Guru Gun
Arthur and the owner Aunty Chen are very friendly. They make you feel like home. Apart from the dishes from the menu, you can also call and tell them what you like and order customised private dishes. Service is definitely 5 star. The restaurant is nice and quiet which is good for friends gathers and chat. Definitely first preference Chinese restaurant for our family.
jack matthews
It all started so well...we showed up without a reservation but the host said we could have a table if we could be out in 1 hr 15 min. Given that most yum cha places are very quick, we saw no problem. 90 min later we had had 5 of the 7 dishes ordered (for context, in a typical yum cha joint that would take about 15 min). We gave up and left. Really disappointing service. I do understand that COVID has created legitimate staffing issues, but the solution is to book fewer customers rather than to provide exceptionally poor service. It's a pity because the food we did get was quite good.
Aidan Kelly
Came on a Tuesday with no booking in a group of 3. Restaurant was empty except for us but the food was delicious and the staff helped us customise our ordering to give us exactly what we needed. Thanks for the fun night!
Cathy Tang
Went last night for Mother’s Day and the food did not disappoint. The food came out hot, great portion sized and was absolutely delicious. Our go to restaurant for Chinese food.
Mandy P
Came here for yumcha. It was soo good. The only reason it’s 3 stars and not 5 is just because the chicken dumplings were not good (tasted the same as chicken dumplings in the frozen section at a supermarket).
Everything else was amazing.
Eugene You Qing Tan
Not an exaggeration to say this is by far the worst yum cha spot I've ever been to. Coming from a Chinese dude. Siew mai tasted like it was frozen, skin broke off super easily, costco dumplings tasted better. We were served tea which was tea bags stuffed into a tea pot. No self respecting Chinese restaurant would do this. We asked for reccomendations and they reccomended Peking duck wraps which cost 4 dollars a wrap. The wraps didn't even contain any duck skin......anybody who has had Peking duck knows the wrap is meant to contain skin not duck meat.
Overall horrible food, expensive, would not reccomend. You might as well buy supermarket dumplings and brew your own tea bags at home for one-sixth the price.
Lydia Yin
Must visit here for best service and the most delicious Chinese!!
Alexander McLeod
I love this place. The prices are reasonable, the owner looks for the best quality produce. I have lived in China, I married into a Chinese family. In terms of Chinese food, I know what I'm talking about. Talk to the boss, tell her what you like, and they will look after you.
Tracy Tigers
Got food poisoning from pork in fried rice. Called the restaurant to alert them not to serve to other diners. they were not interested at all, no apology, no offer of refund. Terrible customer service.
Nikki
I came for Sunday Yum Cha yesterday with a group of 11 people. Firstly, the decor was beautiful. Such a lovely, clean and well presented restaurant. It was not busy so we had a quiet lunch. Much appreciated as yum cha can be so loud due to its popular nature on a weekend. The service was spot on. Extremely attentive staff and manager. We had a great selection of dim sums- scallop dumplings, prawn dumplings, bbq pork buns, seafood dumplings, bbq pork pastry, chinese broccoli, scallops in egg yolk batter, duck pancake, calamari plus more! A few of us tried the delicious fried ice cream which was so light and not overpowering. A few also had a lovely glass of red wine at $7 each which I thought was very reasonable. $54 each (minus drinks) and we ate to our hearts content. Would’ve uploaded more photos but was so hungry I forgot to take more! Thanks and we will be back soon :)
Lisa Giles
My bf and I were looking to go to a yum cha last minute, and called up East Imperial to book a table which was such a great decision!! Firstly we couldn’t fault the service, it was the most attentive service we have had at a yum cha. They were constantly filling up our teas, and clearing plates, and asking us if we wanted certain dishes that hadn’t come out. Secondly, the food was delicious. The dumpling casings were the perfect consistency, and I was very pleased with the variety of dumplings. A little on the pricey side, but worth every penny!
Elisha Song
It's Worth to try it out if you'd like to know what's authentic southern Chinese food. Lots of fresh seafoods. We all had a very good night there.
