My wife and I were here in Australia for the first time October 2025 We wanted to go to Chinatown, see what it was like, visit the Chinese Garden, and have some dimsum as a snack before dinner. This restaurant seemed to have what we wanted. We ordered 3 dishes that we were very familiar with and wanted to compare it with what we have experienced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City. The 3 dishes were very good, service was good. Comparing prices to our most familiar - Los Angeles... The 3 dishes were comparable in price to what we would probably pay for an entire meal of dimsum! Expensive! read more

Good dim sum, old school carts rotating but service is not all that good. So a 3 star. read more

Emperor Garden Restaurant - Cantonese Near Me - Haymarket, NSW

We came here for breakfast dim sum while staying in Sydney, and it was a lovely meal. Very affordable and the food was good and filling. There weren't that many guests when we came (fairly early in the morning) so we ordered directly with a waitress vs the dim sum trolleys you'd normally find. We got all the typical dishes - siu mai, shrimp dumplings, leek dumplings, har gow, spare ribs, sticky rice, congee and chinese broccoli. We enjoyed all the dishes, though the har gow texture was a bit mediocre to me. Staff is a bit curt and at times rude, but you don't go to Chinese restaurant for the service. Food came out very quickly since there were only a handful of tables at the time, though some dishes you could tell they had already made (and just brought out) vs some that were made fresh (took longer to come out). All in all, it was great dim sum restaurant, can't speak to their regular menu, but I do recommend it for dim sum! read more

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Food wasn't tasty. Pretty blah. Service was awful. We came towards the end of dim sum service. One cart was circulating. We asked for the regular menu at least four times and never received it. The women at the register didn't seem to care. read more

Considering the hotel we stayed at was super close to Sydney Chinatown, my parents hoped to have some dim-sum​ for breakfast/brunch after having more than a week of Aussie-style brunch straight. I was hesitant to try this restaurant after reading a number of harsh Yelp reviews (mostly 2-3 starts), but my high school friend (Who now spends most of his time in Sydney) recommended​ this place and called it as the most authenticate dim-sum restaurant in Sydney CBD, so we decided to give it a try. The restaurant had a very traditional Cantonese​-style decor and the place was half full when we arrived around​ 10 am on a weekday. Almost all the guests were Chinese and chatting in Cantonese. As how dim-sums were served in Guangzhou/Hongkong​, The waitresses pushed the trolly full of dim-sums around to each table and asked which dim-sum each guest would like for the table. If you're not familiar with each dim-sum you can always take a look before making up your mind. We ordered a varying kind of dumplings, including Chinese chives dumplings, pea shoots dumplings, shrimping dumplings and steamed rice rolls, as well as beef tendons and Chicken feet. All were very typical dim-sum that we always order at a dim-sum restaurant. Coming in very a relatively​ low expectation, we were actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of the dim-sums we had. Not sure about the living cost here in Sydney, but the cost of the meal exceeded my expectation. In total, everything cost 66 AUD. Various Dumplings: We could tell that these were not heated frozen pre-made dumplings. The skins were all quite chewy and elastic, and the fillings were firm and tasty. Beef tendons: This dish was subpar compared to the ones I had before. The texture was off. Chicken feet: My parents had most of them as I wasn't a big fan. Mediocre. I re-read the reviews after leaving the restaurant​ wondering why the ratings were so low. I found out that most of the reviewers were complaining​ about the food for lunch/dinner, so my suggestion would be only coming in for dim-sum breakfast/brunch and avoiding any formal meals here. read more

Emperor Garden Restaurant - Various kinds of dumplings, beef tendons, and check feet - Cantonese Near Me - Haymarket, NSW

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If I could give zero stars I would. We had bought a scoopon voucher (should have known better) for a Peking duck 3 course meal with a complementary drink. It was great value (or so we thought) The service is below par. We ordered sprite in a can. They tasted funny and we discovered that on the bottom of the can they were actually expired. When we notified the waiter, he casually looked back at us and asked "have you tasted sprite before?" SERIOUSLY, you would ask a patron something like that. I should have turned around and said "HAVE YOU?!?" They apologised for the error and brought out cans of coke instead. It gets worse ... The coke was FLAT!! How does coke come out of the can FLAT?!? First course was spring rolls which were tasty but the dipping sauce tastes too much like BBQ sauce. We had to ask for table water 3 times before one of the young waiters came to us with what looked like two cups straight from the tap. Second course was the Peking duck, My favorite!! The pancakes were nice and thin. Portion size was good. Third and final course we could endure was some sort of noodle dish that looked like it came out of a two minute noodle packet. I mean the noddles were still HARD!! We literally had two spoons full and couldn't endure anymore. We walked straight out of the restaurant without waiting for dessert, I just couldn't imagine what disaster they would have plated up. read more

