Imperial Takeaways — Local services in North Island

My partner and I have started ordering for the occasional late night cheap feast. As somebody used to higher quality restaurant food from back home in Australia I was pleasantly surprised by prices, authenticity of flavour and portion sizes for the Chinese dishes. $14 for beef brisket noodle soup (albeit with broccoli instead of bok choy or kailan - fresh and still very delicious) amazed me. Would love the noodles (udon! Bad news if you love wonton noodles but this was vastly preferable for me!) seperately packaged for take away but for that price I'm happy to just rush home. Flavours were spot on, brisket was tender and came with a lot of chewy but tender membrane. I could do without the membrane personally but if that's your jam, they've treated it well and you're in for a treat!! Burgers are well priced and decent. Nothing to write home about with the beef burgers but I'm told the chicken burger has a huge crumbed and fried thigh! Chips are great, hubby is happy with their combo fried rice.

Service is perfect. I haven't been rushed to order, you can see into the kitchen, staff are friendly and seem passionate about what they do which is obvious enough from the food itself and extensive menu compared to other "take aways." This to me more than anything indicates their pride in the restaurant and their traditional foods. Anybody who loves Chinese food knows the best places will have a menu the size of grandma's bible with one sweaty man labouring over a wok in the back. This is that sort of place with the charm of a fish and chip shop foyer and a golden lucky cat on the counter.

Plenty of seating for those waiting on their orders. Chairs, padded benches, little table and enough space for wheelchairs without too much hassel. Well ventilated so waiting inside isn't unpleasant.

In NZ this seems to refer to a fish and chip shop that also sells a selection of basic Chinese dishes such as chow mein, egg foo yong (savoury omelette with brown stirfry sauce less common in my part of Aus), chop suey, orange/lemon/sweet and sour, fried rice, fried noodles (very basic, usually made with rehydrated, cheap, thin, floury tasting egg noodles), pork/char sui bao and maybe a couple other Chinese and Malay items (seems to be a decent Malay community in Welly). Alongside this there are burgers with slaw/ketchup/mayo for standard toppings and a few Kiwiana style fried options such as paua fritters and curry rolls (best described as low quality Chinese curry - you know the style I mean - with poor quality beef or chicken in an egg roll wrapper like you'd see in the US.) These takeaway joints are very popular but with often disappointing quality of food but generally large portions. Stand alone fish and chip stores are few and far between comparatively.

Will review again with photos and different menu selection...

Unassuming frontage hiding big flavours and decent quality and quantities. Normally you get to choose just one of those three. Lots of choices, and everything we've tried so far has been really good. Fresh vege's, tender beef, moist chook, beatiful pork. Dishes packed with amazing flavour. From sweet and sours to black bean to honey soy...mmmmmm honey soy..... Family run business by the looks of things. I've been happy with worse at a well rated sit down restaurant nearby as a benchmark for how good...

Food was good, however terrible online ordering and slow to make our food. Ordered at 530 for a 6pm pick up, had to call them as no acknowledgement of our order, the guy just said 'okay online order' and hung up on me. Arrived at 6pm, and they hadn't even started cooking, told me it would be fifteen minutes. After about ten, I get an automated text to say my order had been accepted and it would be ready at 6pm. At 615 they said it'll be another 5 minutes, finally left with our...