This evening we opted for Chinese and stopped in to Empire Chinese Restaurant on Green St. in the Campustown area of Champaign, IL. Empire is like many places on Green where you order from a counter and eat with plastic utensils. The menu is virtually identical to most other Chinese places in the C-U area. The prices are very low, though. We were amazed at how much food $20 would buy. As you can see below, we went big knowing we’d have  plenty left over to take home. We started the steamed dumpling appetizers. Sarah ordered Kung Pao Chicken and I had Mongolian Beef and Beef Fried Rice.

The dumplings were excellent. They’d make a great lunch by themselves. Sarah thought her Kung Pao was very good. I tried some and thought it had a nice spicy bite to it. My Mongolian Beef was good, but heavy on the brown sauce and onions. It could have done with more scallions and a bit less sauce and onions. Still, better than most beef type dishes at similar restaurants. The fried rice was typical of this area and a bit bland, although the generous amount of beef in it was lean and tender. We’ll definitely return to Empire for different meals. They had some other meals that looked tasty.

Empire