Congee Queen

Been here a bunch of times ever since they opened… sadly, it feels like the quality of their food has been declining over the years as their prices have gone up.

Quick service, tasty dishes and an overall good eating experience. I really enjoy their congee and love how big the portions are. Their seafood supreme is by far the most popular congee order but I would also recommend trying some of their vegetarian congee options such as the pumpkin one.

I think, as with all Hong Kong style places, what you order is important.
Their six grain fried rice was really good. You get some crunch with the heartier grains. For some reason, all the fried rice in Hong Kong places are fried with the (what I presume) frozen mixed vegetables (the kind with mixed cubes of carrots and green peas), and I could have done without that. We paired the rice with a large seafood congee bowl, which had a pretty good flavor and good amount of seafood for the price.
Extra points: I really wanted the beef with string beans, but they only had beef paired with other greens. When I asked the server if I could change the greens to string beans, she thought for a bit and happily obliged (without charging us extra, which in my mind gave the place and her extra points).
The food came piping hot, which is important for a cold winter day.

I get takeout from this place and it’s been great. The orders are quick (12 – 15 min for 4 – 5 dishes). The prices have increased in the last year, but the food quality is still pretty good. Whenever I feel like some Chinese food, this is my go-​to place. The dishes that I typically order are turnip patties, Cantonese or chicken chow mein, beef with black bean sauce with thick rice noodle, general tao’s chicken, congee, BBQ meat (bbq pork, roasted pork, duck, etc.) and eel fried rice.
I’ve been to many other Congee Queen locations, and this is on par with them all. It’s quite consistent which can be rare with such a large franchise. Their menu is so extensive that everyone is bound to find something they would like to eat.
While I’m writing this review, I’m thinking about how much I’ll enjoy my leftovers tonight!

I have been here with my girlfriend at least 4 times now.
We love the salted fish with chicken fried rice. We really like the stir fried lobster with ginger and green onion.
HOWEVER, this time we ordered the Stir fried lobster with ginger and green onion AND E-​FU NOODLE (because it was an additional $ 3 for noodle vs no noodle), but we got only 2 tiny pieces of lobster meat, 1 lobster head, 1 lobster tail END, several pieces of claws, AND 4 PIECES of CRAB body attached to 3 limbs. What the heck??? Crab in my lobster order??? Before we ordered, we asked the waitress if the order of lobster with noodle would include a WHOLE lobster, and he answered «YES.» We were VERY DISAPPOINTED with this order. We came mainly for the lobster but got ripped off.
Now I feel the restaurant is very shady. How could I trust the restaurant if this happened— replacing lobster meat with crab meat and claiming its lobster? I will not let myself to come back here again.
I HIGHLY recommend if you guys eat here to check what you order, especially the lobster orders.

I think his name is Carmen. He recommended us the shrimp dumplings instead of our usual shrimp wontons. He was amazing! I just found out he is a trainee and honestly I would come back JUST to be served by him. THANK YOU CARMEN!

Read this as 4.5 stars. I was so shocked that I got seated in about 5 minutes when the place was PACKED. I thought to myself, OH NO. Why did I decide to come here. It looked nice from the outside and I thought give it a go. It was a good decision!
The place was packed and the tables were so close to each other unless you got a booth, which I did not. This is just a minor issue so .5 stars off. Food was on point and delicious. Ordered many chicken dishes like the soya chicken, minced chicken soup and the general tao chicken. All were great dishes. Service was fast and food came out lightning speed! I was expecting to wait awhile. Overall, great experience for chinese food. I must have caught them on a good night. 4.5 stars.

Good portion and affordable pricing. This place is always packed so make sure to make a reservation if you expect a bug group of people.
The ambiance is quite noisy so don’t expect to have a romantic dinner there.
Food came very fast… almost only 5 mins after be ordered. Dinner for 6 people with 9 dishes for $ 131 with leftovers for next day.
Quite cold in the restaurant. .we had to keep our jacket.

This location was interesting as the food was subpar for some reason. The congee we ordered was bland and literally had no taste. There was either no salt added or just a pinch… a very small pinch. The stuff in the congee was also bland. The tripe should have been at the very least salty and spicy. The Empress Fried Rice was anything but. The rice was not fried but just flash heated in a wok (I cook so I can tell when someone skimps), the soy sauce was inadequate and it lacked salt. The broad noodles with beef? ;-) You guessed it! Bland with a very teeny bit of salt.
They must have either run out of salt or they ran out of veteran short order cooks. My dad was a short order cook and he was really good at that. I’ll give this place a try at a future date… Maybe in 2099 when my taste buds no longer exist. :-P Cheers!

