Empire Garden Restaurant

Been there with my niece and her husband. It is a big chinese restaurant. The problem was that none o the waitress spoke one world in another language that wasn't chinese and also the way it went on with carts passing close your table and you had to pick in that moment what they brought. I also ate a piece of paper that was under my pork bun, but that was only my fault.

Very different dining experience. Amazing grand room and decor. Limited dim sum options on a weeknight, but we managed to snag our favorites! The yellow cream buns were stuffed!

Huge chinese restaurant with tons of tables for big parties and an event space. There was a wedding going on when we were here! The drinks were good, I got the scorpion bowl. The food came out fast. We got the chicken lo mein, crab Rangoon, general tzos chicken, and dim sum dumplings. Our server was friendly and attentive. Good experience!

My wife and I picked up our daughter from the airport early, like 7:30am. Her red-eye flight made her hungry and she wanted dim sum. This place opens at 8 am! (1 of only 2 places serving dim sum) It was fabulous! We took our time with some of the traditional pieces of sui Mai and harguo. Chicken feet came out super hot and tender. You can see the steam from our pork buns. It was 18degrees out and having this with our hot green team warmed us nicely. We were, literally, the first one to sit and eat. Others started to trickle in and we noticed that they were ALL Asian, which is always a great sign. I wish I took some pictures but I was too hungry. BTW, the pictures I took were from Lunar New year 2025'

The dim sum was mediocre and it was hard to get the waiters attention although the place looked nice the bathroom sink was spraying everywhere when I turned it on would not highly recommend.

The food is 10/10. The place is gorgeous and huge. The service is always amazing. I had my dinner party here for my graduation. Highly recommend

We ordered our fav dish and it ACTUALLY I'm disappointed. First, the Xiao Long Bao (pork dumpling soup) DOESN'T have soup! And over cooked, Lo Mein was like average or below average, better get your Lo Mein in Udumplings in Framingham, Pork Buns are not that tasty. They only met our expectations on Clams with Black beans and, Egg Yolk Bun. The ladies were also not accommodating and rude, maybe due to language barrier. If you're planning to go here, try the restaurant beside Golden Bakery near the Chinatown entrance. Also this is hella expensive!!

Really nice setting inside an old theater that still has a lot of the original features on view. We ordered Dim Sum and found everything fresh and delicious although a couple of dishes were unavailable.

First things first...we have ONLY gone here for major fund raising banquets paying upwards of $150.00+ for 10+ courses of you name it. Each time I think ahead and avoid lunch the day of the event. Parking is sparse but they do validate parking($9) on the next block. Each banquet, I'm stunned by the fact they pull it off with such finesse...yeah, we're talking 45+ tables of ten guests and each course arrives 'hot' and just in time. They have a full bar...lechie martinis et al. All in a half theatre setting from the 1950's and car dealer setting from the 1960s. The food ...Har Got, Shi Mai, Shrimp with Walnuts, Double Mushrooms with Greens, Seafood Medley, Crispy Whole Chicken, Beef with Broccoli, Sautéed fish Fillet...and the list goes on with gluten free and vegetarian options to boot for 400+ guests in 2+ hours. Left overs? Yep, they're on to that with take away containers (DIY) for each table. All that said, I'm a little uneasy going when it's not such a full house. They do the 'banquet ballet' sooo well!

Beautiful interior space- the murals are stunning and it's incredible to be in an old theater that's been converted We made a reservation for 7 on a Sunday. We were the only people in the restaurant. Servers came and took our orders quickly. There were several communication issues- getting white wine instead of red; receiving the wrong items; etc. but the food we had was good. Worth it one time to say you've been but there are better restaurants in the area.

My family and I have been going here for years. It's a huge restaurant on the second floor; there is an elevator. They'll seat you in a massive dining room with high ceilings; looks like it used to be an opera back in the day. During lunchtime, they have dim sum in a push cart. Each cart has different types of dim sum items. A few of my favorites are, fried taro balls, shu mai, pork bao buns, shrimp in flat rice noodles, shrimp dumplings, and chicken feet. I have tried their congee (rice porridge) and it was bland. They give you complimentary jasmine tea. Pro tip: if you like spicy, ask for the chili oil. Service was always good and fast. We've been when they stopped serving dim sum; we had general Tso chicken, fried rice, and crab rangoons, the food was decent. The cocktails were strong too. Overall, always a good experience and our go to spot for dim sum.

