Emperor’s

This place is closed. What a shame. It was one of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve ever been to. Definitely a family favorite. It is sorely missed.

Generally like this place for their noodle soups. They were closed on a Sunday afternoon and looked very empty, Thinking they fell prey to the new Chinese restaurant next door. Anyone know if they closed? Sad to see them go as the soups were fantastic.

No way. Rice tasted scraped out of the bottom of the rice maker. Bathrooms had warped linoleum walls. Soup was fine, tea was fine. I don’t recommend it otherwise.

i have a lot of family and friends that swear by this place so i find myself there more often than i care to. that said i have had ample opportunity to observe why they suck.
1. expensive. and for shitty chinese i find that unacceptable. go to central ave and have good chinese for less money. hell, have bad chinese delivered for half the cost.
2. MSG. i find hong kong style in upstate NY equates to corn starch and MSG. its not ok.
3. the oil, in my opinion, tastes dirty. charging that much money for food one would think that you had money to invest in new or cleaned oil.
4. service i good, but the tables are sticky.
5. The fish in the seafood tank look anemic. And I shy away from anemic anything.
The hot mustard is good. But that’s where good dies.

We LOVE it here — the service is second to none — they remember you and what you like if you come in regularly — they have great dim sum and they are very reasonably priced — the lunch is especially a good bargain — we love to go for special occasions like New Year’s Eve before we go out — my kids love to come here — many Asian people come here so it must be authentic

Very friendly and sweet staff. Food was good and brought out very quickly. Although nothing was mind-​blowing, we were satisfied.

I really should have updated this review a while ago after my really bad dim sum experience with the shrimp dumplings and the egg custard. I posted the pictures as warning, but never went back to revise the stars.
In the past few years there have been multiple other places to go that have raised the bar for Chinese food in the Capital Region. Occasionally I’ll still come here for chow fun. Theirs may be oily, but it remains my son’s favorite in the area. However with the boy’s favorite baked bbq pork buns right next door, those days may be over.
It is a shame to see that others have had similar bad experiences that echoed mine. I would hate to see a positive review from 2007 drive people to a place that has since slipped.

This is my favorite dim sum restaurant in our area! The staff is beyond exceptional and friendly. I have been a loyal customer for several years and tried many of the menu options. Some of our favorites are salt and pepper squid, beef satay hot pot, Peking duck, duck chow fun, sticky rice, seasonal fish steamed in scallions and ginger, and my 6 year old orders wonton soup every time and sometimes goes for seconds. It’s definitely a good family restaurant with authentic food and personable staff that won’t forget to refill your water!

Everything was just mediocre. I had sesame chicken, wonton soup and pork fried rice. The rice was the best part, or maybe it was the pepsi in a can… The building is falling apart and it’s not very clean in there either. I wouldn’t go back and only went because it was convenient.

Ok, the appearance of this place is seriously sketchy, but the food is pretty good! My best friend and I walked in at 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon to the two staff members eating their own lunch, they both jumped up to seat us. The service was really fantastic. Wonton soup was ok, I thought the wontons were over done. Bacon rolls (which were shrimp wrapped in bacon and fried) were good, egg roll was delicious, and the sauce they brought out… oh man, we got some to go! It was SO GOOD. The General Tso’s chicken were big pieces, which made it a little difficult, but it was spicy and delicious, and the chicken lo mein was great, not greasy at all.
Lots of food, not unreasonably priced, and the service was GREAT. So friendly and helpful, and fun.

Ew, gross!
Five years ago I loved this place — well made homemade food.
Today I had it again and it was disgusting – too much soy sauce and crud ingredients .I had the house lo mein with fake crab, likely fake squid, flat pieces of scallops and shrimp that were rubbery. I had to put packets and packets of duck sauce and mustard sauce to try and cut through the gross taste and afterwards my stomach hurt and my break wreaked.
I’m saddened by the downfall of food quality here.
Even my boss said his rice was disgusting and he had to go back out to PF Changs to get a new lunch.

I’ve come here so much that I know the owner recognizes me. Having recently moved to Albany from Flushing, NY aka Chinatown #2-it’s been hard finding places that remind me of home. When I get especially homesick-​I yearn for the food and I’ve found a couple of things that help-Emperor’s is one of them. This place definitely hits the spot for me when I am feeling homesick. The service here is super friendly-​the owner is very involved and even waiters. The ambiance isn’t as authentic-​so far Shining Rainbow ranks first in authentic Chinese restaurant ambiance. It’s never too crowded and the tables are pretty spread out which helps to give a open-​space feel. There are windows surrounding the restaurant but the view is either of the side facing another restaurant or towards Wolf. Rd and on to Colonie Center. I couldn’t give Emperor’s five stars based on the ambiance but everything else about this place is wonderful. The food is incredibly authentic and packed full of flavor. I love that they have Szechuan dishes and they make it extra spicy (the way it should be done). My husband took me here for my birthday dinner and I had the Mapo tofu (vegetarian) and he had a hot pot dish with lamb. The rice is soft, delicate and perfectly cooked. The tofu has a great spicy punch! The portions are huge but if you do family style-it’s the perfect amount. I’ve been back several times to pick up and they never disappoint. I’ve had the eggplant in the black bean sauce, the chinese broccoli and my husband has had dumplings. I am going to continue to frequent Emperor’s-I love their food. Plus-​they speak Cantonese! :)

