Review Imperial Garden Restaurant - Essendon

It’s taste really homey , tasted malaysian with “ Heat”. tried the braised chicken w veges

Lovely atmosphere with plenty of seating, great service and very tasty food offering a large menu - only downfalls for me - the prices were a little higher than I'm used too and portions could have been slightly larger for the what I paid. Restroom was a little dingy with poor lighting. However I really liked that when I requested a couple of takeaway containers at the end of the meal I was not charged extra as I have experienced at other similar establishments in the past.

Just moved in to the area and decided to try it and let me tell you, it was worth it. Yes, it does have an old 60's look but once inside is pretty clean and nice. Also, the service was great, the girls were very nice and the food didn't take too long. As per the food it was delicious, pretty tasty and with rich flavour. The price is among the average so is OK. Take away available and fast too. No complains, all good!

Wonderful service, delicious food. We all had a wonderful evening. Highly recommend Imperial Garden Restaurant.

We have been going to this restaurant for at least 30 years and never had a compliant. The service is fast and courteous with the waiters being friendly polite and attentive. Unlike many other Chinese restaurants which we have experienced over the years where the food tastes less than "food court" quality, this place excels. Well done and keep up the great work. A real pleasure at which to dine !!!!!!

We have been going to Imperial garden for about 5 to 6 years. There have been times when it hasn't been fabulous over the years but we keep coming back and over the breadth of time and it is still the best of the local chinese restaurants and is our go to restaurant. So glad there is now delivery. Tonight's meal was fantastic. Thanks

A family favourite, at Imperial Garden you can always expect delicious meals, friendly hospitality, cleanliness and value for money. I highly recommend it.

Lovely food. Friendly staff. Well priced. Will go again

Was a quick dinner here and although the decor is old old old.. the staff are friendly, service is fast... food is tasty... try the satay and the salt and pepper tofu!!! Delicious

Such friendly, above and beyond staff, honestly outstanding. The food was delicious, filling and excellent value for money. Would highly recommend.

The decor was what you'd expect - dated but suitable 😊 I'm not sure why there are so many bad reviews, I was quite content with my food. I mean it's not fine dining but pretty standard for a suburban Chinese restaurant. Perhaps I was just lucky. The fried rice was flavourful, the Mongolian beef was really tasty (although the beef slightly chewy), the combination birds nest was delicious!

Not expecting much from a suburban Chinese but this was simply not good with the single exception of the salt and pepper calamari. The pan fried dumplings were way too oily, the stock in the short soup was cloudy and oily tasting, the satay beef tasted like a jar of kantong, and the tamarind sauce on the duck was eye watering sweet. Rice smelt strange and $3 per small bowl.

Food is ok  but either extremely salty or the new owners may be using msg. Decor is very dated. Service is alright. Dumplings were great but cantonese steak was  quite chewy.

Never fails for a cheap and cheerful meal! Good variety of dishes and always very quick. It doesn't look like much but really delivers great food.

My old favourite changed owners and never been the same again spring rolls and fried dim sims with semi fried also the peaking duck was the same as a luv a duck packet never again unfortunately as it was my favourite when Eddie had it.

Crap Place and bad food ewww ................................................................................................................

We ventured in on Saturday night and despite the 80s decor were very happy.  A couple of the staff were in training but they had badges identifying this and we have no problems with people learning and the service was good.  We started with spring rolls (huge with a hint of curry), panfried pork dumplings (yummy), salt and pepper calamari (again yummy but maybe could have been a bit bigger but was only an entree serve) and the lobak (different to others I have tried but really tasty).  Mains were honey pepper beef (tender, flavorsome and lots of veggies), garlic prawns (also really nice), Imperial combination (also nice but maybe a little bland for our liking and there was no birds nest available so this may have added more flavor) and nasi goreng (again different to others but still tasty).  Food came promptly and was yummy, service attentive and finished with the good old hot towels, loved it we will be back.  Hubby said this is his favorite so far, boys leaning towards Enzo & Mario's and I will try a few more before deciding what is my favorite in the new hood.

Acceptable Chinese cuisine. Good for a quick local dinner

Delish!. Excellent Shanghai dumplings and very friendly service. A new favourite restaurant of mine! Great for takeaway too.

Chinese 'Old School' Style #Happy. What a pleasant surprise to finally find a chinese that I would happily come back to. Fried rice, tick! Sweet and Sour, tick! Beef with cashews, tick! Hot face towels to finish off.. Old school style which I will be back for often. Thumbs up!

Amazing restaurant & Amazing customer service. Looked on Urbanspoon to find a Chinese restaurant to eat at tonight and I am so happy with Imperial Garden Restaurant. Food was amazing, ordered the Chicken Satay for entree and for main I ordered Sweet & Sour Chicken. Customer service was great, staff were friendly, served rice for you as well as hot face washes at the end of your meal...would recommend to anyone and I will definitely be returning.

