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Ordered soups, dumplings, sesame chicken and the 'make your own dish' (chicken+4 veggies+sauce). The soup & dumplings were decent. The sesame chicken is good, but a bit on the sweet side. For the build your own dish, however, they forgot to add the white sauce. Who gets sauteed chicken without sauce? The order shows the sauce placed in the order, and it's not as if they don't have your contact info to confirm the strange order! Otherwise, the dish was quite good - they do a good job with the eggplants. On the other hand, they used canned mushrooms (!!). That is seriously not cool.

When we first moved to this neighborhood, my husband brought me to this place; full of nostalgia for how great it was. The food is disappointing, service is surly. We tried it twice more thinking maybe it was just a one-off, but no.

Had recent meal - first rate - a credit to the "old time" Empire chain.

Food is not good in this place specially if you compare it to the other Empire Szechuan restaurants scattered around the city. The first time I ordered an orange beef it was burnt, the second time it was orangee at all. Stay away from this place!

I agree, whenever I go here, the waiters are brusque and not too attentive, but... I love their japanese food...I consistently order the same thing: lobster salad and tako su which are both always quite good and fresh...their sushi is above average and decently priced. I'm hesitant to order their "chinese" food because it's so steeply priced, but it always tastes good. Above all, I go for the japanese. I really don't like their service, so I've started ordering for delivery...I live almost 30 blocks away, yet they are always happy to deliver even though I could technically order from the other Empire..I'm surprised with the rating of their food, but not at all surprised by the complaints on service.

I've never eaten at their restaurant so I can't vouch for their service. But whenever I order them online, it's usually a fast delivery and the food is usually hot and good and a good deal too. So I have no complaints and people should probably just order online b/c it sounds like they specialize in that grab and go environment with minimal interaction with the customer. So if you want a good experience with them, i'd suggest you order online and expect a quick delivery as a result of it.

I live in the neighborhood and have given this place several chances, both at the restaurant and for delivery. I cannot believe such poor service still exists in NYC and they have not run out of business yet. The food is classic and cheap, and the sushis are rather good, though overpriced. But the service is so poor, with people barely speaking english and having rude attitude....you just can't believe to be "treated" with so little care. Only go if you are starving and cannot find anything around.