Imperial Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Denver

New Review 2024 (2 stars)

We have been going to imperial since 2007 and used to visit the restaurant several times a year despite the restaurant being about a 25 minute drive from our house.

I visited Imperial in March 2024 and the food and staff were excellent, but my recent visit was a major disappointment. The food has become terrible! The Seseme Chicken at Imperial used to be extremely tasty with thick juicky pieces of chicken lightly breaded in a delicious sweet and well balanced sauce. However, this time the chicken pieces were very small and rubbery and to top it off, the sauce was cloyingly sweet and inedible. The Schezuan Chicken was tasteless and also very sweet. Schezuan Chicken is supposed to be a savory dish with a bit of spice. In addition, the noodles in Vegetable Lo Mein were undercooked and the dish had no flavor and lacked any soy sauce, whereas the Vegetable lo mein used to have fresh tasty vegetables with deliciously flavored noodles.

The only good things were the Assorted Vegetables and the Crab Cheese Wontons.

The staff was very friendly and polite. Caitlin at the front was friendly and efficient and it was nice to meet Chef Marcello.

To the new ownership: we used to love coming to Imperial when it was owned by Mr. Hsu. Please bring back certain dishes like the plant based Seseme "Chicken," Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup for 2 or more, the Spicy Eggplant, etc. Also, please fix the rapidly declining quality of the food. Several dishes we had were loaded with sugar and weren't tasty. Imperial used to be well regarded for its high quality of food.

Previous Review 2011 (5 stars)

What's up with all of the bad reviews, Imperial is probably one of Denver's best Chinese restaurants, if not the best. Even though Imperial serves up Americanized Chinese food, the food is fresh and it makes all of the difference in the world. The hot and sour soup we had (vegetarian version) had well balanced flavors with crisp vegetables and had a decent amount of heat, unlike most Chinese restaurant's hot and sour soup just tastes like soy sauce and a little bit of chilli sauce. The sesame chicken tasted excellent, the chicken was crisp, put in just the right amount of sauce, and was very flavorful.

The schezuan chicken was the best I have ever had, it had tons of complex flavors that balanced each other well and the sweet and sour chicken was perfectly cooked in a very tasty sauce. The restaurant happily accommodated our request for Vegetable Lo Mein and the noodles were very flavorful with fresh, crisp vegetables. As a treat, make sure you try the Ginger ice cream. The location of the restaurant is very good, it's close to downtown, and it has a small parking lot, perfect for those of us who feel uneasy about using metered parking.

The restaurant was fairly large and exquisitely decorated. Our server/waiter was very professional and polite, though he seemed to lack warmth and it took a little while to get our drinks. A full meal for four people cost us $75.00 with an 18% tip, so the restaurant isn't cheap, but the quality of food, ambiance, and decent service make it worth the price. Unfortunately, I live in a suburb of Denver, so Imperial is pretty far from me, but we visit the restaurant about 5-8 x a year and we have always enjoyed going there. Highly...

I'm not sure what's happened at Imperial. It's obviously had many changes post covid. The interior isn't maintained as it was prior to the pandemic. And needs to be addressed. Walls are showing damages that question what else has been neglected. Poor choice to allow a public facing dining area in such decay. Please address or close public facing dining area. One star. The main reason I came in was to enjoy a long standing favorite appetizer . The Dim Sung Platter. They no longer make their signature delicacy apparently. As the chef came out and explained as dud the server? Which I accepted the two of three items being available but the veggie items was not. However this is a completely different rendition vs their formerly traditional summer available specialty. Please remove the entire offering if unable to create what was a signature and destination delicacy item I am assuming ownership and management and staffing has completely changed in recent years. Sadly this happens. Whereas keeping a banner facing forward with a long standing and very great restaurant for decades. I'm not quite sure what's happened here. But, I will again return because it's a long standing very loved restaurant by myself and many. I hope this is simply a blip. I fear it not and the former imperial is now lost. Say. The service was great. The main course myself and my guest received were well received by my guest. And mine was unfortunately under cooked and I was very disappointed that an easy menu item would be so unattended by the kitchen staff. Again the "chef" kept checking on our table. I'd highly recommend that he stay and supervise his charges in the kitchen. Because the food that was served to me was not cooked . And gooey battery fried shrimp was very unacceptable. Please address. So my ratings are based upon over twenty or more like thirty years as a loving customer of the Imperial. I hope that this review is read with the intent made. You have much to address. But it's not by snoozing at the table for lacking care or concern in the kitchen or of the public facing dining area. I feel this was way off the mark. Maybe I'm dreaming. But if this is the new way forward for the imperial. Well that's a shame . I'll try again sometime soon. I'm not a difficult customer. The maitai was perfect. The tea was passable. The Dim Sung was unrecognizable from the previously served years long offerings I've had. And I do nit really ever care to meet and greet or stop and chat with any chef. A good chef is in the kitchen not on the dining room floor. To be very blunt. The lack of care in the kitchen was glaringly evident. I hope my harsh review is met with the care I hope you'll understand. I'll try again. But this was unacceptable. And was sadly a bad experience first one ever at the Imperial. I'll try again. I hope the traditions are not lost forever. Your loyal and long time lover of the imperial. Me. Best of luck moving forward. With all...

This was not the first time I visited Imperial Chinese, but it was my best visit so far. All of my visits have been very good which is the reason I keep coming back.

We visited Imperial Chinese on Christmas Eve. I called to see if they would be open the day before, but at the time was unsure how many would be joining our group for dinner so didn't make a reservation at that time. I knew that it would probably be very busy, but I was just not able to make a reservation at the time.

Once we knew how many would be in our party, probably at around 1:00 PM on Christmas Eve day, I phoned to make a reservation. There were to be 6 of us, and we wanted to eat at around 6:00 PM. The gentleman I spoke with said they were fairly well booked, but they could get us in at 7:00 PM. I was happy that we were able to get in, so anxiously agreed to the 7:00 PM time. The gentleman asked that if there would be any changes to our group size, or if we decided not to come, we would let him know as they were going to be very busy and reservations were tight.

We arrived at the restaurant right at 7:00 PM and joined a very large group of people in the waiting area. We gave our name to the person at the counter and were asked to wait over near the bar. My busy restaurant experience told me that we might be waiting for a while even if we had a reservation. To my surprise, within 3-5 minutes, our party was called and we were taken to a table in a somewhat private room toward the back of the restaurant. We felt like rock-stars or some other elite guests of the restaurant!

The food was excellent and the service was superb! Except for the fact that we could see how busy the restaurant and the staff were, one would have thought that we were the only patrons in the restaurant. I was amazed at how well they were able to keep to the reservation schedule, and how well the staff was able to provide excellent service when the place was so busy.

I don't expect that we will always get the semi-private room treatment when we return to Imperial Chinese, but I know that we will get excellent service and outstanding Chinese food!

Some of the dishes we had were Szechuan Prawns, Orange Chicken, Lemon Chicken, General Tao Chicken, Thai Basil Salmon, Happy Family, and a mixed or assorted vegetable dish. The standouts for me were the Szechuan Prawns, the Thai Basil Salmon, and the vegetable dish, but...