Imperial Soup

Very small and friendly soup shop. I had an excellent broth with dumplings for a reasonable price. A great place to warm up after a cold wet day

Came here for lunch, it looks like a little hole in the wall but there's also upstairs seating. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about their food. We ordered the combo special that includes "healthy soup" using lots of Chinese ingredients with healing and healthy properties...kinda like my family used to make back in the day. The soup comes with a rice dish that is wrapped in a lotus leaf. The leaf adds an organic, herbal flavor to what would be simple rice and chicken, or pork ribs, lamb, etc. On a fall afternoon, piping hot healing soup with steamed chicken shiitake and enoki mushrooms surrounded by Chinese green makes one very, very content. I'm back in a heartbeat!

Great authentic chinese herbal soup. Works like a charm in soothing my throat aftrr screaming too much at a Cal football game. Berkeley students, if you have a car, this is the best chinese spot in the area.

Delicious soups! Recommend getting it as part of their combos. Their sparerib and pumpkin dish was also really good

Colleague and I went for lunch, and wow, we really enjoyed it! I got the double cooked pork belly with ramen noodles, soooo good! Just the right combo of richness, spicy, and savory. Colleague got the BBQ pork and daily soup combo (in the background of picture) and said he really enjoyed it as well. Plus this place is super affordable! Will be back 😁

Clare Lee

Really enjoyed our visit! Maybe family run? They seem to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. The herbal soups were good! We tried #8 and #11 chicken with ginseng. Both tasted healthy but I think I preferred #8 a little more. The soups are in the little cylindrical ceramic containers and make a good appetizer/side dish. Fun to get as a part of one of their special combos. The special dim sum of garlic clams was tasty and pretty fresh. Excellent value for $6.50! Enjoyed the sticky rice too - well balanced flavors and not overly salty. The beef tendon with noodles was tender and had a good texture. A smidge salty for my taste but flavorful and a good size. Fast & friendly service - there was a bit of confusion about how many soups we ordered but got it sorted out. The bathroom seems to be upstairs so might be a challenge if there are mobility limitations. Look forward to trying other dishes next time!

Jamal Mansuri

This place slaps my taste buds, I got lamb noodle soup (flavor), beef shank over rice noodles (succulent), shrimp dumplings (delicate), the chicken buns (the best). Get a rice or noodle dish and the all day dim sum

reskapo

Great place for authentic Chinese cuisine in the heart of Oakland Chinatown! I especially love their twice cooked pork belly noodle soup and is highly recommended to go with their various varieties of dimsum accompaniments. My favorites are their slow-braised spareribs in blackbean sauce and tripe with chili toppings.

Angela Leung

The variety of the double-boiled soup (燉湯) was amazing. The steam rice with eel wrapped in lotus leaves was great. They also serve dim sum all day. The shrimp dumplings 蝦餃 is delicious. The osmanthus white sugar steam cake (桂花白糖糕) is a delightful surprise!

Margaret Huang

First, even though it feels like a hole in the wall, the service is top notch, warm and friendly. That is rare in this type of establishment and deserves a shout out. I consider this a hidden Oakland Chinatown gem. Second, their food is authentic Chinese and some of it is hard to find. The main attraction is the double-boiled soup (燉湯). Ours was bone and heart-warming. We had the abalone soup (#1) and the black silkie chicken soup (#6). These soups are considered to be extremely nourishing soups - there are ones designated for high blood pressure etc. It's also the kind of soup that pregnant women are told to drink. I come here for soup after surgery. We ordered the set menu for two, which included two soups of your choice, half a steamed chicken, a whole steamed fish, a plate of green steamed vegetable, and two bowls of rice. My 83 year old Taiwanese mom kept saying she couldn't finish her soup because of all the other dishes. But finish every drop she did, and she clearly loved hers! Their set menu is a bona fide DEAL (quality, quantity, and value). We stuffed ourselves so we had to waddle out to our car. Before I could pull out of the parking spot, mom demanded that I bring her back again this weekend before she leaves. We devoured the steam fish so fast that we forgot to take a photo. Not one morsel was left. The steamed chicken was moist and flavorful; the ginger/scallion sauce was great. The vegetable was cooked just right. Their chef is amazing. The steam rice with eel wrapped in lotus leaves is next on my list for my next visit. We almost hijacked another table's order of it. They serve dim sum all day - what?! Yay. Please don't come. We want to keep getting seated with no line.

