Imperial Garden

I literally just walked out of the establishment. I was willing to give it a shot. The moment I walked in, I was not greeted, so that was the first red flag, they basically looked at me like «what can we do for you» I had to basically say the first word and said it’s just me. Second the place was somewhat full so I expected that they may not have a table, the hostess didn’t catch her name but she look to me like she’s foreign like Sri Lanka or India. She grabbed a menu and just started walking towards the dining area, I requested a booth she said there’s non available and before I can point at a table which would of been perfect instead she was out of my sight and was in another section of the restaurant with just the tables… I noticed she tried to put me crammed in the back next to some random group of over weight woman. Plus the table was next to a window with the sun glaring through it. I then asked her politely if I can just sit at the main dining area even though it’s a table for 4, I get it that they may want to save that in case a bigger family shows up but I fought it because the close Lunch at 2pm and this happened around 1:15pm and they still had plenty of bigger tables available. The way she responded when I asked her if I can sit some where else is the main reason I walked out. She was hesitant to give me a straight up answer. she said ummm not really! Are you serious, if a guest of your restaurant request a certain dining seating you do it if it’s available. Too bad I didn’t get to try their food, I’m sure it would of been great. To the owner of the Restaurant please discipline this individual and have her clean dishes rather than be a hostess. She needs more training in customer service. Maybe I may try out the restaurant with a date next time but for now, I’ll just try this other restaurant that serves Dim Sum.

We just had a private event at Imperial Garden. We choose the banquet and 40 people were delighted in the food and beverages. It was so easy to book the room and pre-​order the banquet. We love going back to there for all of our special occasions. It’s rare to have linen table service these days. The decorations and flowers are beautiful too!

Dining at Imperial Garden was an exciting Chinese cuisine experience. I wasn’t sure what to expect upon entering, but it was definitely a grand entrance. I was delighted to be dining in a finer atmosphere than your average Chinese Buffet. Yes, the décor might be slightly outdated, but it’s truly a nice, traditional ambiance. Service was good and our server was very friendly with years of knowledge on the menu and the restaurant.
We ordered Egg Rolls and Shrimp Rangoon for appetizers. The egg rolls were fresh, full, and crunchy. I’m a picky egg roll gal and these would have been perfect if the crunchy part was a little thicker. Nevertheless, I’d give these rolls an ⁸⁄₁₀. Our server praised the Shrimp Rangoon and it was a wonderful alternative to the standard Crab Rangoon. Dinner went just as well with Crispy Scallops and Fragrant Shrimp which came with white rice. The portion sizes for both dishes were plenty. The scallops were full of flavor with a panko-​like crust and even more savory after squeezing fresh lemon. The Fragrant Shrimp was lacking the spice that was in parenthesis next to its name on the menu, but it was still a flavored packed plate with green peppers, onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and carrots. Overall, the food, service, and ambiance was good.
I just wish they were open for lunch hours on Saturday and Sunday.

This place is an old family favorite. They are consistent in their preparation, good quality and service. They are NOT your run of the mill cheap Chinese chain nor do they offer the more daring, traditional style cuisine that some of the smaller places in town now do and can take a bit more courage. Food here is simply delicious. Be sure to order the mu shu with handmade pancakes and any of the governor’s entrees — both wonderful choices.

I stop in here a few times of year, they are always busy, and they have been named ‘Best in Madison’ many years in a row.
I don’t think I have ever had a bad experience here, although my visit on April 1 was borderline. The food arrived timely, and for six different lunch menu items, I was impressed. The ginger beef was fragrant, just enough punch, and portion size was reasonable.
The only complaint I have was getting our beverages refilled. They have such tiny water glasses and after about the fourth trip to the table, they finally dropped off a pitcher of water. Not until they brought the check did they offer to refill any sodas. I thought it was tacky to ask at this point since the glasses had been empty for at least half an hour.
Overall, prompt service (if you know me, I really hate to wait), good portion size, tasty food… I’ll be back

This is quintessential American Chinese food. I realized that after not stepping foot into the restaurant for 12 years nothing had changed. I felt like I was in an old folks home for Chinese food. Don’t get me wrong I love Americanized Chinese food, but this food just was okay. The hot and sour soup was great as it was both hot and sour with a large dose of spicy and the sesame chicken was good. Really I’d rather stay home drink some Miller lite and order Chang jang.

