Empress Of China

Melbourne, Australia

2.9

Closed now

15 reviews

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Telephone:
+61 3 9639 7723
Address:
120-122 Litlle Bourke St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Melbourne
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.2 miStop 7: 101 Collins Street
0.2 miStop 6: Swanston Street
0.2 miStop 9: Spring Street
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepted Cards
Credit, Debit
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Noise Level
Loud
Alcohol
Beer & Wine Only
Has TV
No
Waiter Service
Yes

Today

Today 6:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Closed now
Local time (Melbourne) 5:19 PM Saturday, May 31, 2025

Business hours

Monday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Tuesday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Wednesday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Thursday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Friday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Saturday 6:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
6:00 pm – 10:30 pm

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15 reviews of Empress Of China

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Place rating: 3
Melbourne, Australia
Empress of China is a stand up place if you’re looking for authentic Chinese food, reasonably priced in a comfortable setting.
Having tried several types of dumplings, I can vouch for these two favourites: steamed long biao and wontons with hot chili sauce. Another solid dish was the Shanghai fried noodles with chicken. It had a dark, rich sauce and thick noodles.
The décor is simple and there is ample room for large groups and families. The service needs some work, as you will be waving down the wait staff. If you want a quick, tasty bite without many frills this is a decent stop that will fit the bill.
Place rating: 4
Adelaide, Australia
I really don’t get the low rating for this place. As a Unilocaler, I always check the star rating before I eat somewhere new and it almost changed my mind but I decided to go with my intuition. A friend and I were set on eating in Chinatown, we’d already had some xiao long bao at Shangai Street Dumpling but I wanted a noodle soup bad and we wanted to explore so we wandered up and down until we settled on Empress of China. It was warm and noisy and cosy and it smelled good. There was free BYO, cheap house wine, and if you flip to the back of the menu a bunch of reeeaaally cheap options. I had the spicy chicken noodle soup and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. So flavourful, and a huuuge serve for it’s $ 7.50 price! Had to lasso a waiter to get some water but that’s part of eating budget food at authentic, crowded places in my opinion.
Place rating: 3
Melbourne, Australia
Apparently the Empress of China never received the memo that Melbourne is an expensive city. This simple restaurant serves up dumpling staples at low prices. Add in the BYO factor and you’ve got an easy find for cheap eats and drinks with friends. The dumplings were nothing special. We rated the filling in the boiled vegetarian dumplings as good, but the dough surrounding it wasn’t great. The texture of the prawn dumplings were on the chewy side, but my friends still scarfed them down. This is a casual place for a laugh and a chat. And as many others have mentioned, you’ll be chasing down the staff, as service isn’t a priority at this establishment.
This also seems to be the go-​to place for the Unilocalers when we can’t get into Shanghai Village!
Place rating: 3
Washington, DC
Enjoyable dinner of garlic Chinese broccoli, marinated cucumbers, and chili dumplings. Everything had strong tastes. Service was quick. Price is good.
Place rating: 5
Long Beach, CA
Good old fashion Chinese food restaurant.
The service was not bad at all. When you go to small business like this, you should not expect top service.
I only had the Dumplings.(Pork) It was very good! Trust me, I grew up in Asia. I know good dumplings. The skin is on thicker side but the filling has very good flavor with green onions and it’s JUICY!
Price is really great. $ 4.50 for 8 pc. It was perfect for me. Great deal for a meal in the city.
I can’t wait to try the other dumplings they have since the basic pork dumplings are tasty!
Credit Card use for over $ 30.
Place rating: 4
Melbourne, Australia
I’m a fan, but newcomers should temper their expectations, as this comes with a few caveats:
As other reviewers have pointed out, the service is close to non-​existent. You’ll be flagging down a waiter flailing your arms like a ground-​crew runway traffic controller for every little thing you need — water, wise glasses, chilli, etc. Don’t expect them to come to you. At Empress you have to assert yourself a little.
The food comes out FAST. Like, supernaturally fast. I swear I had just finished saying the words when my dumplings appeared. And yes, always check what you’re about to tuck into, especially if you have allergies, because half the time you’ll probably be tucking into someone else’s food, such is the high instances of ordering mishaps here.
But despite all that — the food is good. Usually really good. We’ve been close to ten times and every time we get the check, look at the price (two people will stuff yourself silly for $ 15 each easy), and declare that the food has no right to be that good for what you pay and considering it came out before you actually ordered it. So BYO a bottle of wine and have a few laughs at the quirks of the place while tucking into some decent dumplings.