Lauren
Tasty Chinese food, Szechwan beef and the beef and Chinese broccoli dishes were my favourite.<br/>Excellent service, friendly staff, great with kids (offered us special melon juice for kids which wasn’t on the menu and was delicious and greatfully received!) <br/>This place is BYO wine and a Cellarbrations bottle shop is nearby on Lygon st. <br/>Nice comfortable seating and atmosphere.<br/>Thanks for a great birthday meal with a big family group.
Bitter As This Melon
A 1 rating is a very generous rating, to say the least. 6:30 and already out of roast duck? Seriously? Food was all sub-par, my wife asked for cold water twice and was first handed a teapot of hot water and then a glass of hot water. Would never come back to this place again.
Ricardo Nemirovsky
Came for yum Cha. Food tasty - well presented. Warm atmosphere and friendly accommodating staff. Standouts are duck pancakes, shanghai dumplings, ginger prawn dumplings. Would definitely come again.
Hungry Tiger
I have been here couple times and never let me down. Especially home-made Yum Cha! Tasty dishes, friendly manager. Great location, Easy parking. Keep going!
Julycheee
They serve Chinese Wen Zhou cuisine food here, which is not something I'm very familiar with and as such I am perhaps slightly biased against it. The food seems to be completely different to the menu and reviews posted here. The interior is large, spacious and modern. The staff were great and accommodating. Unfortunately I didn't find the food very appetising. A lot of them were a bit strange to me - like Chinese steamed chicken with cherry tomatoes and herbs (basil or mint, I can't quite recall). There was also the okra with too much salty bacon. We also had a ginormous dish of crab, but there was very little crab on the unecessarily huge dish filled with ice. It was very elaborate for very little crab (which also had very little meat). The lamb chops were the best of the night. Everyone also enjoyed the soup.
Betty Lui
10 of us ordered $88/head banquet. The dishes was not come in order and kept missing the orders. The staff was not professional and do not have much services. The sweet and sour fish soup was no taste and some dishes were just normal. We have 10 people but they only gave us 9 abalones. They just gave us one oyster to replace it. The quality and size of abalones were very bad. Only 2 dishes out of 10 dishes are accepted. It was overpriced and no services for whole dinner and felt disappointed.
Benno
Great traditional regional Chinese food and some interesting dishes I haven't seen on a menu before such as a caramelized sweet potato dessert. Sweet and Sour whole fish was pretty amazing also. Service was excellent too. Best Chinese I've had in Melbourne in some time.
Muggle
The best experience I have ever had in Mel. Services are great!Fabulous food,especially Peking Duck pancake!I can't wait to make a reservation for next visit.
Liam C
Dry tasteless dumplings and poor service. And very expensive for yum Cha. Won't return.
CritiqueN
A hidden gem!. We had a lovely meal here and it was so good that we had already booked to come back again! Attentive service with excellent food and good prices, it gets my vote.
Hunger Monger
Food is amazing, fast service and very friendly, the head chef is a champ!
Andrew
Really nice food, impressive decor and odd service. We were asked what we would like to drink prior to seeing a menu of any sort. The translation at the front of the menu is entertainingly bad. Importantly though, the food was excellent. I would happily go there again.
Liv O
Great for groups!. Went with 15 friends for a friend's birthday. Restaurant is beautiful but was very quiet especially for a Saturday night.<br/>We got a yum cha banquet for dinner. It started off with small fried items then onto dumplings, rice dishes, then dessert. Service was prompt and friendly, and they even did separate dishes for me (a vegetarian) which was super appreciated! In the end we still had so many things left sitting on the table because of the sheer around of food they had given us. Came out to around $40 each including wine, and we had many boxes of leftovers to take home.<br/>Don't go expecting the best Chinese food in Melbourne. But it has good food, great service and a nice atmosphere so they deserve to be a bit busier! Definitely recommended especially if you have a big group.
Chris Appleton
Food is fantastic, great value for money and the service is friendly and excellent!! Can thoroughly recommend this venue for any Chinese lovers.
Becky
Went for dinner on Saturday night. 10 of us ordered banquet B for $49. The amount of food was so inadequate. For example, the barramundi dish, we received one whole fish for the entire table. There were many times throughout the meal we looked around like 'this is it!'. Would nt recommend for a large groups
South Yarra Food Lover
Black seasame icecream and egg tart are highly recommended.
