Phoenix’s oldest Chinese restaurant to close after 84 years

After more than eight decades in business, New Garden Restaurant will soon close. The venerable South Phoenix Chinese restaurant is the city’s oldest in operation. It was known for cooking the fusion stir-fry, chop suey.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of New Garden,” a sign on the restaurant’s door reads. A staff member confirmed New Garden will close in the next two weeks, but was unsure of an exact last day of service.

Kam Yee Tse, who went by Mary, founded New Garden Restaurant in 1942, according to The Arizona Republic. The restaurant resides in a brick building painted a rusty terracotta on South Central Avenue and Hadley Street, just south of downtown Phoenix in the Valley’s historic Chinatown. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Rachel Celaya, a South Phoenix resident, visited the restaurant with her grandmother. Celaya learned of the impending closure from her daughter, who saw the news shared on social media. She wanted to visit one last time.

Celaya, 37, has eaten at the restaurant since she was a kid. She remembers her dad taking her there on Friday nights and giving her money to put in the restaurant’s jukebox.

She also mentioned the kindness of the family that has run the restaurant for decades. For many years, the staff knew her takeout order — “beef and broccoli, no onions,” Celaya says — and tucked an extra carton of egg drop soup into the to-go bag.

In the years since, Celaya and her siblings have brought their kids to the restaurant. When they’re all eating together, it’s a group of 15 people. 

“I’m sad,” Celaya says. “There’s a lot of memories here.”

A generational restaurant says goodbye

Over the decades, New Garden became known for its Americanized Cantonese dishes, particularly its massive egg rolls, savory pork noodles and chop suey.  

Tse handed off the restaurant to family members in the 1980s. She died in 2018. Generations of family have continued to run New Garden.

The restaurant went viral two years ago when local food influencer Diane Puro Guanajuato shared a video dining at the restaurant on TikTok and Instagram. The influencer is now also spreading the word about the impending closure. Social media users like Nicolette Bobadilla shared their memories of visiting the restaurant on the influencer’s post.

“Any time we would go the owners would greet us with nothing but warm hot tea and kindness!” she wrote on Facebook, in part. “It’s sad to see it go with so many good memories from so many different families!” 

The reason why New Garden will shutter after so many decades is unclear. Phoenix New Times’ attempts to reach New Garden’s owner have not yet been successful. 

Other area restaurant owners have shared their frustration with the long construction project to expand the light rail along South Central Avenue. That was a challenge for New Garden back when its chef and owner, Run Qun Feng, spoke with the Republic in 2024. The Valley Metro expansion opened in June 2025, six years after construction began.

A wave of institutional Valley restaurants have closed this year. The 30-year-old restaurants Old Tortilla Factory and Cafe Lalibela shuttered in July and September, respectively. The 37-year-old Jewish deli and restaurant Scott’s Generations will close later this month. 

In two weeks, diners will also say goodbye to this 84-year-old Chinese restaurant. 

New Garden

823 S. Central Ave.