Lele offers taste of Far East at Uptown

New restaurant features Thai, Vietnamese cuisine

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

If the sound of potstickers, caramelized chicken wings or crispy fried prawns makes your mouth water, you can find them at Lele Thai and Vietnamese Cuisine at Uptown Gig Harbor.

Lele Tan, who opened her restaurant in May, features Far East cuisine next to Galaxy Theatres. She previously ran a Tacoma restaurant for nine years.

“Most of my customers live out here,” Tan said. “They wanted me to have a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant here.”

Tan knew where she wanted to be at an early age.

“When I was little, I dreamed of owning a restaurant,” she said. “I would chop up vegetables and pretend to make noodles. When I told my mom about it, she just laughed.”

After she watched her mother work as the head chef at the East & West Café in Tacoma for eight years, Tan decided it was time to branch out on her own.

Her mother is now the chef at Lele.

“I decided we should do it ourselves,” Tan said. “It’s better to have a family business.”

The restaurant is open for lunch, but so far, most of the business has been from a dinner crowd or from people stopping in for a bite to eat after a movie, Tan said.

The ambiance is relaxing and romantic. Tan did a lot of the decorating herself, with the help of Catch Design Studio.

By the end of the year, Tan plans to extend the restaurant by about 1,300 square feet to include a private VIP room, a piano and a small dance floor. The expansion will add an extra seating area for people to wait if tables are full.

“It will be very romantic,” Tan said. “We will have soft music for a husband and wife, and people will be able to sit and have a drink while waiting for dinner.”

Lele serves beer, wine and mixed drinks, along with favorites like Pad Thai and chicken sate.

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup that Tan said is popular. Lele also serves Banh Xeo, Saigon crepes and Bulgogi, Korean special beef marinated with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, green onions and roasted sesame seeds.

“We also serve salads and desserts,” Tan said. “We listen to people, and they can tell us what they’d like to see on the menu.”

On Halloween, Lele will have plenty of candy for children, and she’ll give out coupons for birthdays.

In the future, Tan wants to offer a happy hour from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and from 9 to 10 p.m. with drink specials and half-price appetizers to attract a before- and after-dinner crowd.

But for now, Tan wants to offer a relaxed atmosphere with great food and service.

“We want people to be happy here,” she said.

Lele restaurant

Lele restaurant is located at 4747 Point Fosdick Drive NW, Suite 200, next to Galaxy Theatres in Uptown Gig Harbor.

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

For more information, call 253-514-6382 or visit www.LeleRestaurant.com.