Ho Toy Luau Restaurant, Worcester, MA (restaurant)

Name:Ho Toy Luau Restaurant
Type:restaurant
Street:401 Park Avenue
City:Worcester
State:MA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:754-4929
Status:operational

Description:
The building looks pretty large from the outside however once inside it's pretty small. Bar to the right no tiki in sight. On the left hand side is a nice little pond with Koi. Up stairs there were two rooms only one was lit. Not much to tell not very Tiki & not very big. You can tell it's an older place by the architechture and the general feel of the place. Not in too bad shape overall

I didn't actually eat or drink in the place I did take a few pictures to show everyone. I also tried to buy one of the few remaining vintage tiki mugs in the place with no luck. They do advertise on their take out menu that they have Cocktail and Polynesian drinks but the bartender was pretty young so I'm not sure if he would have known what a Mai Tai was or how to mix one. So here it is...

Sign.

You can't really see the color's but it's rock, pink stucco & turquoise
blue with a real tile mosaic.

beautiful door that looks almost hand carved.

Yay a Tiki... Kinda of sad & all alone, I would have taken him home but
someone might have noticed.

Witco? Tiki. One on each side.

Oops.. which one is Upside down?

Couple of other things... Some shields that I couldn't photograph & a back room that was dark. Bar was completely devoid of Tiki but did have a local drinker in it!

Can't comment on the food or drinks but it was fun being an Urban Archaeologist today.

Thanks for posting. I spent many a night in there with my parents back in the late seventies. It was a bit more Tiki back then, but it looks like they haven't changed too much. I think that place is the reason for my Tiki obsession. I'm pretty sure they used to pipe in Martin Denny music, or something very simlar which made the atmosphere really exotic as an impressionable kid.

Posted this a while ago. Has anyone else been in there? Seemed like it must have been a cool place in it's time.

Tikisgrl

Thanks for posting and bumping this Tikisgrl, I have in-laws in Worcester, so now I have somewhere to go when visiting!

If you grew up in Worcester County the Ho Toy is a synonym for nasty Chinese food. Honestly, I don't think I could be drunk enough to eat there again. Just up the street on Park Ave. was the Wind Tiki. That place was a real tiki palace. Now it's Japanses food.

Good thing I didn't eat there then. Probably should have taken the tiki statue when I was there? Maybe that's why he's holding his belly & sticking out his tongue because the food was awful?

Tikisgrl

[ Edited by: Tikisgrl 2007-01-27 13:39 ]

I used to work in Worcester so I ate lunch there a couple times. I don't remember the food being terrible but it was nothing special. One time I ordered food to go but decided instead to stay and when I told the old dude at the counter he sneered "You change mind faster then 15 year old girl!"

BTW, I'm a 34 year old man!

I hope the ol' Ho-Toy Luau never closes.

I rarely ever go there, but I'd rather see it there on the corner next to the gas station than another G-damned Starbucks or Quiznos!

It's in a somewhat notorious section of Worcester (or Wormtown; as we local & way-cool musician guys call it) and at night it is the bastion of too-drunk last-callers and beery college knuckleheads.

Food is OK (when it's 1:00AM - and it's that or Wendy's or nothing) -- standard Pu-Pu fare, but the Crab Rangoons taste like they are made with American Cheese; not cream cheese. Ugh!

The Ho-Toy's owner is an affable elf of a fellow and consummate wiseguy host.
When I ordered food over the phone one night and gave my name: "McCarthy" he quickly asked me if I was related to "Joe McCarthy" (the 1950's Communist-hating witch-hunter). I chuckled, "not that I know of" and he sighed in mock relief, then told me "When I came over here (USA) you people held me up for fifteen-minutes! I could have done so much more with my life!"
A real character. It's worth going once just to meet him.

A couple of years ago, his son apparently re-invented the wheel, or something at M.I.T. and he (the owner) will proudly point out the newspaper clippings on the wall behind the cash register while you wait for your Chicago-style Beef Chow Mein, Egg Fu Yung, and Pork Fried Rice.

I have an old Worcester phone book from the 1960's that has an ad/listing for the Ho-Toy in the business section. It shows the current owner (in his younger days) with a bespectacled "Ken Chin"
I have to assume he was a partner at one time, then went out on his own to open "Ken Chin's" (up Park Ave West and down Mill Street -- never been there - looks crummy and tiki-less)

I wonder what caused the schism between these two fine Chinamen?

[ Edited by: Lapu-Lapu 2007-11-04 23:30 ]

[ Edited by: Lapu-Lapu 2007-11-04 23:34 ]

[ Edited by: Lapu-Lapu 2007-11-04 23:36 ]

Bad blood.

Ken Chin passed away this year. Ken Chin's used to be real Polynesian paradise and was formerly the Speedway Club. Did you know the Ho Toy used to be where the Ding Ho is now? Johnny Ng has been running that since 1965. Those three spots are the last left in Worcester from the old days.

Stumbled upon this place Today!

Those Tikis are still there, and I ordered Beef Teriyaki on a stick and Crab Rangoon to go, I liked'em.