Chinese food on a table cloth? It’s not quite a unicorn, but it’s pretty rare. Imperial Garden has a litany of awards from Madison Magazine and I’m certainly not going to disagree with the well earned accolade. The Governor’s chicken, moo sho pork (and pancakes) and mixed fried rice are the MVPs. Hand’s down. And they have a pretty nice bar with a decent repertoire.
The crowd skews a little older and more gentile, but it shouldn’t matter because you’ll likely be more focused on trying to cram as much delicious food onto your chopsticks as you can. That’s what a gentleman would do.

We are a family of 4, love Chinese food, so decided to this place a whirl on a Sat eve at 8 pm.
Service was very poor, the minute we stepped in. The hostess told us there was a wait but couldn’t tell us how long «I don’t know»! She kept us waiting for 20 mins and then took us in. We would’ve gladly waited longer if we were given an approximate wait time.
Even after we were seated, we felt largely ignored. The restaurant had several empty tables.
The food was absolutely mediocre. We ordered pot stickers for appetizer, Governors pork, chicken with vegetables, steamed Chinese broccoli, pan fried Noodles with chicken and brown rice.
Except for the Governor’s pork which we highly recommend, everything else was ho-​hum, bland and forgettable. Wouldn’t be returning!

The only nice thing about this place is the ambiance. Unfortunately the quality of the food is quite low. The rice, for instance, was the worst I have ever eaten. I don’t recommend this restaurant to anyone. There are much better Chinese restaurants in Madison and they are cheaper!

always good to come back.
i visit this restaurant for over 15 years, if you look for «straight forward» Chinese food — this is a very good place.
Try their soup as well as fried calamari — you will thanks me later

Average food. Good service. Not FD, but most Chinese food is generally delicious. I would not go out of my way to eat there, but it would be a place to go now and again.
Room for large parties and family get togethers.

Imperial Garden is good. It’s not life-​alteringly good. You won’t tell your grandchildren about it, but if you want a reasonably good Americanized Chinese sit-​down meal for a reasonable price in the middle of an upscale Madison suburb, with an understanding of the limitations inherently provided by that context, you’ll probably enjoy this place. It’s not the most authentic food ever, it’s not the best décor you’ll ever see, but it’s good and it’s consistent.
The good:
1. I love the servers here. They’re a hoot. Everyone I’ve ever had. They all take the job pretty seriously, and that’s actually kind of cool.
2. The vegetable egg rolls. When you get a veggie egg roll at Panda Express or something, the wrapper is usually crappy, and it’s tiny, and the filling is mushy and weird. The veggie egg rolls here are amazing, and I can see a point in my life where I just crack and eat like four of them as a meal. I’ll probably have to remember to ask for extra sauce and mustard when this day eventually arrives.
3. Most of the food. I’ve been unhappy with one of the five entrees I’ve tried here, and I wouldn’t order it again (the fragrant pork wasn’t spectacular), but by and large, given the contextual specifications above, this is really good.
The bad:
1. The menu’s a little bit repetitive, and isn’t as big as it seems. A lot of protein swaps in otherwise identical dishes.
Overall, I definitely plan on going back.

We go here with friends who have been eating here for over 18 years. We have probably been eating here for at least 10. The food is good, fresh and hot. Most of the time the service is reasonable but it all depends on how busy they may get. There was one time that it took almost an hour and when our party of six finally got served, one of the six had to wait about another 20 minutes for their food. Everyone else was almost done eating. The waitress kept apologizing but I don’t know what the problem was but it was apparent it was in the kitchen. We have had take out from here also. Be sure to call ahead. I like spicy food so ask for extra hot sauce as most of the food can be mild. One time our party tried desserts of mango, green tea and another flavor ice cream which was a treat.

