Great atmosphere and beautiful design, but not much value for the price; the course meal was good only because we added the Pekin duck at an extra charge. The short rib was exquisite; the noodles lacked flavor, and the eggplant was just ok. Excellent presentation; we each had a glass of wine and two desserts after the course meal; with the tip, it came to about $460, which is significantly overvalued. The restaurant enjoys a Michelin star rating and a very striking environment, but for the price, the value is not there. It seems like you're paying for a beautiful setting, stunning views of the city and incredible cocktails but nothing that warrants the exorbitant price points.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
Erwin Coumans
We used to dine in with the previous owner. The restaurant is nicely updated. Quick service, very tasty dishes and yummy/pretty desert. Nice atmosphere with view on Coit tower surroundings of San Francisco.
This place was absolutely outstanding in almost every way possible! I’ve dined at all ranks of Michelin star restaurants across the country, and this place could be deserving in coming years. It also won’t break the bank as it’s only just over $100 per person for a hefty 5 course meal. Cocktails are fantastic and the wine list is curated expertly.The only things that need to improve -This is a Chinese / Cantonese restaurant but only has one Chinese wine….and it’s $700 ??I agree with others that having to add on dessert doesn’t make sense. I’d rather pay more per person and have dessert included.Everything else was perfect and can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
michelleh
A beautiful place with a good view of Chinatown. Very accommodating for our guest with several food allergies! Thank you! The cocktails were creative and very yummy! First courses were very tasty; some of our favorite items of the night. The duck add on was one of our favorite items as well. None of us cared for the egg plant dish, not fans of the slimy texture.
HaroldH
This was our first time dinning here. Loved it! The Black Cod was superb. I have not had this dish done at this level since Kyo-Ya at the Palace Hotel close in 2012. Chef Kuni Oshikowa's version was the bar that needed to be met for me and Chef Ho Chee Boon has. The rest of the dinner was also very enjoyable the Mocktails where some of the best I have had in SF. You may not find smoking, foamed or bubbling dishes here (which I find to be a bit of a gimmick) but you will find delicious food prepared very very well. Service was great staff was lovely with just the right amount of friendliness. We were celebrating our 32nd anniversary so it was a bit of a special night made all the more special by the fantastic view of Coit Tower.
Jessica
My partner is Celiac and can't have gluten. The restaurant was able to easily accommodate that and provided good substitutions on the prix fixe menu. The decor is nice but the restaurant was moderately loud so it was a bit difficult to hear each other. I appreciated a creative list of mocktails and overall the food was good.
K T
We were there to wrap up the lunar new year celebration. But it was hard to get to the restaurant due to the road closures for the parade. By the time we got there, we were told that they couldn’t hold the table much longer. I then suggested to my spouse that we take the seats at the bar. Here’s the thing - to be told that was the last thing I ever wanted to hear, especially after the arduous journey to get to the restaurant (yep, we had to walk around streets and amongst the crowd, no ride share, no Waymo). One of the servers was empathetic and that, with the delicious food, dessert and drinks (champagne and then Gruner Veltliner) made the evening … better. We will return to the restaurant, but definitely not when there’s a parade in the area. It was a total nightmare!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crispy Duck, Beijing Dumpling with Housemade Vinegar, Grilled Alaskan Black Cod, Black Sesame Cremeux, Crispy Sea Prawn Roll
Constance Li
Initially I saw Eileen Gu come here with her family on Chinese new year, which made me interested. I left only 60% full, dissatisfied, and with less money in my wallet.Dish 1: puff pastry, egg roll, lily bulbPuff pastry is generic, I would easily find something similar in a dim sum restaurant. The caviar on the egg roll doesn’t taste like its high quality. There’s egg white inside and scallop. The egg white really did smell like egg. Not sure whether it’s because it’s undercooked. Scallop was flavourless, might be there for the texture. Lily bulb was a nice surprise. On the inside there’s a honey ginger filling, which was contrasting.Dish 2: shrimp and squid dumplingApart from the cute presentation, I’d say it’s nothing special. Again, easily accessible at dim sum restaurants. The soup thought I believe was chicken soup base, with wayyyy too much vinegar and chilli. It almost hurt my mouth.Dish 3: fish/squab?To be honest I don’t remember what it was. I thought it’s fish but on the online menu it says squab. It’s cooked pretty tender. Sauce was ok, it reminds me of a caramel sweet and sour sauce and braised