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Congee Noodle King
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
3313 KingswayVancouver, BC V5R 5K6
Neighbourhoods: Killarney, Renfrew-Collingwood
(604) 435-6670
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
29 reviews for Congee Noodle King
Review Highlights
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"The shrimp BBQ pork fried rice was really delicious..." In 3 reviews -
"...perfectly delectable and the Chinese donut was delicious." In 4 reviews -
"Best CONGEE and WONTON in town." In 2 reviews
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29 reviews in English
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Review from Florence C.
Vancouver, BC
3/21/2012
Yes, I'm biased.. I found this little joint 2 years ago when I was craving for scallop congee (I'm a Chinese afterall), and it's comparable to what I can get in a restaurant in Singapore. I was sold. Found a gem and I'm loyal.
No fuss and hidden markups, just good congee. Good service, I like to have sesame oil in it and they give me plenty. Super fresh scallops and prawns. -
Review from Sam W.
5/13/2012
Honestly, I don't know why I come back here. Actually, I do know why: because my father likes this place. IMHO, there's Terrible (with a capital T) service and mediocre food... but I suppose in that sense it's quite an authentic Chinese congee house. There's also pay parking (wooo hoooo, not.) and a lengthy wait time if you're coming during prime time.
umm... what more to say.... the food is decent, but really nothing special -- it's not particularly cheap -- and the service is shockingly underwhelming (they'll ignore you repeatedly, especially if you don't speak chinese.) DON'T DO IT!! -
Review from Herman E.
1/4/2012
Would I drive across the city to come to this place? No
Would I come to this place if I was in the neighborhood? Yes, if I wanted something similar to Congee Noodle House on Broadway and Main.
Pretty much the exact same thing as going to the Broadway and main location.
Anyone notice that the uniforms worn by the servers are nearly identical between the two locations? :P -
Review from Buzz B.
Vancouver, BC
4/26/2012 16 Check-ins Here
My friends and I once ordered their string beans dish and we found a suspicious red stain on the corner of the plate. AIDS, anyone? I wasn't deterred because that was the only instance I found anything wrong with Congee Noodle King. In short, this place has well-cooked Chinese food in generous portions and the setting is extremely spacious. Parking can be a hassle because there's only street parking nearby; if you don't mind walking a block, there's a London Drugs parking lot across the street. Cheers!
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Review from Stephene C.
Vancouver, BC
10/10/2011 1 Check-in Here
Like Hon's, this place has a massive menu selection, to big for my liking. It can seriously make one cross eyed, starring at the rows and rows of food items.
I've been by here a gazillion times, but have never really thought to come in and try their stuff. It usually seems fairly busy here, so it can't be that bad. It really teaches me not to judge a book by its cover and to also be a little more adventurous and step into places that I would normally turn a blind eye too. This place ain't so bad actually.
For myself I ordered the mushroom and vegetable soup, which came with egg noodles. It was very mushroomy and earthy tasting. It had an abundance of those Chinese mushrooms that are dried and fairly large. Even though this bowl of soup didn't have any protein in it, the huge mushrooms more than made up for the lack of meat. I've been sick with a cold for more than a few days now, so I thought with all my minimal wisdom that mushrooms with veggies in soup would be just the thing I need to destroy the invading virus and I think it actually helped, a little.
My friends ordered a egg noodle chow mien that was a tad too spicy (black pepper spicy), a Chinese donut thing, and fried squid. The noodles were on the verge of being uneatable because of the abundance of pepper. The squid, while also spicy, was perfectly delectable and the Chinese donut was delicious.
Overall not a bad place. Will come back to try the first half of this place's name sake, the congee.
MSG rating: 0 (but I could be wrong because this cold is impairing my judgement)
St3Fin -
Review from tinna h.
6/18/2011
Randomly drove by the place as we were making our way up from Seattle to Vancouver. It's cash only, so good thing it is located down the street from a bank/ATM. We found parking almost immediately. It was middle of the day during the middle of the week.
Ordered a rice vermicelli noodle soup and of course, congee since it's in the name. Was surprised by all the STUFF you get. Considering the price, it caught me off guard.