Service was fine. The only dim sum place in Chinatown that still brings dim sum on carts. Interior is cool but was kind of dead on a Thursday. Dim sum was average price and hit or miss. Medium ($6.25), Large ($6.85). Crystal shrimp dumplings (har kao) and soup dumplings (xiao long bao) were bad. Shu mai, pork bbq buns, and chicken feet were good and Szechuan fried rice was also decently priced and good. Come here for the atmosphere when its busy (weekends) and the carts. Otherwise, there are many other dim sum places in Chinatown and Quincy with better quality food.

Truly awful. Unless you like a large pile of doughy bread with about 1 tsp of meat, don't bother. They have a menu but would not let me order from it. Only the dim sum which was terrible compared to other dim sum I have had. Also the place was filthy. I could not leave fast enough.

Overall rating: 4 stars Rustic hidde ngem for the most affordable dimsum in Boston Food: dimsum, cocktails, and other fried dishes such as rice and noodles We got shumai, soup dumplings, tofu, chicken feet (scary but yummy), and a pina colada Texture: the dumplings are slippery and slide right down your mouth, pair the soup dumpling with ginger vinegar for a burst of flavor Pricing: $3-4 dollars for each dumpling basket (holds 4 dumplings) and drinks are $8-9 each! Ambiance: The ambiance is rustic, it's a high ceiling former opera house turned into a restaurant, all the tables have a pink cloth covering it and the chairs have gold/yellow coverings Seating & Parking: plenty of seating but little to no parking in front, walk up the 2 flights of stairs to enter the restaurant Service: no frills straight to the point, they mistook me for being Chinese but they were very kind Music: no music, light chatter from other tables Bathrooms: mens and womens on the side on the entrance Final comments: my favorite spot for dimsum in Boston, hope it stays a hidden gem

Large elegant restaurant that was a theater. One can have tea, lunch or dinner. They have dim sum in pushcarts throughout the morning. Order typical Chinese dishes from the waiter. The service was a little slow. We had to find and flag down a waiter to get refills or the bill.

Friendly aunties pushing the dim sum carts and bringing us our tea and waters. The interior is so cool. There was a small lunch crowd on a Thursday late morning and they're 97% Chinese. We had the glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf, shrimp dumplings (har gao), shrimp look funn, braised chicken feet, fish balls, pork ball with mushroom, deep fried shrimp roll, century egg and pork porridge, and custard tarts. Total was $85 with tax. Everything was decent, except for the chicken feet (they were scrawny and not seasoned enough) and the century egg and pork porridge (very watery and bland, the green onions were very old, no amount of soy sauce could salvage the porridge). There wasn't enough shrimp in the look funn either. Also, interestingly the sign facing the street is "Emperor's Garden". I was so confused and had to make sure my friend was referencing this restaurant! 3.5 stars.

We were in Boston this weekend and wanted to try a dim sum place we have not been before. Empire Garden Restaurant kept appearing in my searches and it is in a venue that used to be a theater, so we thought we would check it out. There was no wait which was nice and a few tables were taken, but it wasn't packed. The aunties pushed the carts from table to table and were very pleasant to talk to. We ordered the traditional dim sum dishes. The sweet rice wrapped over with lotus leaf had char siu in it which was a nice surprise, since it's usually chicken and Chinese sausage. The beef tripe was seasoned well. The har gao skin was sticking to the paper, so maybe it was cooked too long. The shrimp cheung fun was better than the beef cheung fun. Overall, the food was okay but we definitely had better dim sum in other places in Boston. There was a good mix of asian families and non-asian families in the restaurant. We paid $54.20 for 7 dim sum dishes and for tea by credit card. It was a little steep for the quality of food.

