Empress of China

I grew up on the westbank, so I’ve been coming here on and off for a long time. I’ve seen the reviews that say the food has gone downhill in recent times, but that’s an experience I have not had. I’ve been probably 5 time in the past two years, and each time the food and service has been consistently above average. I really enjoy each meal I have here! This particular time, my dad, fiancé and I came for lunch on a Sunday. The service was prompt and very friendly. We ordered two appetizers: BBB ribs and cho cho; hot and sour soup and egg drop soup; and 2 entrees: sweet and sour subgum and steak kew, both of which came with a small side of combination fried rice. The ribs were a bit tough, but everything else was amazing. The soups were hot and delicious. The cho cho were stuffed and had a great flavor. The steak was tender and had a lot of veggies with it. And the subgum plate was huge. We were very pleased with this meal and will def be back!

I have been to Empress of China a few times now and it is pretty consistently good. The hot and sour soup was really nice. We had the steak kew entrée. It was good, had some nice chunks of steak, though it didn’t come out sizzling as advertised. One nice thing they do is give you the option of getting fried rice with an entrée that isn’t on the combo menu. I also really enjoyed the cho chos, though the ribs were pretty tough.

Poor quality of food. Waitress was a good server but it still doesn’t amount to the quality of the food. I usually don’t have this problem during the day when it is first opened but once the day goes on it taste like the heat lamp food.

I don’t understand why it’s so hard to find good Chinese food. This place used to be good. I don’t know what’s taken place these last few months but overall, the quality is gone. This place is only getting 2 stars for quantity. You get a lot of food, but who wants a lot of food that doesn’t taste good?! Not I! This time around I had shrimp, chicken, rice and an egg roll. The chicken and shrimp were poorly prepared and over fried. The rice was flavorless and hard, and what should have been an «over fried» egg roll was a mushy mess. The irony.

I have been a patron of this restaurant for over 20 years now. It is no longer Christinas empress of China. So, that can be changed on here. It seems like every time I order food to go from here, I always have problems. However, something keeps making me go back. Today was no different. I ordered The triple delight. It consists of shrimp, roasted pork, and chicken. I always make it a habit to check my border before I leave the parking lot. This dish, which costs $ 14.25, had about four shrimp in it. I took it back in and explained. I was told that it would be made fresh again for me. She asked me to check it when they brought it back out. The dish looked the same to me. I told her that. Again, I expressed my dissatisfaction.
She shrugged her shoulders at me and said, «I am not. What do you want me to do about it?» I once again expressed my frustration. She looked at me and said, «do you want me to get you a spoon so you can dig around in it?» I took the food home. Upon closer inspection, I found that all the aforementioned protein items were either undercooked or raw. I called back and spoke to a manager. He assured me that the kitchen manager would cook it right. I just went back for the third time. The order has been cooked properly and they have apologized. I will give them one more chance.

Well looks like all good things come to an end. It appears that ownership has changed so taste and quality has suffered. Still get a lot of food for the money if that’s what’s important to you.
I have never had mushrooms in my green pepper steak and of course they add them which is not appealing to me for this dish. The meat tastes bland and the sauce was watered down
Fried rice was made with short grain rice which appears to be a cost cutting move. I actually had to ask them to please make sure it wasn’t greasy this time.
General T’s chicken seemed like it was just sweet and sour chicken with a different name.
My family has been going here since Christina left China Doll so it really bothers us that a restaurant that you could once count on for a good meal doesn’t exist anymore. I guess it’s back across the river for us.

Stopped here for lunch and the amount of food was amazing! We ordered general Tso and sweet and sour chicken, with fried rice and egg rolls. We also ordered crab Rangoon and they were outstanding! They are gargantuan!
Shrimp and pork were in the fried rice and the chicken was great. All tastes fresh and we’re hot, made to order.
Definitely a great place to go.

Been coming to this place for years. Staff is always polite here. The only thing that threw me off is the food I ordered being soggy real fast. My chicken tasted to soft like it wasnt cooked long enough. The recipes aren’t the same like they use to be. Other than the food its a great place to eat at.

This place use to be great! But the couple of times I’ve been back it’s gotten worse! Disappointed about that cause I use to love their food. Today I walked in no one was there. I waited for a long time. The people who came after us was seated first. After I opened my big mouth. I asked if were supposed to seat ourselves or do we wait. They finally decided to sit us. The food is not like it use to be!!! Don’t know how they’re still in business … I will not return !!! Good luck to those who had a great experience! I couldn’t complain if the food was free but it’s not. Even so the service SUCKS!!!

Been twice, both times I didnt care for what I ate. Sesame chicken isnt sesame chicken at all. Its a full chicken breast coated in sesame seeds and fried. Served with lemon dipping sauce. Sitting ontop of some super mushy vegetables. It was gross.
I won’t be returning here.

I’m only giving it one star because I can’t give it zero stars. Three of us — two adults and a 13 year old — were given family-​sized portions of all three entrees which we did not order, we specifically asked for individual sizes. And that would be fine, but the food was so bad, all of the leftovers immediately went in the trash. We ate it because we drove all the way home and were hungry so we weren’t going to take it back. The chicken fried rice was REALLY greasy. The mandarin chicken, not really sure WHAT it really was, I ordered mandarin chicken but what I got was two pieces of greasy, deep-​fried chicken atop a bed of greasy fried rice with an overcooked piece of crab rangoon, was horrible. The appetizer of shrimp toast had an improperly sealed container of sweet and sour sauce in the box, which leaked all over everything. That would have been good had that not happened. The wonton soup had two pieces of wonton in the entire bowl, as it was mostly cabbage or lettuce. Finally, there was a bowl of some sort of mysterious sauce/​soup/​something that no one ordered or knew what it was. I’ll never come back.