Outandabout
Expensive and terribly average.
Red Do
If your looking for authentic Chinese food, this is not the place for you. Had Yam Cha recently and not only that the food was not great, the service was just bad. Had to ask multiple waitress for soy sauce and chilli for the whole table and finally when it did turn up, they came with one on a sauce pan! They also kept repeating the old yam cha food to our table. The same fried dishes came to out table 4 times as if they were trying to get rid of it! This place is probably nice for someone who doesn't know Chinese food well and easily deceived by nice deco, but unfortunately you will not find quality food or service here.
CR
Enjoyable dinner. We had a very nice dinner here tonight. Apparently, the restaurant changed hands recently, and the service was friendly, prompt and professional. Food was good, we especially enjoyed the three-flavour scallop starters and the minced pork with beans. With a bottle of wine shared between the four of us, three starters and four mains, the bill came to just over $50 per person, which is not unreasonable for the amount and quality of food.The space is appealing and cozy with a quiet, intimate feel. We'll certainly be back.
Koti
Very average food with not a lot of taste or variety with the dishes.
Kingy
Yum Cha was supposed to start at 11am, arrived and were left to wait for more than 30mins before any food was served. Had a plate of spring pancakes and fried prawn dumplings...and were left to wait again! Trolleys were pushed past our table without even asking wether we would like any? What sort of yum cha place is this?! Steamed rice cheong fun was thick and gluggy, worse ever tasted in Melbourne! It was only after we left at around noon, did we see more food being served. If the restaurant advertised for yum cha to start at 11am, you should be ready at 11am, with food!!! <br/>Service was good and friendly but i won't go back again if the food does not improve, especially if they cost more than the average yum cha place.
Old Bull
Excellent!!. Have been dining here for many years and have enjoyed working our way through the menu several times. Particular favourites are their Peking Duck, Typhoon Prawns and Scallops - YUMM. Always take my Asian visitors here and the love it too. They now want to go here every time they visit. Great host and friendly and efficient staff. Have been having Christmas Lunch here for a long-time and Joe, Tina and Christine treat my 91 yo Mum as a Queen. Highly recommended. Value for Money. Great Staff. Good atmosphere. Quality food cooked well.
Marco De Gamma
Not coming back again... Read the review on Urbanspoon and nothing was like expected... <br/>Most Yum Cha lovers would rekon that the food was frozen before it came to the table, you get the same disgusting things that you could buy in a chinese shop... Ive been ton HK, Singapore and even other places in Melbourne - especially Doncaster - and i know what im talking about. If you do not want to waste your money ( because it is not a cheap place !!! ) do not go there. However , nothing to say about the service since we had full attention - NO ONE else .. empty room ..
Kaz Worland
I have just arrived home from a delicious banquet meal, and the food was outstanding, however what made the night truly memorable was the excellent, exquisite service we received. Our party included a severely disabled person, and staff went above and beyond to ensure his needs were met, and were excellent and respectful towards him. Add to this an outstanding banquet with course after course of
Chilli
Had a fantastic dinner here over the weekend, service was friendly and professional and food was fresh and delicious. The two lovely waitresses were brilliant and the restaurant was lovely inside. Excellent wine on offer. Will be back to try more.
Togey
Loved it.... We had a large group(18) and we had the yum cha banquet for dinner. Bloody Delicious with the pork buns and the duck pancakes a real highlight.
Megan & Deon
Mothers Day Gone Wrong. My family of 15 decided to go somewhere we could have yum cha on Mothers Day 2013. I regret this decision greatly. We were asked to put a $300 deposit down which was $20 per head, which I understand. It's a busy day. So I turn up and on the day my nephew throws up in the car on the way to the venue so my brother and sister inlaw pull out. I advise the resturant straight away (that is after waiting out the front for 15 minutes already as they are still setting up!) They tell me it is fine, no problem. So the 12 of our guests sit and wait a ridicuous 30 minutes to be presented with 1 dish. Seriously I have never waited so long for yum cha. So eventually things speed up and we finally get to eat and clock up a huge bill of $424 (this yum cha is much more than yum cha anywhere else!). Anyway once we leave we expect to pay $124 as we already paid our $300 deposit. No in actual fact this resturaunt charges us $524 and when we challenged it they said that we had to pay for the people that didn't turn up, we only had 3 people not turn up which would have been $60 but they charged us $100. If you have a large group and someone doesn't turn up you need to expect to pay even if you spend over the initial deposit amount. This resturant lacks service, the yum cha actually was the worst I have ever had and you could leave well out of pocket.
