Cheng Du a Family Run Restaurant for Over 30 Years in Mansfield

Sonny Tang and his family have been in Mansfield at Cheng Du for over 30 years. He said his family emigrated from Taiwan in the late 70s and worked to open their own business, right in Mansfield.

“My mom and dad emigrated from Taiwan, and rather than work for other companies, they felt it was just a smarter way of bringing the family together,” Tang said. “First my parents came here, and then the whole family immigrated. We had enough people to actually get the business moving.”

Tang said his family brought with them their own dishes and recipes, but modified them as the years went on to better serve their customer base.

“We had to change certain flavors and sauces and so forth,” he said. “Everything has to be modified to the flavor of today.”

He added the dishes were of the Mandarin and Szechuan tradition.

Tang said he originally started working at the restaurant with his parents when he was 12 years old.

“It was kind of a school of hard knocks,” he said. “You were just thrown in the kitchen, starting with dishes, moving on to food preparation, working with the knife, to a busboy, a waiter, you were able to learn and obtain every aspect of the job. There was no Johnson and Wales background.”

Tang said his family now owns and operates three other restaurants, including Westborough, Framingham and Stoughton. In Mansfield, he said the restaurant is very well known for their crab Rangoon.

“If you talk to 100 people that come to Cheng Du, they always say go and try their crab Rangoon,” he said.

Tang said the creative aspect of the business is very gratifying for him.

“We’re trying to constantly reinvent dishes all the time,” he said.

 He said he and his family are working on making their menus more accessible to people who might not otherwise be able to enjoy it. He said right now they are working making 98 percent of the items on their menu gluten-free, which he said is contingent on the new soy sauce they are developing.

“Wheat is gluten, therefore a lot of items cannot be made gluten free,” he said. “All but ten items on the menu will be gluten free. We’re very conscientious of customer needs. I think the gluten free menu idea is going to be very very big. A lot of restaurants are finally catching onto it, but to fully incorporate a 98 percent gluten free menu? I doubt they can do that, let alone create their own soy sauce.”

Cheng Du has received many good reviews from food critics over the years, including the Phantom Gourmet, Boston Magazine, Worcester Magazine and the New Bedford Standard Times.

Tang said a lot of the artists and performers that come to the Comcast Center (and it’s previous nomenclature) have come through to Cheng Du, and they’ve also catered for many of the performers, including Liza Minnelli, Michael Tillson Thomas and the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra.

“We do a lot of after concert prep for the Comcast Center,” he said.

Tang said the business has always been a family affair for him, and they all work hard together to make Cheng Du a success.

“It’s never been “my” restaurant,” he said. “It was always our restaurants even though we’re very independently operated. But to make the statement that it’s my restaurant would be incorrect.”

Cheng Du is located at 249 North Main St. and is open Mon - Thu, 11:30am - 10pm; Fri, 11:30am - 11pm; Sat, noon - 11pm; Sun, noon - 10pm; Buffet hours: Mon - Fri, 11:30am - 2:30pm; Sat, noon - 2:30pm Lunch Specials Mon - Sat, 11:30am - 3pm