Kings County Imperial

The two stars are for the soup dumplings and understated décor. Otherwise, yet another expensive hipster attempt at chinese food. Go to Queens or midtown for cheaper, more authetically delicious options. Drinks are pricey here too.

THE SOUP DUMPLINGS ARE TO DIE FOR.
With 3 or more people expect a wait.
I would say this is a $$$ place rather than a $$.
Well worth it though.

excellent with very fresh ingredients. My favorite chinese in the city.

My GF and I went there last night for a birthday party dinner. The food and service was so good that the two of us went back for dinner again tonight, to check out more of the menu. We ordered steamed chicken buns, soup dumplings, and the pork chop special. Everything was amazing. Our server Lucy recommended that we check out their «bubble waffles,» because they’re insanely good. She was totally correct. Thanks Lucy!
Can’t wait to go back and order the few remaining menu items we’ve yet to devour.

I’m really confused as to why this place has high reviews. Is it because it’s the only choice for Chinese food in Brooklyn? Three out of four dishes were too salty. Let’s me illustrate:
— Shumai (4 sickly looking ones that costs $ 10) — once I bit into it, my mouth was attacked by salt. That’s it. Nothing else.
— The Beijing Wheat Noodles actually left me wonder if it were noodle soup. The soy sauce swam half way up the take out container. It’s not a special sauce btw, it’s plain old soy sauce. I actually went to pour out the sauce, there were 4 – 5 Tbsp of this stuff. Why? ($ 10)
— The chop your head off soup was less salty but more salty than necessary. And I swear I am not joking in saying that it also tastes like soy sauce mixed with corn starch… really unappetizing. ($ 9)
The only saving grace here was the steamed bok choy which wasn’t too salty but nothing special to be honest. ($ 14)
Just yesterday we went to Joe’s Shanghai and had 8 of the most delicious dumplings I have every had for $ 8. And this place charges more for their food?

Big, big fan of the soup dumplings here. Been here twice and sat at the bar, great, friendly service. I found myself constantly turning my head to see what other people were eating because it all looked really good. So far, I’ve had several dishes but my two favorite items are the pork soup dumplings and the Austin Eastciders Dry Cider they have. Delicious combo.

Delivery stinks here. They screw up orders all the time. Just ordered a Weeping Tiger salad and was given a half empty container of pea shoots.
Second time they’ve done this and messed up my order. Food is good, but delivery service is awful.

Super cutty location of great food and great vibes. The food is amazing – and best to do it family style. It’s so damn good. I recommend the eggplant appetizer and the Kung Pao Chicken. Amazing.
Drinks are a little expensive. But shit it’s Brooklyn isn’t it. Must go spot for groups.

Sesame noodles were good, tasted as expected, not mind blowing.
Mapo-​Tofu was my favorite, a large portion that was more than enough to share with a friend.
We each ordered tiki style cocktails offered by the bar and really enjoyed those as well.
It wasn’t the cheapest meal, but it was an overall pleasant meal that offered drinks and flavors you’d be hard struck to find elsewhere.

My friend & I walked in on a Monday night on a whim. Upon entering the establishment is was dark and a bit cozy. We weren’t greeted by anyone for what felt like forever as the two waiters walking the floor scooched past us multiple times, never saying a word. It’s moments like this where as a person of color you wonder if it’s because it’s the color of your skin or is it because they’re shit waiters. They’re just shit waiters who never bothered to say «Hi, welcome, the hostess will be with you momentarily.»
The hostess slowly appears out of the back and tells us we can opt to sit at the 4 top which may be a communal table… it became a communal table shortly after we sat down with another couple joining us.
We ordered the Weeping Tiger Salad ($ 9), Soup Dumplings ($ 12), Crispy Garlic Chicken ($ 24), Ants Climbing a Tree ($ 14), and after seeing a dish placed down at the table next to us… the Oyster Mushroom Special ($ 14). Finally, a single scoop of Candied Ginger ice cream ($ 3) for dessert.
The Weeping Tiger Salad was surprisingly light and fragrant, the Soup Dumplings were phenomenal though we had to ask for spoons to accompany it. The Crispy Garlic Chicken was solid and I wanted to lap up the juices on the plate. The Ants Climbing a Tree (a cellophane noodle dish) was sublime, and the Oyster Mushroom Special I could eat every god damn day. I got to try some of the Ma Po Tofu our neighbors at the communal table ordered, and it was lovely with that nice kick from the Szechaun peppers.
Good Chinese food has finally come to Williamsburg. However, the service is uninspired. Queue a half dozen times we needed to flag down our waiter for water, utensils, etc. He never introduced himself, checked in on us, or checked to see how our dishes were.

