Boise restaurant forced to close after 17 years. ‘That’s why I’m so upset’
Quan Cai jokingly suggests there’s a bright side to the impending demise of Lucky Palace Chinese Restaurant.
“This is OK,” he says with a chuckle. “They’re pushing me to retire early.”
But Cai, who owns the South Boise restaurant at 8630 W. Overland Road, clearly is disappointed. Especially about what he feels is an unceremonious ending.
After serving familiar dishes such as Mongolian beef and moo shu pork since 2008, Lucky Palace will close at the end of the day Aug. 28. The reason for shuttering? Cai was not provided an opportunity to renew the lease, he says. “So I have no choice but for me to close it.”
In the past, Cai says, he would receive communication about lease renewal. But, this time, there was “no conversation ... no email, no texts, no warning — nothing. Then it’s just send me a termination notice.”
“They don’t give me the email to remind me, ‘Your contract is almost due by ... you still want to rent this place?’ That’s why I’m so upset about that. I’m renting this place for over 17 years.”
When contacted about the circumstances surrounding Lucky Palace’s exit from the building, property manager TOK Commercial Real Estate responded with a prepared statement.
“At TOK, we take pride in serving our brokerage, property management and maintenance clients,” TOK wrote in an email. “We work hard to manage properties so tenants and businesses have a place to succeed. We don’t provide comment on legal matters between property owners and tenants. Our focus remains on supporting our clients, their properties and the local business community.”
With Lucky Palace gone, regular patrons undoubtedly will miss grabbing Chinese food at a neighborhood staple nestled in a strip mall. The restaurant rated 4.0 out of 5 stars on Google and 3.4 out of 5 on Yelp.
“I enjoy the older feeling of the restaurant,” one Yelp reviewer wrote, “it reminds me of when I was kid. Most places have remodeled and taken out the charm and ambiance of restaurants making them stale. Lucky Palace still has that charm and evokes that feeling of being a kid, with your family, on a Friday night family date.”
Lucky Palace’s closure will follow recent endings for two other Chinese restaurants with lots of history in the Boise area. Golden Wok, 3948 W. Chinden Blvd., shuttered in May. And Mandarin Palace, 5020 W. Franklin Road, went dark in July.
Cai won’t rule out the possibility of reopening elsewhere. But he received the termination notice in May, he says, so there hasn’t been a lot of time.
“It’s too rushed for me to find some place,” Cai says. “Maybe. But not right now.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 2:13 PM.