Michelle H.
Yelp
It has been a while since Charlotte has seen a full service dim sum restaurant, so I was excited to check this place out. The Imperial Treasure opened up a few months ago and offers dim sum and other Chinese food. There is a really modern and clean ambiance inside of the restaurant. I also really like the wall art and decor. There is an area near the front of the restaurant where you can watch some staff make pastries in real time through a glass window, which is pretty cool. It can get busy during typical popular dim sum hours, so just be mindful when you come here with a large party. My server was also really friendly and nice!
There are so many options to choose from on their menu. They have dim sum and regular Chinese food. My friends and I ordered a lot! Mostly from the dim sum menu as that was what we wanted. The food arrived in staggered times as expected, but it did not take as long as I thought it would with the amount that we ordered. We got the Crab & Pork Soup Dumpling, Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce, Dry Sautéed Green Bean, Scallion Pancake, Beef Chow Fun, Hong Kong Egg Tart, Rainbow Boiled Dumpling, Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumpling, Honey Glazed Char Siu, and Black Golden Lava Custard Bun. I will say that I did not see a dim sum cart when we went (around lunch time on a Sunday).
The Dry Sautéed Green Bean could have been cooked a bit longer as I thought that most of the green beans were still a bit too firm and I prefer Chinese style green beans to be cooked more thoroughly so that it looks almost shriveled, haha. I think that the green beans could have had more sauce on them as the sauce was mostly at the bottom, but overall, that dish was not bad. I love chicken feet, but I did not think that their Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce were marinated in the black bean sauce long enough. The Scallion Pancake was different than the ones that are usually at Chinese restaurants. These pancakes were thicker and fluffier, unlike the usual thin size of scallion panes. It also tasted a bit undercooked inside and I think there should have been more scallions, but I was able to eat it. I liked their Beef Chow Fun; however, it was not seasoned enough for me so I had to add soy sauce and chili oil to the dish to make it taste better. I thought that their Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumpling was fine, as well as their Hong Kong Egg Tart, although the egg custard itself was more flan-like than I expected. My friends ate the dumplings, which they thought needed more flavor, specifically in the Rainbow Boiled Dumpling. They also liked the Honey Glazed Char Siu, but noted that it tasted a bit greasy. I would say that the best dish for my friends and I was the Black Golden Lava Custard Bun. Not only was this an aesthetic dessert, but the custard inside was salty, sweet, and runny (hence the word "lava" in the name of the fish) and the bun itself was soft. It was perfect to eat and definitely the highlight of my visit here.
Obviously, people have different preferences for how they prefer their food to taste and I can see that a lot of people like this place so far, so please take my review with a grain of salt. In reality, I would give this place a 3.5/5. I would say that the dishes here were just fine enough, but there could be more seasoning and flavor to better the food. I think that this place can definitely improve in the future!
Also, another option for dim sum that is not necessarily close but definitely a feasible drive from Charlotte is going to Atlanta. There are a lot of dim sum restaurants there that I prefer more.