Empire Chinese Kitchen 575 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101

"We are new in town and finally had lunch at Empire Chinese Kitchen. From the moment you walk in you are transported to a hip and cozy Asian restaurant that is above the rest. We were greeted by a friendly hostess that took our number and placed on a wait list for a busy Sunday early afternoon. Our table was ready shortly after within 15-20 minutes. I have been looking for Bao Buns and finally found them! The Bao Buns were so flavorful and delicious! Entree after entree every dish was amazingly superb. We ventured out trying the Bacon Fried Rice which was good but not the traditional fried rice we usually get. There is a full bar with cocktails, wine and beers. Customer service was friendly and excellent. Empire Chinese Kitchen will definitely be one of our new Go to restaurants!"

"Service was excellent. Lobster Rangoon could be priced in the godfather style of "today, I give you these Rangoon and at some point in the future I will ask of you a favor". And I'd still get them again. Pork bun (char siu bao) was delicious, there was 1 flavor in there I didn't care for. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't strong enough to not enjoy it. I would definately get the buns again and work my way through the variations until I found a favorite. The Mongolian beef was good. Cooked well, the broccoli was perfect, but there was an unmistakable texture of too much cornstarch in the entire entree. Really the only cloud in the meal...apart from paper straws, but...it's portland, may as well get angry at a bird for flying."

"Took our daughter out for her 17th Birthday. Service was excellent, atmosphere was cozy and fun and the food was Da Bomb! I would have stayed and ate more but my jeans said no! The pictures will speak for themselves! It’s a must visit. Get the garlic green beans!!!!!!"

"We were told it would be an hour and a half wait but they sat us after 40 minutes. The restaurant was very clean and more open and spacious than it looks from outside. I wouldn’t recommend sitting at the counter where everyone waiting in the entry can watch you eat. Our server was very nice and told us all her favorites on the menu. The char siu bao was standard. The breading was more dense than I’ve had before and the filling less sweet which was nice. Lobster rangoons were crispy and had a pop of water chestnut but weren’t seasoned and I couldn’t detect and lobster in taste or texture. It was all cream cheese. Garlic Green beans were divine. They were sweet and salty with beautiful char marks. Honey shrimp were big prawns and also less sweet than expected. We really enjoyed the plating and the flavor. Orange beef was a little tough and I think it was dropped in a fryer but the sauce was delicious. Pork shumai were large pieces and outstanding!!! You could differentiate the textures between all of the different ingredients in them, and they were not mushy at all. Chinatown roast pork was syrupy and such a striking contrast to the way the sugar levels in the other plates were more refined. It was heavily seasoned and absolutely perfect. Our three favorites for definitely the Chinatown roast pork, the shumai and the green beans. Our total was $90 which we thought was very affordable for so many ordered items. I would 100% recommend this restaurant . It is most definitely worth the wait."

"Nice little restaurant with a quick staff. Service and aesthetic is good. The food is ok, half good and half not very good. It’s just the portion sizes that are small. The soup dumplings were delicious. The garlic green beans were good. The fried rice and broad noodles with beef were good too. The hot and sour soup looked so good and everyone was getting it. I don’t recommend though. It was not the best. Also really don’t recommend the pork belly buns. The sauce is extremely salty and we could barely eat them. Overall, not a bad spot as it seemed that many people there enjoyed it. Might just not be my cup of tea because I’m used to large family style portions when going out for Chinese food."