Irfan Dama

A restaurant where the food has a focus on health and well being? Yes... I am intrigued. I will be back for more. I ordered the special, braised flank with rice noodles. The soup was tasty. Not my favorite, but I felt amazing after I finished. It cost me $9.00 and it included a free drink ( savings!!!!) They make their food using herbs and spices designed for healing and well being. I am curious about all the other dishes. Places that focus on tradition, authenticity and wellness have a special place in my heart. This may just become my go to soup spot.

Brooke Holderbaum

Delicious food. Lots of variety on the menu. Healthful - hardly any fried food on the menu. I enjoyed sharing 8 dishes with 8 friends.

Rachel Windsor

Authentic Cantonese food restaurant! There are all kinds of Chinese soups and noodles! Highly recommend their Hainan chicken!! Clean and good environment! The staff is friendly!

Vincent King

The Cantonese believe that soups provide the essence of good health. They have soups that “cool” the Qi and others that “warm” the Qi. This is perhaps the only place I know of in Oakland Chinatown that specializes in a variety of soups that provide the essentials needed to restore balance. However, that’s not all. Imperial Soup offers a delectable selection of dishes ranging from chicken/black mushroom steamed rice with lotus leaves in a bamboo basket to Hainan steamed chicken on rice. A very cozy little place, two floors. Rest rooms only at the upper floor. The service is fast, portions are big. We find ourselves often too full at the end of the meal to tryout their great selections of classic Chinese desserts.

Kitty T

My lunch was excellent! I had Set meal B with mushroom and chicken. The special thing is that the whole dish, rice and all, is streamed and served on top of a lotus leaf. This gives it a very unique earthly fragrance. The meat was boneless and tender. Let me put it this way, it's 200% better than Costco chicken. In addition to the regular Chinese mushroom, there was also the soft wood ear fungus in the dish. The slightly crunchy texture gave the dish some very nice variety. And of course, this eatery emphasizes healthy food, so there was also veggies. For the soup, I picked the one made with silkie chicken. Silkie chicken has black color skin and bones. The herb part of the soup is good for keeping hair dark, which I need, and keeping one youthful, which I also need. I think this is the only place I know that serves this traditional soup. It was very good too. The waitress also mentioned that I could have chosen any one of the other $4.99 soup to go with my meal.

Max Lord

Very small and friendly soup shop. I had an excellent broth with dumplings for a reasonable price. A great place to warm up after a cold wet day

Jobie Low

Came here for lunch, it looks like a little hole in the wall but there's also upstairs seating. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about their food. We ordered the combo special that includes "healthy soup" using lots of Chinese ingredients with healing and healthy properties...kinda like my family used to make back in the day. The soup comes with a rice dish that is wrapped in a lotus leaf. The leaf adds an organic, herbal flavor to what would be simple rice and chicken, or pork ribs, lamb, etc. On a fall afternoon, piping hot healing soup with steamed chicken shiitake and enoki mushrooms surrounded by Chinese green makes one very, very content. I'm back in a heartbeat!

Pui Wai Wu

Great authentic chinese herbal soup. Works like a charm in soothing my throat aftrr screaming too much at a Cal football game. Berkeley students, if you have a car, this is the best chinese spot in the area.

Liv

Delicious soups! Recommend getting it as part of their combos. Their sparerib and pumpkin dish was also really good

Sam Adams

Colleague and I went for lunch, and wow, we really enjoyed it! I got the double cooked pork belly with ramen noodles, soooo good! Just the right combo of richness, spicy, and savory. Colleague got the BBQ pork and daily soup combo (in the background of picture) and said he really enjoyed it as well. Plus this place is super affordable! Will be back 😁

They have very good soup and the steam razor clams are excellent!

