Imperial Chinese Restaurant

  3.9 – 848 reviews   • Chinese restaurant

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Imperial Chinese Restaurant, established in 1985 in Denver, sets the standard for Chinese cuisine in the area. Renowned for its Szechuan dishes, innovative offerings like sesame chicken, and high-quality food; the restaurant continuously updates its menu with new dishes. Signature items include Chilean sea bass in black bean sauce and filet mignon in Burgundy sauce. The restaurant offers an authentic approach to Chinese cuisine and has a reputation for both consistency and culinary creativity. Located at 431 S. Broadway, Denver, CO, it’s a beloved destination for both locals and critics alike.

Chinese stalwart known for its extensive menu of Sichuan specialties & traditional decor.

✔️Lunch ✔️Dinner ✔️Dine in ✔️Take out ✔️Delivery Imperial Chinese Restaurant 80209

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Reviews

Robert Fox
Imperial was founded in 1985 by Johnny Hsu and it has been my favorite Chinese restaurant ever since. Mr. Hsu ran a very tight ship, except that, per my understanding, he had a rocky relationship with the head chef. Ever so often they would have a huge fight, the chef would walk out, and the quality of the food would deteriorate until he came back. This went on for years.

Mr. Hsu retired and sold the restaurant in early 2023. I’ve eaten here a number of times since then and feel the restaurant has been chronically understaffed since the new owners took over. I’ve had several strange experiences recently.

I came for dinner a few months ago with two friends. We were seated promptly and received menus and water. We were then ignored for over 40 minutes although only a handful of other tables were occupied. It became clear that one person was both serving the entire dining room (including a large private party) and apparently also doing the cooking.

A woman who appeared to be the manager did absolutely nothing to help and spent the entire evening chatting with a friend in the separate bar area.

The poor, harried staffer finally took our orders and promised to get the food out quickly. Much to my surprise, when we were finally served, the food was excellent. Probably the best meal I ever had at Imperial.

I returned a few weeks later. The restaurant was much busier. We received decent service and good food. No issues.

I was back with my girlfriend last Friday night. The first issue was that the Web site lists a daily closing time of 8:00 p.m. We were coming after a concert and nearly didn’t bother, but the 8pm time is clearly wrong. The door lists a completely different closing time of 9/9:30pm and the dining room was very busy until we left just before 9pm.

Service was slow as there were only two servers for a large room and the kitchen also seemed very slow. We started with the fried pork dumplings. These were larger than the usual, very plump with stuffing, perfectly cooked, and delicious, with a great sauce.

We then had the (new to me) Shrimp Wonton soup. Also nicely made and packed with delicious ingredients. Alas, then the meal rapidly went downhill.

We received our entrées after a long wait. The Sesame Chicken looked beautiful, like a magazine photo. Terrific sauce. Unfortunately the chicken itself was horribly overcooked. Tasteless, dry as dust, and so tough it was nearly impossible to cut, much less eat. The server has vanished and complaining seemed pointless after the long wait, so we moved on to our other selections.

Again the Hunan Beef looked beautiful on the plate, but the meat was overcooked. Fortunately, not as badly as the chicken. The sauce was delicious, so we mostly worked on that with a bit of the combination fried rice, which was fine.

The failure of the two main entrées to meet the usual standards plus the slow service were really disappointing. The new owners just don’t seem to be managing this Denver treasure very well or with any consistency. I’m sad.
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Play Casket YT
So when you get a hankering for Chinese, but like… That hankering needs a whole cow, I would recommend this joint. The lunch special may sound small… It isn’t.

That was our mistake when entering this place. Figured the lunch specials may be pretty good. When we saw they were a tad more expensive for a lunch, we grew wary of the experience. However, what came out explained why you are shelling out nearly twenty bucks for the meal; Cause it is huge.

The taste is pretty good, though, so don’t get it twisted. Definitely better off coming here when your belly was vacated fully like illegal housing in Texas.
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Keric Shock
The imperial egg rolls were amazing and the hot and sour soup was great, unfortunatly the prices of both items are way to high for what you get! 9 dollars for 3 egg rolls is insane! 14 dollars for a bowl of hot and sour soup proposterous! If prices were about 2 or 3 dollars cheaper for both items this would be a 5/5.
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Lisa J. Shultz
We had a good meal experience recently. Parking is easy, and the atmosphere is pleasant and quiet. We wanted vegetable dumplings, but they said they didn’t have any, so we had pork. They were good, but I really wanted vegetables. We also enjoyed sesame chicken, which was delicious. I needed some vegetables with the meat, so I wish they were easier to get or incorporated into more dishes.
Service was fine but our conversation was interrupted too often with the question of whether we wanted more water.
Overall, a nice dinner.
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J Bleux
I enjoyed the food here and the service.

