The Empire Room

Very happy that my favorite restaurant in Alma has reopened. Their new Chef Oren is serving up some beautiful and delicious dishes. Christos and his staff in the dining room are friendly and attentive. And that sunset view of the Mississippi River is always a nice touch. And all this in a beautifully decorated historic building from the 1860's. At the moment they have a limited menu and hours on Fridays and Saturdays because of the labor shortage effecting many restaurants. But it's good they are once again open

An unexpected surprise both aesthetically and culinarily! Enchanting patio, great service, beautiful views and delicious food. Highly recommend!

I love the atmosphere with great dining music playing, just the right lighting, superb table arrangements for optimum space and elegant table settings. And the outside garden area is very inviting with a rock landscaped terrace, a stately deer and water fall, too! Unique menu. Interesting sounding entrees. The food is good, but for the price and ambience, it needs to be excellent. No doubt it will grow to that status in time. I love this dining experience!

The restaurant's garden patio is gorgeous, manicured gardens and the burbling fountain make the ambience delightful. The cocktails are both novel and delicious! I had the Persiphone, a tropical style drink; recommended. The charcuterie board had well aged cheese and excellent cured meats. I will definitely be making the drive to Alma again just to come to the Empire Room.

Ate here a month ago after glowing recommendation from a business owner upriver, had been meaning to try it anyhow so we made the trek. Walking in it appears upscale pleasant and clean, being a nice day, we chose the beautifully landscaped patio. The menu is a strange fusion of Asian American, it seemed a bit incohesive but whatever, I don't care if it works. I ordered an app and the salmon with a grapefruit sauce served offered with choice of rice and veg, a beer and I had to try a craft cocktail, (also grapefruit, and fairly good) Complimentary fresh bread was warm crusty and delicious. Server returned and informed me that the kitchen had informed her my selection of wild rice had gone bad. This is a bit of a serving snafu in my eyes, as I would have rather been told it was gone. I mean why wouldn't you cook rice daily? No matter I opted for the pilaf. Some time passed, and our entrees arrived, they had forgotten our apps. :( I am always impressed when servers take orders without a pen and paper, but far less impressed when they get it wrong. Anyhow, the salmon was well cooked, though I'm not sure a large or expensive piece of fish, certainly not worth the menu price in my mind. The pilaf was ho-hum and the green beans were fair but few. The whole thing (fish, lackluster pilaf, and beans were under salted by a fair margin) normally I would be unfazed by this, but whether by chance or design I had to wander in to the bar to find some salt. I'm not even a salt fiend. Also a bit disapointed in the beer selection given the abundance of great local and Wisconsin wine beers and ciders available. For instance, why offer macro Angry Orchard when there is a fine Cidery up the road for a similar price? Overall, the quality of the food was not on par with the price point. There may be some potential here, but I don't think I will try again. Was excited to have a good eatery close by.

The effort and the attitude are all five stars. The menu left us confused, the ambience is all over the map, and the food is just ok --with prices this high, it should be top notch. This ship, while not sinking, needs a turn of tide or someone knew at the helm.

We just had a perfect meal at the Empire Room! Delicious, beautifully presented entrees, great service and ambience. Amazing, that beautiful jewel of a room!

Loved everything about this place! Small town friendliness with big city atmosphere, quality of food and a very nice staff. (Noel & Dan) Thank you all for a great experience!