Service was as expected for one of these places. Not super friendly, but also not terrible. You go in, order, eat, and leave. -
Review from Doris L.
Vancouver, BC
10/10/2011
The service is not great but the food is decent.
Sometimes they need work on their consistency because today, I had the worst (overly spicy) noodles I have ever had. At any restaurant.
The congee is generally good and steaming hot, but again it's nothing spectacular.
The prices are pretty good for the amount of food you get. And unless they forget your order (don't be shy to remind them you're waiting if you think it's been too long), the food does come out pretty fast.
Also if you go there around dinner time on a weekend or friday night (around 7ish) be prepared to never get seated... you might just want to walk across the street to Gold-train and earn some street cred while you dine. -
Review from Allen W.
2/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
Disappointing. Food is OK but everything else was crappy. Ended up here on our way back from shopping nearby.
Staff were cranky and rude -- they were expressionless, no eye contact, menus thrown in our general direction. Yikes. Granted, we sat at our table waiting a long time without any service and did have to ask someone for menus (table who came in after us was being served, but not us). Maybe they didn't like having their lack of service called into question. However, it wasn't busy and there were several staff walking around all the time.
After we had already ordered, I noticed one of the staff wiping and blowing her nose, then holding the tissue and customer receipt in the same hand while using the computer. Nice. I could hardly wait to dive into my congee after seeing that (yuck).
Most of the tables are round and seat six people. We were seated at one of these tables and the table top wobbled alot - I couldn't imagine eating at it with six people without a disaster occurring.
I had congee and chinese donut. The congee is good, creamy and good flavour. The chinese donut wasn't fresh, not crisp and rather doughy.
Won't return, just not worth it. -
Review from OTwo b.
Vancouver, BC
8/29/2011
Have been to this restaurant couple times.
I always think their congee is the best. I think the charge reasonable price and their service is not bad.
But other than congee, my bf doesnt' like their noodle or other dishes .... so ... I can only give them a 3 stars .... -
Review from Joe L.
Vancouver, BC
2/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
If my review were just on our assorted meat / innards congee and minced beef congee, my review would have a 4-star rating. However, when I dine out, it's not just the food for me.
1) I took 1 star off because it's a cash only establishment. Many Yelp members may find it offensive but here's my reason. Cash-only pricing essentially increases the prices at par with cashless transaction pricing since my change will just go to a change bowl. Unless you carry a purse or handbag, who carries a change purse? Banks frown upon you taking a bowl of change to the counter for deposit or they will charge you a fee. Change machines at supermarkets or pharmacists charge commissions for taking in change for cash or store credit. At the end, you are paying more than just the cash prices on the menu.
2) I took another 2 stars off for receiving our menus slapped on the table with no eye contact. I have no option to pay less for poor service even though the menu prices include the salaries of the wait staff. -
Review from Edward L.
One thing I really like about these dingy Chinese places is that the food is very consistent, at a reasonable price.
Parking isn't bad here after 6pm, but before that, you'll have to go around looking on the streets.
The service is quite prompt. There's a glass window into the kitchen so you can see if any rats fell into your congee.
The menu selection seems a bit limited compared to Congee Noodle King out on Broadway (maybe the owners are different?)
The vegetable dish "dow miu" was tasty, but was really watery. No biggie, just had to drain it out.
The deep fried smelt (baby fish?) was fresh. You could even see the eyes of each fish. Poor little buggers didn't even get a chance at life.
The beef with peppers was also very good. Just right.
The thousand year old egg and pork congee was a pleasant surprise. The eggs came in huge chunks (looks like they were simply sliced into 1/4s) and the pork was actually large slices, not the shredded bits you'd normally expect.
One last thing: they serve Alaskan King Crab here for $13.99/lb. We didn't have it today though.
Anyways, you can't really go wrong with this place if you need something cheap and tasty in the area. -
Review from Giovanni A.
Vancouver, BC
3/29/2011
Good food and decent price. Love the roasted pork on rice, the gai lan & garlic and the house congee.
