(1) OVERVIEW: Empire Express is a medium size Chinese restaurant in the upscale and rather pricey Park Slope area of Brooklyn, New York. This Chinese restaurant is known for the tasty combination meals with very generously discounted prices. It is located near two subway stations. Recently, I have visited here for a quick supper after seeing my excellent eye doctor (Ophthalmologists Dr. Mitchel Seidman. See my review in yelp, too.) for the periodical eye exam.
(2) FOODS: Empire Express serves a variety of popular Chinese foods. Nevertheless, this restaurant is known for the All Day Special Combo Meals and Mini Combo Meals. For the All Day Special Combo Meal ($6.50 including tax), you can choose 4 items and 1 rice or lo mein. For the Mini Combo Meals ($3.50 including tax), you can choose 1 item and 1 rice or lo mein.
For this particular evening, I had the All Day Special Combo Meals. For the 4 items, I chose the fried fish, shrimps, stewed beef, and General Tso's chicken. I just wish the several pieces of their fried fish were a little more tender. (Those fried fish served at many restaurants like this tend to be harder because they tend to stay in the hot serving tray for too long and loses the moisture, sadly.) The fried shrimp was just fine. The Stewed Beef was good and the General Tso's chicken was excellent. The fried rice was barely edible level, though. (I will try the lo mein next time.)
(3) WARNING: HIDDEN CHARGES: The cashier did not tell me when i paid the bill with my credit card, Nevertheless, I was charged extra for the "Convenience Fee". See my attached photo with the written note. So, be aware on this fact.
(4) MOOD/INTERIOR: It is an old and outdated interior. There are nothing worthy to even look at. This is NOT a place you want to bring your someone special. I can only give them 2 stars.
(5) CONSIDERATIONS: Empire Express restaurant is not located at the area with many restaurants or high foot traffic area. I visited here on Tuesday evening/dinner time (6:15 PM), December 4, 2018. There were only 3 people dining at the tables. During my dining, only 5 more people came for ordering foods to take home and one person dined in (and he kindly took my photos for me). Needless to say, there were many more seats available here. I wonder this is due to the recent dining trend of the more healthy, less fatty, less flavored meals in this culturally sensitive area of this city?
(6) VALUE: For this volume, tastes, variety of choices, price, I can safely give Empire Express solid 4 stars. The Price Performance of the combination meal here in this particular area is unbeatable! It is equivalent to the Chinese restaurants in Queens or even far away from there! I will surely dine here again when I visit my eye doctor in 6 months!
Dr. Takeshi Yamada and Seara (Coney Island sea rabbit)
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