Okay the food and service were pretty good… until we noticed the fish all belly-​up in the decorative tanks (tomorrow’s special?) and that the bathrooms were downright REPULSIVE. Very disappointing since I’d heard some really great things about this place. I was prepared to forgive the general run down environment, but that level of uncleanliness is simply unacceptable.

Been going to Emperor’s for years now after a co-​working turned me on to them. If you are looking for real authentic chinese food this is the place. Highly recommend the ginger/​scallion lo-​mein (you’ll have to ask for it as it’s not on the menu)

Amazing Chinese food, spicy general tao’s, tender sesame shrimp, and absolutely the best dim sum.
The décor is very low-​rent jade palace, but I couldn’t care less!
Be careful when ordering, some entrees are actually family portions to be shared amongst a table.
Overall, my favorite chinese place in Albany!

Meh!
$ 23 w/​20% tip for wonton, egg roll and beef with broccoli and brown rice (charged $ 1 for brown rice)!
The price isn’t outrageous but the food was mediocre at best. At least the wonton and eggroll were. My beef with broccoli entrée was soggy, bitter and bland. It didnt even provide that salty MSG satisfaction that one gets from hole in the wall Chinese places.
Worst part was I went on a recommendation so I had high hopes. Tragic.
On the bright side, the service was excellent and friendly. Too bad the server works at a place with bad food. It was the kind of instance where you feel bad disliking a place so much because the one waiting on you was nice, but alas, I will NEVER go back.

Emperor’s is my favorite chinese food place in the area (by far), and one of my favorite restaurants in the area. I’ve come here for years, and have had a bunch of their dishes, which are well above average for a «typical» chinese restaurant. Their prices are very reasonable, and their portions are usually enough for two meals. Every person I’ve taken to the restaurant has loved it (including my parents from NYC).

I order their steamed vegetable dumplings EVERY time I go (they’re that addicting). The best dish I’ve had is the Chicken Eggplant, which I only discovered about 6 months ago. Really really really good. My wife, a vegetarian, loves the steamed vegetable stuffed tofu.
They also have a nice Dim Sum menu.
I’ve been going long enough that the owner knows me and my wife. They’re very nice, which makes the fact that the service can be a bit slow… particularly when crowded… a-​ok. Emperor’s is one of my main standbys when I want to go out to eat, and I definitely recommend it. I’ve never been disappointed, and have no clue what restaurant the bad reviewers went to.

They hold the dubious honor of serving me the standout worst meal I have ever eaten here in the capital region. I came here solely for dim sum and they have a page of offerings. We ordered stuffed peppers, har kow, spicy squid, fried dumplings, vegetable dumplings, curry pastry, scallion dumplings and won ton soup. Sounds great and I expected them to be so; they weren’t! Only the soup and the curried pastry were hot, whereas all the steamed items were cool to warm. Given that all of these others are steamed, thy trays must be left in the cold kitchen and then put on cold plates and delivered cool to cold. The noodle skins were mushy and clearly overcooked.
It’s a remarkable achievement to overcook food and serve it cold???
The harkow tasted sulfurous which makes no sense to me. The scallion and vegetable dumplings were off taste as well.
I simply have no explanation for here other than don’t eat here.

Best Chinese in Albany. Service can be slow but the food is worth the wait.

It seems to me that most of the Chinese food places upstate fall into one of two categories. A/​the owner bought the place from a relative and has no idea how to cook or B/​the owner may be a cook, but has never eaten actual big city Chinese and has no idea what it is supposed to taste like.
Emperor’s, on the other hand, was the first upstate place that treated me like an adult. By that I mean chopsticks and a pot of good strong tea brought without asking, and NO DUCK SAUCE… no gooey corn syrup with food coloring and fried noodles to insult my appetite before the food arrives.
I was here for lunch and had the hot and sour soup (average, but a generous bowl) and shrimp and eggplant in garlic sauce (yes, a bit greasy… get over it). At the next table a pair of Asian women were ordering dim sum to go (they have a pretty good menu which is available on weekdays as well as weekends) and was having a conversation with the waiter about when they were going to eat it because he wanted to know how long to steam the sticky rice. That’s good.
This place is much more convenient to me than CCK so I can see myself returning when I don’t have an extra half hour to plumb the bowels of Central Ave. One thing, Emperor’s is at the very bottom of Wolf Road, just before it hits Central. Access is from the north only and if you have to make a U-​turn you’ll wait awhile before reaching your destination but it’s worth it.