King Yum in Flushing, NY

King Yum was a classic example of the style of Chinese-meets-Polynesian Pop restaurants that have peppered the U.S. Northeast for decades. It was opened in 1953 by the Eng family, and was still run by the Eng family today until its closure in August 2016.

The entrance had a rock wall waterfall, and there were tiki poles and tiki masks throughout the restaurant... painted in unfortunate primary colors. The restaurant had broad A-frame details over the dining room, and bamboo was used heavily. There were an awful lot of white on the walls and ceiling, though. Lamps were old classics from Orchids of Hawaii. There was a second dining room with more traditional Chinese decoration rather than Polynesian. The exterior of the building had no Polynesian influence, but did have a beautiful green tile roof.

The food was good old American Chinese, and a number of tropical drinks were served, some in tiki mugs or coconuts.

Comments

donwestchester

August 24, 2016, 9:01 AM

I called restaurant today(Aug 24 2016) and was told restaurant will be closing this Sunday, Aug 28 2016. Bummer.

NYC Tiki

January 25, 2015, 6:23 PM

So I made it to King Yum this past weekend. I went for the Friday Karaoke night, which was an interesting mix of Queens and Long Island locals. I could see some of the original tiki decor in the cool bar thatched roof, tikis, waterfall and bamboo seating areas and chairs. I wish they had kept more of the original tiki charm. But the drinks page did not disappoint. they had all the tradition favorites up front and each was served in a unique tiki glass. I had the Coco Loco and their King Yum special, both fun tiki drinks. I sang my fair share of Karaoke and then went off into the night. I would say if you are a tiki fanatic, then definitely worth coming to see King Yum. There are better, more original Tiki joints in New Jersey, but for an NYC spot with Karaoke, this still is on the list. I will give it 5 out of 10.

eli

eli has visited King Yum.

July 10, 2012, 3:08 PM

This place has some really nice decor but could benefit greatly by dimming the lights. Also I would recommend calling ahead first to check if there's Karaoke (there was on Saturday night) because if you're in the mood for a romantic cocktail with that special someone the addition of a huge man in cargo shorts screaming along to Bell Biv Devoe could interfere with your plans.

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