Went to this Congee queen at around 930 or so pm on a sunday. This is the flagship branch, and although i’ve been here many times before. I think this time it could be either we ordered something they are not very good with, or perhaps it is near closing time.
So had ordered the bbq pork rice, which is pretty standard stuff. and the one that is one their feature new menu, the teriyaki seafood hot plate osaka noodle. The BBQ pork rice, was very dry, and it showed. however it was near closing time so i will give them that the bbq pork has probably been cooked since the beginning of the day, and i’ve had their bbq pork before at this location. it was not bad. This time however it wasn’t good at all. so i would advise come earlier or during main dinner service times.
The Teriyaki Seafood hot plate, was simply not a good dish. it tasted nothing like teriyaki. in fact it was soy sauce fried noodle, with very few seafood if any. And on top of that, it was simply just a salty flavor, not anything special at all. it felt like regular Chinese fried noodle. However this dish also costed 12.99 which is way overpriced for what they gave us. definitely would recommend against it to anyone.
The service is quick and efficient, so no complaints. i would go to this location earlier during prime lunch or dinner hours, and you will probably receive better food. it is not a late night place you want to hit near closing.

Upon walking in, it’s quite apparent that this location is much nicer than the sister restaurant, Congee Wong. But of course there’s always give and take, and in this case I much prefer the food at Congee Wong. We ordered congee with peanuts and dried fish, which was very bland and watery. Considering the restaurant’s name that was pretty disappointing. We also ordered snow pea leaves with garlic, which was fresh but also very bland. We also got mixed vegetable fried rice, which is very hard for a Chinese restaurant to get wrong but they it ended up being too oily and also bland. The shredded duck with pickled cabbage and vermicelli was also bland. I generously added salt but there’s only so much salt can do for flavour. The only good dish there was the bbq duck which was perfectly cooked and not too fatty or firm.

Congee Queen is a local staple and favorite for Chinese food. Congee Queen offers multiple locations for convenience throughout the GTA. Although these locations carry the same name, I have heard and noticed slight differences in their dishes.
My dad and I ordered Empress Fried Rice, Cantonese Chow Mein, and Half BBQ Duck. The BBQ Duck and Cantonese Chow Mein tasted and were made exceptionally well. Although, I noticed a difference in their Empress Fried Rice. At the Congee Queen on Hwy 7, their Empress Fried is more savoury because they top it off with some sauce and contains more eel.
Service was very good. Our server was quick and polite. The speed in which we got our food was unusually fast, but I’m not complaining.
It wasn’t as busy as I expected when we arrived around 5. It got busier once we left at 6.
Overall, food tasted great, speed and service was incredibl, and dishes are affordable.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Price is decent, portions sizes are huge and service is fast and decent as to be expected from an establishment like this (skip the chit chat just get to the order).
Every time I have eaten here i have never regretted it. Sure sometimes the food can be a tad bit salty but there has never been an occasion where I was not able to alter the dish to my preference a bit.
My favorites are the Cantonese Chow Mein, the turnip, the dim sum ho-​fun and the greenbeans fried with some shrimp. I’m told the Salmon fried rice is good but never had it so that’s next.
The place can get pretty busy so its always nice to go off-​peak rush hours so you can enjoy but even when its busy the food comes out pretty fast and service remains relatively the same. The waits can be long for a table if it busy but if you are patient and can weather the tiny waiting hall then you will not be disappointed.
This is the flagship location and the one I prefer although I have eaten at the Centerpoint Mall location and was equally satisfied.
BRB I need find a ride there NOW!!!

With a ‘People love us on Unilocal’ sticker on the front door, this is a complete let down! Guess you can just get a sticker without people actually loving the restaurant.
Parking isn’t too bad here, but thats the only thing I’d say was good. The restaurant is so busy, you can barely sit comfortably, let alone get to your table. There were constantly people (not servers) walking around that it you’d have people bumping into chairs!
The food was way over-​salted. Everything seemed to have so much salt in it, that everything kinda had the same taste. I honestly can’t even remember what we ordered!
Service was pretty quick overall, but didn’t really make up for the amount of salt in my food. Unless you have a craving for salt and crowds, I would not recommend this location. Try another location! Not like there aren’t a ton of them around.