Fatchops
I wish there was a category "I like it but..." We went on a quiet Saturday an there seemed to be very limited options so we kept getting offer the same items 3-4 times. Having said that the food was good. Some of the steamed dumplings seemed a little under done as the skins were not all lovely and silky. Would try again though.
Liz
Well worth it. Bought a Groupon voucher for this restaurant and went with open mind. Must say the surroundings are just really lovely. The staff were so attentive and friendly as we could see with all the diners in the Restaurant. We enjoyed tasty well presented food. We had two entrees - Peking Dumpings followed by the Quail Sang Chow Bou and then for mains we had the Scallops with ginger and Pre Poached pork with leeks garlic and spicy sauce with Fried rice. We weren't rushed in any way. Definitely be back. Also look forward to the Yum Cha which they have available also. Highly Recommended
Claire
Soup dumplings are amazing! Yum
Lisa Baird
Wow what a great Restuarant best Chinese ever service impeccable great ambiance love it ! Thanks for a great dining experience Lisa Baird
Alex Maiorano
Great food, good prices.. I've eaten here a few times over the last year or so and have nary a complaint. Food is fresh, slightly modern and tasty. Service has always been good with tentative staff eager to please but in no way overbearing. The atmosphere has a lot going for it, quiet, spacious yet intimate.
Froodette
Delicious food. Absolutely delicious infact. For a surprisingly quiet evening we got impeccable service and attention. The quality, timing and quantity were amazing. Would come back any day any time. Thoroughly satisfied in every way. I'm not sure if we went on a good day or not, but either way, it was impressive enough to guarantee a happy return. Ps: get the spicy quail and schezuan steak... You won't regret it!!!
MayorOfKens
Really disappointing experience on mothers day. Staff were dealing with complaints from all angles. After an hour and a half the vegetarians on the table had received only Chinese Broc and nothing else. Asked for tea four times and finally came after the bill was signed. Which brings me to the worst part. They didn't take off the paid deposit from the bill and acted dumb when we brought it up. Such a disappointing experience on what was supposed to be a great day.
Adriang
Had a bit of a bad/awkward start when we were told corkage was $12 per bottle. Then when we told them we were interested in doing yum cha they said yes but we have no menu for it. The waiter was only able to rattle off 2-3 dishes out of the 12 total...not a great start. The food however was great and came out at a steady pace. Once we started to enjoy the food (and a few glasses of red) we started to warm to the waiter and all was well again. Would go back
Michelle
Not comparable to others. I am used to authentic yum-cha, which I think is very attainable in Melbourne, particularly in Taipan and Shark Finn Inn to name a couple of places. <br/><br/>For a few reasons, I don't see this place as "authentic" in the Asian sense, the dumplings are poor quality and in general none of the dishes are approaching the standards in other places. The only thing that is nice about this place is that it is a relatively quiet, peaceful space (which is generally not the case at real yum cha restaurants)..<br/><br/>I also feel that it is over-priced, especially for the quality you get. if you haven't tried the real thing (ie. in Hong Kong and in a few places around town that achieve that level of authenticism of dishes) then you will probably like it for the novelty factor. Otherwise, it's a pretty average/poor experience for a foodie.
Uqui
I hope it improves. The Pork Buns were supposedly good, and they were good, when they arrived - after the ice-cream. What order was the kitchen cooking in I wonder?<br/><br/>The rest of the Yum Cha menu was good too but over priced. And watch the tea price. Each refill/replacement will cost you. <br/><br/>I've had better yum cha at places where it's much easier to park and watch what they want to serve you, because they bring out a LOT of the expensive dishes yet seem to skimp on the other cheaper dishes that you may want to eat.