Holy Cow, this restaurant on the second level via stairs is a must if you are hungry for dim sum in the morning in Chinatown, Boston. Their elevator is out of order so be prepared to go up 2-1/2 flight of stairs. Their dining room is impressively humongous like a dinner show restaurant in China. Elaborately decorated and the dim sum carts are many. They had soup carts, dessert carts and some dim sum we've not tried before like a black whole mushrooms with 3 dumplings made of perhaps fish cake. Another was a 3 piece huge meatball looking pork hashdumpling, no pi outer layer. The rice packet was exquisite. Savory with different bits of meat after you remove the outer steamed leaf wrapper. It was the best.

After walking around I stumbled upon this place. First of all it's HUGE.. multiple floors looks like something outta the great gatsby. I got dim sum. I seen a lot of 1 stars and overall 3 stars but I'm the type that has to find out myself. Service was as expected... it's not a 5 star dining experience. Food is good if I compare to Las Vegas dim sum. I'd come back! Check this place out you might like it!

There's not a lot of great dimsum options in Boston's Chinatown but Empire Garden is halfway decent and its old theater architecture gives it a great charm. The space is almost cavernous and holds a lot of large tables so it's a great option for party sizes larger than 5. There are push carts and a side station with trays of noodles and vegetables you can order. Of all the dim sum I tried, I would recommend their lotus leaf sticky rice (fragrant, packed with Chinese sausage and chicken) and their shrimp beancurd skin rolls (crispy and stuffed with a bouncy sweet shrimp paste).

Amazing ambience, delicious food, so many options at a very good price. Had an amazing time here and would definitely come back.

Beautiful setting although I must admit I'm not such a big dim sum guy since I'm alergic to shrimp.

Large banquet hall with many large tables for 4 or 10. Decent dim sum by traditional push carts, with self select station on the side for bee hoon, gai lan veg and crispy calamari. Can get crowded during weekend lunch. Good: - crispy spring roll - deep fried crispy shrimp roll (smaller skinny spring roll) - shrimp roll with fu-pei - steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce - siu mai steamed dumpling with pork is decently tasty - bee hoon Ok: - char siu bun - deep fried calamari Skip: - lotus leaf sticky rice - pan fried turnip cake

Everything was delicious!!! I loved the deep-fried stuffed Tufo with shrimp a lot. Its two different types of proteins complemented each other perfectly. The shrimp was bouncy, fresh, and flavorful, the Tufo was mild-flavored, crispy on the shell, and fluffy inside, together it's fantastic. The sticky rice with chicken and mushrooms in the lotus leaves was aromatic and scrumptious. The rice was perfectly cooked with the fat from the chicken and juice from the mushroom all mixed together with the right amount of seasoning that is not overpowering just enough to add flavor. Chicken paws fall off the bones. Shrimp dumplings are full of fresh shrimps. The taro in steamed ribs is more tasty than the ribs! We both think it's the most friendly service in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown! People there greeted us when we came in, everyone said goodbye when we were leaving. They were very attentive and brought hot tea when we sit down. The food was slowly brought to the table a couple of a time. It doesn't look like a lot of food but it's so filling! I also like how spacious the space is. It's beautifully decorated in this old-school Chinese style. Absolutely amazing experience! Definitely will go back very often with more people.

We came in a Sunday noon for dim sum. It is spacious and neat in general. Service was subpar. The AC was not sufficient. The food tasted ok. Our favorite was chicken feet.

Big dishes. Good Cantonese HK style food. Drink menu is limited. Great venue to host 20-30 table guests. It is used to be Chinese Opera Theater

Glad we landed in perhaps the most spacious restaurant in Chinatown Boston?! The dome ceiling and the auspicious ornamental sign indicate this is a place for traditional Chinese wedding banquets. For lunch time, it is a dim sum restaurant. Every dim sum cart pushers was nice and welcoming and can't wait to serve you more food. We liked everything we had especially the char siu puffs. So big we did not have room for but saved for breakfast the next day. It was delicious still! The only minor thing is they over cooked my Chinese broccoli which had turned yellow. I was looking forward to some freshly cooked leafy greens, that's all.