The service isn't the greatest and if I were to judge on only that it would be rated much lower. -
Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
2/18/2010
* Decent congee - but not worth a special trip *
Others have complained about the service not being good here - but I have to say I must have caught them on a good day. I was immediately greeted at the door and given a table. The waitress was quick to bring tea and take my order - even with a smile. The food came quickly. The waitresses all seemed to be in a good mood with many of them smiling while chatting with each other as well.
I had the congee with mushroom and scallop as well as a side order of Chinese donut.
The congee was on the thinner side, but had a nice amount of peanuts, green onion and sliced ginger to flavour it. There were not very many scallops or mushrooms sadly. (Perhaps 5 slices of scallop and 2 mushroom chunks.) That really pales in comparison to the one I had at Kwong Chow: http://www.yelp.ca/biz... where there were about 20 slices of scallop!
Sadly while the Chinese donut was a generous portion - it had clearly not been freshly fried as it was room temp. That was a bit of a disappointment.
Overall if I was in the area and craving congee I would certainly stop by again. I don't think I would make a special trip out here, or be willing to wait on a line to get in though....Listed in: Vancouver Chinese Food
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Review from Steph L.
7/13/2010 15 photos
As every Chinese person knows, all good congee starts with a good base. I never fully appreciated a good congee base until I left Vancouver and moved to San Francisco. For some reason, restaurants in the Bay Area just can't seem to get it right - it's always watery and bland. At Congee Noodle King, they nail the consistency and flavour perfectly - thick with a slight creaminess to it. In fact, it's so good that I can almost just eat it plain.
I normally get the sliced fish and pork liver CONGEE (so much fish and liver, and never overcooked!) but sometimes I'll experiment with different combinations. The ostrich, sea bass, and chicken congees are solid choices too. On my most recent visits I got the fresh oyster and minced pork congee (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...) and the dried oyster, preserved egg, and shredded pork congee (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...), but these weren't as good. There weren't much oysters in either one and the shredded pork was extremely salty. Fortunately, the congee base was still awesome.
My other favourite dish that I always get is the STICKY RICE WRAP (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...). Simply scrumptious! The sticky rice is incredibly soft and chewy. It's filled with mung beans, a little bit of pork, and a salted egg yolk (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...) - all providing their own flavours and textures. With a little sweet soy sauce, it's just out of this world.
Other dishes I've tried:
- wontons & dumplings in soup (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...): both gigantic with LOADS of plump shrimp, great with red vinegar; also comes with gai lan at the bottom of the bowl
- pan-fried turnip cake (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...): flavourful and soft in texture, but could've used a crisper sear on the outside
- prawn & scrambled egg on steamed rice (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...): I was expecting scrambled egg, but what I got was a thick sauce with bits of egg in it. The prawns were crunchy soft but the dish was lighter in terms of flavour and substance than I would've liked.
- BBQ pork & soy chicken on rice: pretty good chicken, but I've had better pork
They also make great HK-style milk tea and coffee (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...). The service here is typical of a Chinese restaurant - fast and efficient. Not super-friendly, but not rude either. -
Review from JY L.
Burnaby, BC
8/10/2011
Big bowls of yumminess! Ultimate comfort food when I had my wisdom teeth removed.
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Review from Pia W.
12/30/2009
If you're thinking, "Is this place related to Congee Noodle House on Broadway?", you are correct! The owner of this place was actually one of the chefs over at Congee Noodle House before opening this place.
Again, Asian servers -- Anyone who knows better wouldn't expect much customer service from them. During busy lunch/dinner hours, don't just stand at the door expecting that they will notice you, fight over the crowd and make sure you tell the server how many people is in your party. Servers don't keep count on who came first, so you should remember who was there before, and who came afterwards. Believe me, some Asians can be quite ruthless if they see that you are confused and they would try and get ahead of you.
The congee isn't as thick and creamy as the one on Broadway, but I would suggest people to try out their different variations of fried rice/noodles. My favorite dish here is the Singaporean-Style Fried Vermicelli. Serving per dish is pretty generous, so I'd say a dish can served 2-3 people, all with a chance of seconds.