meat combination flavour. Dish is paired with candied walnuts and boiled cauliflower. Both generic, and can be bought at store and easily cooked at home.Dish 4: lobsterThis is where it starts to go downhill. The dish feels like it’s just thrown into the menu as a filler. It’s cooked nicely with a similar sauce as the fish/squab.Dish 5: vegetables/rice noodle and bean curd/pork bellyThe vegetables are again generic, can be found at any Chinese restaurant. Rice noodle was ok with a similar sauce as dish 3 and 4. The bean curd tasted hard, and has no flavour. Don’t know what’s the intention here. Pork belly overall was good. But the sauce is too red man. It almost looks like blood. How revolting! Bet there’s either excessive red food colouring or too much ketchup.Before this I ordered tea.Tea menu was almost 70% pu-er, and the variety wasn’t there. I ordered a jasmine tea, which is 18 dollars. There is NO REFILL. Usually at Cantonese restaurants they give you a tea pot with tea leaves in it. And the same tea leaves can be steeped up to 3-5 times. They only gave a tea pot with pre-steeped tea. What a ripoff.Dessert menu was disappointing, which is why I didn’t order any. The choices were 1) Asian dessert with sago which I can get at Meet Fresh for cheaper, better quality and quantity 2) generic cheesecake 3) generic ice cream. I really don’t understand what the deal is.Dessert wine menu only have the wine names, origin and years. When I asked the waiter to describe the notes and taste profile, I could tell that they are not an expert. They didn’t offer to ask to bring out the sommelier either. Which leads me to doubt: Do they even have a sommelier? This also brings up the question: why is there so much Italian and French wines? At a Chinese restaurant? I’ve never seen wine being ordered in ANY Chinese restaurant. Besides, there are many good wines produced in China. Maybe add some of those? (I don’t believe in wine pairing with Chinese food also.)The view was pretty nice. Apart from that, they play pop music. I expected at least some Classical Chinese music, since this is a Chinese restaurant.Overall very disappointed. For what it claims to be fine dining, I expect at least stunning presentation, interesting flavours, and unusual food pairings. I ended up paying 160 including tips. Would not come here again nor recommend to anyone.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Aj Froman
Awesome food and cocktails.Elevated semi-fusion Cantonese food,menu is definitely not stagnant and evolves with the season.Prix fixe menu at the table,limited ala carte items at the bar.Beautiful city view.The bartenders are true artisans! not very pocket friendly though.
Christina Lu
good service, but really disappointed that they didn’t do anything for birthdays. we came for my mom’s 60th and after the high price tag ($108 per person) we were hoping for something…but dinner did not come with dessert, nor did they do anything to help her feel special. would’ve expected more, especially since we were asked whether we were celebrating a special occasion when booking the reservation :/ food was just fine.
I think they judge us by our appearance, young couple no money... sat us in a corner, but asked to be sat on a free table (2 empties) by the window which they decline, and 2 couples that came after us where sat there...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Great service, great views, the space is beautiful and clean. The meal is pretty fast for what it is, but the food was not much past PF Changs, but 6x the cost. Come here for the bar / drinks and views, maybe skip the food.
The ambience was nice and deco was nice. The food has good presentation but the taste was not impressive. Felt rushed with the constant person coming to swipe dishes and utensils, not relaxing.
A cool restaurant with a great view. We had a great experience, but would have wished the service was a little better. We were never asked if we wanted another drink (the only complaint).
Jeanievonbeanie
I have wanted to visit The Empress since they first opened! I grew up in San Francisco and have much experience with Chinese cuisine, eating in China and Hong Kong and other places with great restaurants so was thrilled by the menu and had high expectations. A beautiful February evening, we ascended to an exciting yet nearly empty room with rustic wooden panels and beautiful teal blue upholstery and refined modern elements. A pulsing, moderately loud beat was pervasive, what I call "Music For Waiters" because it is too energetic for dining, more the pace of working, was playing and continued throughout our two hours. Some of the dishes were remarkably delicate but, some were almost gross in lack of artifice. The shrimp and squid soup were exquisite! The Pork belly, sadly, inedible. A very uneven night was had. The reason I will never return is the experience of visiting the ladies room- through a bar-push double door, down a concrete fire stair two flights, creepy and unstable formica restroom dividers- unacceptable. Not even an attendant in sight. Disrespectful to customers in general...what a shame. There is obvious talent there but it ends up wasted.
