Empero Taste

Delicious food, expansive menu but solidly Cantonese-focused. Service kind of slow but the food more than made up for this five-star place. Large, budget-friendly family style portions with incredible and authentic flavors. Menu highlights include the appetizer quail, French style spareribs, and beef chow fun. Make sure to get the taro and tapioca porridge for dessert. Be back here very soon

Okay. Best Chinese restaurant I have been to in 15 years. Headed to the SFVA and decided to stop for lunch. Prices were ridiculously low. House wanton soup $13. I ordered for me and it could have fed 4 people. Beef and greens same price range and could feed easily 3-4. I ordered rice but it never showed up and I did not ask because they were jammed with customers. Long and short I would drive to the city just to eat here.

This place is fantastic! The portions are large for a reasonable price, the noodles and mapo tofu are delicious, and the service is great.

AMAZING ! I haven't bern here in years and the food is even better than before - the food tastes fresh and authentic, and portions are healthy. We got the seafood chow fun and they didn't stint on the seafood. So good, one of my favorites.

Dined here on 1-22-25! Recommend by my wife who ate here with a Postal Staff party. Food portions were outstanding and very tasty! All the staff were friendly and very accommodating. Will definitely come back, as it's hard to find good Chinese food with such generous portions!! Looking at the customers , they seemed to be all regulars returning to such a good place to eat! I definitely found a little gold mine, and almost want to be secretive about this place!! Thanks, Paul C

Empero Taste in San Francisco is a great spot for tasty Chinese food, with plenty of dishes that hit the mark. Salt and Pepper Pork Chops, Honey Walnut Prawns, Lobster Noodle, Fried Calamari/Crabs, and French Style Pork Spareribs are all favorites, packed with flavor and cooked just right. Overall, Empero Taste is a solid option for a delicious, satisfying meal, as long as you skip the flounder, it might not be the best pick if you’re looking for a consistently great meal.

This is a favorite location for seniors nearby especially if you like inexpensive price and large portions according to my auntie’s. It is basically comfort food. If you order family style, it comes with their house soup. We ordered, string beef with beef,salt and pepper pork chop, sweet sauce fried chicken (Omg. Delicious), tofu with beef and clay pot dish with eggplant. Everything was good but my favorite was the sweet sauce fried chicken. Would I come back? Definitely. It also got mom’s stamp of approval..

The food was good and the proportion sizes are hugeee!! Great place for family style dinners. We had a group of 11 and it was perfect. A lot of food for really good price.

Always my go to place for my parents birthday, relatives get together and friends coming to the town. Very authentic Cantonese food and love the noise level from different tables as this indicates the real Canton culture.

Fantastic food and value. You get a soup and rice is included if it’s before 5 pm. Will be back for more. Lobster noodles, oysters, fried calamari, and this clam dish were all cooked to perfection.

It is a popular place for families or groups, so I recommend making reservations. They have a huge selection of delicious Chinese dishes. It gets really loud during busy times.

We were invited for lunch and was pleased with most if not all of the dishes. (Date of visit : January 19th 2023). Ambience was okay, decent decor, seating was a bit cozy with other guests next to ours. Overal environment is 8/10. Food quality 9/10 Food quantity 9/10 Repeatable 8/10 or 9/10 if within 20 mins drive Service 8/10 Location 9/10

Cantonese restaurant that is especially suitable for large groups. The dining room is very loud due to the relatively low ceiling and lots of hard services. Service is friendly and efficient. The food quality is outstanding with the dishes coming out immediately after preparation. Standout dishes are the clams with black bean sauce that has very large clams and the lobster over noodles where the lobster sauce on the noodles is delicious. Some of the set menus have too many deep fried dishes for my taste.

Came for lunch when they are having their lunch special. About $43 without tip. Portions are huge and variety from the lunch menu is extensive. Pork hash with salted egg is huge (an oval), curry chicken was huge with a huge amount of onions, egg with shrimp was like a huge omelette with a huge number of shrimp animals. Lunch special also comes with a huge house soup and a normal sized pot of rice. If you are Asian-American or ABC or in your late 60’s and like having wine at lunch with the Medicare homedogs you would enjoy this restaurant on the corner of a street where you can see the huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean

First time dining here, I will definitely come back. I'm glad we had reservations. They were very busy but that's to be expected on a Friday night. The food is really good, we ordered the banquet A for 6 people, again all was very tasty and the food arrived quickly and hot. Service was friendly and efficient.

