| rev:text
| - "New York" style Chinese with a "New York" style Price Tag! Each menu "item" consists of the usual premade sauces and lower-quality "meat" ingredients that one typically gets at food court type Chinese joints and cheap buffets. This is fine if you're expecting such, but the presentation of Empire Asian Bistro is that of a sit-down affair and they have priced their food to match! Dishes are prepared "fresh", which is fantastic, but the food, outside of the mid-day lunch specials, is unreasonably expensive at $8-$14 per entrée without many extras! All in all, the food tastes absolutely fine for what it is supposed to be...generic, take-out style, overly Americanized "Chinese" food. However, there's nothing special or unique to make this a standout establishment. The selection is as stereotypical as it gets (Orange Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, Mongolian Beef, etc.) and the dishes are very oversauced. I will say that the service is extremely friendly and the menu items are predictable if you've had similar food before. The atmosphere is comfortable and typically very quiet (because it's usually empty) and the restaurant is kept abnormally clean, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, Empire Asian Bistro loses out on sheer "value". You can get the same food at 10 other places within just a few minutes of here. Not a bad joint, but not a great one, either.
|