Emperor Garden Restaurant - What we couldn't stomach to eat ... And not because we were full - Cantonese Near Me - Haymarket, NSW

Look, I'll get this out of the way straight away. The staff are not friendly and they do their best to push food on you and get you out the door when you're done. There, said it. However, I kinda expected that as I don't think I've ever had a Yum Cha experience in Sydney with friendly service. If there is such a place, please, let me know! I just assume that's the norm. THE FOOD is not bad. I didn't have a problem with anything that I ate. They had a good selection of dim sum, buns, spring rolls, veggies, chicken feet (omnomnom) and desserts. Sure, they weren't blow your mind amazing flavours, but I certainly didn't want to not eat them either. The price was pretty good (I think). It was under $100 and there were 5 of us eating AND we had a bottle of wine. I'd go again. read more

Emperor Garden Restaurant - Yum Cha - Cantonese Near Me - Haymarket, NSW

Absolutely filthy - a waiter was in the mens room when I used it, he left without washing his hands. Food is too greasy, staff absolutely unenganged, and on top it is expensive. Avoid avoid! read more

I guess I should have taken the nearly empty restaurant as a sign. The food here was sub par. I've had way better chinese dim sum in the States. The dim sum was soggy. I usually love har gao, this one had some weird shirmp paste in it - not so good. The gailan was overcooked. the shao long bao was not soupy - the bread had absorbed most of the liquid. Service took a bit long. I was not impressed at all. read more

We came here for a late afternoon meal. Little were we aware for what they would be offered. The dim sum carts were all limited to the leftovers of what they were serving during the peak lunch hours. There was really no selection if you are expecting dishes from the menu. It took 20 minutes for the baked char sui bao to be made. The gailan took over 30 minutes for it to be brought to the table. It's just steam vegetables, how hard it that? All the steamed dishes that they served from the carts were over steamed. Even the gailan that they made was over steamed. Flavor for all dishes was just lacking. Not a very good eating experience for my partner and myself. I think the food may have been better, taste and selection wise, if we went during the peak lunch hours. But that will have to wait for another day. read more

This place has been operating for a long time according to friends who used to live in Sydney. The reviews so far are based on their dinner and is not doing this place any justice for their yum Cha / dim sum. It's very authentic and I think they must have an old dim Sum chef still around to make their dim sums. :) I have to say though it was quite pricey for two people at approx $20 per head for our so called breakfast. We didn't had much either. Will definitely come back next time. read more

It was 9:30am on a rainy Sunday morning. I was walking up and down Dixon st. looking for a place to eat dim sum. The only restaurant that looked open and had diners in there was Emperor Garden. Since I had their delicious cream puffs next door the night before, I thought to myself that this place is probably good. I mean, their cream puff window always has a line. Well I was wrong. Their choice of dim sum was very limited. I wanted egg tart, but I noticed they abandoned their pastry cart to the side the whole time I was there. Is that normal? I was better off going to the bakery next door and getting an egg tart to go. read more

We were seated quite quickly, considering how hungry we all were after wondering down the Chinatown Night Market food stalls! Since there was a group of 3 of us we shared 3 plates. One beef, one chicken and one lamb. The food wasn't anything out of this world. It was edible though and my growling stomach was happy with the result. But then we didn't come here to be wowed by the food. We were just hungry. read more

food - the peking duck skin was very average, the cut had quite a bit of meat in addition to the skin (which is not supposed to be the case). Too much hoisin sauce on the pancakes and no opportunity to make your own. The second course of the peking duck, with the meat sauce and soja was pretty bad (too sweet and gelatinous), ate 2 bites and that was that. atmosphere - none, basic chinese restaurant service - lackluster. carving the duck table side sounded nice but the waiter did it with about as much enthusiasm as if he were performing an autopsy value - half peking duck, which serves two, with rice is about 44 AUD, which is fair and plenty to eat never again read more