Our party of five ordered appetizers from roving carts. The appetizers were very unappetizing. Being that it was Christmas Day and the restaurant was busy, we gave the wait staff some slack in our not receiving a menu after 45-60 minutes. Upon questioning a waitress about a menu, we were informed that we needed to ask for menus; they aren't provided automatically. Yikes, who knew menus have to be requested. We paid and departed. In veiw of the poor quality of the half dozen or so different appetizers that we tried, just as well that we hadn't ordered and paid for full meals. We witnessed five, tastefully dressed, black men being given a table in the very back corner of the cavernous dining room. After 20 minutes or so, no waiter had brought them water or tea. They quietly departed. A disappointing and unsettling family outing on Christmas Day.

Ambiance: 3/5 See pics. Not clean though. Food: 2/5 - Medium 5 ($24.50) - Small 3 ($12.54) - Hot tea ($0.75) per person - Rice ($1) Service: 3/5 Friendly staff Likes: - Classical music playing in the background - Friendly staff Dislikes: - Dirty restroom - Subpar dim sum Note: Be sure to mention to the server how many people in your party drank the tea, $0.75 per person.

First, I try to use an objective scale , 5 being this is top 5 place I'd recommend to someone coming to town for a visit. A 1 means a I'd never go back even if someone really wanted to. Second, I have had dim sum all over the US and Asia including Hong Kong. This may be one of the worst places ever. It was highly touted on Reddit The shrimp was rancid. The pork was rancid The ha gow were over salted The turnip cake was actually good.. they fry it fresh. The sticky rice was dry and lukewarm.... We sent it back, the lotus leaf wrapped ones were hotter but still dry. The place is huge and In a really cool building, but I'm not eating the building. Worth walking up and looking as a tourist destination, but I should have known it would suck when there was NO line on a Saturday for dim sum. That's a first. So much for listening to Reddit. I usually go to Hei Lai moon but many said this was better. I live near joyful garden but find that place mediocre. Back to HLM I guess .

Very unique experience. The food was wonderful. You have to try this place once if visiting. Lots of setting so you should be able to bring the entire family.

We had been going to a different dim sum place in the Leather District for years that just moved and got significantly smaller. So we decided to try Empire Garden and kicked ourselves for waiting so long!! Empire is in a huge 3-story high banquet hall with enormous arches. The food on carts comes quickly so make sure your entire group is sitting down before ordering anything. The dumplings were solid and sticky rice in a banana leaf is always my favorite.

Good food great customer service and good drinks. Around 11 there's a dj on the weekends and it turns into a night club

I come here pretty often but this was the first time I went for cart service on the weekend. Ordering off the menu, I have always loved everything but this time around, I found half of the food to be really salty, especially the turnip cakes and the fried spring rolls. The fried chives wonton were the best though!

Everything about this place screams fantastic. All of the food has hella flavor but my favorite part is the cocktail menu. The zombies are incredible, there's no description for what's in them... two WILL take you down. 10/10 recommend also love the LED lights they add great ambiance. Must try when visiting Boston and MUST try the world famous zombie.

I love this place. I love the food. I love the little ladies coming around with the carts. I love how many stalls there are in the bathroom and that it's normally pretty clean. I love that it's cheap and two people can get three dishes tip well and only spend $30. I love the environment. I love the flavors. I love the tea. I love the pink tablecloths. I love the RGB lights that surround the whole beautiful theater room that is the main dining room. I love that there's always groups of people eating who belong to the local community. I can tell that this is a mainstay and I would always encourage everybody to support your local businesses. I hope you love it too! Dim sum is served before noon I tend to go about 10:30ish and I love the dim sum. We normally get the shrimp rice rolls and the shrimp hargow.

Girl friend recommend this place for lunch. She say it's very authentic, and tried, the chicken feet is good, the fried sweet rice ball is great! Everything else, i think it's so so. Service is prompt. The jasmine tea is great! Their price is really cheap. Good value!