Good choices on the menu. You can go a la carte of individual combination meals. Just a warning, the combo meals are huge. So they are very sharable. Food always tastes great here. Location is easily accessible on the Westbank.

Probably my second favorite Chinese restaurant. I love their general’s chicken! Not so much a fan of their hot & sour soup… Which is unfortunate for me because sometimes I just want soup and crab ragoons (which are delish). But the chicken is awesome. But everything else I have tried has been yummy!

I used to frequent this place about six years ago. I was addicted to some noodle dish they had that had a citrus-​y, garlic flavor that was very addicting! Recently, I decided to venture back and try something different. I ordered Mandarin Chicken and shrimp toast. The Mandarin Chicken had an «off» flavor, it did not taste like fresh chicken, it tasted like it was on the verge of going bad. The Mandarin sauce had a strong curry flavor which I did not care for. I was expecting a traditional brown sauce, topped with nuts and green onions. Empress of China did not care to garnish this dish properly; they chose to cut corners and I did not enjoy it at all.
The Mandarin Chicken did come with some pretty good combination fried rice, and a delicious Crab Rangoon. The shrimp toast was oily and had no flavor at all.
If the chicken had been edible, it *would* have been a good deal. It came to $ 17 total and I could have gotten three meals out of it. Instead, I ate the Crab Rangoon and the combination fried rice and called it a day.

Empress of China changed ownership in the last few years. Our experience today was super disappointing. We ordered General Tso Chicken, Mandarin Duck, Crab Ragoons, Ribs, and Egg Rolls. The fried rice wasn’t even good. The only thing I wouldn’t complain about was the Ribs. First off, what they call General Tso Chicken is bland and didn’t taste like any general Tso sauce I’ve ever had. It was gross. The Mandarin Duck was just ok. The Egg Rolls were enormous but soggy and tasted terrible. The Crab Ragoons were doughey. My fiancé asked for sweet and sour sauce which in my opinion should automatically come with Crab Ragoons. They sent duck sauce and called it Sweet & Sour sauce. Have you ever had S & S chicken in duck sauce? Probably not. So sweet and sour sauce is clearly defined. Our bill was almost $ 50. Overpriced for poor quality!

Absolutely Delicious! My new go-​to place on the Westbank — Walnut Shrimp is incredible — the shrimp are huge and cooked to perfection — Marco Pollo noodles are outstanding — great sauce — we got Cho-​Cho appetizer — can’t beat it. I have nothing but good things to say about this place. Lots of FOOD for your money — great service, great value.

Great for families and people who don’t want to be ‘challenged’ by their food.
Huh?
You couldn’t pay me mother to eat dim sum, which I love. Who would like tiny packets of food, tons fo options served tableside?
I digress. It’s reminiscent of Chinese restaurants of the past: big, crazy drinks set on fire and brought to your table to share, tons of fried food options and nothing too spicy. The servers were fast and gracious and the place was hopping busy for mid-​afternoon on a Saturday. The portions are large enough to take home and everyone is pretty happy.

INSANE amount of food.
We ordered take-​out:
Vegetable spring rolls (8)
Steamed Veggies
Shrimp Fried Rice
We paid $ 25 after taxes. The Styrofoam to-​go plate of fried rice was so full I don’t think you could have fit one more grain of rice in the box! It wasn’t the most amazing fried rice I’ve ever had, but it was packed with AMAZING shrimp and tasted good overall. I made FOUR meals of it. FOUR meals for $ 10! The veggies were a little greasy, and I wasn’t a fan of the spring rolls, but for the price (and my student budget), I’ll definitely be back!

The ambiance is typical of a Chinese restaurant. There is even a koi pond to greet you at the entry — which reminds me eating Chinese food as a little girl on Friday nights… but I digress.
The service is very good. Prompt and friendly. I dined with my mom, sister and niece and we amazed and afraid of the gluttonous smörgåsbord that was placed before us. Everything was delicious: the egg rolls are like stubby burritos and the crab Rangoon’s have tons of sweet cream cheese oozing out of it. Try not to burn your tongue! The dumplings are perfectly cooked and served with a bowl of sauce. Can you believe we had the audacity to order entrees? Rookie mistake on my part, because the combination plates are ginormous! You have to be hungry to eat here and plan on carrying a to go box, unless of course, you are a competitive eater. This place is so good. I would go back, even though I am not the biggest fan of Chinese food. I was so stuffed (as we all were), that I thought I was going to fall out of chair and pass out. Wear elastic pants and consider taking a walk around the building in the middle of your meal… enjoy!

It had been so long since I had eaten here, that I had forgotten what a wonderful place this is. For starters, the atmosphere is wonderful and cozy and has a real Eastern feel. There is a koi pond, right when you walk in, which adds a nice touch.
The food is amazing. I got one of my faves: sweet and sour shrimp with a side of fried rice. It was so amazing and good. The glaze on the shrimp was the perfect combo of sweet and savory and really brought the flavor out of the lightly fried shrimp.
This isn’t the place to go, if you are looking for a cheap Chinese food «take out» experience. The reason to go here is to take your time, sit down, and enjoy your food.