Imperial Palace

I used to go to Royal Mandarin for salt and pepper chicken wings but today there were at least 25 people outside waiting for their orders. Just a short drive down E 8^th is Imperial Palace. There was no wait and their chicken wings are better than Royal Mandarin. Perfectly greasy and seasoned with small pieces of fried garlic… so good. I’ll never get them anywhere else. It’s cash only but that’s a blessing disguised as an inconvenience. It’s better not to use cards anyways.

Good flavor and they give you a lot of food! Chicken fried rice, their sweet & sour pork & salt & pepper wing’s are delicious!
One of my favorite place!

Imperial is probably the most generous place you’ll ever dine in San Diego. Quiet dated spot. Dated means cool 70’s style kept up well. Young man running the place solo mid afternoon. Prices are beyond low for the quality and portions they’re serving.
I was indecisive and went with salt & pepper wings with rice and a small hot & sour soup. Water and hot tea pot hit the table quickly. HUGE FAN of traditional Chinese spots that do this automatically. Place my order and complementary chips with duck sauce and soup comes out quickly. The duck sauce is interesting here. A little thinner with a stronger vinegar taste. Either they’re genius’s cutting it back with vinegar, or this is a more sophisticate duck sauce I’ve never experienced before. Soup was very good. Liked the fresh ingredients and a more subtle approach.
Out comes the massive plate of chicken and nice bowl of rice. I did a quick count of 16 but think there was more. So delicious. Perfect light crispiness garnished nicely. Meaty succulent chicken inside with the perfect grease ratio. I could only get through half and took the rest home. All of this was $ 8.98! I don’t know how they do it. I tipped hard and you should too.
This is a great place that’s getting slept on. Support your local family run businesses!

Went here the other day to grab a quick lunch. NO. The place was totally empty. Devoid of customers OR staff. I had to ring a bell twice just to get someone to appear from the kitchen. Not impressed. They didn’t have menus out and the woman seemed to expect me to just know what they offered on my first visit in. They didn’t offer lunch specials (of if they do, I wasn’t informed of them). CASH ONLY, which wasn’t mentioned or noted, or in any signs anywhere. The order (rice, chicken wings) for ONE PERSON AT LUNCH was supposedly over 20 $, which was more cash than I had on me. Since I never saw a menu to verify the pricing, I left. As I was leaving, the staff member told me I could use their ATM next door… um, No.
I can see why it was empty. Can’t review the food because I ate elsewhere.

Love this place! Great hole in the wall, they make my favorite egg drop soup (they keep it simple) Love it! Great prices and the lady that works there is super sweet.

Location:
Small restaurant that looks like it can only seat 50 people. Décor is old and bare minimum. Furniture definitely needs updating.
Food:
Decent Chinese food. They sell a lot of party trays cheaper than Royal Mandarin and Golden Chopsticks. But I still prefer them over this place…
Chicken wings were a good size and cooked nicely, but the taste was a bit off for me. There was this certain aftertaste that I couldn’t put my finger on. It tastes like they put too much sesame oil or the oil they used to fry was really old…
The house special noodle #5 that everyone orders is pretty good. This is the only item I can see myself driving down from north county to order a party tray.
Cash only.
All the other food I’ve tried here we’re also good, but not «impressive» good…

This restaurant has been here for years and I never went until recently. They have the best Chinese food plus the prices are reasonable

Try the Sweet & Sour Pork and the Mushroom Tofu!

Definitely the prime specialty of this place is the Imperial House Noodle. (not sure if it’s exactly called that, but should be the first item on their noodle section) Soupy, savory, and heavenly describe it, and I can easily say that these noodles are the best in National City. (Sorry Golden Chopsticks & Royal Mandarin!) I recommend eating it fresh off the wok, since the sauce actually gets really jello like in the fridge, and microwaving it won’t bring back the sauce.
Dining it can be quite awkward though, despite the woman’s decent waitressing skills. (I decided to dine here once, and they actually used this strange cow glass to serve us the worst tasting tap water. ick.) Maybe they’re not quite used to the dine-​in crowds? This place definitely more of a To-​Go place.

This place is cool! Big party trays under $ 20. Got house special fried rice for $ 15, fed 6 people. Next day had leftovers for lunch and dinner! This place is awesome!