Emperor's Choice

In a city not really known for its Chinese food, Emperor's Choice continues to offer very nice food at moderate prices. Smallish and longish restaurant with the proverbial fish tank when you walk in the dining room, there are but 10-15 tables in this little establishment located right in the middle of Chicago's Chinatown. Generally don't have to wait for a table because they turn them pretty well. My fav is still the chicken fried rice, but the egg foo young, and the sweet & sour dishes are nice. Fried meats - like sweet & sour chicken - sometimes have a bit too much breading, but the taste is still there. Biggest problem you'll have here is finding a parking place.

After eating all around Chinatown year after year, this is still our go-to place. That is not easy if you know how many competitions are out there and how many new ones come up all day long.

If you want solid, good quality Chinese food in Chicago, you'll find it here. Yes, you can get all the standard American-Chinese food here (orange chicken, beef and broccoli and the like) but you can also get what Chinese people prefer to order. :-) We usually order steamed whole fish, a dish of stir-fried vegetable with garlic sauce -- whatever is freshest that day (Chinese broccoli, Tong Hsin, or pea shoots, etc.). We sometimes order their roast chicken or deep fried chicken, Chinese style. Steamed oysters in black bean sauce is a special treat. When they have the fresh scallops, they will let you know -- they are pricy, but worth it. Shrimp dishes are always lovely, and if you don't mind a little work, get one of the crab dishes. Peking Duck, yes!!

Tables are set with clean table cloth -- none of that tacky (literally), cheesy plastic stuff. You are serviced by seasoned wait staff -- they know their food and they take their jobs seriously. This is what they do, and I appreciate that tremendously. No loud talking or shouting among the staff and no bad, immature attitudes.

A place that has been there forever and it's not difficult to know why. I've dined here with friends and family, Chinese folks and otherwise. Everyone always loves the experience and talks about the food long after the visit.

Went here for dim sum with my family. As im chinese, i Ordered my usual dimsum stuff such as siumai, ha kao, chicken feet, BBQ pork bun, salted egg yolk bun, and also ordered beef w veggie and spicy eggplant to share as our main.
Everything was good, except.... the BBQ pork bun's filling is a bit dry; salted egg yolk bun's filling can be a bit smoother. But overall Im very happy that I have a place to go for dimsum now, especially with the fact that there's no authentic Chinese food around my area(streeterville) And I have to travel each time by car in order to get my Asian food.