Very good food and menus worth their price. Pretty quick and friendly service. Lunch specials (46$ for 3 dishes off the list).

Great food. Huge serving. Good customer service. Spacious place. Bring your jacket...you'll need it 👍 No parking, but residential parking spots are everywhere just walk a bit if you didnt get lucky to get one.

Great for seafood, homestyle Cantonese cooking for family gatherings, massive portions. Love that they have steamed oysters in half shell (massive oysters that day) & fried chicken with the shrimp chips..many chinese restaurants now don’t know how to cook these iconic Cantonese dishes anymore because the cooks are lazy.

Rajni L

The food was good and the proportion sizes are hugeee!! Great place for family style dinners. We had a group of 11 and it was perfect. A lot of food for really good price.

Terry Chan

Empero Taste in San Francisco is a great spot for tasty Chinese food, with plenty of dishes that hit the mark. Salt and Pepper Pork Chops, Honey Walnut Prawns, Lobster Noodle, Fried Calamari/Crabs, and French Style Pork Spareribs are all favorites, packed with flavor and cooked just right. Overall, Empero Taste is a solid option for a delicious, satisfying meal, as long as you skip the flounder, it might not be the best pick if you’re looking for a consistently great meal.

S Chin

This is a favorite location for seniors nearby especially if you like inexpensive price and large portions according to my auntie’s. It is basically comfort food. If you order family style, it comes with their house soup. We ordered, string beef with beef,salt and pepper pork chop, sweet sauce fried chicken (Omg. Delicious), tofu with beef and clay pot dish with eggplant. Everything was good but my favorite was the sweet sauce fried chicken. Would I come back? Definitely. It also got mom’s stamp of approval..

Emma Ye

Always my go to place for my parents birthday, relatives get together and friends coming to the town. Very authentic Cantonese food and love the noise level from different tables as this indicates the real Canton culture.

Matt Pang

Fantastic food and value. You get a soup and rice is included if it’s before 5 pm. Will be back for more. Lobster noodles, oysters, fried calamari, and this clam dish were all cooked to perfection.

Jaymar Simon

It is a popular place for families or groups, so I recommend making reservations. They have a huge selection of delicious Chinese dishes. It gets really loud during busy times.

Jeff Ho

12/16/2025: Love Empero Taste. This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in this area. The restaurant was about 50% full on a Tuesday evening. We ordered their deep fried salt and pepper crab ($15 a pound) $37.36 for a 2.2 pound crab, house pan fried noodles $18 and a honey walnut prawns $22. For the pan fried noodles, they were nice enough to parse out the sauce and the noodles so it doesn't get soaked. This dish is huge. They give you more when you are dining in as supposed to take-out. Their crab aren't as meaty as PPQ's but it is 1/2 the price. Still good. We had to take some of the crab home as we couldn't finish it. It was more than enough food for two people. It is nice to see the same waitresses from all these years. Service was quick and excellent. Great job everyone at Empero Taste. Original review: Indoor dining is back (since June 15, 2021) at Empero Taste. I remember the crazy crowd for take out on Mother's Day back in May. The kitchen was backed up for two hours. Needless to say, I'm excited they are opened for indoor dining again. It has been too long since I ate here in person. Be sure to have your vaccine card as they do check. I really like their food here. The wait times are longer now because 1/2 of their orders are to-go orders and the waitresses are split helping them and guests eating here. The salt and pepper crab is the same as I remembered. It was deep fried with that salty pepper taste with a sprinkle of green onions and peppers. The crispy tomato beef HK noodles were gigantic. I swear you get more food in person than in the to-go containers. Great job the staff Empero Taste. I missed you guys.

John Tango

We were invited for lunch and was pleased with most if not all of the dishes. (Date of visit : January 19th 2023). Ambience was okay, decent decor, seating was a bit cozy with other guests next to ours. Overal environment is 8/10. Food quality 9/10 Food quantity 9/10 Repeatable 8/10 or 9/10 if within 20 mins drive Service 8/10 Location 9/10

Gary Ogasawara

Cantonese restaurant that is especially suitable for large groups. The dining room is very loud due to the relatively low ceiling and lots of hard services. Service is friendly and efficient. The food quality is outstanding with the dishes coming out immediately after preparation. Standout dishes are the clams with black bean sauce that has very large clams and the lobster over noodles where the lobster sauce on the noodles is delicious. Some of the set menus have too many deep fried dishes for my taste.

