Empire

Came in for a quick drink before dinner. Place was packed, but folks were friendly and the cocktails were delicious. I’d wait out a dinner reservation here anytime!

I had a great meal here tonight. The walnut chicken appetizer is to die for. 3 of us shared it. 5 large crispy shrimp topped with walnuts and a light sauce. We also shared the bbq pork strips, served with sticky rice. Another home run! The pork bao (buns) were just ok. Next course was bacon fried rice. A large bowl with plenty for 4 people to share. Lobster noodle dish was pretty good, not my favorite, but my husband liked it. Kung pao chicken was good, needs more peanuts though. They just kind of sprinkled them on top instead of incorporating them into the dish. We had plenty leftover to take home. I def will be coming back to empire. Our waitstaff were very busy, but seemed to be right there when we needed them.

Great way to get to know local musicians. Wednesday’s they do clashes between two bands or artists that local musicians will do their covers and compete against each other. Amazing atmosphere. Drinks are average price which is good

Empire is a great (and intimate) venue! I’ve seen some good bands here. And ladies, the bathroom was very clean, spacious, and has a table to set your purse down! The bar has what you need; liquors you’ve heard of, and a variety of beers. The crowd varies every time I am there — eclectic mix :)
The bouncers also do a great job of managing riff-​raffs, so I feel very safe here. And don’t forget your ID, because they card folks in their 30s too, just like they should.

Empire charges only $ 10 for most events. They book my different types of live music, DJ’s and fun other stuff.
If you have the time the restaurant downstairs, Empire Chinese Kitchen is terrific. Order LOTS of dumplings, they have many.

I visited Empire for the first time post-​remodel recently, and was pleasantly surprised that not too much had changed.
A few positives/​negatives on the place:
— There are now bathrooms upstairs, although they’re single use, so I’m sure they get pretty backed up.
— Because there are bathrooms upstairs, the bar seems more crowded than before.
— I didn’t check it out, but it seemed like there was a mini-​bar with at least one tap on the side of the stage. This could come in handy, since the line at the bar seemed never ending all night.
— You can supposedly still get drinks from downstairs and bring them up.
— There is an ATM.

Terrific new reasonable great food
Great service and to top it off great beer list
2d time after soft opening
Inexpensive great food

This place is my Cheers. Almost every night out in Portland ends with me at Empire.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the city of Portland overall… we came solely for a show. The downstairs is just a bar, few TVs, not too sporty. It was small and I liked the décor, but it was a SUPER hipster vibe. The upstairs had the music venue, very dimly lit except for the stage. I wouldn’t drive all the way from NH to ME just to go here, but I wish they had more places like it around me. Note: they have a ‘burger, beer and bourbon’ deal for $ 7 that sounded pretty appetizing… maybe if I’m ever in Portland (which i honestly hope i’m not.)

Decent burger, but I’m not a fan of steak fries. Nice staff and cool building with comfortable atmosphere. Always fun seeing music here.

What do you want? Its a great venue for music. Beer bourbon burger is win win.

I’ve never had decent food here. It’s sad when they have a 6 $ beer, burger, and shot special, but it’s still not enough to lure me in.
The music is a good draw but generally drinks and average beer is over-​priced.
My hope is that this place goes under and that it develops into a nice sports bar much like Rivalries.
One can only hope.

honestly… don’t go here for food. the drinks are fine, overall experience is fine but NOT the food.

Rainy Sunday night and just kind of wandered in. Happened to be an open mic night. The crowd and bartender were pretty chill. No complaints here. Although they might want to do a better job screening the people they let play up their. Most were awesome… one guy. not so much.

Everything about this place is awful.
First, the dining experience:
We ordered two Shipyard Chamberlain’s from the waitress. She was quick in getting them to us, which was good, since the bar was all of five to six feet away. She spent most of the time we were in the downstairs portion of the place standing a couple of feet away staring blankly around the room or hugging random girls who came in. We ordered a pulled pork sandwich which came with french fries. The sandwich, which was advertised on the menu as being on a grilled bun, was served on something about the size of a hamburger bun. There was very little meat in it, and it was very bland. The fries were soggy and tasted off. As we were finishing up food, a drunk couple approached us and stole half of hour table. That’s the other problem with Empire — not enough seating. This was on a Thursday which wasn’t that busy, I’d hate to see it on a Friday or Saturday night.
We went upstairs, which looks great. Unfortunately the service was again a problem. Mobbed bar, even though the room wasn’t even a quarter full. Tables, but no wait-​staff. One bartender was extremely rude. I bought a beer, handed it to a friend, and left. Went home with heartburn, ticked off, and feeling like I needed a bath.

Coming back to old Portland for a visit, I was excited to try this new place. Way back it used to be a bank, then it was some sketchy dive bar for a while called Whit’s End or perhaps Wit’s End, A man was stabbed out front and died and they lost their liquor license and closed down. It was just boarded up and vacant forever, which is never a good thing to have on a busy corner on the main street in town. Right?
Well board it the fuck up again, I say!
Me and my buddy went to Silly’s for dinner. They were closed for a week long vacation. What? (Note to self: Give Silly’s a shitty review for being closed.) So my friend who really, really likes food, suggested we go to Empire. Okay.
We walked in and sat downstairs. A waitress comes over and takes our order. We waited seriously almost an hour for our food. It was totally fucked. One waitress for a room full of people. You gotta love when people who sat down 15 minutes after you, get their food first. Also, when the food finally came, it sucked. Bad food, bad service, whatever.
The thing that really pissed me off was this: I went outside for a cigarette and there was a big, young, goony looking guy standing at the door who was not there when we first arrived. I spent the next 5 minutes standing about 30 feet away from him smoking my cigarette. When I went to go back in he asked for my ID. I thought that was kind of weird as he had JUST seen me come out of the bar. Whatever, I gave it to him and apparently because it was an out of state ID, he asks me for something else with my name on it. Okay, he’s just doing his lameass job. That was just slightly irritating, but when I went out for another cigarette about 20 minutes later and tried to return he asked for my ID again! I advised him that I was just inside and had just given him my ID a little while ago. He looks at me with this «I-​love-​my-​job-​and-​love-​abusing-​my-​power» look and says «I DON’T REMEMBER!» Yeah, sure you don’t buddy. I’m sure you’ve seen a million Texas IDs tonight.
So maybe this place is cursed from the man who died not far from where I smoked my cigarettes. Either way, it sucks and I hate it and would never go back.

If your ideal night is to go out on the town with some friends, have some moderately-​priced drinks, chill in a dark corner while e-​tards get their spastic grooze on in front of you, and converse at a scream over the music of local Portland-​ers, the Empire is your place.
I should be nice though. They’ve got a great staff; they can’t help who comes to their establishment. Worth it every now and then.

When I’m out boozing it up in Portland, I always seem to find myself here at the end of the night. Always decent live music, the crowd is always fun, the drinks are cheap, strong, and the service is quick.
For a place that I’ve only been to late-​night, I can’t give it less than 4 stars since I’ve always had a good time!

I can only give four stars because of how drunk I got. May have been 5 stars. Not sure.
I loved the downstairs atmosphere. When I got upstairs it seemed like a totally different bar. Still very cool. There were people salsa-​ing everywhere! I even salsa-​ed. I am NO dancer and neither is my huz but we got into it.
We were there with about 30 friends for a wedding after party-​and Empite was able to accomodate us nicely. They didn’t act rude or cut any of us off-​even though maybe they should have…