I’m a little confused.
After driving by Imperial Garden, and time after time seeing a packed parking lot, I finally tried the place. It’s basically the typical Americanized, overpriced sit-​down Chinese restaurant. Why so many cars and why so many people eating there? I’m not sure.
The BBQ pork in our appetizer was almost cold and chewy. (Was it supposed to be jerky?) Other items on the appetizer platter were okay, but lacked seasoning.
Our entrees weren’t much better. The sweet-​and-​sour sauce was more like sweet-​and-​strange sauce. The very odd thing about the sauce was that it was too sweet. (And I’m someone with a sweet tooth and then some!) The sauce seemed sort of like a red version of corn syrup. Just very weird.
The sweet-​and-​sour chicken entrée came with the usual — chicken, peppers, onions, pineapples — and maraschino cherries. I only want to see and see those with a milkshake. As part of a dinner entrée? No, no.
I am still scratching my head as to why this place has a full parking lot and why it has won some of the «Best of Madison» awards.
PS: Our server was nice!

I am not sure WHY I’ve never been here before.
The food and service was absolutely perfect. Where do I begin?
We arrived around 5pm on a Monday. Seated right away in a very comfortable booth. Very nice ambience. Our server was very attentive during our entire time there.
Ordered the Shrimp Rangoon for an appetizer. Nice and light, not heavy at all. Perfect crispness to them and great flavor. The ginger lemon dipping sauce was very good.
Two entrees:
1.Half order of the Shrimp Snow Peas and half order of the fragrant shrimp.
2. Sesame Chicken
The fragrant shrimp tomato base sauce might just be the BEST sauce I’ve ever tasted. A little sweet with a little heat to it. Devine! The shrimp in both dishes were cooked perfectly and just melted in your mouth.
The sesame chicken had the best batter on the chicken. Light and a perfect crispness to it.
Best Chinese meal in ages. I WILL be coming back to try more and I WILL bring more people with me. Thank you for a great evening.

Came here for a friend’s wedding reception, marking my first time here in the 5 years in Madison. My department holds its yearly reception here, so I’ve always been curious how it is like. On the other hand I have heard it’s an American-​Asian food place, which explains my hesitance to try it out. So the wedding reception was a great opportunity.
I would say all my friends were right. Imperial Garden is a mix between authentic chinese food and american chinese food. The peking duck and the appetizer platter were my favorite. The appetizer platter (serves 4) consisted of Egg rolls, grilled pot stickers, bbq pork, crispy shrimp and calamari. Pot stickers were nicely made and flavorful, calamari is also crispy *yums* Shrimps are lightly breaded and very tasty, could taste how fresh they are.
The Peking Duck is also super awesome. Note that you have to order the duck a day in advance. It’s a whole duck specially prepared and served in three courses, of which the crispy duck skin with mandarin pancakes is my favorite. Super authentic! You can ask for more pancakes with the dish, yes it is this good!
Other dishes we tried include the usual general tso chicken, mongolian pork, stir fry noodles. Those are delicious, but in my opinion those are pretty common in chinese restaurants. I would recommend Imperial Garden for special occasions (the restaurant is roomy and nice to accommodate large groups). Order their specialty dishes, they are worth it.

I’ve been to Imperial Gardens countless times. It’s one of the few restaurants in Madison that’s not a burger joint that’s not «too spicy» for my Mom. So Imperial Gardens has become a go to sort of place when there is a reason for a family outing.
On to the meal, there were six of us (ironically dear Mother didn’t make it). We ordered: Grilled Pot Stickers, Green Beans with Garlic, Moo Shu Chicken, Governor’s Chicken, Beef Epicurious, Sweet and Sour Pork, Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, and some sort of Shrimp Dish.
This isn’t a Chinese place with bold flavors. But it’s consistent. Each dish was distinctly different but mild, even the Governor’s Chicken. Surprisingly the best dishes in this mix were the simplest, the green beans and the eggplant.
The menu seems to have recently been reorganized. It seems smaller but all the usual dishes all seem to be in place. Also, you can order brown rice in addition to the standard white rice. If you’re looking for the Classic Americanized Chinese Restaurant Imperial Palace is your kind of place.
Hopefully dear old Mom will make the next outing. We did get an extra order of dumplings to go with the leftovers for Mom.