Downfalls here is that sometimes there are more than grumpy/rude servers and people waiting in the crowd. The food is ok, but I wouldn't come here and wait with the crowd during rush hours. Parking is also a big issue: It's either street parking or fight for one of the 4 parking spots at the back of the restaurant. Your chances of finding a parking spot along that strip of Kingsway can be challenging and the anticipated wait with the crowd at the door can augment your wait time for up to an hour. -
Review from Lucinda C.
Vancouver, BC
1/31/2010
Good for a quick bite but expect to wait awhile during the weekend lunch period. They've done quite a bit to improve the congee. When it first opened, my dad's homemade congee was better than theirs! I went back a year later and the congee improved it's texture. Also, the deep fried food (such as the calmari) looked and tasted great. Maybe it was just that day. Who knows :)
The staff there are consantly on their feet trying to cater to everyone orders and they tend to forget to get u that refill for your tea. After a couple of reminders, the tea comes. Hard to get a table to yourself and it's very common to share a table with another group of diners.
It's like any other noodle place you go to. Nothing special. -
Review from Larry L.
2/21/2010
It was a bit busy when we got there. I was told afterwards that there were alot of brithday dinners that evening. We were cramped up in a table that was too small and I moved ourselves over to a location that suited us better. I figured that being in a Chinese restaurant, we could do this without too much fuss.
Once we were finally all seated, things flowed very very quickly. We ordered without too much fuss and then BOOM! All the food came to our table at once. Wow! That was the fastest I've seen food come out of any restaurant ever! I swear, it was faster than the Golden Arches.
All 8 dishes came out at once! By this time the place was crowded and we had just started to eat our meal. The food was good. Nothing to complain here. Once the table was cleared, they brought the dessert of red bean soup, which only a few of us ate. Once this was done, we were quickly asked to leave because it was a busy night. Not a problem, I understand, but the whole evening wasn't comfortable and everything was rushed. If we were at Congee Noodle house on Broadway, we wouldn't have been rushed like this.
I can't really expect better from a place like this and so I rated it average. If you want service and a more positive dining experience, go somewhere else. This place seems to be popular, but it's not better than any other place.
For a bowl of wontun or noodles and a quick quick meal. I guess this is the place to eat at. I did notice the other tables didn't seem to be rushed like we were. Maybe it was me. -
Review from Janice F.
12/17/2008
A slightly cleaner hole-in-the-wall? Maybe. It's more well-lit anyways. I believe this place is owned by the same people as Congee Noodle House on Broadway.. currently closed for renovations, so I found myself on this corner of Kingsway & Joyce getting my congee fix. It's supposedly open late night as well.
Typical grumpy waitresses, but the food comes fast and good. Happy hour menu between 3 - 5, but there's no congee on that menu. My favourite item is the Jah Leung. Translated something like Steamed rice roll wrap chinese donut? Don't quote me on that. Yum yum. If you ask nicely, they will give you another serving of sweet soy sauce to go with it. -
Review from Ricardo R.
North Vancouver, BC
7/20/2011
I give them two thumbs up. Great food. Large menu selection. And quick service.
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Review from Michael C.
Vancouver, BC
1/31/2011 13 Check-ins Here
Service here was great the last time I ate here she even spoke good English. I think she is new here she works very hard clearing the tables and making sure our tea was filled. The shrimp BBQ pork fried rice was really delicious possibly the best I have tasted. The Spicy salt squid was great and the bitter melon too.
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Review from Guillermo W.
Vancouver, BC
12/18/2011
The food is very good and the prices are quite good. The dinner combos are excellent as the prices are low and the varieties are huge. It comes with complimentary soup, rice, dessert, different types of meats depending how much you order,
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Review from Tom S.
Vancouver, BC
5/17/2011 3 Check-ins Here
This place and the one on broadway are my go to Congee spots. Good congee, good prices, big menu and quick service.
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Review from Shoppa H.
Vancouver, BC
11/14/2011
The food is not the greatest. It's not the worst either. The service however, is HORRIBLE! It took forever for our food to arrive. Why? When asked the waitress if our order was coming soon (waited 45+ minutes), she realized she never submitted our order. It was still in her apron. I was ready to leave but my friend made me stay. If they get rid of that waitress, MAYBE I will think of returning there. We used to like it a lot about 5 years ago. Now, it's just even part of my consideration anymore.
