Imperial treasure — Restaurant in Palo Alto

Our group came here on Tuesday night after they rescheduled us three times for the reservation. We were so excited to try this place out since the food photos look so tasty, but we were kind of disappointed of the service and food quality after all.

FOOD QUALITY: 1/5

One of our friends found out a curl hair that is about one inch long (human hair, not from the duck) mixed with the duck meat while she was wrapping the duck with the sides.

She showed that to the server and the server said probably the chef dropped it while he was cutting the duck. He said he can offer us a discount. Our friend said ok since there was nothing else they could do and they couldn't replace another one for us. We checked the bill at the end and found out they gave us $7 off.

The whole duck were two full plants but only came with one set of sides and the portion were tiny, so we asked for more wrap and one more sauce for the duck. The extra wrap is $7 and the hoisin sauce is $2. I guess if you want to get one more set it will be at least $17 if all the tiny side are $2.

After they cut the duck, they asked if we want to use the duck bone for soup, salt and pepper, or spicy. We picked salt and pepper and we ordered 4 more other dishes which are beef honeycomb tripe(招牌金錢肚), Hand Shredded Cabbage(乾鍋手撕包菜), Duck Blood, Beef Tripe, Pork Intestines, & Spam in Sichuan Chili Oil(重慶毛血旺), and Braised Sliced Pork Belly(梅菜扣肉). We think all of the dishes were kind of lack of taste except the duck( since we put the sauce ourself) and cabbage.

SERVICE: 2/5

We sat at the big table that is next to the door and the cashier. It was very hard to get the attention from the servers. They didn't came back to check on us, fill water for us and asked if we were doing ok. The funny thing is one of the servers acted like he didn't see us while me and my friends were raising our hands tried to get his attention even though he was facing us and made eyes contact with us. We waited so long to get the attention from another server so we can ask for more water. The reason is 2/5 because one of the server is nice. For their tips suggestion is starting from 20%, 25%, and 28% after tax. Base on this service and we found the hair in the food, All of our group felt like it's just too high. We just gave them 15% before tax.

ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

The restaurant is in chinese style which is nice but the men...

D day has the best restaurant in the area. Imperial Treasure – Peking-Duck Heaven in the Bay

TL;DR: Come hungry, order the duck, and prepare for a master-class in crispy skin and silky meat.

What blew me away • Tableside Peking duck show – The chef wheels over a gleaming, just-roasted bird, steam curling off the lacquered skin. Each slice is razor-thin and shatters like sugar glass when you bite. Watching the carving alone is worth the reservation. • Perfect trinity of condiments – Warm handmade crêpes, julienned scallions + cucumbers, and a deeply caramelized hoisin that’s more smoky than sweet. Build a wrap, take one bite, and you’ll understand why Beijing claims this dish as a national treasure. • Surprise sleeper hit – Don’t skip the mala dry-pot cabbage & pork served in a carved metal cauldron. Tingly Sichuan peppercorns, wok hei, and crunchy cabbage make it the ideal palate reset between duck courses.

Service & vibe

Friendly, efficient, and theatrical without feeling stuffy. Staff time the courses so your pancakes never go cold and your teapot is always topped up.

Pro tips Reserve the duck when you book (they sell out). Ask for extra crêpes—you’ll need them. If you have four or more people, add one vegetable or seafood dish and call it a feast.

Verdict

Imperial Treasure nails the classic Peking-duck experience and then some. It’s the rare spot where showmanship meets substance, and every crispy shard of skin reminds you why some dishes become legendary. Five stars,...

Imperial Duck

Imperial Treasure takes over the former spot of long-time Palo Alto restaurant Peking Duck

Despite the California Street location, it’s a slightly challenging spot given the interior mall location with minimal foot traffic and hard to see restaurant signage

Imperial Treasure has been on my to-try list for awhile but sporadic initial opening hours made it difficult. Happy to report lunch and dinner times now supported daily

We stopped by for Lunar New Year and hectic crowds are not the fairest time to review, but they did an admirable job

Servers are fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese and dishes, including the signature Peking Duck, came out quickly although without the standard display and carving presentation

The Duck is a more modern preparation with jelly compote and sugar (popular in HK) served along scallions, cucumbers and thin pancakes. The order includes a choice of duck bone soup or stir fry and we opted for the soup

The steamed dumplings, vegetables and fried rice were also all solid

📷 Treasures Signature Peking Duck $108.88 / Jellyfish Cucumber Salad $12.88 / Stir Fried Pea Sprout with Garlic / Xiao Long Bao $12.95 / Crab Xiao Long Bao $18.95 / Shrimp Fried Rice $15.95

📍Imperial Treasure Palo Alto (Palo Alto, CA)

Dining is indoor only and credit cards are accepted including AmEx. Service is friendly but busy. We asked for a tea refill 5 times but it didn’t happen. Again, Lunar New Year so perhaps...