Authentic and legit. 'nuff said lol. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the old building and the service was excellent. Admittedly we visited after the lunch rush so staff were plentiful and relaxed. Good food, good service, good experience.

Food was decent, but the service was TERRIBLE! Took a very long time for someone to take our order, also took a long time for our food to be served. Only half of us received our food (after probably a 45 min wait). The remaining food showed up 20 minutes later - and it was only 2 bowls of rice and vegetables. It seemed very chaotic inside. I saw a few people leave after giving up waiting for someone to take their order. The waitress never once came back after bringing our water and taking our order. We had to chase her down to get the check. The interior is interesting as it was an old theater but it looks run down. I would not return.

You know you are in a good chinese place when you are among the few westners The place looks like an old huge chinese parlour And the clientle seems to be 99 percent chinese. I went there for the Dim Sum . They do not have too many steamed option it seems The taste was ok now a wow lunch Worth to try however

TLDR: update: this place is still awesome. Just adding to my review. You can order dim sum on non cart times. And. Their drinks are really stiff!!! Best value for drinks. O

Great meal and awesome atmosphere. We weren't prepared for someone bringing us plates of food and having to choose but it was neat. The waiters were everywhere. Not always at the moment that you wanted but it was cool.

Located in what used to be an old Opera house, Empire garden's service and food comes out flat. The food is mostly bland and are served by disgruntled staff. I don't bregudge them the attitude, management seems harsh and unforgiving. I doubt they earn the salaries they deserve. The place is grungy which very clear areas of paint peeling, abandoned construction material and moldy corners. The lighting is drab and depressing. It does happen to be a large dim sum house which has that going for it but with the recent risk in prices it is no longer worth it. It's too bad, they could do so much if they just fixed up the place a bit and improved their cooking

Deserves 5 stars! Amazingdim sum and cocktails! The price is great and I have 0 complaints. Even the service is great, come try it the building is beautiful as well!

The food was really good. As someone who loves Chinese and Cantonese food, I was so excited to find a good dim sum place on a whim. The Lo main was excellent and the other protein dishes were great as well. The interior was really fantastic. I'm a big fan of the decorations in dim sum restaurants and this one did not disappoint at all. It seems to be an old theater that was remade into this giant dining room complete with lights and wall decorations. The service was also really great. Our waitress was very helpful at choosing what to order and was very sociable and funny. I also forgot to mention my peanut allergy and when I noticed that the szechuan dish had peanuts in it(before I ate it of course) she insisted on taking it off our bill despite our reassurances that it wasn't a big deal. This place would be incredibly fun to bring a group and, for a dinner between me and my boyfriend, it was incredibly delicious and fun as well.

You can't compare to dim sum in California, but in a pinch, this place was decent. The ambience is beautiful, and it's amazing that they have the dim sum carts since it's so hard to find the carts these days! We ordered most of my favorites, and I was able to eat my fill. Of note, I probably wouldn't recommend the congee since it was plain. The turnip cake was super thick and not crunchy. It also was cold when it was placed on our table, and the sauce wasn't provided until most of the turnip cake was eaten. The cheung fun was my favorite because the sauce is life, but overall everything was pretty average in terms of the food quality. At least the ambience was nice, and the dim sum carts made it a fun experience. We also came with a pretty big group on a Sunday and didn't have to wait for a table, so that's a plus.

We attended dim sum on a Wednesday morning, so it was pretty empty and we had very fast service. The restaurant is in a building that used to be a theater, and it's beautiful! The food itself was decent, but it was more lukewarm than hot.

My new go-to dim sum spot in Boston! You would never guess there is a huge dining room with beautiful tall arched ceilings from the unassuming entrance. There were plenty of available tables and we were seated immediately on a Saturday morning. The waiters were attentive and considerate. All the carts made their rounds quickly after we sat down so we saw all the options and they always sent over carts with whatever dish we asked for - no waiting or chasing down servers. You could tell they were paying attention, which is better service than I'm used to at dim sum! Helpful tip - if you pay in cash, they waive the charge for tea.

