I order from this place all the time not because the food is spectacular but more for convenience and the kids like it. They don’t know any better. Straight up… the food isn’t that good but I can never seem to find really good Chinese food in Philadelphia and definitely not in this neighborhood. The shrimp fried rice is cooked and then steamed shrimp is added afterwards. The result is a really bland and tasteless dish. The sesame chicken is ok but if you eat that enough times it starts to lose it’s appeal. If you order from them you might want to specify how you want your food done otherwise you get the tasteless special. Also when you order on Grubhub the lady that delivers(think she’s the owner) is too lazy to get her ass out of the car. She’ll call you to tell you she’s outside or sometimes has the little kid running out to your door. She’s lazy as hell.
Khaleel G.
Place rating: 1 Chicago, IL
If I could give zero stars I would. I ordered on grubhub called to confirm because it was late then it never showed called to asked what happened and they said they had cancelled my order after saying it was on the way. Very rude. Very unprofessional.
Ken J.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
Worst service I ever had in my. Life food took dumb long. Dumb chick got lost on her way the get her and don’t even pull on my block she parks at the corner. Calls me and say come to the car it’s to late, I said no come to my door like a real delivery person and she drives off … I call to complain she comes back and does the same thing … I just ate some raviolis in the kitchen I refuse to give them my money
Letitia G.
Place rating: 2 Philadelphia, PA
Not too good, chicken wings too greasy and not fried hard, first and last time ordering from them.
Sam R.
Place rating: 5 Croydon, PA
my new favorite place for whole fried chicken wings(sounds crazy i know) but crunchy buttery goodness at an excellent price point! i usually get the sauce on the side because they are so good as is!
Terry M.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
Never again will I order from here. I got the Chicken wings in garlic sauce with beef lo mein platter. The veggies were so discolored from being overcooked. The chicken was hard and it didn’t taste like garlic sauce at all. The best thing was the soda.
Mike F.
Place rating: 3 Philadelphia, PA
Over all the food is pretty solid, for take out Chinese style. My biggest complaint is with anything they have to fry. More often then not they really need to change their oil. We’ve all but given up on eating any kind of egg roll provided to us with a combination platter because they just end up being soggy and taste of old oil. On the rare occasion we do get a «dry» egg roll they are fairly tasty. On the same note the«Chinese Doughnuts» consistently taste of won ton and grease as they fry everything in the same vat. They’re by no means bad, but they don’t blow any of their dozens of competitors out of the water.
Christopher R.
Place rating: 4 Conway, SC
they burned my Egg rolls but still good friend people nice place
Sam H.
Place rating: 3 Philadelphia, PA
When it’s good, its really good and when its not, it’s really bad. The consistency of the food is about 60⁄40. I’ve never had so many variations of hot and sour soup from one place. Also the deliver time can range from really fast to thinking about ordering a pizza to hold you over while you wait for the food. They’ve got the usual offerings and the standard dishes are pretty good. I’ll probably continue ordering from here, although I’m always wondering how it will turn out.
Rebecca S.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
This review is born not out of mediocre food, but out of horrible service by the woman running the operation… take this as you will because I will not be updating my review later to indicate my thoughts on the food. I used GrubHub to place a very basic rainy day order, an egg roll and won ton soup thinking it was better to use the app and spend $ 3 by debit rather than using their ATM to accommodate the $ 10 card minimum requirement. The app indicated that this order would take an hour to complete, but that seemed a little excessive for such a small order so I popped into the storefront since it was on the way to my destination. I asked if the order would really take an hour and the woman at the register started going off about how I should not place an order and think it will be completed immediately. I told her that I did not expect her to expedite my order, I just wanted to know if the estimated time was accurate so I could run my errands and then come back. She then started angrily telling me that I should not use the app for $ 3 orders because she doesn’t make any money that way. I’m sorry, what? Why on earth would you list your business on an app built for convenience if you’re going to yell at your prospective customers for using it? Instead of being berated for my use of an app built out of convenience, I walked out and had Grubhub cancel my order. Customer service apologized profusely even though it wasn’t them that I was miffed with; kudos to Grubhub for addressing the matter, but a big thumbs down and no further business from me to New Imperial.
Ellen M.
