Empress Pavilion Restaurant, Los Angeles

Empress Pavilion restaurant been shut down by HEALTH DEPARTMENT on 8/16/12

Pretty good food here. They had good soup and noodles, but their chicken was not as good as it could have been.

Chipped tea pot and cups, dirty greasy carts, unedible food. It use to be ok a few years ago...it has really gone down hill. Don't waste your time or money

Eating this food is like eating dog food. Whoever even giving it 1 start is very generous. This is a great place to trick the american public. The dimsum is not fresh or they over steam them.

We had the same experience too unfortunately. After 23+ years of eating in the various dim sum palaces of LA County, all of my experiences have been pleasant to wonderful....until eating at Empress Pavilion last month. We were in the back but right on the edge of an isle so I wasn't worried about service, until carts went buzzing by us with nary a glance in our direction. Interesting how the carts stopped at either table beside us with lots of chatter and great service. I saw one cart lady stand in the aisle for about 10 minutes waiting for other cart ladies to come by and she would stop them and chat as if the place was empty...and this was about 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday!Our bill was barely $20 and usually we spend douible that, but if no one will serve you or they snarl at you (as more than one woman did) when you stop them to ask what is in their cart, then the bill is low because you never get served much. We were also never asked if we wanted something to drink and ignored whenever we tried to get someone's attention also. This is the first time I walked away from a dim sum palace still hungry. I decided since the food was good, we could go next door to their take out place, but the combination of the B health rating in the window and the snarly looks from the women behind the counter prevented me from even walking through the door. We tried this place because some coworkers of mine went there for lunch on a weekday and raved about the place and brought back some delicious goodies to share. I could hardly wait to get back to work on Monday and tell the entire office to avoid that place on weekends. As it was, some coworkers admitted it took forever to get served the weekday they went which is why they came back from lunch about 45 minutes late. AVOID THIS PLACE IF YOU EXPECT EVEN MEDIOCRE SERVICE OR TO BE TREATED DECENTLY.

worst customer service! attitude! attitude! it's all over the place! from the front desk clerk to the manager!! the worst was the cart attendant!! what the other reviewer said about racial card! it's true they also put us in the back, where the cart very hardly to pass by and if you ask for the cart to come they tend to ignore you , pretending didn't see you! i'm not going back to this place!!!

This is by far my favorite dim sum restaurant in California. They serve these dim sum the old fashion way which is on carts which I prefer unlike the new trend where you sit and order from a menu. The price is fair, the food is excellent, but the service is just OK (sometimes not even OK). The negative is that Empress doesn't offer as much variety as other dim sum restaurants, but the positive is that what they do offer is second to none. Their sui mais are to die for. Definitely a must try for dim sum lovers.

Delicious food, busy atmosphere, and not enough waiters. The yummy fresh dishes comes to you on carts, so who needs waiters. There is a long wait for a table because the food is addictive. Come early. Take out is a fabulous way to go, unless your interested being in the buzzing ambiance.

Worst dim sum experience ever! I had been to Empress Pavilion one time before, and it was a horrific experience. Waiting for more than an hour for the har gow and siu mai once before, I stupidly decided to go back and give it another chance. Today, I was dissed again. Because we were not of the Caucasian race, we were relegated to the back of the restaurant. When we asked if we could move closer to the middle (where there might have been a chance we could eat), the hostess rolled her eyes at us and gave us an pretentious attitude. We were moved to the table next to our first table. It took 10 minutes for us to get our tea. In our 40 minutes there, only 3 different carts came by. After waiting 30 minutes, the only carts that came by was the chicken feet cart, the dessert cart and the char siu bao cart. I decided to get up and inquire a cart pusher if she had what we wanted, but she turned her back to me and didn't even bother to acknowledge my existence. When I asked a waiter if he can help me, he ignored my inquiry and continued on. I can't believe some people would call this restaurant the best dim sum in L.A. They must be tourists. Service was awful. I can't rate the food because I wasn't offered any. Being realistic, I did not expect five-star service. However, I did expect to be treated a modicum of respect. Frustrated with the horrid experience, we decided to leave after only getting 3 dishes. The bill was ridiculously overpriced. While leaving the restaurant, there were people waiting in line to get in. What they didn't know was that they would get dissed at dim sum.