Empire Chinese Kitchen — Restaurant in Portland

The dim sum is at San Fransisco levels, it's as good as Yank Sing which was my favorite dim sum restaurant in SF. Its much better than any dim sum in Boston or Lowell. The selection is more limited than other dim sum restaurants but everything they offer is terrific. Our favorite was the Peking duck buns, its the best Peking duck that I've ever had. The surprise was the shumai. I normally think of shumai as the least interesting dumpling, but the flavor of their shumai was terrific. The disappointment was the lobster dumpling, I expected it to be the best of all the dishes but it was our least favorite although it's good, just not blow away good like the Peking Duck buns.

Jan 1 2025: The chicken buns are terrific. This might be a new addition to the menu or we didn't notice it before but it will be on our list of best choices at Empire.

The orange beef is delicious but it's very spicy, too spicy for me.

The soup dumplings are excellent, so are the hargow. Didn't love the lobster noodles, the Walnut shrimp are good but if you need to cut down on the number of dishes this is one I'd leave off.

Important recommendation, always order the small portion, there are so many dishes to order.so you don't want to overstuff yourself.

Dec 28, 2019 Wonton soup. Loved it, extremely tasty. Peking duck buns, still great Shumai, good but not as good as I remember Har Gow, very good but not exceptional Shanghai soup dumplings, good

May 2023 It's still takeout only, they say they will reopen in about a month. We had the duck bao, excellent as always, soup dumplings, fantastic, har gow, terrific, chicken pot stickers, just OK will skip next time, and the beef bao, hated it. We picked up our take out order curbside, it was very easy, we didn't have to wait. We then drove to the Tesla Supercharger, which is only about a mile away, and ate it while we charged. A perfect way to start the day in Maine.

Mar 2024: Still very good but it's no longer spectacular. Has our usuals, the one new edition was the chicken pot stickers. We liked them but...

TLDR: Good food but over-priced.

I started with the hot & sour soup, which I thought was excellent, although at $6, I was expecting something different from your typical h&s soup experience. I would definitely order it again, but really, it should be $3-$3.50 for the portion size. I like that they have small plates that are priced so that you can either try a few different ones or if dining alone, you can still enjoy an appetizer without wasting food. The garlic green beans were good, although not the best version I have had. If you were expecting them to be spicy or very garlicky, they were neither. At $7 for the small, the portion size was fair. I went with the jalapeño shrimp, in part because due to the pricing model they seem to be using, it seemed like the best value (lots of the mains sounded quite good, but normally jumbo shrimp is a fair bit more expensive than other proteins but here they are basically all the same price). I ordered it extra spicy based on previous reviews, and it was still quite mild, although the flavor and quality were very good, so I was still pleased with it. You do get a lot of shrimp, but they skimp on the rice and vegetable accompanying it. I requested a switch to broccoli for personal preference, and it was cooked well, and there was no additional charge.

Ordered takeout, and overall, I was happy with my meal. They have an area set up just for takeout where you can order, and they provided an accurate estimate of wait time. The service was very friendly. This is not your typical "hole-in-the-wall" place but rather a trendy dining establishment, complete with a bar. It was very crowded and a bit loud at 8:15pm on a Friday (not unsurprisingly for the time/day, except that they close at 8:45, so I was not expecting it to be quieter). I would return next time I'm in town. I would be happy eating the same things again, or I might also branch out because there are other things that...

I really want to love this restaurant. I truly do. It is reputed to be the best Chinese food town. It has a hip fun and lively environment,

But every time I eat here, I walk away feeling that I’ve spent a lot of money and that I am. disappointed.

Here are some of today’s low points.

To start I ordered a Chinese Margarita which both the menu and the waitress described as tart and spicy. I ordered it and asked that it be made with no simple syrup as I do not like sweet cocktails.

It arrrived after my soup - And I’m guessing that making it without sugar syrup through the bar into a dither. (turns out that they make this drink ahead in batches, and that they could not customize it for me.)

It arrived and it was neither spicy nor tart. Tasted a little bit like lime Kool-Aid with one sorry jalapeño size floating on the top. The waitress could see it was depressed, and actually brought me a little shot glass of lime juice (bottled, of course, sigh).

Next at bat was my hot and sour soup, which, guess what? Was neither spicy hot nor sour. It has skimpy ingredients (about three or four tiny cubes of tofu) but mostly a soy and cornstarch broth with a few strands of Lotus blossom

For my “entree“, I ordered “Spicy Orange Beef” with rice and bok choy. They kindly gave me some green beans instead of bok choy. The green beans were the best part of my meal. The beef pieces were paper, thin slices which had been breaded or battered and deep-fried, and the result was like fried shoe leather. Tough and dry and deep And, of course, I could not taste orange peel nor any heat. For heaven sakes, panda express in the main mall has better orange chicken.

And to top it all off, they brought me a chocolate fortune cookie with my check. This was the one time I would have liked a … plain cookie.

Ok 3 strikes you’re...