Really good food and service. Always serve with a smile that made us feel comfortable. I had a great time with my friend. I 'll be back.

Disappointing. Just back from Friday night dinner at Imperial Garden. Have given the new owners a few visits before I reviewed. First visit, service was extremely slow but food was delicious. Second visit was good. Good food and service.Tonight, the place was deserted and the food just ok. It seemed liked it was partially cooked before as it came out- had a bit of that reheated flavour about it. The batter on our main was still raw / gooey on the inside- thinking the oil not warm enough. So will probably give them one more chance...maybe after the New Year. The inside has been updated with new seat covers etc and service was great. The food was just a bit of a letdown. Missing Steve and Eddie..but will give them another chance in a month or two!

Was one of the best local Chinese restaurants but they have now changed owners Eddie has left :( Went back recently to see how it was but totally different food not as good. Will never go back which is a shame

Great local restaurant with always reliable quality food, service is superb, nice to have a 'local' you can rely on!

Excellent food. Ordered takeaway on Sat night for the first time based on reviews. Servings were decent and food was great. Beef with black bean was delicious and so tender. Best Chinese I have had in Essendon by far. Recommend!

My friend told me the place have changed owner. I went there to try their new menu last week. The food is fabulious, a big improve from old one.

It's a good dinning place in local area. The food is really fresh and delicious. Our family come very often.

Sorry to say but absolutely shocking service.. Took them 20 minutes to attend to take our order, 15 minutes for entree and in total has been an hour and we still havnt recieved our mains. Their excuse is "we have too many take away orders". I understand sometimes places get busy but it's 9pm and only half full.

Good Vibe. Restaurant has a good feel to it when you walk in, and the staff are all friendly and helpful! Food is tasty & good choice if you're feeling like Chinese in the area.

Great restaurant for family and friends. Has not changed much over the years, making it a reliable place to go. Service is always friendly and the food is excellent! Can often get quite crowded, so you need to book. Always quick if you are there for takeaway.

Nice enough. This place has great prices considering it offers a quant dining experience. Though noisy and busy, the restaurant is really nice and service is excellent. Though I am not an expert on food, it seems to be better than most other chinese restaurants. May not be a trendy hub, but good enough for anybody :)

The spring rolls at this restaurant rock!!

Always good. Been going here for awhile now and we love it. Amazing Chinese that isn't expensive and always reliable. Seems a bit old looking but regardless it always has a friendly vibe and I'll probably be upset if they had a makeover.

Cheap chinese food and highlight was deep fried ice-cream brought out for his birthday with happy birthday music playing. Friendly staff and nice food. Decor of Resturant is a bit dated but great local place.

Great little Chinese restaurant! Love starting off with a couple of fresh spring rolls and homemade dim sims! The menu has a great selection, reasonably price and generous serve sizes! Would recommend it no problems at all! Keep up the good work

Cheap reliable local Chinese. Food good service good, decor dated but comfortable. Staff attentive, service good, however, beware of the new rude non-english speaking waitress from hell who constantly hovers and takes glasses and plates before you put them down despite being told to go away. It's amazing how one person can ruin 20 years of a good thing......but we'll be back.

One word. Fantiastic

I used to come here all the time, but not anymore. Not what it used to be<br/><br/>----20-6-15----<br/>Called in for a flying visit last night, and it seems to be much improved in both service & fare. More importantly the (alleged) use of MSG seems to be a thing of the past thankfully.

Terrible. Firstly, the food here was mostly awful. Rice had been sitting in the steamer so long it had gone dry and rock hard. 'Salt and chilli' pork was just battered pork, only there were bones under the batter that you couldn't see, so you just had to try not to break your teeth on them. Anyone who thinks this is good chinese must be used to eating bad food court chinese.<br/>But worst of all, my elderly nana tripped leaving the restaurant and fell very hard onto the footpath. Staff just stood inside the restaurant and stared at her. No offers of help, no seeing if she was ok. Finally gave us a bandaid when we went inside and specifically asked for one, then went back to watching her sitting on the ground bleeding. It was disgraceful.

Great Food & Economical. A regular at this restaurant for many years. Satay at this place is deliciious and moist and they are grilled, not fried like many other restaurants!! Great serve size, delicious food and the price tag is very reasonbale.

NEVER GO TO IMPERIAL GARDEN. My experience was one of the worst. Service was poor and the food was disgusting. Prawns tasted like rubber. Satay sticks were like bark. The only thing that we ended up eating was the fried rice. Never eating there again.

Really fantastic cheap Chinese!