Place rating: 2 Philadelphia, PA
Went in there for the first time the other day and service was okay. Their cash register appears to be broken and the place is in desperate need of a makeover. The bullet-proof glass is kind of silly, but I presume if you’re taking cash only and selling cigarettes out of the same joint, you need to be prepared(I don’t think they’re open that late either which is odd. The service was relatively quick(maybe a 10 minute wait for the meal) and the food is what you would expect if McDonalds were to change gears and open up a Chinese Food joint. There are no chairs — the orders are to-go only. Extremely inexpensive as well. Around $ 6 for a whole lunch including egg-roll(which wasn’t half bad). The rest of the meal, however, wasn’t really anything special. Two stars for effort.
Dana B.
Place rating: 3 Philadelphia, PA
Imperial is second-rate at best in terms of its customer service, but when you’re craving Chinese and don’t have that much cash to spare, it works. They do deliver, but require a minimum purchase of $ 10 for it to be free. On that note, in bearable weather, I’ve gone by foot to pick up my food. My biggest beef with this place is that I asked for and paid for a drink, but when I proceeded to dig into my food, the Snapple was nowhere to be found so I walked back to get it. The woman at the counter seemed annoyed that I returned, but at least she believed me when I said I paid for my drink and didn’t make me pay for another one.
Mick D.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
I won’t even wait to rate the food — after an hour and a half wait for a simple order to be delivered .5 miles, I called and cancelled my order. There is NO excuse for this kind of customer service.
Howard B.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
In the land of bad food, this stands out as a solid example of the ‘worst of the worst’. I work in the area, and I’ve long since come to realize that there is nothing within 5 blocks of my place of business worth eating, and only a few places I would eat from in a pinch. The New Imperial is a place I will not try again… thanks Claude B., for absolutely nothing. Won-ton soup was atrocious. not the first bad won-ton soup I’ve had in this area either BTW. The broth was odd and off-putting and the ‘meat’ inside the won-tons tasted awful. String Beans in Garlic sauce was edible… barely. That’s about as positive as I can get. Save your money and hit Wendy’s or McD’s. like I said Spence, stick with Food Lion King Time… Best of the Worst.
Lori P.
Place rating: 1 Philadelphia, PA
Awful. Terrible experience. Ridiculous customer service. They delivered my sweet and sour chicken without the sauce(DUH, how could you forget THAT). After I paid-including a tip– and called requesting the sauce, the woman was extremely rude and screamed at me that they were very busy and didn’t know when they would be able to bring it! Maybe 45 minutes! Hunh!!! Never. Again. Mind you, I live 10 minutes by car from this place. Ugh. So over it.
Claude B.
Place rating: 4 Philadelphia, PA
Times change. Things change. Still one of the friendliest staffs I have delt with(the one delivery man has been with them since I started ordering here, even though the main manager seems to have changed… I think they expanded.) They are EXTREMELY fast and it is rare when I don’t have my food in 20 minutes. I can’t say I think I will ever choose not to deal with this establishment. Why the drop of one star from my last review then? The food quality is suffering. The prices have stayed about the same… but the food has changed. The shrimp is… questionable at times… the dumplings make me sad(literally)… and the Shrimp Toast… I just can’t even… it’s like losing a best friend. This isn’t necessarily the end of a beautiful thing… just the start of a more limited relationship… I still love you, boo… (But seriously… the singapore chow mai fun is an obsession for me… Never Change!!! =’))
James S.
Place rating: 2 Harleysville, PA
Was kind of disappointed. Lo mein was good. Steamed dumplings were good. Sweet and sour chicken was good. Pork fried rice, so so. Mongolian beef, which is supposed to be a specialty, was the worst I’ve ever had. Beef’s color looked more like pork. Highly disappointed in it. Not a terrible Chinese take out spot, but cannot recommend it to anyone.
George G.
Place rating: 1 Carteret, NJ
Would definitely say this was not the best Chinese food I have ever had. I had ordered a quart of the Hunan Chicken and received a much smaller plastic container than I receive elsewhere when I order a quart(was given the shallow plastic dish and not the deep plastic dish). Usually, I am full with ½ of the food left over for the next day… well, I ate everything and was still hungry. My GF’s tofu with garlic was deep fried(not simply cooked and sliced as depicted on the photo) and the sauce was definitely not garlic sauce(upon tasting it). The only reason why my GF ate it was because she did not want to waste food. Here comes the kicker. For ordering a good amount of food we received jello and watermelon — WTF??? This is a Chinese restaurant, supposedly… arent they supposed to give wontons or egg rolls as comps? Completely disappointed. Suppose I should be glad we were not shot, given the bullet proof glass windows in the establishment.