So I had heard from a couple of people that this was the best Chinese (American/​Chinese) in town. That is not true at all! I tried a sampling appetizer, dumpling, sweet and sour chicken, among other things and there was simply no flavor nor originality. The décor of the place is nice, that must be what people are mesmerized with, so much so they forget to pay attention to the screams of agony from their tongue! I do not recommend this place.
A good note is the waitress was great and the décor is fun but that’s is not what I go out to eat for…

This is our go-​to Chinese restaurant in the Madison area. Hands down, it’s the best Chinese I’ve found so far. I’d give it 5 stars if the prices were more reasonable and the dine-​in environment was better.
Like I said, the food is superb. My usual dish is Cashew Chicken. It’s hard to deviate from that when it’s sooooo good. Other dishes are excellent as well. What I like about Imperial is that the meat quality is good. The beef is tasty and tender — not tough or «questionable». The chicken is good as well — not some of the gray chicken-​like material found at lesser establishments.
We don’t dine in often or at all. It’s a little more formal than I prefer, and the experience can take a while. Just not my preference. I keep their number in my phone and call ahead for carry-​out. That’s the way to go here, imho.
Their location is very convenient for those of us that work in town and live in the western ‘burbs. The portions they give out are very fair — my cashew chicken typically leaves me with a nice lunch for work the next day.
If you’re looking for top-​quality Chinese food, I highly recommend getting take-​out here. If you don’t mind a more formal setting and have the time, go ahead and dine in.

The short of the story is — we went here yesterday (Mother’s Day) and were there 3 hours! Waited a full 2 hours for our food. So if you have don’t mind waiting an unbelievable amount of time for food and have all day to waste, then read on.. .
For years I have drove by the Imperial Garden and referred to it as the «Chinese Restaurant Gas Station». I don’t even know if they are connected or what, but you see them both as you turn the corner. We decided to go to this place for Mother’s Day and check it out. Talking to friends over the weekend, we were told it was pretty good.
The building is nice and the atmosphere of the restaurant was way nicer than I expected. Very large and nicely decorated. Not so cheesy like a lot of Chinese-​American places in Wisconsin. The hostess greeted us very nicely and having reservations we were seated right away.
Now — we were a larger than average group — table of 8 — but they clearly were set up for groups this big as they had large tables in the corner of the rooms with a spinning lazy susan in the middle that was perfect for us. I think we probably could have even gotten 9 or 10 people on this table. The waitress was very nice too. Came right away and got us drinks and very friendly.
This is when things went down hill. We did order appetizers, which came out right away. Pot Stickers — both steamed and fried — which were pretty good. Once our whole group arrived we all ordered regular items from their menu. Then we waited. Waited and waited and waited. Apparently so did everyone around us. For hours — over two to be exact. The waitress did her best — kept coming by and telling us she was sorry, that the Kitchen was crazy and that we were next. Honestly we should have left — but it was hard enough getting family members from 4 households together at one time.
Eventually the food came out. To their credit, I thought everything tasted pretty good. I got two different shrimp dishes. Decent flavor, cooked perfectly — the snap peas and water chestnuts were good. Portion was decent on the Shrimp dinner and much larger on the chicken dinners that others in my group got. I agree with other reviews — its not the most adventurous food. Flavors were safe and my spicy shrimp wasn’t very spicy at all. My sister-​in-​law was upset her Sesame Chicken with Broccoli came with one piece of broccoli. She complained and the waitress brought out a side of broccoli.
Overall, If the food wasn’t pretty good — I would have given this place one star. I give our waitress credit for holding it together too. She offered free desert but we were about an hour late for getting to another place so had to go. Saddest thing is we heard that this has been an ongoing problem with the Kitchen. Sounds like they don’t fire dishes in the order they come in and they have a lot of trouble keeping up with things. If they could correct this problem and add a bit more flavor into a few dishes, the place really could be ok.
Try it on your own risk — but I would plan on spending several long hours while you wait for your food.