Mango Mango Dessert to open new location near Penn’s campus

Mango Mango Dessert is set to open its third Philadelphia location in University City this Friday. 

The store — located at 36th Street and Lancaster Avenue — will operate from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Originally founded in New York’s Chinatown in 2013, Mango Mango Dessert is a specialized franchise serving mango-centric desserts at over 50 locations in 15 states across the country.

Storefront operator of Mango Mango Desert’s University City location Jason Hui told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he wanted to bring the store to this specific location because he attended Drexel University and wanted “to bring a little something new to the local community.” 

Hui explained he understands students “all have busy lives,” and he hopes to “bring a little sweet to their life” by providing students with a place to take “a little bit of a break” from school.

“Personally, I am from Hong Kong, that’s the passion of it — to bring my hometown’s so-called style of food into this local community,” Hui said. “Because we have a mix of cultures here … we are looking forward to seeing what kinds of people we will be serving, and we are very excited to bring our Hong Kong-style dessert.”

On Wednesday, the location will also host a “soft opening” to test the store’s operations ahead of its official grand opening on March 27.

While Hui clarified that many “influencers” were personally notified about the soft opening, other people are still welcome to come in.

“We didn’t want to get beat up because we still have stuff setting up,” Hui told the DP. “It’s more like a little warm-up for us.”

According to Hui, because the store is “pretty small” and the seating area is “limited,” the storefront will likely focus on providing takeout for students. The new location will feature menu items standard across all Mango Dessert locations as well as “unique” menu items specifically selected for the University City location. 

Mango Mango Dessert has two other locations in Philadelphia, including one in Chinatown at 1013 Cherry St. and one in Northeast Philly at 6830 Bustleton Ave. 

According to Hui, the new location will offer “four weeks of promotions in a row” to celebrate its official opening. Promotions will include a “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” deal that features three menu items, a free signature mango pin with any purchase, a bonus with the purchase of a gift card, and a free thermal with any purchase over $25. 

Several students spoke to the DP about their excitement ahead of the restaurant’s opening.

College sophomore Ian Hou said that he is “very happy” because the dessert restaurant will be located near Chengdu Famous Food and Mr. Wish. He described the three restaurants put together as “the greatest culinary experience ever.” 

He explained that the opening “definitely adds more complexity to the Penn food scene” because “Chinatown is its own separate ecosystem with everything that it has.” 

“I don’t think there’s that many dessert places around that part of Philly, so having a Mango Mango there is really nice because it is also pretty close to campus, and we don’t need to SEPTA,” he added.

Despite the location’s proximity to Penn, Hou said that “the distance is still a little bit of a problem, but it’s definitely a lot better than having to SEPTA to Center City and then to Chinatown, so it definitely cuts down on that problem a decent amount.”

Hui told the DP that after a “trial and error” process that considered several potential storefronts “on the main street between UPenn and Drexel,” they ultimately chose a location they believed would still be within walking distance for students. 

Voicing a similar sentiment to Hou, College sophomore Kate He said that the new location will be “much more convenient” because she “hates taking the SEPTA” to go to the Center City location — adding that she will now visit Mango Mango Dessert “a lot more often.”

She described Penn’s campus food scene as “more diverse now compared to before,” and added that it is “definitely becoming a little bit more Asian.” 

College sophomore Helen Liu referenced the popularity of recently-opened Molly Tea and predicted that the new Mango Mango Dessert location would similarly “be very well received by a lot of students.” 

“I think it’ll become a nice hangout spot and also a nice spot to grab a sweet treat for a lot of people who are living on or around campus,” she said. 

Senior reporter Amy Liao covers clubs and societies and can be reached at liao@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies philosophy, politics, and economics. Follow her on X @amyliiao.