'What's going there?' Lotus Express

The old Broadway Burgers restaurant at Broadway and Jefferson Street, may have looked for awhile like it was doomed to be demolished, but it’s actually undergoing an extreme makeover.

Tien Dang, the owner of Chinese restaurants in Carthage and Pittsburg, Kan., said he plans to open Lotus Express in Webb City by December. “There’s a lot to do” inside and out on the property at 827 W. Broadway.

The restaurant will feature a drive-thru as well as table dining.

That spot, on Route 66, used to be popular especially with high school students before and after school. They were even able to get lunch there.

Mucho Mexico and its popular buffet started there before the new version was built on MacArthur Drive at Oronogo Street. Then the owners sold Mucho Mexico and created Broadway Burgers.

Dang said the property was attractive to him because the cost of land on Madison Street is out of his price range. “We’re just a family restaurant trying to get by,” he said.

Dang said he is actually moving his Lotus Express restaurant from Pittsburg, Kan., to Webb City, now that his lease contract there has expired.

For the past five years, while he has been operating the Pittsburg location, his wife has been running their China Taste restaurant in Carthage. 

“I’m coming home to Missouri,” Dang said.