Decent food, but the overall experience was just okay. We got here on a Friday night and got a seat right away at a tiny table. The overall environment was pretty dark, and the music was so loud I felt like everyone’s screaming to hear each other.
We got two noodle dishes and an appetizer, the Dan Dan noodle dish came out first, then by the time we finished, our appetizer came out and finally the last noodle dish came out.
The food was decent, but the portion was really small– for $ 13 a bowl, the portion should be much larger.
This is a pretty good option in Williamsburg for asian food, but if you can, the better options would be in China town.

Went here for an early dinner this Sunday night. The restaurant had a lot of other patrons, good country music playing, and a very unique vibe for a Chinese restaurant. but that’s Brooklyn! We split the soup dumplings, Dan Dan noodles, chop your head off soup, and the spring rolls. A little too much food for 2 people but everything was so delicious so we finished it all. A little expensive for Chinese food but worth it.

This place was utterly amazing. I would have eaten every single thing on the menu.
My favorite was the mock-​eel (mushroom). MUST TRY. If not, you are missing out on something great!
The classic eggplant was also very tasty. The pork dumplings were delicious. Full of flavors and nicely fried.
The sesame cold noodle were great. I personally loved it, but not everyone at the table liked it as much as me.
The Beijing street noodle were good as a side dish, but nothing too wow about it.
The salt and pepper tofu plate was incredible. I would affirm with quite certainty that even a tofu-​hater would like it!
In summary, it is one of the best restaurant I have tried in my life, really. I liked everything; the place, the staff, the ambiance, all perfect. Beware that I am clearly not the only one loving it, so be prepare to wait a little! So worth it though.

Finally good Chinese food in Brooklyn! I’ve been in search of one forever be this one even delivers. My boyfriend and I came here one night with hesitation but the food far exceeded our expectations. We got the Dan Dan noodles, mapo dofu, salt and pepper pork chops (this is one of their market price specials), and ribs. All tasted authenticly Chinese.
The only thing I will say is that the price point is a little high for Chinese food but since this place is really close to where we live and is so far the only authentic Chinese place we’ve found in Williamsburg, we’re willing to pay the markup.
The vibe inside is super chill, dimly lit and plays good music. Food and décor combination kind of reminds me of Mission Chinese in LES actually. We will definitely be back to try the mock eel and the long dumplings which we heard amazing things about.

Love, love, love this spot! Some plans fell through while I was in Brooklyn last night, so I pulled out my Unilocal app, checked my bookmarks and realized that this place was near by. The food looked so good in the photos that I was suddenly craving Chinese and had to give it a try. I was so impressed with the entire experience and already can’t wait to go back.
I’ll break this down piece by piece. First the atmosphere. Casual and relaxed with kind of a hip, retro vibe. The front seating area seems to be a little more popular since the bar is there. In the back is a smaller, more intimate seating area that is very nice, and off of that is a garden patio area where you can sit during the warmer months. The music was awesome! I was so bummed that my Shazam app couldn’t pick up all of the killer tunes I was hearing… Oh well.
Our server was excellent and was so patient with me and my 5,000 questions about the menu. It was tough to make choices, but he gave us great suggestions and helped simplify the process. We went with steamed chicken dumplings and soup dumplings to start. When in doubt, just get both! They were very good. The chicken dumplings are on the saltier side if that’s something you have an issue with. Their soup dumplings were super tasty and the pork was nice and soft and tender inside. My only gripe was that the dough was a little too thin, causing it to stick to the dish and spill out the soup before you could eat them. For a main we chose the shrimp and bok choy, which was a nice mixture of sweet, savory, and salty flavors. Very delicious. We added on the long beans as a side (I think these were my favorite) and the angry pig fried rice. I wasn’t sure how i felt about the rice at first… it’s not the brownish, oily, fried mess that you typically get at Chinese places. It’s a lot healthier tasting, but as I kept taking bites, I realized I couldn’t stop eating it so it must have been good. Next time I would like to try the smoked duck and the Chinese eggplant. They will also be starting brunch dim sum soon, which sounds like a lot of fun.
Apart from excellent food, I should also note that they have an awesome selection of cocktails to choose from with fun garnishes. The Shanghai Mule and Buddha’s Hand went over well with us. I highly recommend this restaurant overall and think I’m going to make myself a regular soon enough!

