T&Z Chinese Restaurant, the longtime Natomas neighborhood spot tucked into a Gateway Plaza suite on West El Camino Avenue, is quietly getting new owners. New Happy Garden 88 Inc., led by Qin Chen, has taken over the restaurant and filed for a new liquor license with the state on August 19, and Chen says the menu and daily operations will stay exactly the same.
The filing marks the end of an ownership chapter that began back in 2022, when S&Z Investment 88 Corporation was run by Jinfang Zeng and Anita Kumari Singh. According to WhatNow Sacramento, the liquor license is transferring from S&Z Investment 88 Corporation to the new ownership group, and Chen confirmed to the outlet that T&Z will keep the same menu and stay exactly the same under new ownership.
S&Z Investment 88 Corporation itself was registered with the California Secretary of State on January 6, 2022, with Jinfang Zeng listed as its registered agent, according to Corporate.AI filings. That corporate record establishes the legal timeline of the outgoing ownership group, though it does not shed light on why the business is changing hands now.
What the License Transfer Actually Requires
Transferring a Type 41 On-Sale Beer and Wine license, the kind that lets a restaurant like T&Z serve beer and wine alongside dinner, isn't a quick paperwork swap. Per California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control rules, the process requires background checks on the new operators, mandatory physical notice postings at the business, and a 30-day public protest window before the state signs off.
That means the change of ownership at 2550 West El Camino Avenue, Suite 8, is still working its way through a formal state process even as the restaurant continues serving customers under its familiar name. The restaurant sits in Gateway Plaza, a roughly 21,929-square-foot retail center built in 1988 and zoned for commercial use in Natomas.
A Local Favorite Since 2018
T&Z Chinese Restaurant opened in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood in 2018 and has built a loyal following since, drawing more than 400 Google reviews and holding a 4.3-star rating on the platform. Regulars know it for dishes including egg rolls, salt and pepper spicy fish, wor wonton soup, sesame chicken, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, mu shu chicken, and a wide selection of combo chow mein.
The restaurant's reputation predates this recent ownership shuffle by years. Hoodline ranked T&Z as the #2 Chinese restaurant in Sacramento in May 2020, and had named it the top spot in the city ahead of Lunar New Year that January, both rankings built on strong Yelp review data at the time. By March 2023, data site Stacker also included T&Z in its roundup of Sacramento's highest-rated Chinese restaurants, citing a 4.3 out of 5 Yelp rating across 615 reviews.
That long run of praise sits alongside a rougher patch on the food-safety front. In December 2025, Sacramento County health inspectors issued a yellow placard to T&Z following multiple violations, including staff's inability to demonstrate proper food-safety protocols, improper handling of raw chicken, and missing employee food handler cards, as reported by WhatNow. Yellow placards signal major violations that require a follow-up inspection within 24 to 72 hours.
A Changing Corridor Around the Restaurant
T&Z operates among a cluster of neighboring businesses along the strip, including boba shop RareTea, Satori Sushi and Teriyaki Grill, New York Pizza & Plus, Subway, and Jack in the Box, giving the corridor a steady mix of commuter and residential foot traffic. That customer base could grow further: in August 2026, the City of Sacramento was reviewing a revised development proposal for 2450 West El Camino Avenue that includes plans for a 112-room hotel and a 160-unit apartment community just down the road, according to the Natomas Chamber of Commerce.
The surrounding South Natomas neighborhood already counts roughly 27,450 residents with a median age of 35, a mix of housing, retail centers, and office parks that has helped sustain a steady stream of regulars for restaurants like T&Z. Whether that growth translates into more customers walking through T&Z's doors remains to be seen, but for now, the bigger news is simpler: new ownership, same menu, same neighborhood staple.