I haven’t been to this place in years and wow this place has definitely changed for the better holy smokes!
I remember back in the day (9 years ago) the service was bad and the place was so dark holy… And now its so bright and the staff are so friendly and english proficient dang I feel old now.
The congee we got is amazing holy smokes so much egg and meat! Felt like I won the lottery for food. Ok maybe not but you get what I mean! I was on a mission to find these turnip patties and I’m so not asian so I had no idea what they were called when I ate them as a kid. I finally found them and ate them… Oh my god my insides was so happy I could of died. Yes ghost and all! Also tried the bbq duck and yum so good, quite oily but I don’t care duck is hellllllla DELICIOUS.
Definitely coming back!

I’m actually a big fan of this place, even though it was my first time going there (I know. am I even FROM the GTA?!) It was late, I was sick and I wasn’t feeling up to par to cook something.
My boyfriend was reluctant to go here with me because he told me he visited it during his high school days (over 10 years ago… wow, oldie!) and he said it was «ratchet and disgusting» But after we walked in, apparently they did a whole new reno because it looked pretty good to me! It was clean, and the workers were attentive. They came right away and they were quick bringing out everything. None of them were rude (though I’ve heard of accounts of this here), they were actually really smiley and happy even though it was late.
We ordered pork & preserved egg congee (fave!!) and some turnip patties (Don’t like them, but he does), dough fritters and a mango pudding at the end. It was all very good, and not TOO salty. Yum Yum! Only $ 21 for the entire thing.
I’m down for congee queen again!

If you’re in the area, and you have a craving for a relatively straightforward Chinese food, go here. Really, go here. You won’t be disappointed.
Congee Queen is never going to be the sexiest name on anyone’s lips (or list, for that matter), but the fact remains that they serve tasty Chinese food, have a large variety of offerings, at relatively good prices (I won’t call them cheap), with fast and good service. And on the matter of service, take note: their servers mostly can speak good English and will often smile and provide you with that elusive concept in most Chinese establishments: ACTUAL SERVICE. It’s a restaurant that will work wonders whether you’re having a family meal, a quick simple date, or even bringing in non-​Chinese friends. It’s a jack-​of-​all-​trades, and it’s a very good restaurant.
And it’s much, much better than Congee Wong. Just sayin’ (I find Congee Wong recently to seemingly have a love affair with bland food — which I don’t care for).
Recommendations? The chili turnip cakes are always a must have. Also, I’m a big fan of their Cantonese fried noodle and the chili sauce stir-​fried beef. Of course, the congee themselves are top-​notch. All of these made with fresh ingredients, all extremely flavourful, and all comes out within 10 minutes of ordering. How can you beat that?
Note that I’ve found that the food at this location is a bit better than some of the other locations, so as the company expands as a chain restaurant, consistency is something they need to work on. But I know that, at least in this location, the food is always top notch. Just… try not to come on a Saturday dinnertime. It’s more crowded than the Mayweather-​Pacquiao fight on these nights.

The reason why my family loves congee queen so much is because they have consistently good food at reasonable prices.
The staff works at a very high pace so they aren’t giving you any personal attention but are always eager to help if you ask. The restaurant itself is quite loud and the ambience is casual. Wait times on weekends are expected.
There are some good vegetagian options here if you have a mix crowd of friends or family. Their menu is an eclectic mix of Chinese, thai and Vietnamese cuisine.

Congee Queen seems to be opening new locations regularly, and I can tell you why: quality and consistency.
The dishes they specialize in are always top notch, and their Chinese BBQ meats are better the most places that sell nothing but.
However my true love at Congee Queen is their Spicy Turnip Patties… Little dumpling type cubes made from daikon radish (not turnips) stir fried with dried shrimp, garlic, egg and fresh chillies. Sounds weird, tastes awesome, and Congee Queen does them best. Addictive hot or cold. Hubby and I always get 2 orders so we each have our own.
Funny thing, I don’t like it order Congee — just all the awesome side dishes they offer to have with Congee!

Congee Queen is a fairly standard Chinese restaurant — I love that it has a very strong franchise and the different locations are generally quite consistent. The menus are the same and the dishes are generally prepared in the same way. My favourite dishes to order here include the radish cakes, the curry fried noodles, and the purple rice/​coconut milk dessert.
The wait time can be 10 – 20 minutes on a weekend evening but the staff are very efficient at clearing and seating tables. The waiting area at this particular location is a bit tight and it can be difficult to find a place to stand where you’re not in the way of everyone.
Would definitely recommend Congee Queen if you are at a loss for where to dine and looking for some classic dishes (read: Chinese comfort food). The demographic consists most frequently of families with three generations. It also provides a very Chinese atmosphere — sometimes, it can be hard to communicate with the waiters in English — and definitely has the bustling environment that is definitive of this class of restaurant.