Post #556229 by donhonyc on Sun, Sep 26, 2010 3:56 PM

I had dinner at Chan's Dragon Inn in Ridgefield, NJ, tonight and there was an alarmingly thin crowd for a Saturday. No barflies whatsoever and only 14 diners between 7:30pm-9:30pm. Its days are clearly numbered. The locals don't go there, which is the problem; the neighborhood is mostly populated with Korean immigrants who prefer to frequent Korean restaurants. There is a sense that the management has given up and is simply coasting; they still have Christmas and Chinese New Year decorations up in the main dining room, and it's Sept. 25.

This place dates back to 1965 and actually has good food and generous drinks at reasonable prices. Duck for $15, anyone? That buys you two meals' worth for the lightweight lady diner. And $7.50 for a fake coconut full of a pina colada type concoction that somehow lasted the whole meal. The decor features bamboo booths, blowfish lamps, mod Lucite-chunk lamps and an impressive giant clam fountain in the lobby. It simply lacks a critical mass of clientele. Location is its doom...the whole area has lots of recent Asian immigrants who simply don't have this kind of restaurant on their radar, and Chan's is hard to reach from even nearby towns. I live in Jersey City, a mere 5 miles away, but it takes about 1/2 an hour to reach Chan's on the old, congested roads. Anyone trying to go there from points north or west will have similar traffic woes. So any regular folks looking for an exotic and fun night out will go somewhere more convenient. Maybe the TC ohana can at least forestall the inevitable by making a special effort to visit this fabulous place before it's too late.

Before you go sounding any alarms I think it may be worth your while to visit Chan's at another time. Since this is your first post and the fact that you just noticed the Christmas decorations, which have been up there for at least the last 7 or so years that I've been going there, my guess is that this is your first visit there (?). Don't misunderstand my tone, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Chan's could be on the endangered species list, but since I've been going there, my last visit less than a year ago, the place is always surprisingly busy. I don't think their business is going to take a nose-dive in that short amount of time. Nonetheless, your posting is a good wake up call to get over there again sooner than later. I've turned on so many non-tiki friends to that place that would hate to see it go as well. If Chan's goes, we always have King Yum in Queens.