year’s Day.
“We were here last night and took home leftovers but ran out of rice,” said Scott Dalrymple of Everett. “I had to come back for more rice.”
Dalrymple said he arrived at the restaurant at around 5 p.m. and was seated by about 5:40 p.m.
“It was crazy but it was moving quickly,” he said.
“We try to come every year,” he said. “Growing up it’s always been the New Year’s Eve thing.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected].
