Kansas City’s Bo Lings restaurant planning new ‘express’ operation with pickup window

Bo Lings Chinese Restaurant, a staple in the metro for nearly four decades, is planning a new location.

But the new Merriam restaurant, at 12070 W. 75th St., would have a limited menu and is tentatively called Bo Lings Express. It would have about 35 seats indoors and a drive-thru pickup window for preorders only.

“People now want to get in and out quickly,” said founder Richard Ng.

The preliminary development plan will be presented at a public meeting of Merriam’s planning commission on Dec. 2. If all goes as planned, it would open in March, Bo Lings’ 40th anniversary.

Ng and his wife, Theresa, were teenagers when they started working at the Dragon Inn restaurant. They later married and set out to open a fine dining restaurant serving high-quality Chinese cuisine.

Now in its second generation, Bo Lings has locations in the Country Club Plaza area, the City Market, Lenexa, Zona Rosa in the Northland, and two in Overland Park.

This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 10:36 AM.