The DIM SUM food was pretty good. We were brought here by our friends who were hosting us during our stay in Sydney. The only downside about this place was the hostess that seated us. We went upstairs to eat. Didn't seem very friendly. However the gentleman that helped us with orders off the DIM SUM was very friendly. The DIM SUM ladies would come around after 5 min or so and a different cart would circle around every 3 carts. Some of the things we enjoyed picking off the cart were chicken feet and tripe. The food was OK but management, please have a meeting with your people. This is a tourist area and find some people who are more courteous and inviting. This is not good Feng Shui for your business. read more

I have been lurking on Yelp for years, but the dining experience I had at Emperor Garden was so terrible that it inspired me to write my first review. My wife and I were looking for a decent meal in Chinatown, and being very tired and hungry, I mistook this restaurant's reviews for a similarly-named restaurant in the vicinity. I realized my mistake half an hour after we ordered and we still hadn't been brought a single morsel of food. At that point we asked our waiter if our food was on its way, and he assured us it was. Ten minutes later two of the dishes we ordered appeared: steamed dumplings (fairly tasty) and barbeque pork (would have been tasty if it had been more than medium-warm). Fifteen more minutes pass and still no sign of the third dish, which was my vegetarian wife's main course. Once again we flagged down the waiter, who said it was on its way. Ten minutes later a dish arrived which was not what she ordered. Ten more minutes to get the waiter's attention. Further assurances that the proper dish was on its way, leaving us scratching our heads as to why they'd brought the one they did. Ten more minutes and the correct dish arrives (tofu, mushrooms, and vegetable sauté). It seemed promising, until we bit into the well-browned tofu to find that it was cold in the center (I'm certain that we didn't order it rare.) But at this point we'd been strung out for over an hour, and just wanted to fill our stomachs and get out of there. To be fair, the waiter did offer to bring my wife a free glass of juice, and he did give us free white rice. But for putting us through what can only be described as culinary malpractice, it amounted to a further insult. Granted, we looked like tourists. Also granted that there were two large tables that they appeared to be spending all their efforts on. Further granted that we probably should have walked out before the real horror show began (as another couple did while we were there). But to sum up: dining at Emperor Garden Restaurant is not advisable if you value time, accuracy, or properly heated food. read more

Without a doubt, the worst Chinese food I've ever had. We ordered four dishes, and not one of them was even slightly enjoyable. Even the regular old special fried rice was flavourless and dry. Our entree of "chicken fillet with sesame seeds" ended up just being battered and deep-fried chicken pieces. We weren't even sure what it was when they placed it on the table, because there wasn't a sesame seed to be seen. The other dishes were plain and chewy. The worst of all, this is by no means reasonably priced. A dinner for two cost us $100. Honestly, I've never eaten worse Chinese food. And I've had end of the day Mongolian Lamb from a Bain-Marie at Kogarah train station. I will say though, the staff were very friendly, and the position is good. But with 0-out-of-4 dishes being even close to acceptable, I feel like standing out the front of the place and shooing people away. So disappointed. read more

Service is very bad. Food is worse. Ate there 2 times and Dim Sum was not fresh. Went back Duck tasted weird, oil was very dirty. Never again!!! I have eaten Chinese food all over the world and this was the worst ever. read more

Went here because the queue for the same companies bakery was so long we assumed the yum Cha at the restaurant would be great. It was terrible. Being a vegetarian, normally at Asian restaurants I can get all sorts of dishes, especially at yum Cha. After about 30 minutes with only 2 trolleys visiting us there was still nothing for me to eat. I ordered vegetarian dumplings which came about another 15 minutes later. As this was again the only thing that came around I ordered more and some Bok choy. Because we weren't being served outside we moved inside and still nothing. I was advised after all of this that there were no more vegetarian options at all left. I left this restaurant after an hour and a half with 4 dumplings... Absolutely hopeless and way too overpriced for their terrible service and not that great food. read more

Primarily came here for the char siew bao and it was all right. Rest of the dishes, not so. Waiters are VERY unfriendly so don't expect any smiles or even service, the happiest staff I saw was the one collecting our bill. read more

Ordered BBQ pork lunch special, terrible taste, meat not fresh at all. Provided feedback to the lady at the counter and was told "all our dishes are fresh", wasn't even looking at me. Terrible experience, never go back again. read more

This place is pretty good. The food is great and the service was good as is the usual at Yum Cha restaurants. I prefer The Eight across the road but it is still good yum cha. read more

Wish I can give zero star for it. Bad food and the service is even worse. DO NOT COME HERE!!1