This is a small restaurant. We ordered two soups, both were so delicious and nutritious. Then we shared a big Bowl of lamb noodle 汤面. All dishes came very quick and hot in temperature. I don't know how they make money here, soup is $5 and lamb noodle is $10. If I live near by, I would come here for soup every day.

Imperial Soup in Oakland offers a delightful culinary experience. We tried the Hainan Chicken Rice Plate, Curry Beef Flank with Chicken Oil Rice, and Beef Tendon & Flank Over Egg Noodle. The Hainan Chicken Rice Plate was tender and flavorful, accompanied by fragrant rice. The Curry Beef Flank with Chicken Oil Rice impressed with its rich flavors. The Beef Tendon & Flank Over Egg Noodle featured perfectly cooked noodles and tender beef. My Chicken with Mushroom & Herbs soup was comforting and flavorful. The service was attentive, and the restaurant had a cozy ambiance. Imperial Soup is a great choice for a satisfying and tasty meal.

The food is good. They are very unique in that much of their menu isn't too similar to other restaurants around. A downside is you have to use your imagination of what the food looks like because their menu didn't have any pictures, nor do specials posted on the wall. I would come here again. They are a tad expensive though, compared to volume of food you get.

May Xu

This is a small restaurant. We ordered two soups, both were so delicious and nutritious. Then we shared a big Bowl of lamb noodle 汤面. All dishes came very quick and hot in temperature. I don't know how they make money here, soup is $5 and lamb noodle is $10. If I live near by, I would come here for soup every day.

Alice Hou

Imperial Soup in Oakland offers a delightful culinary experience. We tried the Hainan Chicken Rice Plate, Curry Beef Flank with Chicken Oil Rice, and Beef Tendon & Flank Over Egg Noodle. The Hainan Chicken Rice Plate was tender and flavorful, accompanied by fragrant rice. The Curry Beef Flank with Chicken Oil Rice impressed with its rich flavors. The Beef Tendon & Flank Over Egg Noodle featured perfectly cooked noodles and tender beef. My Chicken with Mushroom & Herbs soup was comforting and flavorful. The service was attentive, and the restaurant had a cozy ambiance. Imperial Soup is a great choice for a satisfying and tasty meal.

Dave C

The food is good. They are very unique in that much of their menu isn't too similar to other restaurants around. A downside is you have to use your imagination of what the food looks like because their menu didn't have any pictures, nor do specials posted on the wall. I would come here again. They are a tad expensive though, compared to volume of food you get.

Karina Kisselite

I had a soup with chicken, thick noodles and veggies. The noodles were completely tasteless and the chicken looked kind of disgusting. The wonton soup was a bit better. The tea that they give is a nice touch.

I reallllllly wanted this to be a good dim sum place 😭 I had HIGH hopes. My mom and I ordered 1 lotus sticky rice (which was the only yummy dish we got), 2 orders of shrimp dumplings (they were veryyyy bland), and 1 order of the spicy dried shrimp rice rolls (also pretty bland :( We couldn’t even ask for any sauce because no one came back to tend to our table. Couldn’t order water either bc no one ever came back. We were probably here for about an hour. Food was very below average (except for the lotus sticky rice) and the service was so terrible :( I really wanted to love this place.

Carly

I reallllllly wanted this to be a good dim sum place 😭 I had HIGH hopes. My mom and I ordered 1 lotus sticky rice (which was the only yummy dish we got), 2 orders of shrimp dumplings (they were veryyyy bland), and 1 order of the spicy dried shrimp rice rolls (also pretty bland :( We couldn’t even ask for any sauce because no one came back to tend to our table. Couldn’t order water either bc no one ever came back. We were probably here for about an hour. Food was very below average (except for the lotus sticky rice) and the service was so terrible :( I really wanted to love this place.