Biz Profile: Yangming
How do you become the #1 Chinese Restaurant in America? On the cusp of their twentieth anniversary, we sat down with Michael Wei, owner of Bryn Mawr’s beloved Yangming Restaurant to discuss how his Main Line restaurant rose to the top of the list and the 3 key pieces of advice he would give to any business owner:
1. “Stay true to your core beliefs. Don’t deviate, dilute, or dissipate them, no matter what.”
2. “Make your key employees your partners.”
3. “Always connect to, participate in and donate to your community.”
Chinese Restaurant News selected Yangming to receive this prestigious honor in part for their philosophy, to pursue the highest standard of culinary art and innovation. Drawing upon the essence of various cuisines in order to construct a fusion that appeals to both Western and traditional tastes, diners are routinely rewarded for their choices with healthy dishes that many times use local and organic produce prepared with little oil, salt, sugar and never MSG.
For nearly 2 decades Yangming has thrived in the Main Line’s ultra-competitive dining scene by offering a truly memorable experience to their customers. The staff is trained with two simple rules in mind:
1. The customer is always right.
2. If you found the customer wrong, go back to No. 1.
Accolades have been well earned and plentiful for Yangming. Both in 2007 and 2009 they were ranked as one of America’s Ten Great Chinese Restaurants by USA Today and they have also won the Best of Philly-Chinese (2008) award from Philadelphia Magazine. And the honors do not stop there; in addition to a host of other awards, they have been selected twice to prepare a banquet at the celebrated James Beard House in New York City.
Yangming is located in a historic two-story building that covers 13,000 square feet of dining space with four types of accommodations: three dining rooms, two VIP rooms, a stylish and inviting bar and a party room on the 2nd floor that can hold up to 200 people. It is in this party room that Wei takes to heart his 3rd piece of advice and plays host to a number of fundraising banquets where part of the proceeds are donated to local charities such as the Ronald McDonald House, the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, Philly Meals on Wheels, the Diabetes Research Foundation and the Fight Against Childhood Hunger Foundation, to name a few.
Yangming
Conestoga and Haverford Roads
1051 Conestoga Road
Bryn Mawr PA, 19010
610.527.3200
Lunch:
Mon-Sat 11:30-3
Dinner:
Mon-Thu 3-10pm
Fri-Sat: 3-11pm
Sun: 2-10pm
