MGM Grand Loses a Sophisticated Dining Destination Early Next Year

An ornate tribute to Cantonese, Sichuan and Beijing dining will depart the MGM Grand next year, two years after its arrival from Hong Kong.

Closing on Monday, February 3, China Tang sits across from Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House on the resort’s busy pedestrian boulevard.

Only open for dinner five days a week, the wide open design plan left the vacant lounge and dining room empty for almost 19 hours a day, creating an impression the restaurant was shuttered long before the official announcement.

Named after designer and restaurateur Sir David Tang, who died less than six month before China Tang’s debut, the restaurant shouldered the loss of the famed socialite and Hong Kong entrepreneur, a magnet and friend to globe-trotting high end clients MGM expected to attract to the venue.

The 5,484-square-foot space replaced the Cantonese- and Shanghai-influenced menu of Pearl in early 2017, pivoting from its original lofty ambitions and eventually promoting itself as “casual” and “approachable,” dropping initial, exotic menu choices including the $90 “braised supreme bird’s nest” and the $120 “spike sea cucumber with shrimp roe.”

Details of a replacement are scheduled to be announced in “the coming months.”

• All Coverage of China Tang [ELV]