A new chapter has begun at 3901 Forbes Ave. Wok Hei Asian Kitchen, a restaurant blending American-Chinese comfort food with Cantonese specialties, is opening this week in the storied building that for six decades housed the Original Hot Dog Shop, the Oakland institution generations of Pitt students knew simply as "The O."
The restaurant is targeting a soft opening as early as this week, with a grand opening set for Aug. 24 — the first day of the University of Pittsburgh's fall semester, when tens of thousands of students return to the neighborhood that has anchored Wok Hei's owners for a decade and a half. Wok Hei moves into the space just three months after Viva Los Tacos, the building's previous tenant, closed following a four-year run. Before that came The O, which opened across the street from Forbes Field during the Pirates' 1960 World Series season and went on to earn a spot on Gourmet magazine's list of the nation's best hot dogs before closing in 2020.
The new occupant is not an outside chain testing the market. Owner Lailanie Chen and her husband, Wei Fei Chen, have been building restaurants in Oakland for about 15 years, starting with a Cuban food franchise on Atwood Street that eventually became Hunan Bar, and later running Tenders on Oakland Avenue. Today the couple also operates Revolution Noodle and Hunan Express on Carnegie Mellon University's campus, where their build-your-own noodle bowls, simmered from housemade broth for 12 hours, became a student favorite. That same bowl now anchors the Wok Hei menu at $12.99, alongside American-Chinese staples like General Tso's chicken and teriyaki chicken, and Cantonese dishes such as mapo tofu and steamed pork ribs in black bean sauce.
"It's been a really long time coming. But we've had a lot of support from the student community and the senior community. They love our food, they keep coming back, and hopefully we'll get the same support here as well."
Lailanie Chen, Owner, Wok Hei Asian Kitchen
Chen credits Pittsburgh-based Mero Restaurant Group, which operates Melt'd next door along with Stack'd Burgers and CHiKN, for bringing her the opportunity after Viva Los Tacos closed. "They came up to us and were interested in partnering about doing some kind of fast food Chinese food," Chen said. To run daily operations, she brought on Melissa Lin as partner and general manager. Lin moved to Pittsburgh from Wisconsin, having grown up helping her parents, immigrants from Fuzhou, China, run a restaurant before managing one of her own in Michigan. She's candid about the pressure of stepping into a space this beloved. "I'm a little nervous about not living up to the hype because everyone misses The O," Lin said. "But we hope to do well."
The two-story building will lean toward takeout, but seating will be available downstairs, and the partners are already exploring the upstairs space for events, catering and student club meetings — a nod to the building's long history as a campus gathering spot as much as a place to eat.
For Oakland, the opening closes a loop that began with The O's closure in 2020 and a brief run by Viva Los Tacos. It also affirms something the neighborhood's business community has said for years: operators who already know the block, the students and the rhythm of the academic calendar are best positioned to make a space like this work. Wok Hei isn't a bet from the outside — it's a family that has spent a decade and a half learning what Oakland wants to eat, doubling down on the neighborhood that made them.