Reception
In 2005, Grant Butler of The Oregonian wrote:"At last, Portland gets a temple to Cantonese cuisine with the arrival of this large Chinese restaurant. From beginning to end, a meal here can be a voyage of discovery. Focus on the menu's page of chef's recommendations, and you see the kitchen's range. Also check out the daily dim sum, with bargain-priced delicacies – and huge crowds on weekends.[32]"
Butler said in 2007:"A bit farther from the city's core, there's terrific dim sum as well as an array of Cantonese delicacies from chef Fu Lai Wong at Wong's King Seafood Restaurant. This is the sort of mammoth restaurant you find in Vancouver, B.C., or Hong Kong. You understand why the dining room is full when the first dishes arrive: Portland has never had cooking quite like this.'[33]"
In 2013, The Oregonian Michael Russell wrote, "The best [steamed BBQ pork buns] I've had in the Portland area... are the ones at Southeast Portland's Wong's King Seafood, with tender barbecued pork in a sweet soy and oyster sauce".[34] The same newspaper's Mike Rogoway said Wong's King was among "Portland's best-known and most-loved restaurants" in 2012.[35] In 2022, Zane Sparling said the restaurant "rewrote the map for Chinese food in Portland".[36] Kathy Baruffi included Wong's King in USA Today 2009 list of 10 "great places to welcome prosperity", as recommended by Martin Yan.[37]
Chinese Restaurant News named Wong's King the third-best Chinese restaurant in the U.S. in 2010. The business was one of ten recipients of the Overall Excellence Award at the magazine's sixth annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the USA Awards, which were presented at The Venetian Las Vegas.[38][39] Clarissa Wei ranked Wong's King number 37 in CNN's 2017 list of the 50 best Chinese restaurants in the U.S. and said:"Wong's is an authentic dim sum joint in an Asian strip mall where you can get the whole carts-piled-with-steamed-buns-and-dumplings experience... Despite the long lines, servers are friendly, the food emotes pure Hong Kong goodness and there's no rushing you out the door, an unfortunate practice in too many popular dim sum places. The pork shu mai and steamed buns are customer favorites.'[40]"
Wong's King was named runner-up in the Best Chinese Restaurant category in Willamette Week annual readers poll in 2007.[41] The newspaper included Wong's King in a 2014 list of "our 100 favorite restaurants in Portland".[42] Drew Tyson included Wong's King in Thrillist's 2014 "guide to Portland's 6 best dim sum spots" and said the business was "probably Portland's most popular Chinese restaurant".[43] The website's Kashann Kilson recommended Wong's King for a "truly authentic dim-sum experience" in 2018.[44] Eater Portland included Wong King's spicy crab in a 2013 list of "the nine must-try Asian dishes on SE 82nd Avenue".[6] In 2022, the same website's Seiji Nanbu and Brooke Jackson-Glidden called Wong's King a "Portland dim sum legend".[45]