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Review from Rey L.
Vancouver, BC
9/7/2009
My girlfriend and I passed by Congee Noodle King a couple of times and decided to give it a try. We came on a holiday for lunch and the place was packed. The line reached all the way outside. Luckily within 10 minutes or so, we were able to secure a table.
We noticed that practically everyone ordered congee with Chinese donuts, but we didn't feel like it at the time so we ordered the beef brisket chow mein, duck noodle soup and a side of deep fried tofu with spicy garlic. The food arrived faster than expected so we were excited, but once we had our first bite, we were extremely disappointed.
The first was the deep fried tofu. It was so soggy! It was soaking in it's own juices and oil! What's the point of deep frying something if it's not crunchy!? Other places' deep fried tofu are nice and dry and crispy. On the bright side, the tofu dish was flavourful, but I have a sinking suspicion that they sprinkled a tiny bit of MSG on it.
Then we sank our teeth in the beef brisket chow mein and again, we were disappointed. The sauce had barely any flavour and the noodles were too soft. The beef had the most flavour and was quite delicious, but as soon as we ate all the beef, it became bland.
Finally, the duck noodle soup was pretty bland as well and the meat didn't taste like it was marinated that well. The noodles however was cooked well. We ordered rice noodles with it.
To make things worse, the service was unrefined at best. There was a bus lady pushing along her cart around the restaurant and picked up dirty plates. She rubbed the dirty trays on me twice as she passed by our table without even saying or mumbling anything! Another time was when a waitress grabbed the chili sauce bottle on our table without even asking!
The pricing was average for a Chinese place.
All in all, there are a lot more Chinese places out there that have better dishes and better services for the same price.
My girlfriend and I will give this place one more chance. The next time we come, we'll be ordering a congee dish and see if this place really is a congee noodle king. -
Review from Latoya R.
Vancouver, BC
4/13/2011
Similar to food court food but with more grease. The only decent dish out of 5 was the congee. There are much better restaurants around like sha lin or peaceful noodle.
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Review from food-voice l.
Vancouver, BC
2/9/2011
CONGEE NOODLE KING on Kingsway 2/8/2011
Best CONGEE and WONTON in town
When I go to Congee Noodle King, the first thing come to my mind is to order a bowl of congee with slice fish or whatever -----------, ( I notice the menu, they have 36 varieties combination of congee in their menu) because they have the best congee in town. Their congee has the best texture, right thickness and very smooth. No other congee in town can compare to them. The CRA should award them the GOLD AWARD FOR CONGEE instead of Landmark Hot Pot. What are you thinking CRA; don't you know the restaurants in this city? Not just the big name restaurants has good food, there are some outstanding dishes in many restaurants in this city.
To day I don't feel like having congee, I bravely try their WONTON AND NOODLE but I notice they have 45 varieties of wonton and noodle or noodle with whatever combination. Too much to choice from, it's hard to decide but I finally just order the basic WONTON NOODLE SOUP which simply consists of 5 wonton and noodle and soup for $4.95 only. To my surprise, the wontons are big and full of shrimps inside, the noodle is tender and the soup is very tasty. It's the best wonton I have had in many wonton house restaurants. They deserved the name "CONGEE NOODLE or WONTON KING ". I am glad try something other than their congee. They have a big menu consist of over 500 items. I will definitely try some other items on my next visit. -
Review from Edwin Y.
Burnaby, BC
9/2/2010
As a connoisseur of greasy chinese spoons (and finding out this place is related to the Broadway congee place), I have to say this location is disappointing.
I've been here a few times, and their cooking is not up to snuff. Items I've had include:
wonton noodle soup
west lake soup
house fried noodle
fried rice
Its missing that special je nais se quoi. Can't recommend it, but will go in a pinch or a late night when I don't have any other options. -
Review from David L.
11/29/2009
It seems that the congee at this location is slightly inferior to the Congee Noodle House on Broadway; not as thick and slightly different flavour. Not that's it's bad, because the Congee Noodle House on Broadway has the best congee in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for the matter.
