“Pho” is pronounced closer to the English word “fur” than “fo.” I suppose one should adjust puns accordingly.
In the atlanta/marietta area is the ill mee korean restaurant
To answer some of these questions, here’s a list of what some of these words mean:
Wang - Pronounced “wong” it is a common last name that means “king/emperor”
Fa or Far - Probably mean being endowed with good luck, or to succeed, grow
Dong - East
King - This is the Cantonese version of Jing, which means gold.
Hung - Not sure about this, I think it’s a common name.
Long or Lung - Probably mean dragon, possibly hollow but I doubt that’d be used that way, dragons are lucky.
Lo - Probably means the kind of building or inn you drink wine in (literally “floor”)
Foo or Fu - Fujing and Fujian are areas in China
Hai, Ho, Hu or He - Probably part of a group of words meaning sea, river or lake, Hunan and Henan or names for areas in China (nan = south). For example, Shanghai means literally “upper sea.”
As chinese american, I find them absolutely hilarious given the owners have no idea how bad these sound. In their culture, names are chosen for luck and feng shui purposes. They sound stupid in english, but their translations aren’t far off. There really are things named Super happy luck dish of the seven seas, or whatever.
Oh few corrections,
Fu also means luck
Fun or Fen or Feng - Probably means phoenix, but on menus probably means thick noodles
As a rule of thumb,
if you see an x in the name, owner is from mainland china
z as a starting consonant (zen or Zhang) means from mainland china
Beijing is china, Peking probably not
The funnier sounding the name, the more likely it’s cantonese.
Therefore, if you see a place that says Wang Feng’s Taiwanese food, it’s probably not authentic. If you see a place called Wong Fun Har Dong Poo or whatever, it’s cantonese, and probably means good greasy food. Stay away from anyplace Peking cept if it’s on the menu. Only Americanized chinese use peking, so if they aren’t fobs the food is probably so-so.
There are a number of Kosher Chinese and Japanese restaurants with the word “Mit Su Yun” in their names. (Metzuyan means “excellent” in Hebrew)
In a related vein, there’s a chain/series of Chinese restaurants and BBQ eateries in southern California (and Nevada?) prefaced with the name Sam Woo (“Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant,” etc.).
My understanding is that “Sam Woo” is a Cantonese expression meaning “three sages” or somesuch, but the non-Chinese speakers out there think they’re named after a guy named Sam. 
On Boyleston Street in Boston they have the Wok Inn. Can’t tell me that’s not a joke.
A really good bilingual pun, though, is a Japanese restaurant in Arlington, Mass. It’s the Ichi-Bun.
Great info, thanks einhander. I used to frequent a chinese place called Toa Yuen (or Tua Yuen, i don’t recall). What’s that mean?
I was looking for that place, to get a big dish of beef chow mein.
Hmm, toa/tua does mean anything that I can recall, not sure if it’s even a chinese word. Taiwanese or cantonese maybe. Yuen = yuan, which means garden. Now if it was Hua Yuan, that would be flower garden. My guess, since you frequent it alot, is that it’s Taiwanese, because chinese would have spelled it Yuan. Only one way to tell… how are the pork buns? 
Originally Posted by SaintCad
There is a Thai place near where I used to live called Poo Ping Palace.
Needless to say I never ate there.
Close. Sunland-Tujunga
Apropos of nothing, I know a guy that got offered a “happy ending” at that particular massage parlor.
that is actually why it got shut down. i believe it was called gypsy or golden massage.
The funniest here in Augusta, IMHO, is called House of Cheung King of Wing. Closer to home, the one we frequent is simply called China Restaurant. Now that’s original:)
There is a supermarket-sized, genuine Asian grocery in West Hartford, CT called “A Dong.”
Congealed pig’s blood cut into neat rectangular blocks? You got it! Pig intenstines? No problem! Severed duck and chicken feet? Every damned day! Dongs? Well, maybe they keep those in back.
As to the OP, my guess is that sometimes there may be deliberate intent in naming these resaurants, but most of the time probably not. Persuse just about any Asian restaurant menu and marvel at the “Engrish.” “Chicken very good cooked crispy and with a brown spicy,” and stuff like that.
It’s a tremendous challenge to learn and translate Western languages in to Eastern, and vice-versa. I think that most of the time, errors in both directions are inadvertant.
The A-Dong (hyphenated) Market used to be located in a questionable part of Des Moines. The joke was that every now and then some joker would come by and paint out the n.
I don’t recall the name of the Vietnamese restaurant I drove past in Atlanta some 20 years ago; but I certainly remember the proud proprietor: Auh Phuc.
There’s a Chinese restaurant called “Tin Lung” on Kingsway in Vancouver.
It’s only a couple blocks away from the former site of Pho Bich Nga.