Craig Chin

Came for lunch when they are having their lunch special. About $43 without tip. Portions are huge and variety from the lunch menu is extensive. Pork hash with salted egg is huge (an oval), curry chicken was huge with a huge amount of onions, egg with shrimp was like a huge omelette with a huge number of shrimp animals. Lunch special also comes with a huge house soup and a normal sized pot of rice. If you are Asian-American or ABC or in your late 60’s and like having wine at lunch with the Medicare homedogs you would enjoy this restaurant on the corner of a street where you can see the huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean

Gabriela Herbas

First time dining here, I will definitely come back. I'm glad we had reservations. They were very busy but that's to be expected on a Friday night. The food is really good, we ordered the banquet A for 6 people, again all was very tasty and the food arrived quickly and hot. Service was friendly and efficient.

Gina Zehnder

Very good food and menus worth their price. Pretty quick and friendly service. Lunch specials (46$ for 3 dishes off the list).

Follower of Christ

Great food. Huge serving. Good customer service. Spacious place. Bring your jacket...you'll need it 👍 No parking, but residential parking spots are everywhere just walk a bit if you didnt get lucky to get one.

Food was delicious. Good portions. Food isn’t greasy or overly sweet like a lot of places are. Have gotten take out from here twice too. Every time the food has been great and the staff is very nice and goes out of their way.

Toby Byers

Food was delicious. Good portions. Food isn’t greasy or overly sweet like a lot of places are. Have gotten take out from here twice too. Every time the food has been great and the staff is very nice and goes out of their way.

Come out to the Richmond, visit Ocean Beach and when you get hungry head several blocks inland on Balboa to this unassuming gem. Extensive menu. Lots of tables. Fast and attentive waitstaff. Food is excellent.

Portion of food is very big, taste ok as well.

+4

Abortions were incredible the spices were good the phone kept ringing constantly for orders

Food is good with great value for the price. Ordered Lobster E-Fu Noodles to go. The order came out in a 5 lb aluminum tray, big order. It was very good. I would recommend this dish and make sure you eat the claws first. Two day old claws do not reheat well; other pieces were fine. They also have a few Japanese dishes and exotic dishes such as frog. Give them a try.

Great Chinese food in this quiet neighborhood. Gets crowded on weekends.

Large portions! Beef over Chinese broccoli was just ok. But the salt and pepper pork chops were fabulous the honey walnut prawns were very good also! Definitely would recommend this place!!!

I just happened to pass by the restaurant after a meeting and decided to order some dishes for carry out. To my pleasant surprise, it is one of the slowly disappearing Cantonese/Hong Kong cuisine restaurants. The portions are large, and while nothing is cheap, the prices are reasonable. The 梅菜扣肉 ， steamed pork belly with pickled/fermented mustard is one of the very best I have ever had. The restaurant is not upscale, nor would it impress with ambiance and service, but just having a good traditional Cantonese Hong Kong cuisin is heartwarming enough.

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops were fantastic, as were the Walnut Prawns. The chicken fried rice was decent. Everything had huge portions, and good prices. We were also served a pork broth soup which I enjoyed as a palate cleanser, and their tea is up there. Overall a good place to go, fast service, and great for groups. Gets busy after 6:30pm on Sundays!

Great tasting food, but be aware if you're in the inner dining area, ventilation isn't superb, even with the above-door vent screens open. Watched the whole area fill with steam/smoke from multiple sizzling platters. 🥵 The main doors to the restaurant were opened to help air it out, which in turn brought the temperature in the other half of the restaurant down (thank you, San Francisco weather). Street parking isn't too bad.

Go for the food and the Chinese experience. Oysters were gigantic! Bathroom, relatively clean. I'd give it a B for a Chinese restaurant. Seen far worse in nicer establishments.

Was great in the beginning until the owner /cook retired. Then it was cleaned up, portions were smaller and prices went up. Now their prices match their portions and the food really taste good.

+2

Fantastic food! We've been coming here to celebrate family events for several years. Always crowded. I highly recommend.

I usually appreciate it when food is truly authentic, but this was "too authentic" for me. I couldn't really finish my meal as the flavors weren't for me. However, if you want to experience real China in San Francisco, you must come here!

At Empero Taste, one comes for the food (quality and quantity). It is best to come dine as a group to enjoy a more varied selection of dishes. There is a special set menu that can be customized to suit party size and add-on’s. One can see families with multi-generations enjoying dinners at a table-family style. Among notable dishes, Live fish is a specialty that can be enjoyed 3 ways. The pork chops are a hit (the portion is huge).

