Empress By Boon Reviews

Empress by Boon is a bucket-list restaurant. The food is exquisite. The service is attentive. The ambiance is elegant. The view is beautiful. What’s not to love?

A hard reservation to get, but well worth it. We were fortunate enough to get a reservation for our last night in San Fran. Great service and amazing food. The deserts were amazing. IMO they were they star.

I appreciated the prix fixe menu, everything was delicious. Also the location in Chinatown, with great views (Coit tower) add to the experience. Very friendly dervice as well. Felt the price level is totally justified. My tip: Save room for a desert, because they’re great as well.

Very nicely decorated restaurant with good views of Coit Tower and San Francisco. Friendly staff and service. Many items on the tasting menu were good but others were average or below average. For example, the Peking duck had crispy skin but very minimal duck and was a disappointment. Generally very expensive and I've had better in San Francisco. Also, please check your bill before paying as our server had added $100 to the bill for a wine pairing addition that was his error; he corrected it an "apologized." Not planning to go back here but it was an experience.

This restaurant is the most Chef Boom is the sweetest person and was a pleasure to meet him They have a set menu with 7 very special small dishes, they have two extra ones that we also did The duck and truffles spectacular and we liked the Keluga Caviar Roll that we asked for it again We also did the wine pairing and it was excellent One of the best restaurants in SFO and with a beautiful view

Amazing place, fixed menu, I recommend trying it, but the cocktails suck, fire the bartender))))))

The food was great. However, given the price tag of the prefix ($100 pp) I would have expected more. I mainly went because I enjoyed the old restaurant in this location. It had a great ambiance and very traditional Chinese styling. I don't like the styling of the new place. It is quite loud. The tiling on floors and walls reminds me of a spa and contributes to the acoustic challenges. Also, the wine by the glass pours are the smallest I have ever seen. They must get eight glasses out of a bottle.

Currently one of the hardest to get reservations in San Francisco. They are serving a prix fixe meal for $78.00 while they get their feet on the ground. Well worth it, the food was incredible. One thing we found that was a bit confusing was the order of the dishes coming out. This is not like your normal prix fixe where they bring out a course, let you eat it and then bring out the next. The first 2 bites were brought out as appetizers and then everything else comes out randomly and you eat it all at once family style. We kind of felt we were being rushed out the door until we realized how this worked. We did get the Peking duck, a 48$ extra charge, it was very good. Deserts were amazing. I will attach some pictures of the menu and the dishes

I've been wanting to eat at Empress by Boon since they opened. Tonight I ate at Empress by Boon. I no longer want to eat at Empress by Boon. Here's how I would describe the courses: Slimy, leathery, fishy, then greasy. Or some combination thereof. All underseasoned. Chewing 2 pieces of gum on the way home didn't get the grease coating off my mouth. It was worse than that random Chinese restaurant you order from on a Monday night when all the good places are closed. Panda Express is preferable. Especially when you consider the price point. $380 for two people, with 2 drinks each. Automatic 20% tip included. Spare yourself the disappointment and go just about anywhere else. p.s. the main dining room is beautiful with great views of the city. There is a lesser room in the back, where if you're unfortunate like us, you might be seated. The loser room, for sure.

The dining room is on the 6th floor and has a nice view. Foods are as good as any decent Chinese restaurants. However the service is really sub-par for a fine dining restaurant. Utensils were messed up a couple of times. Noodles came with steak knifes. Ordered champagne but was served with regular wine glasses. Eyes of goldfish dumpling were missing. Soups were lukewarm. Desserts were not included for $100 per person taste menu. Last but not least, we came here for my husband's 60 year birthday, but they did not offer any treat, nothing, zero. Even mainstream restaurants will offer at very least some desserts to make you happy. So do yourself favor, don't come here for any special occasions, because, as the manager told us, you are not more special than everyone else.

First of all, they do follow the SF mandated Covid-19 protocol in certain way; check vaccine record again ID except they let a "older" teenager go without an ID. Which doesn't make sense. Everything went downhill once we entered the restaurant. we are shocked in how packed the place was and how close each table was. There is just about 2 ft between each table and table for 2 is only 28"x28", with family sharing serving, you have to be extra carefully when you eat by not knocking down anything by sitting tight for not to be too cozy with tables next to you. Took 15 minutes for server came. First dish was the egg white soup with crab meat, it was tasty and well-made except there was a piece crab shell inside the soup (size of 1cm by 0.5cm). I would not have expected in a restaurant in that category. Told the server, nothing happened except “we will let the kitchen know”. Totally unacceptable. To fast forward, all main dishes were just “okay”, nothing speculator and they came lukewarm, very sad. The meal is only $78 per head, not that expensive, but not cheap either. This restaurant has a long way to go to be successful in long run, in my humble opinion. I will definitely will not recommend it to anybody.

Fabulous dinner and service. One of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. Had the tasting menu - all of which was delicious and exquisitely presented. Decided to go for the wine pairing also which was superb. Sat by the window with fabulous views over Chinatown and Coit Tower. Highly recommended!

This is the most beautiful restaurant I've ever been to. Envibe showed me this spot when I was looking for a place to celebrate my birthday. I really liked the serving of dishes and the atmosphere of the restaurant! I will definitely come again!

We had a extraordinary experience at Empress by Boon. First the ambience is gorgeous. The high open ceilings and low lighting and huge windows provide a great backdrop for the Chef's creations. Each course is plated so beautifully and the servers take the time to explain every detail of the ingredients and the preparation. Our server Edgar was particularly knowledgeable about each dish and also made wonderful wine recommendations. Some of the standouts included the Half Moon Bay Rockfish and Wok Tossed American Wagyu beef but all the other dishes were equally creative and fantastic. Just amazing food, ambience and service on every level!

We were favorably surprised by the meal here. The tasting menu is $118, but is 6 courses, so plenty of food. Highlights included the roasted chicken with tofu, the stir-fried beef with shishito peppers, the shrimp dumpling and the Dungeness crab with caviar, though no course disappointed. We paired it with a Hirsch Austrian Riesling. If you think rieslings are too sweet, try this one. Service was excellent. Quite a surprising dinner, though on the pricey side. You won’t leave hungry.

A gift from friends, this was a lovely venue in the heart of Chinatown. The views of the Transamerica building at dusk really set the mood. 7 course set menu, we added the crispy duck. All of it was a tasting experience. The crispy duck was divine. The service we had was excellent, and from one woman in particularly that we tipped extra. Worth it for a luxurious treat.

If you read the other reviews and focus on just the facts, its all true. Different people have different mindsets so the "whole" experience is different for everyone. For us, the food was good and the service was good and the view was decent. I think our servers name was Edgar? The doorman even pushed the elevator buttons. I would take take guests here for the experience.

I have been to several Chinese fine dining restaurants but this one stands out. It has a set menu with 3 courses of meal all of which were outstanding in taste. I The person handling our table, Aaron, was super helpful explaining the whole process, the menu items. He even arranged for a replacement item for my wife who had some allergy issues. The cocktail menu as well as the wine menu were truly outstanding. At the end of the dinner, the Chef personally came over to check on us. Surely this is a tad expensive but it is indeed an experience to have. Will plan another visit when I am in SF next.