Empire

I come here time to time for lunch because they offer a wide variety of Asian cuisine. My favorite is the Chirashi and the Sushi & Sashimi combo. If raw fish isn’t your thing, I suggest the Salmon Teriyaki and the Chicken Katsu. They have great Chinese and Thai lunch specials at a very affordable price. I suggest the Thai Chicken Peanut and the Pad Thai. I would recommend this spot as a weekday lunch regular if you work nearby or happen to be in the area.

Nice little sit down place for lunch near City Hall. Food is decent, staff disappears at times.

As I sit at my desk and look out the window, it was quickly apparent that I was NOT going out in this weather.
So I took a quick survey from my co-​workers and we decided to order. Since my job in the area is PT and I’m only here 2 days a week, I don’t have any menus. My co-​worker suggests Empire. Never heard of it, but what the heck.
I ordered Chicken and Broccoli. 20 minutes later, they were downstairs with our order. FAST! The Chicken and Broccoli came with your choice of soup and white rice, all for $ 6.95. Not bad! The food was OK at best. I’ve had better. Given the cirumstances, it did the trick.
I don’t know of any other Asian restaurants in the area, but this was OK enough to have me order from them again.

I agree with previous reviewers who say their customer service is lacking. They rushed us into ordering and then brought all our food out in courses, even though we had asked for it all at once. This was especially odd because it was very quiet, so it’s not like we were taking up space. The menu is pretty big. I had their seaweed salad which was very fresh and flavored well. The sweet potato tempura roll was a little too heavy for my taste (I know it’s fried, but it shouldn’t taste THAT oily). I didn’t have any fish, so I can’t speak to the freshness of that. The prices are pretty good, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it given the number of sushi restaurants in the area.

Bad customer service. The lady in the front who takes orders need a chill pill. She is very nasty, rude. They just recently opened this place and they are already loosing customers bcoz of her. Spoke to my coworkers and said the same thing about her.

First off, the restaurant looked promising with a menu that includes chinese, japanese, and thai cuisine. However, after dropping in for lunch I must say I was sadly disappointed. The food was mediocre at best and was not particularly tasty but that wasn’t the worst of it, the waitstaff there is terrible. Even though I arrived at the tail end of the lunch rush with about 35% of the tables occupied, waiting for the food and responsiveness of the waitstaff left much to be questioned. At the end of the day, the lunch special was inexpensive. about $ 8 after tax, there are better places in the area that are worth your time and money.

The food = gross. I’ve had frozen dinners tasted better than this. The service = extremely slow and they managed to gave us the wrong change.
First and last for me.

What review do you give for a place which serves thai, chinese & japanese. all under one roof… it is an absolute case of ‘Jack of all trades’ & ‘Master of none’!!
The food was not that bad actually. but was nothing too exceptional as well. the waiters/​servers were lost & confused.

First off… I don’t know why this place has such a bad reputation. My girl friend and I went to this place for dinner and it was excellent. The service was good and the place looked decent. The bathroom was very nice too.
I don’t know what’s wrong with these people leaving those negative reviews. Personally, I think the people that had their «bad» experiences at this place are full of it. When you don’t like someone, sometimes people will say anything to hurt them. Even their business. Or… they’re just plain BOOSHIE.
I can honestly say that there was nothing wrong with this place. The Ginger sauce was addictive too.

WORST experience at a restaurant that I’ve had in a while. First off the service was bad, my waitress checked on us one time, and that was to take our order. Other then that I basically had to flag down another server for a mere cup of water which we received about the same time as we were finishing. Next the salmon sushi tasted like refrigerator, and when I complained they tried to act like that was MY fault. Lastly they added a 18% gratuity for two people and nowhere had it said that tip was going to be included, especially not for horrible service like that. Trust me I work in a restaurant too so I know how it works. I would not recommend ANYONE to go here, in fact I highly recommend it be shut down, or a health inspector pay a visit at least.
*In fact this place doesn’t deserve even the one star.