I’ll definitely return!

I love the fish tank
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Stefanie Hudgins
Imperial Chinese Palace is my favorite Chinese Restaurant in Denver! The restaurant is clean, spacious and never so busy that I feel crowded. Service is excellent— this is a nice dining establishment so you do need to give them a little time for the food to be prepared. The food is excellent— unlike most Chinese restaurants, they aren’t using prepared frozen foods. The pan fried pork dumplings are our favorite— they are handmade on site. Hot and sour soup is rich and flavorful. Mu shu pork is my favor entree…but seriously they are all good!! They are also great with kids!
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Barbra Banks
Our woman’s group met Wednesday for lunch.. the food was phenomenal but the service A+. The male waiter and the sweet young lady delivered excellent service. Good food and bright smiles!
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Emily Chaney
The food was delicious. I ordered pick up and when the uber eats driver dropped the ball they were quick to help me fix the problem. The lomein was excellent. The fried pork dish was awesome. The old style egg rolls weren’t my favorite but the rest is so good I would order other things next time.
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Ryan Luby
I have lived in the Denver metro for more than 6 years, yet I had never been to this place until recently. It’s very solid – probably among the best American Chinese restaurants in the south metro. Lots of longtime Denverites say that and I can now understand why. It is pricier than most, but the food is definitely fresher and of higher quality.
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Ryu
Extremely disappointed by the taste of the food. I ordered a wide variety of dishes from this restaurant, including their imperial rolls, shrimp wonton soup, hot and sour soup, hunan beef, seafood birds nest, walnut shrimp, chicken imperial, beef chow fun, and moo shu chicken. Overall, my total came out to a little under $200.

The imperial rolls tasted okay, came in a pack of 3, along with sauce. 3 rolls for $10 is a bit disappointing, considering we were a group of 4, but that’s on me for not asking beforehand. 6/10.

Both the wonton soup and hot and sour soup were disappointing in taste and consistency, but were at least edible. $18/$15 5/10

The Hunan Beef was a sad, small-sized 10-odd pieces of EXTREMELY salty beef, that were served in a watery sweet and barely perceptibly spicy sauce. $23. 2/10

The Seafood Birds nest was a disaster. The seafood was in an extremely under seasoned white wine sauce, and was served with a potato nest made of deep-fried potato shreds, almost like a hash brown in consistency. It was practically inedible, and the portion was extremely disappointing for the price. I ended up salvaging the dish later by pan frying it with oyster sauce, fresh garlic, and dark soy sauce at home. $31. 1/10

Walnut Shrimp – Not the best i’ve had, but edible. Would say that walnut shrimp from Panda Express would beat the taste unfortunately. Around 14 pieces of shrimp in a sad amount of candied walnuts. Disappointing, but at least it tasted okay. $27. 5/10

Chicken Imperial – Like the Birds nest, this suffered from an extreme lack of seasoning and salt in general. For the life of me, I dont know why they added cherry tomatoes to the dish, when it already tastes like practically nothing. Is it for color? The yellow squash was also not seasoned at all from what I can tell, prior to being doused in the sauce. $21. 2/10

Beef Chow Fun – Honestly, not that bad. I asked if the restaurant could possibly substitute shrimp as the protein, and they delivered. Wok Hei was noticeable, the seasonings were good, and the portion, while somewhat modest, was filling enough. It was practically the only thing my family ate that day, asides from the walnut shrimp. $23 6.5/10

Moo Shu Chicken – I had this the next day, and honestly, it was probably the best item that Imperial Chinese had from what we had selected. Good flavor, Wok Hei apparent throughout the dish, chicken tender and moist, and the cabbage and jicama were flavorful. $20. 8/10

Service – Due to being takeout, not much to say, but the staff was nice and pleasant.

Atmosphere – A bit lacking, but it also might have been due to the timing. Decor cant be said to be either tacky nor tasteful. The fish in the aquarium looked relatively healthy, which is good though.

Overall, a lackluster experience. I probably won’t come back, unfortunately, but I will say if you have to order anything from here, I recommend the Moo Shu or the Beef Chow Fun.
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