China Village Delayed in Re-opening

The owner of China Village Restaurant said he’s encountered delays in getting building permits, and now hopes to be open by January. 

Owner John Yao, who earlier predicted he would re-open the restaurant in the fall, said that meeting new environmental and health codes has taken extra time.  But Yao said he expects to get a building permit this month, and Albany city staff confirmed that that seemed likely.

In March, according to the Albany Fire Department, the restaurant was doing a regular cleaning and degreasing in the kitchen when a fire flared up near the deep fat fryer shortly after 11 p.m. The restaurant's "hood and duct" system, which uses a wet chemical to douse flames, put out the fire before firefighters arrived.

The fire caused damage inside China Village, but did not result in real structural damage, according to the Fire Department.

Yao said he is still paying his cooks, and they will return when the restaurant re-opens. The popular restaurant has four out of five stars on Yelp, based nearly 300 reviews.