Excellent peanut sauce chicken, I enjoyed it and price wise very reasonable clean and over all enjoyed it

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! i wish i could give this place ZERO stars
Yes the food is inexpensive. However, if you dine in during your lunch hour, be prepared to get back to work late. If you order for delivery, be prepared to NOT get your full order and then have to wait over 2 hours and still not get your complete order. I’ve waiting for 2 hours to get something that should have been included (or at least my money back) and when I call the phone just keeps ringing, or someone picks up and then hangs up. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A RIP OFF AS MY MONEY WAS NEVER RETURNED!

I just realized that there’s a Thai place near my office. and they offer lunch specials! With their modern décor, I had super high expectations for this place only to be utterly disappointed. The girl at the cashier wasn’t too friendly, and the dish I ordered was very bland. You know if they can’t get the chicken Pad Thai right (just with eggs and scallion), everything else will just be mediocre. However, considering there aren’t too many Thai places around me, I may have to give them a second chance.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I wish I had read these reviews before ordering from this place. But you know, at work, you can’t go onto computers for personal use. *rolls eyes* So, my coworkers and I decided to order from this place and thinking that it was a new place, it shouldn’t be bad. Well, guess what? It was bad! The pad thai I ordered had not flavor to it, the chicken that was in it was rubbery and disgusting.

Very inexpensive lunch specials ($ 7 Chinese, $ 8 Thai, $ 8 – 10 Sushi) and a spacious, airy, clean decór inside.
I ordered Chicken Lo Mein and Wonton soup, easy choices and p’raps a good barometer of a lunch menu. The soup was salty good, wonton fine but unremarkable. The Lo Mein was a bit pasty/​mushy; it was flavorful and the vegetables crisp, so I was satisfied. Tea is not unlimited but ah well, $ 7 is a good price for a sit-​down lunch in Lower Manhattan. Also noteworthy: unless you ask you are eating with chopsticks. I find the assumption of a customer’s skill a pleasant surprise. In all, a very good lunch bet.
–C

We were SO hopeful that a decent Chinese restaurant would be established in our neighborhood. I’m disappointed to report that Empire will not fill that void.
I’m always suspicious of restaurants that offer Chinese/​Japanese under the same roof… Empire adds Thai to the mix. The suspicion is supported once again.
We walk into this rather large vacant space with walls painted red & a black ceiling. There are no other customers in this 50 – 70 seat restaurant that is celebrating the «Grand Opening» this week.
We’re settled into a booth & handed the take out menu «because we just opened.» Huh? The waitress came quickly. She asked if we’d like a drink. They have no liquor license so that’s out. My son is 7 & doesn’t like soda so he asked what kind of juice they have. «We have soda with orange.» The short of it is… soda, water, tea or Nestea. Tap water please.
We asked, «How many Thai spring rolls ($ 3.95) are in an order? «One» our waitress replied. My experience is that there are typically 6 or 8. We asked, «How many curry puffs ($ 5.95!) in an order?» The same answer. One. Okay, forget even trying those items. We decide to play it safe.
We order the fried dumplings ($ 5.95), Kung Pao Chicken ($ 9.95) and beef & Udon noodles in soup ($ 9.95).
The dumplings arrive shortly and are lightly browned on one side only & coated with oil. We cut them in half for inspection. The skin is way too thick although the filling was cooked thoroughly & the amount substantial enough. The flavor of the filling was acceptable. Overall, the dumplings were a disappointment.
The Kung Pao chicken was surrounded by essentially raw vegetables (mostly diced celery & carrots with some green peppers), tender pieces of chicken and a handful of canned honey roasted peanuts. The mixture was coated with a red, corn starch thickened, moderately spicy sauce. Totally unremarkable & brought me back to middle school when we’d have «Chinese Day» in the cafeteria. Very disappointing.
My son received his beef & Udon soup. He tasted the noodles first & described them as «chewy.» I tried them & what he meant was gummy. I didn’t taste the beef but he had no complaint there. He tasted the broth & made clear it «has NO flavor… nothing.»
The servings are quite large, but in this case bigger certainly isn’t better. Our waitress did not seem surprised that we didn’t want any of it to go.
If you want Chinese food in Tribeca, goto Chinatown! If you want a decent meal for a decent price… go elsewhere!
Lesson learned.