Place rating: 4
Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Ok so service is pretty crap BUT food service is quick and you get plenty of food!!! Have been three times and only once did they get our whole order correct lol! Guess it adds to the charm right?!?
Will go back as do Enjoy the food
Place rating: 4
Melbourne, Australia
If you’re looking for good service, DO NOT GO HERE! However, if you’re after delicious, flavoursome, cheap dumplings, this is the best place to be. My favourite dumplings in Melbourne thus-​far.
Place rating: 3
Portland, OR
It was a crowded Friday night but we were able to get seated within 5 minutes, right before a line started. Felt a bit cramped because Empress of China seats separate parties at adjoining tables but I didn’t mind. We shared pan fried pork and vegetable dumplings, steamed prawn dumplings (they ran out of chicken and prawn), and smoked duck. The dumplings were just OK but the duck was quite nice. I’ve heard their xiaolongbao is good so if I return, I’d probably try that next. The customer service was average, no problems and the bill was cheap.
Place rating: 1
Waterloo, London, United Kingdom
Sent my good back twice, it still came out wrong. The dumplings were still frozen on the inside, and the soup far to sour, and not hot enough.
Sent my food back twice, it still came out wrong. The dumplings were still frozen on the inside, and the soup far to sour, and not hot enough.
Place rating: 2
Sydney, Australia
The food is decent and alright for a quick lunch. But as everyone else has mentioned, the service is horrendous.
Place rating: 1
Beaverton, OR
Really nothing to redeem this place. The service was incredibly slow (and unresponsive, as in it took multiple requests for things like water) in spite of the place not being that busy, and that knocks this down to a one star from what was only two star food to begin with. Really disappointing spot, and given the number of wonderful looking restaurants along Little Bourke, you’re sure to do better elsewhere. It was too bad for us that it was our last full day in Australia and that we were left with this impression after 13 days of mostly fantastic food.
Place rating: 1
Saratoga, CA
We came back from a long day of touring the Great Ocean Road surviving on a bit of lunch we had on the trip so when we got dropped off at the hotel, we immediately went to Chinatown and saw this place. and it was crowded. We thought, crowded=good food! We were too hungry to Unilocal so we sat down and ordered the «seafood and vegetable soup», the beef with oyster sauce, and chicken with black bean sauce. I put the soup in quotes bc instead of seafood, there were only shrimp… the small ones. And the vegetables were chopped up green stuff, we don’t really know what it was. With two bowls of rice and a coke zero, the bill was double of what we would pay in the US.
Place rating: 3
Cardiff, United Kingdom
Like Adam C., I too came here after a failed trip to Shanghai Village. We sat down, placed our orders, and about 10 minutes later the waitress came back and reported that THERE WAS NO XIAO LONG BAO.
We made our way outside immediately and came across Empress of China with a picture of Xiao Long Bao on their front window — those tiny morsels of soupy goodness in all of their glory.
Customer Service: I had a similar experience with the customer service as Adam C. — they were really hard to get hold of and on numerous occasions, forgot about us. We ordered our food first and then asked for the drinks menu. We ordered 5 rounds of Xiao Long Bao and they forgot 4 of them until we had to ask. However, they were still decently nice — I assume they were just stressed out with the night rush or something like that.
Food: We ordered plates of Pan-​Fried Beef Dumplings. They were alright tasting, but really good for how cheap they were. I would’ve enjoyed them much more if the meat was more juicy because it seemed a bit dried out.
But onto the main course: Xiao Long Bao. DELICIOUS! I can confirm that Empress of China makes some delicious Xiao Long Bao and even better than Shanghai Village (Shanghai Village’s Xiao Long Bao are consistently broken). Definitely try them out!
I also ordered Beef & Scrambled Egg over Rice, but that was really really bland and I wish I hadn’t done that because I ended up with a half-​finished sad plate of food that has gone to waste.
… Stick to the cheap dumplings and you’ll have a great time.
Place rating: 2
Melbourne, Australia
The other night a group of friends and I were heading for Shanghai Village only to be confronted by a long line out the door. Starving, we decided to check out this place right next door instead. A five-​minute wait later, we had a table and were cracking our BYO wine open. We ordered a couple of plates of fried veg dumplings (about $ 8 if I remember correctly) as well as spring onion pancake and spring rolls and some greens.
The verdict? It was a fun, lively place to go for a pre-​drinks dinner — just as lively as Shanghai — but the food wasn’t as good. The dumplings were good, but the spring onion pancake was crunchy and oily and the spring rolls were filled with a strange curry filling and came with fluorescent sauce. Not the best. The staff were also hard to get the attention of.
The décor was cool though — very 80s Art Deco. I’d probably go back just for a plate of dumplings if Shanghai was busy, but I’d avoid the other items on the menu.