Let me start off by saying I never eat Chinese food, but when I saw the reviews for Kings County Imperial I had to come check it out. I’m so glad I did! I was so impressed with the freshness and flavor. They have so much variety and uniqueness in their food. Also they have their own soy they use that’s shipped in. I think about their food often.
The restaurant is beautiful. They have a large front room with tables and a bar. Also a small area in the back. Which I love, it’s a lot quieter back there. They have a patio also which will be open in the summer.
We have come to Kings twice and ordered a bunch of different food this is our favs:
The mock eel– it is mushrooms, fried quickly in a batter with soy and other
is very delicious!
The Angry Pig Rice– it’s a rice dish with hunks of pork and egg and soy and some veg. It’s amazingly good!
Soup Dumplings– made correctly! The noodle isn’t mushy like some. it’s al dente and the soup is a rich broth and the meat is so tender and garlicky and delicious! YUM!
Double Garlic Eggplant– For someone who Loves eggplant it was was Amazing! The eggplant fell apart in your mouth it wasn’t to garlicky. it was perfect. It had other veg in it wasn’t spicy and had a great sauce. it was just perfect!
Hot pot beef and broccoli– This was tasty again with their very own soy and hand made noodles.
We had a special of shiitake mushrooms and lemon grass and scallions also very good it was light and meaty.
The only down fall no desserts!
All and all this place does rock your socks off! You must come try it! Btw There is ample parking all over!

Seems like I’m the only one who doesn’t get it. I’ve been here twice and if you’re not into burning your mouth, insides and then on the way out… then I’m not sure how to enjoy the Dan Dan noodles or Kung Po Chicken. I wish I could enjoy it but I can’t…
I had a the chicken steamed buns with hoisin sauce. Decent. My partner had Dan Dan noodles and the waitress advised me not to order the Kung Po Chicken since the pepper flavor is the same.
I couldn’t even try the Dan Dan because of how hot it was but my partner loved it since he loved ‘spicy til you cry’ kind of spicy. I had the Steel Pot Beef which was fresh and well cooked but a little boring.
Zagat keeps rating this place the best chinese food — I guess it’s just not my thing.

KenScale: 8.0÷10
My first restaurant visit of the year was somewhat of an odd one: modern Chinese-​American restaurant in a quiet corner of Williamsburg where, walking in, you would never guess this place serves Chinese food. I didn’t see a single Chinese server or cook throughout my meal, and the restaurant didn’t seem to care about being authentic at all. My friend remarked that the food here is something only Caucasians would love; well, maybe so, but the lack of authenticity didn’t deter me from liking this place. While there were some misses, overall the food at Kings County Imperial had pretty good mix of Chinese flavor while showing off some creativity as well.
There is no single regional influence that dominates the menu at Kings County Imperial. There are some hints of Sichuan influence, such as the tasty cucumbers with hot bean, sesame and chili oil, or the dan dan egg noodle with Sichuan pepper, minced pork and peanut. Both dishes were delicious, by the way, but somewhat on the sweeter side compared to the more authentic Sichuan places. Then you have what’s called mock «eel» which is really shiitake mushrooms but tasting like actual eel in texture. This was a very good starter that kept me wondering what kind of trick the kitchen pulled off to create this unique texture. The pork soup dumplings were not as good as I had hoped, but maybe I should’ve gone to one of the dim sum places in Chinatown to truly indulge in soup dumplings. The highlight of the meal came a little too late, while we were mostly finishing up on the other dishes that we had ordered. Crispy garlic chicken may look like one of those soy sauce dipped roasted chicken at one of the Korean joints, but I was very pleased with its moist and juicy texture and the sweet but not overpowering flavor that worked very well with the poultry.
The restaurant seems to accept guests mostly on a walk-​in basis, and by the time we got there around 6:30 p.m., it was already almost packed with a lot of young people from Williamsburg looking to have a pleasant Sunday dinner. There are some Chinese beer selections and Asian-​inspired cocktail selections to complement the meal; I’ve become much more of a wine person than a beer person lately, but I kind of regret not going after a glass of Tsingtao and opting for a glass of red wine (but then, it’s probably silly to expect a lot of great wine selections in a Chinese restaurant). Overall, Kings County Imperial was a surprisingly good dining destination that I would like to visit again someday to sample other dishes. The beauty of Chinese cuisine always lies with variety, after all.

