By Natalie Morales
Enquirer staff writer

Mike Wong, owner of the Oriental Wok in Fort Mitchell, with his wife, Helen, at the Bob Evans restaurant in Crescent Springs. The waitress is Judy Niewahner. The Enquirer/PATRICK REDDY

FORT MITCHELL - On the Fourth of July, owner Mike Wong will close his Oriental Wok restaurant to celebrate the holiday as he does every year: grilling hot dogs and hamburgers at home.

Wong, originally from China, became an American citizen in 1977 after moving his family here five years earlier in hopes of building his "American dream."

"This is truly the freedom country," Wong said. "It gives everybody an equal opportunity to raise a family, have children, go to school."

When Wong moved his family to the United States, he was 30 and said he had an idealistic view of the country, which he had never visited.

"It's like when people say they love Paris because it is so beautiful and so romantic; but they've never been there, so they don't know," Wong said.

"You've got to go there to know if it is beautiful and if it is romantic."

He wanted to see about America for himself.

So in 1972, Wong began working his way up in a Cincinnati restaurant. From cook to busboy to waiter to bartender, Wong did a little bit of everything.

After gaining restaurant experience, the Wong family opened their first restaurant in 1977 in Edgewood, and in 1986 built a second in Fort Mitchell.

The Oriental Wok has always been a family business.

His daughters Angela Wong and Susanna Wong Burgess began working at the restaurant when they were about 12.

Both daughters, who now have master's degrees, still work there.

"He instilled a serious work ethic in us," said Angela Wong.

Of everything Wong taught his daughters, both said one saying stood out most in their minds: "When my own country did not give me a chance, America did."

Wong, who now lives in Villa Hills, gets annoyed when people who have lived in America their entire lives take his adopted country's freedoms for granted.

"This country is full of freedom: speech, press, election rights," he said.

"Where I'm from, the government is just for show; they don't really work for the people."

Wong's pride stems from accomplishing all his goals after having started with nothing when he arrived here, Angela Wong said.

"If you work hard, you can earn whatever you want to earn," Wong said.

"This country gives the freedom and choice to you to do what you want to do."

E-mail nmorales@enquirer.com