838 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 434-1345
Hours: Open Daily 11:00am-10:00pm
Parking: street parking and pay parking lot in basement
http://www.empressofchinasf.com/
Last Visited: June 12, 2010
Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 to 4 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$
Empress of China is the only roof top Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. The décor features Han dynasty architecture and ornaments. This evening, we dined banquet-style in the ballroom. The ballroom is large and seats hundreds. I have been here for several banquets, most recently in 2010 and 2004.
The large room features a view of the city from the large windows. From the ceiling hang red lanterns like those seen in movies, and even larger lanterns are displayed in the front of the room.
Service seemed to be dependent on the server here. For the evening in 2004, the service was about two stars. The quantity of food wasted was incredible, however, I noticed that this was done for efficiency this evening. However, other servers seemed to give better service both in attitude and the handling of the banquet-style service. For those who don’t typically dine banquet-style, the difficulty for the server is that there are numerous plates on the lazy susan, and in order to make room for more plates, something must be done with the dishes already on the table. At upper class restaurants, the server typically will remove dishes that are half eaten and place the food onto smaller plates, then return the smaller plate to the table. Our server seemed a bit lazy this evening and didn’t seem happy about our request for this to be done. I gave the service a range of 2 to 3 stars in 2004 since other servers were observed to be more efficient and kind.
In 2010, the servers seem to be more cognizant about the previous waste and either leave food on the table, change to smaller serving dishes, and allow for items to be boxed up to take home. I raised the service rating to a flat 3 stars because of this change.
The dishes below are for the 2004 visit.
- Minced Chicken and Chinese Sausage with Lettuce Cup – Chicken, Chinese sausage, preserved cabbage, and other vegetables are minced and served with lettuce cups. Lettuce is peeled to retain its cup formation, and the edges are cut with a zig-zag patterned scissor. On the side is a hoisin sauce based sauce. The presentation of the lettuce is great and the lettuce was very fresh. The flavors are nicely blended, but I prefer my minced meat to have more water chestnuts giving that extra crunch.
- Golden Chives and Dry Scallop Soup – The soup was nicely done with a good consistency to the broth. There were a lot of dry scallops and the flavor was mild, but appropriate.
- Szechwan Style Prawns – Prawns are sautéed with red pepper flakes and other spices and scattered amongst the shrimp are colorful bell peppers. The flavor is nice with a little spiciness from the red pepper flakes.
- Roasted Chicken with Special Bean Curd Sauce – Chicken is roasted to golden brown. The chicken is served with a red bean curd sauce on the side. The sauce was a bit watered down. The chicken was a bit dry, and since it had been covered to retain its heat, the parsley garnish had wilted. The color of the chicken was nice, but the meat could be more moist.
- Sauteed Vegetarian Delight – Mustard greens are served under a multitude of shitake mushrooms and straw mushrooms. This dish was nicely done, but the name seems to imply more than what was served. Perhaps my expectations were different, and the two just didn’t line up.
- Wok Fried Fresh Flounder – A whole flounder is deep fried and served whole with soy sauce for seafood. The fish was good, but not the best. The crunchiness of the fish could be improved.
- Seafood Delicacies Stuffed in Winter Melon – Pieces of shrimp, mushrooms, and other delights are served in a sauce under braised winter melon. The delicacies aren’t really stuffed, but more hidden beneath the melon. The delicacies themselves aren’t as exciting as the melon. A portion of giant wintermelon is braised until the entire piece is soft, but not falling apart. The consistency was lovely and since the melon is served whole, you see a large circle of melon on the dish. The melon is then cut like a pie into wedges. It’s excellent.
- Braised Westlake Duck – Another excellent dish. Duck is braised until the meat falls off the bone. The duck is served with barley and lettuce in a sauce. The duck is done very nicely as well and certainly a specialty in itself.
- Almond Tofu – The dessert this evening was almond tofu, but it’s the kind from the box, which has a bit of a fake flavor. It was equivalent to that from the box. Nothing special.
The main improvement to the evening would be the changing of plates as the dinner went onward. Since a number of dishes had a lot of sauce, the flavors were beginning to be mingled together, resulting in loss of distinctness. This was especially noticeable after the shrimp was served. Everything seemed to have a bit of spiciness to it after that. Since an appetizer plate was provided, an alternative would be to remove the appetizer plate later after more courses had been served. Not every dish is number one, but some dishes are definitely special and worth a try.
During our 2010 visit, there was a stuffed duck. This is a traditional dish where the meat is braised to the point that it completely falls off the bone. The stuffing typically includes lotus nuts, taro, and more so that a single bite is super rich and flavorful. I usually can't eat much of it. Though not of exceptional quality, the food is good and Empress of China certainly offers choice views of the city when it comes to Chinatown restaurants.
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