I love coming here for lunch or grab a Go To goodies to bring home to enjoy while watching Netflix…read more My favorite here are the Cho-Chos and Pepper Steak. My last visit I ordered dinner for the family and we all shared the dishes. Everything taste fresh and every bite had my tongue dancing with flavor.

I remember when this place used to be called Christine's Empress of China. I believe Christine was…read morethe owner back then, and now it's simply Empress of China. The name may have shortened, but the experience is still just as memorable. From the outside, you're not really sure what you're about to walk into. You get a hint of the Asian aesthetic, but you don't realize how immersive it's going to feel. Then you open the door. Right at the entrance is a koi fish pond with a small bridge over it. No, you can't walk across the bridge, but the koi are real, and you walk right by them on your way to the dining room. It immediately sets the tone. The dining room itself feels like you've stepped straight into China. The decor, the lighting, the details, everything transports you. It matches the cuisine and elevates the entire dining experience. The waitresses are incredibly sweet, respectful, patient, and kind. They answered all of my questions about the menu without hesitation and made sure we felt comfortable. The service feels authentic and attentive without being rushed. I ordered the boneless chicken with vegetables, fried rice, and egg rolls. The homemade egg rolls are always my favorite. You can absolutely tell they're hand rolled and not pulled from a freezer. The boneless chicken is made with hand cut chicken breast, and the batter is soft and flaky. It almost melts in your mouth. Everything tastes fresh and thoughtfully prepared. The portion sizes are generous. It's definitely a eat now, eat later, and maybe even share with a friend kind of place. If you've only ever ordered takeout from here, you are missing half the experience. Sit down inside and take it all in. It's one thing to eat Chinese food. It's another thing to feel like you've been transported while doing it. This place leaves an impression.

Liked some about it. The top shelf margarita large is $19.99 and not huge but kind of weak…read more(couldn't taste any tequila and margaritas are MY drink.). And WARM. Hate the plastic glasses, but at least get the drink cold. COLD. An on-the-rocks margarita is not supposed to be lukewarm. This was. I strained into my water glass and added ice, let it cool, and poured it back in the margarita glass. There were three of us and two of our three orders came out wrong (one specifically asked for NO cheese and it was covered in it). Mine was a "Caesar" in menu name only. A Caesar is a RECIPE. Imagine ordering chicken cordon bleu and getting pork, bacon and cheddar. Or a BLT and getting salami, avocado, and bell peppers. That's what it is like when you order a Caesar and it's not a Caesar. It was that far off of what a Caesar is. Call it an El Patron Chef Salad. Call it a House Salad. But a Caesar doesn't have avocado, tortilla strips (???), red onions and tomatoes. What it does have? Dressing. This one did not and was room temperature. Even with the dressing (which obviously isn't homemade but was serviceable) still not a Caesar. Caesars in good restaurants are on a chilled plate but that's minor (this was frankly out-of-the-dishwasher warm) compared to it NOT BEING a Caesar. Wasn't very busy (we were in the big room with all the slices of trees on the wall) had about five tables and 15-17 people total? Service was pretty slow. The server was very nice, but the fact that I'm having to tell the server that a Caesar is supposed to have Caesar dressing (which they do carry. The kitchen just hadn't put it on anywhere on the salad.) speaks to a lack of training. Salsa was average, but not exceptional. Overall, completely middle of the road. I'm Coloradan and I'm used to amazing Mexican food and this was below average. Hence the three stars. If Yelp had a 1-10 scale it would get a 3 or 4.

Friday evening at 6:30pm... expect a 45 minute to an hour wait. The restaurant is bigger than I…read morethought it'd be. Large parking lot, but again, busy place. Large waiting area to stand and wait near the hostess station. Also has a bar area which looks like first come, first serve. We ordered drinks while we waited and hung out in the lobby area. Finally we were sat. Complimentary chips and salsa were brought right away. We Ordered drinks and the chorizo queso, which came fairly quickly. The queso is HOT, bubbling in a volcanic rock molcajete. Sooo good. Strongly suggest this item! I ordered the Tacos Tijuana (lengua). My husband ordered grilled fish tacos and an ala carte cheese quesadilla. The food was great. Lengua was a little dry- I know it's lean but it was not as juicy and gamey as I like. No other complaints except the guacamole that came with my tacos tasted artificial or "off". It also stayed very green throughout the meal which tells me there is either a lot of lemon or it is premade with something to make it not oxidate like fresh avocados. It was just not great guacamole. The frijoles charro on the other hand were excellent! Lots of flavor, pork, cooked nicely and seasoned well. I could eat that by itself. I will for sure be back.

The mango matcha was one of a kind. It was my first time having it but the overall flavoring was…read moregreat! It was too matcha tasting. They also have small bites. Definitely a cute study spot and a hidden gem of the westbank!

I got a tiramisu latte. It was very sweet and quite filling but good. The service was super…read morefriendly. They had a lot of good looking pastries. We ended up getting 2 macaroons. My fiancé got the King Cake one and I got a biscoff one. Both great!