Chinese Takeout in Brooklyn Where Staff Check Your Order First

For Chinese takeout in Brooklyn, Empire House Chinese Restaurant at 1789 Stillwell Ave is the counter to check first: a compact Chinese kitchen built around house special lo mein, with eggrolls, chicken fried rice and chicken and broccoli covering the rest of the order, and delivery running alongside pickup.

The real question is not whether to order but what to order and when the kitchen is actually open. Wednesday closes the whole day, Friday and Saturday run to 11:30 PM, and Sunday does not start until noon. Those three details shape more dinners here than the menu does, and they are the reason this page leads with hours instead of photographs.

Staff ask about sauce preferences and utensils before handoff, which is why a phone call tends to land closer to what you wanted than tapping through an app. Reviews average 3.9 across 29 ratings, with fast turnaround and familiar flavor on one side and occasional preparation complaints, including heavy rice-to-meat ratios, on the other. Order one noodle dish and one rice dish first, then branch out. Nothing about the room asks you to stay, so the whole decision is what leaves the counter with you and how late you can still get it.

Address: 1789 Stillwell Ave, Brooklyn, New York
Hours: Monday 11 AM–11 PM · Tuesday 11 AM–11 PM · Wednesday closed · Thursday 11 AM–11 PM · Friday 11 AM–11:30 PM · Saturday 11 AM–11:30 PM · Sunday 12–11 PM
Phone: (718) 234-3040
Rating: 3.9 out of 5 from 29 reviews
Price signal: listed as inexpensive takeout
Ordering: pickup and delivery both run here, with online ordering through the restaurant's own order link
Good for: a fast noodle dinner, a family rice-and-vegetable order, a late Friday pickup

House special lo mein is the dish the kitchen is known for, and it is the right first order if you want to know what the rest of the menu is measured against. From there the lineup stays familiar: eggrolls for the table, chicken fried rice when someone wants rice instead of noodles, chicken and broccoli when the order needs a vegetable in it.

A practical build for two people is one noodle dish and one rice dish, which is enough food to judge the kitchen twice without ordering half the menu on a first visit. The reviews point at the same split you would expect from a neighborhood counter: people come back for flavor and speed, and the recurring criticism is portion balance rather than technique, with rice-to-meat ratios called out more than once.

Ordering through the restaurant's own link rather than a third-party app keeps the sauce and utensil requests attached to the ticket, which is the same habit the staff already work to. Skip the appetizer pile-up on a first visit; eggrolls are better on the second order, once you know how the noodles land.

The weekly pattern is the part worth memorizing. Monday 11 AM to 11 PM, Tuesday the same, then Wednesday closed for the entire day, Thursday 11 AM to 11 PM, Friday and Saturday stretched to 11:30 PM, and Sunday starting late at noon. If you are planning a noodle night around a work schedule, Friday is the widest window and Wednesday is the one evening that will not work at all.

The late Friday and Saturday close matters more than it looks: 11:30 PM is half an hour past the weekday cutoff, so a late pickup is realistic on those two nights and not on the others. Sunday opening at noon is the other trap, because brunch hours on that block start earlier than the kitchen does.

Phone (718) 234-3040 is the fastest check if you are unsure, and the order link shows the same hours without a call. Ratings describe fast turnaround, so a call placed inside the window usually finds the kitchen already moving. The practical habit is to check the clock against Wednesday and Sunday before anything else, because those two days are where most plans fall through.

Delivery is part of how this kitchen runs, and the online order link is built for it, so the choice between pickup and delivery is about timing rather than availability. On a Friday or Saturday night the 11:30 PM cutoff leaves more room to order late; on a weekday the 11 PM close is the hard line either way.

The handoff is the detail that separates Empire House from a faceless app order. Staff confirm sauce preferences and whether you need utensils, so a two-line note at checkout does real work here: heat level, sauce on the side, extra utensils for a shared office order.

Reviews are honest about the tradeoff. Fast turnaround and comfort food are the consistent notes, while preparation issues show up in the minority of comments, and rice-to-meat balance is the specific complaint. If a first order matters, keep it to one noodle dish and one rice dish and let the kitchen answer for both before you plan a bigger dinner. Sauce on the side is the one request worth repeating twice, since the kitchen already checks heat level before handoff.

Where is Empire House Chinese Restaurant?
1789 Stillwell Ave, Brooklyn, New York, in the borough's southern takeout belt, with pickup at the counter and delivery to the surrounding blocks.

What are the hours at Empire House?
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11 AM–11 PM, Friday and Saturday 11 AM–11:30 PM, Sunday 12–11 PM, and closed all day Wednesday.

Is Empire House closed on Wednesday?
Yes. Wednesday is the one day the kitchen does not open, so a midweek noodle night has to land on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Does Empire House deliver in Brooklyn?
Yes. Delivery runs alongside pickup, and the restaurant's own order link handles both, which keeps sauce and utensil requests attached to the ticket.

What should I order at Empire House?
House special lo mein first, then eggrolls, chicken fried rice or chicken and broccoli. One noodle dish plus one rice dish is enough to judge the kitchen.

How late can I order on Friday?
Until 11:30 PM on Friday and Saturday, which is half an hour later than the 11 PM weekday close. Sunday starts at noon instead.

Is Empire House affordable?
The asset lists it as inexpensive takeout, and the menu is the familiar noodle-and-rice format rather than a specialty kitchen, so a family order stays modest.

What do reviews say about Empire House?
3.9 out of 5 from 29 ratings, with fast turnaround and flavorful comfort dishes praised, and occasional preparation complaints about rice-to-meat ratios noted.

Keep the Brooklyn Chinese shortlist open after Empire House. One guide makes hours the first thing to check before you order, thick rice rolls arrive with dim sum and actual seats, hand-pulled Lanzhou noodles share a menu with cumin burgers, a no-frills Chinese-American counter keeps 18th Avenue practical for a weekday pickup, and a crawl along 86th Street strings several stops into one afternoon. None of them replaces the Stillwell Ave order; they widen it.