In the Know: Charlie Chiang’s restaurant closes in Naples

Q: A week ago I phoned Charlie Chiang’s, located on U.S. 41 North. I spoke with a live person, and made a dinner reservation for last night (July 3). We drove up from south Naples, through a driving rainstorm, to find a notice on the door stating that they are now permanently closed. Can you find out what happened?

— Joyce Goodman, Naples

A: Last week’s closing of Charlie Chiang’s in North Naples aptly fits a common Chinese proverb: “There is no never-ending banquet under the sun.” Loosely translated, it demonstrates another centuries-old idiom that basically claims “all good things must come to an end.”

“We had a great run down there but I think a couple of natural disasters and then the economy was slow down there, the changing landscape for Asian restaurants and the seasonality of it all had an effect. It was about time,” said restaurateur Rock Fu, the son-in-law of Charlie Chiang’s founders. “At the end of the day, there was a lot more competition, so many restaurants in Naples fighting for the same share of stomach.”

When Charlie Chiang’s opened its 150-seat restaurant here in December 2005, Charlie and Christiana Chiang had been operating a successful chain of 10 Chinese restaurants and several bistros in the Washington, D.C., area and reportedly turned down offers to expand elsewhere.

Then they discovered Naples and fell in love with the warmth and beauty here. Based in Virginia, the Chiangs bought a second home in North Naples the month before they launched their local restaurant a few miles away.

The modern Asian restaurant had a 12-season run at the DoubleTree Suites off U.S. 41 North overlooking the Cocohatchee River. The upscale business with an urban ambiance was part of the Chiangs’ more than 40-year restaurant dynasty.

In addition to traditional Chinese cuisine for lunch and dinner, the Chiangs offered a sushi lounge and some family originals, a few of the dishes bearing their names. This “tradition with a twist,” as Christiana Chiang likes to call it, included Charlie Chiang's Cream Cheese Crab Wonton appetizer and the Flaming Steak Christiana entree, flambéed tableside with rum.

In February 2017, Charlie Chiang’s was one of local restaurant critic Jean Le Boeuf’s top picks for serious Chinese food in Southwest Florida.

“Everything here is better than what you'd expect from a (rather random) hotel-based Chinese joint. From pork dumplings slathered in a peanut dressing to seafood dumplings in red-chili oil to wonton soup in a soulful broth that surely has curative powers. Favorites include the lemongrass jumbo shrimp served on crunchy vermicelli noodles, and fried whole snapper smothered in a spicy Sichuan sauce. There's lamb and crispy shredded beef, too — so much more than you'd expect,” JLB wrote.

► Halftime recap of local restaurants opening, closing infirst half of 2018

The permanent closing of the 15-year-old Charlie Chiang’s in Centreville, Virginia, on May 15 and the Naples restaurant July 3, leaves only two restaurants in the Chiang empire. The family still owns and operates Ping by Charlie Chiang's in Arlington, Virginia, and Kizuna Ramen & Sushi in Tysons Corner, both in the Washington metropolitan area. The family opened Ping — originally Charlie Chiang’s — 10 years ago, while the Chiangs’ daughter, Jean, and her husband, Rock Fu, opened Kizuna three years ago.

“We are just focusing on operations that have been more successful at this point,” Fu said.

So the Chiangs decided it was time to close their Naples location and posted a short note in the window on the restaurant’s door “to our valued patrons.”

“We apologize for the inconvenience. Charlie Chiang’s Restaurant is closed until further notice. Thank you,” reads the ambiguous note dated July 2.

The next day, the note was changed slightly, announcing to patrons that the restaurant permanently closed.

Although post-season, the closing was sudden without prior notice to customers. A hotel representative could not say if the restaurant informed hotel management about its intentions to close.

“They rented the space from us so they vacated the space. We terminated the lease. So as of right now, the space is just vacant,” said Jennifer Wallace, general manager of the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Naples. “We haven’t yet decided how we are going to proceed with the space.”

DoubleTree does not have a target concept in mind to replace the hotel's on-site restaurant.

“We haven’t made a decision yet,” Wallace said. “There are some internal discussions going on. We’re not sure if we’ll lease the space for another tenant or if the hotel will occupy the space in another way.”

One option is to increase the number of allowable hotel rooms for that 18-year-old property to 110 by converting “the existing high-turnover restaurant to additional 10 hotel rooms and conference space,” according to a DoubleTree Suites application filed last year with the Collier County Growth Management Department. This remains an option but has yet to be greenlighted.

“The hotel has a great reputation for delivering great service so I’m sure whatever concept goes in here will continue that great tradition,” Wallace said.

Charlie Chiang's space at 12200 U.S. 41 N. was used for storage by the hotel before it was renovated for the stylish restaurant and lounge at the western end of the property. Conversations with both parties indicate that the hotel-restaurant relationship had an amicable duration and ending.

“They were wonderful landlords to work with. Probably the best to work with in our entire company’s history,” Fu said about DoubleTree.

The hotel manager echoed Charlie Chiang’s goodwill.

“We had a great partnership with them for well over a decade,” she said. “We wish them nothing but well.”

For the latest in local restaurants coming and going, see Tim Aten’s “In the Know” columns archived at naplesnews.com/intheknow, and on Facebook at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.

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