Whoaaa, Kings County Imperial went beyond my expectations — the food, the service, the atmosphere, and the drinks were all 5 stars for me (the only Achilles heel being the current popularity/​long wait times).
We came on a Friday night and were quoted a 45 – 60 minute wait, which ended up being around 30 minutes. The hostess, waitstaff, and chefs were, to a one, friendly and enthusiastic about the restaurant — and provided terrific, attentive, and knowledgeable service. We had been seeing a lot of hype about Kings County Imperial (the idea of «local» Chinese food, the soy sauce on tap, the on-​tap cocktails, etc) and were intrigued by the idea of a hipster Szechuan place.
Let me be clear, I normally have major qualms about hipster chefs interpreting things like Sichuan food, but here, it totally works. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite Providence restaurants, North, from the menu to the décor. There’s great attention to detail at Kings County Imperial, from the fold out menus to the embossed chopsticks to the stir spoons in the cocktails (and the beautiful garden beyond the back room). Not to mention, and I’m finally getting to my main point here, the food is super!
Between two people, we ordered the long dumplings ($ 12), the poached watercress ($ 8), the dan dan noodles, and the mapo dofu. We are mapo dofu freaks so that’s a must order whenever we’re trying a new Szechuan place. What I appreciated most here were the creative, slightly subversive riffs on the classic Sichuan dishes.
The long dumplings had a terrific char and chew. The filling is flavored well, and there’s a prime filling-​to-​wrapper ratio — though the star with this dish, for me, was the dipping sauce. Super aromatic, the right amount of salty, and plenty of umami. I furtively took a sip of this from the dipping bowl because it was so tasty.
Poached watercress: this reminded me a lot of the water spinach (kang kung) that I love at Malaysian/​Indo restaurants. It’s very salty, and conveniently cut into bundles for optimal chopstick grab. There’s nice crisp greenness, a funky saltiness, and a very pleasing overload of umami. This isn’t for everyone, but you’ll enjoy it if you typically enjoy ordering the in-​season/​chef special greens at Chinese restaurants.
Dan Dan noodles: these were awesome. The chili profile was a little different from traditional dan dan noodles (maybe bird chilies?), but there was a great deal of ma la from the Sichuan peppercorns, and plenty of heat from the chilies. The noodles had good chew, the meat was tasty and sprinkled on top in just the right amount, and this tasted like a comforting, offbeat take on my perennial love, dan dan noodles.
Mapo Dofu: to me, this was the star dish. It was so different from mapo tofus I’m used to eating, and in many ways, so much more creative and complex. The flavor profile in this was like no other mapo I’ve had before; there was something caramelized and sweet in this sauce (and the tofu is homemade) that really evolved it into a new dish for me. The meat, the thick sauce, the ma la tingle, and slivers of wood ear mushroom, and the tender tofu made this one of the most memorable restaurant dishes I’ve had in the recent past. I loved this. It’s not a traditional mapo, but you’ll see — this evolution is an upgrade.
We also ended up ordering dessert, namely, the tapioca pudding with cream and fresh goji berries ($ 8). This was pretty good but I probably wouldn’t order it again. It tastes like tapioca and has a nice tapioca texture, but I didn’t feel the flavor was very exciting, and as I discovered, I don’t love fresh goji berries all that much.
I can’t forget to mention the terrific on-​tap cocktail I had: the Mai Tai ($ 12)! Their cocktail menu is filled with fairly classic drinks with Chinese riffs, but I love Mai Tais. This had a great spice profile and complexity, and I’d definitely recommend it.
LOVE THIS PLACE and cannot wait to come back — so glad there’s somewhere like it that exists in New York!

Walked into Kings Co Imperial around 7:30 pm on a Saturday night. The wait for a party of 2 was one hour. I happened to ask if that included seating at the bar and was told that bar was first come first serve. So we hovered for a bit and a couple at the bar left ten minutes later — we were able to snag those seats! It was great timing.
The bartender, who was also our server, was friendly and attentive. We ordered two tiki drinks to start — the Shanghai mule and the soused pacific. Both were delicious. For food, we shared the fantastic pork soup dumplings to start, then the exceptional mock eel (I loved this dish), followed by two entrees: dan-​dan noodles and steel pot beef. Of the entrees, I preferred the spicy, slippery noodles (these were actually much hotter than I have had elsewhere before so beware!) to the beef (slightly too salty in my opinion), but both were good.
Overall, dinner was fun and enjoyable. I have two complaints, though:
1. The price was too damn high! This place might be upscale and located in Williamsburg but Chinese food is Chinese food and this was not really any better than what I’ve had at certain wonderful spots in Chinatown… and Chinatown is a whole lot cheaper. Our meal with tax and tip came to $ 104 (dinner for two!).
2. I wouldn’t order cocktails again. Not because they weren’t good but actually because the spice of the food was completely over-​powering in comparison to my delicate drink of ginger and bitters etc. I’d stick to simple next time and get a beer instead.