Oddly enough, I was in Worcester on my way home from the Brimfield Antique Show, mainly because Bargoyle told me that the Big Y Supermarket carried the steak and cheese frozen Rangoon I had at his house. I was lost in Worcester, searching for a Big Y, saw this place, and ran in to see it, and get food for the road.

Woman behind the counter and I had a nice conversation about the Tiki Revival, and told me that they got that Tiki in New York 40 years ago. Then I asked her about a Big Y, and it was only a block away!

There is also some nice bamboo work here and there, above door ways and behind those nice masks.

Hello everyone! My name is Dan, and I recently went on a road trip through Massachusetts.
Starting in Framingham, I took route 9 all the way up to Amherst, and I was amazed at the sites I saw along the way. Being much too young to remember the sites from my youth , and normally taking the Mass Pike I was excited to take the scenic route this time. I am an amateur Tiki enthusiast, and today I discovered the Tiki Central forum. I am 24 years old and I enjoy spending late nights in seedy after hours Chinese/Polynesian Tiki lounges or restaurants;I always have.
When driving through a part of Worcester I had forgotten existed I had to slam my foot on the breaks and pull over immediately. The infamous HO TOY LUAU caught my attention. I immediately made my younger brother take photos of me in front of it. Here they are.

After the photos were taken, and the thrill of seeing such an amazing relic from the past we got back in the car and began to drive away, deep in discussion about the possible history of the place.
Then it hit me. I was hungry, my brother was hungry...so we did an illegal UT-URN and zipped around to the rear parking(as advertised)
An enormous foreboding wooden carved door marked the entrance, and we were greeted by an excited young girl who brought us to our table.
I ordered Hot and Sour Soup and Egg Foo Young (don't ask)
and my brother ordered the Jordan Chicken Combo.
Ugh. Both meals were barely edible.
While we ate our meal, a stereotypical drunken middle aged couple came in and ordered PUPU platter, and gave the Waitress a rash of crap and bad attitude. They seemed to be worried that she would not understand English. I chuckled while my brother fumed(we both work in restaurants and hate rude customers). As we contemplated the terrible food we were hit with a barrage of cliched typical new England redneck banter. The man claimed he heard the place was infested with Rats and Mice. While the woman marveled at their meal of "eastern flavor"
anyways I thought id share this story. MORE TO COME !!!

Hello everyone! My name is Dan, and I recently went on a road trip through Massachusetts.
Starting in Framingham, I took route 9 all the way up to Amherst, and I was amazed at the sites I saw along the way. Being much too young to remember the sites from my youth , and normally taking the Mass Pike I was excited to take the scenic route this time. I am an amateur Tiki enthusiast, and today I discovered the Tiki Central forum. I am 24 years old and I enjoy spending late nights in seedy after hours Chinese/Polynesian Tiki lounges or restaurants;I always have.
When driving through a part of Worcester I had forgotten existed I had to slam my foot on the breaks and pull over immediately. The infamous HO TOY LUAU caught my attention. I immediately made my younger brother take photos of me in front of it. Here they are.

After the photos were taken, and the thrill of seeing such an amazing relic from the past we got back in the car and began to drive away, deep in discussion about the possible history of the place.
Then it hit me. I was hungry, my brother was hungry...so we did an illegal UT-URN and zipped around to the rear parking(as advertised)
An enormous foreboding wooden carved door marked the entrance, and we were greeted by an excited young girl who brought us to our table.
I ordered Hot and Sour Soup and Egg Foo Young (don't ask)
and my brother ordered the Jordan Chicken Combo.
Ugh. Both meals were barely edible.
While we ate our meal, a stereotypical drunken middle aged couple came in and ordered PUPU platter, and gave the Waitress a rash of crap and bad attitude. They seemed to be worried that she would not understand English. I chuckled while my brother fumed(we both work in restaurants and hate rude customers). As we contemplated the terrible food we were hit with a barrage of cliched typical new England redneck banter. The man claimed he heard the place was infested with Rats and Mice. While the woman marveled at their meal of "eastern flavor"
anyways I thought id share this story. MORE TO COME !!!

Dude! Don't go there after dark!

Hahah!! i take that warning with sincere appreciation.

I went to Worcester State College in the early 80's & there was always any number of seedy characters inside & outside that place. The food has never been very good, but, back then, they didn't check anybody's ID. Guess where us the underage college kids went? It actually should be alot safer now. It's been a good 10 years since the last murder outside the place & they recently restored the nearby Hanover Theatre with mucho cash & alot of hoopla. I'm sure the city has taken steps to make the area safe. That said, I'm sure the food still stinks!

Actually, the Hanover Theater is no where near the Ho-Toy.
Coincidentally, it IS near the Ding-Ho (practically adjacent) and the Ding-Ho WAS The Ho-Toy forty-odd years ago.

But I get the reference: Worcester possibly investing more in the police patrols to keep crime down in an effort to get out-of-towners to the new theater un-robbed and un-murdered.

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2015-01-05 14:33 ]