Red Dragon Restaurant, known for its Chinese food, boozy drinks, and loyal regulars is closing Dec. 29.

Through the Wong family, Red Dragon has its origins in Nanking Cafe, a downtown Minneapolis restaurant.

“My dad was the executive chef there for about 20 years,” Tony Wong said as he kept an eye on a bar full of regulars on Thursday afternoon.

Nanking Cafe had a drink called The Wanderer that his dad, Lai Wong, brought over to Red Dragon when he owned the restaurant in the ‘90s. It was renamed The Wondrous Punch, which Racket claims you need only one of to “get sauced.”

Tony’s uncle now owns Reg Dragon, which is closing due to declining in-person business.

“We were jam packed, all three rooms,” Tony said, describing what it was like in the ‘90s through the 2010s. “Then it started slowly declining. Then the pandemic hit.”

Tony said they stayed afloat a little bit longer through their take-out business, outlasting other iconic places in the area like Chino Latino.

“Seeing that ripped my heart out too,” Tony said of the Parosole restaurant group’s two-level restaurant and bar that closed in 2020.

Despite the take-out business, delivery companies like DoorDash have been taking bigger cuts from restaurants like Red Dragon, ranging from 15-20%, Tony said.

“It's killing the industry,” Tony said of the delivery company fees. The rise in carry-out orders, to him, is about customers wanting to save money. “It's tough times, right?”

Red Dragon is known locally for its loyal regulars.

“There are people who have been coming in here for 20 years, like three times a week,” Julie Schroeder, a regular at Red Dragon, said while sitting at the bar on Thursday. “It's a family, and I've never experienced that before.”

Another one of Red Dragon’s regulars, Kevin Kamin (a former sushi chef at Fuji Ya, now Jade Dynasty Restaurant), created a Facebook page for people to post their memories from Red Dragon.  

Tony invites people into Red Dragon for one last drink or meal before the Wong family institution closes.

“If you have a down day,” Wong said, “Then you leave with a smile, that's all that matters to me.”

Red Dragon Restaurant is located at 2116 Lyndale Ave. S. and are open Monday 5 p.m.-midnight, Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-midnight, Saturday noon-2 a.m., Sunday 2 p.m.-midnight.