Empero Taste — Restaurant in San Francisco

12/16/2025: Love Empero Taste. This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in this area. The restaurant was about 50% full on a Tuesday evening. We ordered their deep fried salt and pepper crab ($15 a pound) $37.36 for a 2.2 pound crab, house pan fried noodles $18 and a honey walnut prawns $22. For the pan fried noodles, they were nice enough to parse out the sauce and the noodles so it doesn't get soaked. This dish is huge. They give you more when you are dining in as supposed to take-out. Their crab aren't as meaty as PPQ's but it is 1/2 the price. Still good. We had to take some of the crab home as we couldn't finish it. It was more than enough food for two people. It is nice to see the same waitresses from all these years. Service was quick and excellent. Great job everyone at Empero Taste.

Original review: Indoor dining is back (since June 15, 2021) at Empero Taste. I remember the crazy crowd for take out on Mother's Day back in May. The kitchen was backed up for two hours. Needless to say, I'm excited they are opened for indoor dining again. It has been too long since I ate here in person. Be sure to have your vaccine card as they do check. I really like their food here. The wait times are longer now because 1/2 of their orders are to-go orders and the waitresses are split helping them and guests eating here.

The salt and pepper crab is the same as I remembered. It was deep fried with that salty pepper taste with a sprinkle of green onions and peppers. The crispy tomato beef HK noodles were gigantic. I swear you get more food in person than in the to-go containers. Great job the staff Empero Taste. I...

If you're entertaining a group, I can't think of a better place than Empero Taste. Easy parking, reservation for ten - a must, gather outside until your time and then...drum roll, sit yourself down and prepare for a feast. Yes, the menu is daunting but we arrive with a simple plan of attack. The host takes out his little black book, each guest choses an item, the host makes the list, judges the enthusiasm level for each dish and orders accordingly. He orders a plate, a plate and a half (they're good with that.) After some wait (tsingtaos recommended) the food arrives. Start to finish - two hours later we are happy and full. My favorite dish? Walnut-honey-prawns. Not that gooey stuff, the real deal. Born and raised in the City, with a large group ordering, there are many dishes new to me - all tasty! Short on ambiance, long on food, for special occasions or just take-out, Empero Taste...

I used to eat there years ago and I used to eat at the Bay Fomg which I believe was owned by the same family but her since closed. It was incredible by the way.. anyway I haven't eaten there at Empero Taste much since covid but I found that this time was one of the very best. The sand dab (actually flounder) deep fried with soy sauce was exquisite. The gai lon with beef was as good as it gets. Extremely fresh gai lon. Extra large portions. A few days later at home the leftovers were unbelievable as well. Sucked in that dark green super fresh Chinese broccoli. What a treat! Highly recommended restaurant. As good as any Chinese restaurant in San Francisco in my opinion and I...