What a kooky but amazing set up to have a Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant within a former theater. The food is still brought out in carts. Most of the servers speak Mandarin and Cantonese. 2 spike English. Most of what I ordered was outstanding. The pork in the century egg porridge was tired. That was my only complaint. The Fong Zhao (chicken feet). Siew Mai (pork and prawn dumplings) and Lo mai Kai (chicken, sausage and glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves) were all spot on

This Dim Sum place, located right outside of China town was AMAZING. We peeked our heads in and we're instantly stunned by the incredible decor. The sticky rice in lotus leaf ( lo Mai gai) was packed with tons of Chinese sausage and pork. It was a little fatty for my taste, but was still delicious. The scallion, shrimp dumpling was also great. It wasn't fishy and wasn't overwhelmingly flavorful. The Dim Sum Lo mein noodles were okay. They were a little burned which made them crunchy. I didn't prefer them but others did. All in all, I enjoyed the experience. I would definitely return, but I wouldn't get the noodles again.

just terrible- This is the WORST meal I've ever had in a restaurant (ANY restaurant); we were excited to find a good dim sum and entered into the Empire Garden in Boston's Chinatown and were already sketched- the place looks like a huge tacky 1940s wedding venue/burlesque theater- none of the staff could explain what was on the menu or what they offered for dim sum- they come around with a sushi like menu but it is written in Chinese so one has no idea what the item is or how much it costs. - They have very few items left at 1pm so I guess we got the dregs. the shrimp tempura was cold and stiff, the sticky rice was inedible, the soup dumplings were NOT soup dumplings but cold pastry with a few cold shrimp roaming around- the beef short ribs were absolutely disgusting; all gristle and cold- they charged us for jasmine tea which we didn't order in the first place- the bathrooms are disgusting - as we exited from the 'restaurant' there were two men looking outside at the menu- I told them to run and not endure what we endured- we were so excited about hanging around in Chinatown and eating delicious food but this place destroyed the day and our plans- do your research before coming; we're sad we didn't! I guess the owners are political friends of the Boston govt. crowd so they're working on that level instead of on the customer level-

did not expect to find an authentic dimsum place in Boston so i was really surprised to see how legit this place is. all the dimsum items that we got were really good. we also got the salt and pepper pork and deep fried chicken off the menu and these were also great, would highly recommend the pork. service was okay, it's a bit hard to get the waiters' attention but the cart ladies were really nice and they always remembered to come back to our table whenever we asked for something that they just ran out of.

Dim sum brunch spot, very spacious along with attentive staff, fried taro with pork WOW this was a first crisp and sweet, squid crispy and perfectly seasoned, pineapple bun did not have any filling and would have been better warm, but was good. All in all they bring the noise with the flavors, and great ambiance.

I have only been to Empire Garden and the old location of Hei La Moon for Boston Chinatown dim sum. I went here solo for a nice Jewish Christmas and while I mostly enjoyed it I felt like it was a lot more expensive than I remembered. And I guess it's ok for a treat but I paid $30 for just me and 3 dishes - made me come look up yelp reviews as it just seemed a bit more pricey than what I'd expect. I

The rice was good. All of the tables sit on top of each other pretty much. The give you a six oz glass of water and don't come to refill it. If you're looking for dim sum on the cart all they give you is chicken feet and shrimp wrapped in rice paper. It's one piece of shrimp in a 4" log of double wrapped rice paper. No condiments on the table. They don't come check on you at any time, you have to flag them down. When I got up to leave, that's when they came running over. The atmosphere wasn't bad. You're eating in a big ball room type setting.

Perfect out-of-the-way spot for a quick meal of dim sum! If you know what you like as far as dumplings, shumai, baozi, etc. this is your spot for a delicious, quick, economical meal.

gross, worst one in the city, i need to write more words so it hits the needed review limit, literally awful

The chef or the waitress must have eaten part of the half chicken we ordered. Would you pay $19.95 for this? When I brought up the issue to the waitress, they would not admit that someone ate it. They just smile and walked away!