Great atmosphere and beautiful design, but not much value for the price; the course meal was good only because we added the Pekin duck at an extra charge. The short rib was exquisite; the noodles lacked flavor, and the eggplant was just ok. Excellent presentation; we each had a glass of wine and two desserts after the course meal; with the tip, it came to about $460, which is significantly overvalued. The restaurant enjoys a Michelin star rating and a very striking environment, but for the price, the value is not there. It seems like you're paying for a beautiful setting, stunning views of the city and incredible cocktails but nothing that warrants the exorbitant price points.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
We used to dine in with the previous owner. The restaurant is nicely updated. Quick service, very tasty dishes and yummy/pretty desert. Nice atmosphere with view on Coit tower surroundings of San Francisco.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Crispy Duck, Beijing Dumpling with Housemade Vinegar, Yuzu Sorbet Coconut Sago
This place was absolutely outstanding in almost every way possible! I’ve dined at all ranks of Michelin star restaurants across the country, and this place could be deserving in coming years. It also won’t break the bank as it’s only just over $100 per person for a hefty 5 course meal. Cocktails are fantastic and the wine list is curated expertly.The only things that need to improve -This is a Chinese / Cantonese restaurant but only has one Chinese wine….and it’s $700 ??I agree with others that having to add on dessert doesn’t make sense. I’d rather pay more per person and have dessert included.Everything else was perfect and can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A beautiful place with a good view of Chinatown. Very accommodating for our guest with several food allergies! Thank you! The cocktails were creative and very yummy! First courses were very tasty; some of our favorite items of the night. The duck add on was one of our favorite items as well. None of us cared for the egg plant dish, not fans of the slimy texture.
This was our first time dinning here. Loved it! The Black Cod was superb. I have not had this dish done at this level since Kyo-Ya at the Palace Hotel close in 2012. Chef Kuni Oshikowa's version was the bar that needed to be met for me and Chef Ho Chee Boon has. The rest of the dinner was also very enjoyable the Mocktails where some of the best I have had in SF. You may not find smoking, foamed or bubbling dishes here (which I find to be a bit of a gimmick) but you will find delicious food prepared very very well. Service was great staff was lovely with just the right amount of friendliness. We were celebrating our 32nd anniversary so it was a bit of a special night made all the more special by the fantastic view of Coit Tower.
My partner is Celiac and can't have gluten. The restaurant was able to easily accommodate that and provided good substitutions on the prix fixe menu. The decor is nice but the restaurant was moderately loud so it was a bit difficult to hear each other. I appreciated a creative list of mocktails and overall the food was good.
We were there to wrap up the lunar new year celebration. But it was hard to get to the restaurant due to the road closures for the parade. By the time we got there, we were told that they couldn’t hold the table much longer. I then suggested to my spouse that we take the seats at the bar. Here’s the thing - to be told that was the last thing I ever wanted to hear, especially after the arduous journey to get to the restaurant (yep, we had to walk around streets and amongst the crowd, no ride share, no Waymo). One of the servers was empathetic and that, with the delicious food, dessert and drinks (champagne and then Gruner Veltliner) made the evening … better. We will return to the restaurant, but definitely not when there’s a parade in the area. It was a total nightmare!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crispy Duck, Beijing Dumpling with Housemade Vinegar, Grilled Alaskan Black Cod, Black Sesame Cremeux, Crispy Sea Prawn Roll
Initially I saw Eileen Gu come here with her family on Chinese new year, which made me interested. I left only 60% full, dissatisfied, and with less money in my wallet.Dish 1: puff pastry, egg roll, lily bulbPuff pastry is generic, I would easily find something similar in a dim sum restaurant. The caviar on the egg roll doesn’t taste like its high quality. There’s egg white inside and scallop. The egg white really did smell like egg. Not sure whether it’s because it’s undercooked. Scallop was flavourless, might be there for the texture. Lily bulb was a nice surprise. On the inside there’s a honey ginger filling, which was contrasting.Dish 2: shrimp and squid dumplingApart from the cute presentation, I’d say it’s nothing special. Again, easily accessible at dim sum restaurants. The soup thought I believe was chicken soup base, with wayyyy too much vinegar and chilli. It almost hurt my mouth.Dish 3: fish/squab?To be honest I don’t remember what it was. I thought it’s fish but on the online menu it says squab. It’s cooked pretty tender. Sauce was ok, it reminds me of a caramel sweet