Lauren Shay
First time. My first yum cha experience. I've only got one word for it. Incredible. Beautiful place, beautiful, intersting, tasty, potent food and tried chicken feet and wasabi icecream. I loved it and must visit it again.
Anna Rogers
Yum yum cha. We had lunch there yesterday and loved it. We arrived at 12, so it was still early with not many customers, consequently we were waited on hand and foot and I loved it! The manager was really sweet with out 3 year old daughter, making a big deal about seating her and then offering her a huge handful of jellybeans on our way out. The food was delicious. I'm a huge fan of Mahjong, and while East Imperial's dishes didn't have quite as much finesse, they were better value. Liked the set-up, especially the huge glass windows and polished wood floors. Even though the venue is pretty big, it didn't seem cavernous, as the space was broken up into distinct sections. Happy to have found such great yum cha so close to home.
Mike
A restaurant in decline. I have eaten at the East Imperial several times and the food and service have been excellent - but I was with a friend who knew the manager.<br/><br/>Went there last Saturday night and the service was disappointing, one dish was cold (meant to be a hot dish), some dishes were served and explained - others were dumped on the table by less than interested staff.<br/><br/>I might give them one more try but at East Imperial prices I expected better.
Kensta
Food is not fresh, taste horrible and very unauthentic. Even the worst Chinatown yumcha is better than this.
Amethyst
Not good enough. Nice decor. Food are all very hot, instead of lukewarm like Han Palace in Vermont South. Way too expensive for the quality of food they offered, and serving is tiny. <br/><br/>The deluxe dish is $9.80, for 3 little pieces of dim sim!! You got to be joking, and it's not even nice. <br/><br/>We are used to the huge choices Tai Pan and other chinese restaurants offered at Yum Cha. So we didn't pick much food when the waitresses were showing us the dim sim in the bamboo cases. <br/><br/>After maybe 15 minutes, the manager came around and asked us "We showed you lots of food and you didn't order much, is there something you want to order" and gave us this little sheet listing their dim sim. To my opinion, this list is like 10% of the varieties of what I am used to at other yum cha restaurant. Their restaurant was only half full at that time, so I don't see what's wrong with us taking our time. <br/><br/>We ordered 9 dimsim, total $82.<br/><br/>They are quite stingy on the tea leaves as well, after a few rounds, tea flavoured were all drained.
Cmujie
East Imperial - Horrible Customer Service. Went there yesterday (21 Feb 2010) and the section we were seated was hot (their air-conditioning was not working well) and our waitress refuse to give us ice water to cool us down. When we approach another waiter and requested to speak to the supervisor, rudely and arrogant, he said he is the boss and insist that to get ice in our water, we will need to order bottle water and not water. After I pointed out that my wife is 8 months pregnant and need to cool down, we got ice water but further request for ice water was given in an angry manner or ignore (by making us wait). To make matters worse, out waiter spill our food on the table and use a napkin to pick it up and put it back on the plate for us to eat and to round the meal up, our waitress in a hurry to clean the table, spill red vinegar on my friend and did not even help her. We had to argue to get them to agree to pay for the cleaning bill or replace the clothes if the stain is still there. Hope we can get them to pay up. Will never go there again. Service is really really really bad and they are very very very rude.
Yumcha Quest
Imperial decline. A yum cha lunch shouldn't leave you feeling angry. I've been a regular diner at East Imperial, mostly for its convenient location and pleasing decor. One can forgive the occasional off day, but there seems to be an ingrained way we're left feeling as if we are unwelcome. I thought it might be from the rigid 'booking' only policy that makes walk-in customers second class, but even when I've made a reservation there is an aloofness to the service. The restaurant operates on set sitting times to regulate table turnover and kitchen production. Unfortunately this regimentation dominates the experience, and one wonders if there is a eunuch chef imposing his imperial authority over his dominion. You might expect that under such a regime the richness of an imperial court might find it's way from the kitchen to the table. Sadly, there it a distinctly noticeable repetition and tiredness in the food brought into circulation. It reveals much about the state of the empire.
HughL
Service is slow and not very friendly. Yum cha was ok but came out very slowly. Quite expensive.
Love Food.
Yum cha was ok, but quite expensive. Service pretty poor, and certainly not the child friendly service you normally expect.
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