Chopsticks Oriental Restaurant

Chopsticks Oriental Restaurant has been part of the Lynn Haven Shopping Center for more than thirty years, which makes it one of the longer running independent restaurants in the entire city. It occupies a suite in the same strip of shops along Highway 77 that has held a handful of other local restaurants over the years, and it has outlasted more than a few of its neighbors.

The menu covers familiar Chinese and broader Asian dishes for both dine in and takeout, and the restaurant has kept up with how people order food today, offering online ordering through Clover and delivery through DoorDash on top of the usual phone-in order. Reviewers single out the crab rangoon in particular, describing it as packed with lump crab meat, along with pho that has its own following among regulars.

Being open six days a week until eight in the evening, and closing only on Sunday, gives Chopsticks a fairly predictable rhythm that regulars have come to rely on. It is a budget friendly restaurant, the kind of place where a family can get dinner on the table without a large bill, and its long run in the same location suggests that formula has worked for a long time in Lynn Haven.

For anyone exploring the local food scene along the Highway 77 corridor, Chopsticks is worth noting simply for its longevity. Restaurants that stay in one spot for three decades usually do so because they have built a loyal customer base rather than relying on foot traffic alone, and Chopsticks appears to fit that pattern.

A restaurant with roots going back roughly thirty years in Lynn Haven has necessarily lived through a lot of change in this part of Bay County, including the disruption Hurricane Michael brought to the region in 2018. Businesses that were already well established before the storm had an easier time reopening and getting back to normal than newer ventures did, and Chopsticks appears to be one of those older, steadier businesses. Whether you are stopping in for a quick takeout order or sitting down for a plate of lo mein, it represents one of the more established independent restaurants in Lynn Haven, with a track record that goes back further than most of its competitors along the same road. The restaurant’s willingness to add modern conveniences like online ordering and third party delivery, rather than sticking strictly to the phone-in model it likely started with decades ago, also suggests an owner paying attention to how the business needs to evolve to keep up with younger customers moving into the area.