and sour sauce and braised meat combination flavour. Dish is paired with candied walnuts and boiled cauliflower. Both generic, and can be bought at store and easily cooked at home.Dish 4: lobsterThis is where it starts to go downhill. The dish feels like it’s just thrown into the menu as a filler. It’s cooked nicely with a similar sauce as the fish/squab.Dish 5: vegetables/rice noodle and bean curd/pork bellyThe vegetables are again generic, can be found at any Chinese restaurant. Rice noodle was ok with a similar sauce as dish 3 and 4. The bean curd tasted hard, and has no flavour. Don’t know what’s the intention here. Pork belly overall was good. But the sauce is too red man. It almost looks like blood. How revolting! Bet there’s either excessive red food colouring or too much ketchup.Before this I ordered tea.Tea menu was almost 70% pu-er, and the variety wasn’t there. I ordered a jasmine tea, which is 18 dollars. There is NO REFILL. Usually at Cantonese restaurants they give you a tea pot with tea leaves in it. And the same tea leaves can be steeped up to 3-5 times. They only gave a tea pot with pre-steeped tea. What a ripoff.Dessert menu was disappointing, which is why I didn’t order any. The choices were 1) Asian dessert with sago which I can get at Meet Fresh for cheaper, better quality and quantity 2) generic cheesecake 3) generic ice cream. I really don’t understand what the deal is.Dessert wine menu only have the wine names, origin and years. When I asked the waiter to describe the notes and taste profile, I could tell that they are not an expert. They didn’t offer to ask to bring out the sommelier either. Which leads me to doubt: Do they even have a sommelier? This also brings up the question: why is there so much Italian and French wines? At a Chinese restaurant? I’ve never seen wine being ordered in ANY Chinese restaurant. Besides, there are many good wines produced in China. Maybe add some of those? (I don’t believe in wine pairing with Chinese food also.)The view was pretty nice. Apart from that, they play pop music. I expected at least some Classical Chinese music, since this is a Chinese restaurant.Overall very disappointed. For what it claims to be fine dining, I expect at least stunning presentation, interesting flavours, and unusual food pairings. I ended up paying 160 including tips. Would not come here again nor recommend to anyone.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Awesome food and cocktails.Elevated semi-fusion Cantonese food,menu is definitely not stagnant and evolves with the season.Prix fixe menu at the table,limited ala carte items at the bar.Beautiful city view.The bartenders are true artisans! not very pocket friendly though.
good service, but really disappointed that they didn’t do anything for birthdays. we came for my mom’s 60th and after the high price tag ($108 per person) we were hoping for something…but dinner did not come with dessert, nor did they do anything to help her feel special. would’ve expected more, especially since we were asked whether we were celebrating a special occasion when booking the reservation :/ food was just fine.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
I think they judge us by our appearance, young couple no money... sat us in a corner, but asked to be sat on a free table (2 empties) by the window which they decline, and 2 couples that came after us where sat there...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Great service, great views, the space is beautiful and clean. The meal is pretty fast for what it is, but the food was not much past PF Changs, but 6x the cost. Come here for the bar / drinks and views, maybe skip the food.
The ambience was nice and deco was nice. The food has good presentation but the taste was not impressive. Felt rushed with the constant person coming to swipe dishes and utensils, not relaxing.
A cool restaurant with a great view. We had a great experience, but would have wished the service was a little better. We were never asked if we wanted another drink (the only complaint).
I have wanted to visit The Empress since they first opened! I grew up in San Francisco and have much experience with Chinese cuisine, eating in China and Hong Kong and other places with great restaurants so was thrilled by the menu and had high expectations. A beautiful February evening, we ascended to an exciting yet nearly empty room with rustic wooden panels and beautiful teal blue upholstery and refined modern elements. A pulsing, moderately loud beat was pervasive, what I call "Music For Waiters" because it is too energetic for dining, more the pace of working, was playing and continued throughout our two hours. Some of the dishes were remarkably delicate but, some were almost gross in lack of artifice. The shrimp and squid soup were exquisite! The Pork belly, sadly, inedible. A very uneven night was had. The reason I will never return is the experience of visiting the ladies room- through a bar-push double door, down a concrete fire stair two flights, creepy and unstable formica restroom dividers- unacceptable. Not even an attendant in sight. Disrespectful to customers in general...what a shame. There is obvious talent there but it ends up wasted.