An evening at the Green Oaks Chinese Theater in Arlington, some 30 years ago, is still a vivid memory from my childhood. This is based on a true story and (mostly) how I remember it.
Orange Chicken with a side of Golden Fries
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away—or rather, Arlington in the early 1990s—the Sullivan family journeyed to the Green Oaks Chinese Theater for dinner. It was a big group of us, maybe 10-15 people. Aunts, cousins, the whole thing. The group was famished and ready to eat. My brother and I, however, preferred the culinary wonders of the golden arches to the golden woks. We stopped on the way and picked up McDonald’s and intended to smuggle it inside. A standoff ensued, right there in the restaurant’s waiting area. It seems the host wouldn’t allow outside food.
“Hello, how many—oh, I’m sorry, you can’t bring that in here,” said the man in a light gray suit. He pointed to the bags from McDonald’s. “We don’t allow it.”
“What? You’re kidding. But they won’t eat Chinese food. And we’ve got 15 people here.”
This is basically what it looked like—haha!
“I’m sorry—”
“We’ll just leave then. All of us. We’ll go somewhere else.”
A cloud fell over the group. Glances exchanged. Eyebrows raised. Murmurs uttered.
The crinkling of a fast food paper bag broke the silence. The man looked out over the hungry faces and did a quick calculation in his head.
“Just a moment, please.” He sought a nearby employee and they stepped off to the side.
The staff discussing the McDonald’s situation
Also, a screenshot from Seinfeld – “The Chinese Restaurant” (Season 2, Episode 11)
After a conversation in hushed tones and their native tongue, a compromise was reached. The man returned to the host stand and addressed the crowd.
“You can bring in the food,” he said at last, “but you must take it out of the McDonald’s bags. And the wrappers.”
Well, that was that. Anything with the McDonald’s logo had to go. Even the ketchup packets and napkins were banned.
The little cheeseburgers, portions of fries, and cups of sodas were then meticulously transferred to the restaurant’s ornate plates and glasses and placed on a tray. The plastic lids and straws were initially banned, but soon reinstated and placed atop the glasses. Clearly, they feared a soda monsoon at table five. A small bowl, accustomed to the delicacies of authentic soy sauce and ginger, was filled with the emptied ketchup.
The fast food was accompanied by silverware and chopsticks wrapped in their finest cloth napkins. It looked as comical as it sounds. Someone from the restaurant carried the tray to the table for us, possibly to smooth out any hard feelings, or to re-establish law and order. It’s hard to say which. The distinctive aroma of fast food burgers and fries permeated through the dining room, with adults, and especially kids, staring intently.
My brother and I shamelessly ate our precious McDonald’s while the rest of the family ate real food. People gawked. Intently. Some shook their heads in disgust, others in disbelief. We were oblivious and savored every bite.
“I can’t believe they did that,” a woman at a nearby table murmured. “I’m appalled. I mean—the nerve of that family.“
“I’ll be damned,” a man my Dad’s age said under his breath. He looked incredulously at his kids’ plates of Chinese food, hardly touched. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Another woman clutched a piece of orange chicken in her chopsticks. She dropped the chicken in disbelief; it bounced off her plate and landed on the floor with a plop.
Hopefully, after causing such a scene, we tipped well and apologized profusely upon exiting.
Nonetheless, that was our first and last visit to the Green Oaks Chinese Theater, probably much to the restaurant’s relief.
I must add that this place may have been called the “Green Oaks Chinese Cafe”—or something else entirely—but for some reason, I feel like it had ‘theater’ in the name. Perhaps because of the drama that unfolded on that fateful visit.
The closest proof I could find that this place even existed and I didn’t imagine the whole thing was this newspaper ad from 1995. It would have been from about the same time and location, but I still think it was called the Green Oaks Chinese Theater.
Green Oaks Chinese Cafe
Fort Worth Star-Telegram – August 17, 1995
Newspapers.com
Blog post by Jason S. Sullivan, 07-26-25
Jason S. Sullivan 