Traditional american Chinese restaurant from the old days. Cantonese from years ago. Large portions if you are into it. All pretty tasty. Best if you can eat family style. Kinda tough if you come here alone.

Very authentic Chinese restaurant. Frequented mostly by Chinese customers, which is a good indication of authenticity. The menu is large. Rice plates are served all day long, and so are combo packages. Even though busy, food is served fairly quick.

12/3/23 Group of four dining in for dinner. We were seated pretty quickly. I am happy that the clams were actual clams and not shells with frozen clam meat. The sizzling beef was really good as well. The vegetable was young and fresh. Solid chinese place with big portions and low price! 1/13/23 for lunch the selection was ok but still really solid chinese food!

Jakub Waśko

I usually appreciate it when food is truly authentic, but this was "too authentic" for me. I couldn't really finish my meal as the flavors weren't for me. However, if you want to experience real China in San Francisco, you must come here!

D J

At Empero Taste, one comes for the food (quality and quantity). It is best to come dine as a group to enjoy a more varied selection of dishes. There is a special set menu that can be customized to suit party size and add-on’s. One can see families with multi-generations enjoying dinners at a table-family style. Among notable dishes, Live fish is a specialty that can be enjoyed 3 ways. The pork chops are a hit (the portion is huge).

LT K

Traditional american Chinese restaurant from the old days. Cantonese from years ago. Large portions if you are into it. All pretty tasty. Best if you can eat family style. Kinda tough if you come here alone.

Liz Donut

12/3/23 Group of four dining in for dinner. We were seated pretty quickly. I am happy that the clams were actual clams and not shells with frozen clam meat. The sizzling beef was really good as well. The vegetable was young and fresh. Solid chinese place with big portions and low price! 1/13/23 for lunch the selection was ok but still really solid chinese food!

Lucho Bravo

Very authentic Chinese restaurant. Frequented mostly by Chinese customers, which is a good indication of authenticity. The menu is large. Rice plates are served all day long, and so are combo packages. Even though busy, food is served fairly quick.

If you’re seeking a Chinese restaurant with both flavor and generous portions, Empero Taste is a must-visit. Most dishes I’ve tried were packed with balanced seasoning that reminded me of Hong Kong. The House Special Pan Fried Noodles, Pepper Pork Spareribs, and Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice are my favorites. Portions are huge—you’ll get your money’s worth and likely leave with a takeout box. The staff were polite but seemed slightly overwhelmed, so we had to wait longer than expected for refills and the check. Nothing terrible, just not as smooth as the food deserved. The only real downside? The BATHROOMS! While functional, they were not clean— foul smell, and the floors were dirty. Both the restroom and washing area would greatly benefit from more regular and thorough cleaning, or maybe a renovation? Overall, Empero Taste serves up outstanding food and generous portions that make it worth the visit. With a little attention to restroom upkeep, it could easily become a five-star experience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

Francis N

If you’re seeking a Chinese restaurant with both flavor and generous portions, Empero Taste is a must-visit. Most dishes I’ve tried were packed with balanced seasoning that reminded me of Hong Kong. The House Special Pan Fried Noodles, Pepper Pork Spareribs, and Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice are my favorites. Portions are huge—you’ll get your money’s worth and likely leave with a takeout box. The staff were polite but seemed slightly overwhelmed, so we had to wait longer than expected for refills and the check. Nothing terrible, just not as smooth as the food deserved. The only real downside? The BATHROOMS! While functional, they were not clean— foul smell, and the floors were dirty. Both the restroom and washing area would greatly benefit from more regular and thorough cleaning, or maybe a renovation? Overall, Empero Taste serves up outstanding food and generous portions that make it worth the visit. With a little attention to restroom upkeep, it could easily become a five-star experience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

We went for dinner and their service was good and food came out quick. We ordered walnut shrimp, Mongolian beef, garlic setting beans, chicken corn soup, prawn friend rice, prawn fried noodle and chicken wings, out of all the dishes the plane fried rice was the best, the rest was OK, they sauce was thick for some of the dishes. It's a older restaurant, but pricing and service was good. Good for people coming from the beach.

Good inexpensive Chinese food and service in an unappealing, almost depressing setting. I went with friends around 8pm on a weekday and it was empty. The food was quite good - the service less so, but the staff was already eating. The problem is the decor. The restaurant's interior is long overdue for a remodel. Tired, worn, very drab. Ok for a cheap family dinner, but not appropriate for a date.

Had a lunch here and had diarrhea shortly. Don’t know what’s wrong with their food or utensils, so surprised since it has decent reviews. Won’t come back.