Congee Queen — Restaurant in Markham

This restaurant is my go to place for Chinese food every time. I always dine in or do take out. The food is always to the main point. But this time… out of all the times I been to Congee Queen. This time frustrates me the most. The waiter or the lady in the front… Cyn, she took our order and this was during the afternoon tea time when you can a free drink with any items on the tea time menu. She completely didn’t even understand the main point or what the customer actually wants.

But strangely this waiter Cyn doesn’t even understand the main concept. I just wanted to order the food that was apparently on the afternoon team menu. Which came with a drink but that day I wanted to drink a drink with the red bean freeze with ice cream along with black jello inside. I told her that I could pay extra for the drink but she kept saying it’s NOT INCLUDED for the afternoon time menu. There’s only the red bean freeze with ice cream along with the combo not with the black jello. I tell her that and she kept saying it doesn’t come with the combo. With even saying that. Doesn’t she understand the concept that I DON’T have to order from the tea time menu and I could order from the other menu with the regular order. What kind of servers do you have working there???? You don’t even listen to the customer and you keep arguing that it’s not on the tea time menu. I can pay full price for the drink… it’s no problem at all, but the attitude that “Cyn” spoke with me is totally unacceptable. I think you need to go teach your servers some customer service.

The other main point to tell is that when I was finish or near to getting the bill I saw her on your phone constantly and when I try to call her over for the bill. Her head was down and on your phone. Isn’t this unprofessional. Can’t you pay attention to your customer first. Aren’t your customers the main priority in this atmosphere.

Out of all. I thought this Congee Queen was the main spot to go for your comfort food but sadly it isn’t now. Just this server customer service is totally unacceptable and can’t tolerance...

I use to love this place growing up. I use to come here more often because the taste and freshness was a step above other cheaper chinese fried noodles and rice places. But recently I just find the ingredients and freshness are just a step down from what it used to be. Also I find when I come with my parents the food taste better. When I come with my cbc friends born here and they order in English, they seem to serve us food that wasn't made well and cut corners somewhere during the cooking process or they give us the ingredients that's about to expire.

Things I Like:

Soft shell crab fried rice: My favourite dish here. I cant explain it, you just gotta try it.

Oily donut wrapped with rice noodle: Portions use to be larger with a thicker oily stick and sesame seeds sprinkle on top. Now its smaller, thinner and no sesame seeds on top

Seafood congee: I grew up eating this but I think they use to put more quality seafood in it though compared to now

Beef cheung fun: I actually like their beef cheung fun, I find it's better than Sam's congee delight cheung fun.

Don't get:

Salt and Pepper fried Squid: Had it 3 times recently. Too soggy, too oily, and not crispy enough. Squid not fresh. Dont waste your money on this dish, ingredients weren't fresh. They have a page with a huge picture advertised on the menu, dont get it.

Fried chilli turnip patties: Had it 2 times recently. Use to eat this dish all the time but again ingredients are not as fresh anymore and taste like it was already fried and someone just refried it before serving it.

Cantonese chow mein: Had it more than one occasion recently and same story here. Too soggy, too oily, ingredients dont taste as fresh as it was back in the day. Cantonese chow mein is suppose to be a little crispy but everytime I ordered here it comes out as a soggy mess with way too much sauce on it making it soggy. Cantonese chow mein is not suppose to...

The food and taste was good. Not to complain but the service was not at all good. We waited for 20 minutes and no one came up to us. We had to wait until we called them to come take the order as no one even bothered to show up and ask is everything okay or do we need something.

And after the the lady I don’t remember her name she just brought the food and that’s it disappeared. For me a good waiters should be more attentive and should make sure that everything was okay in between so if there is any concern we can tell that.

Also at the end she said if it is cash it will be 5% discount so i had kept the bill amount and waited for my change back. Tip is something which customers wish. It should not be decided by the waitress. Based on our experience and moreover it is my wish to decide how much should i tip her or not. It is not a compulsion that is there. But she came to the table where we were waiting, took the bill book and looked at it and she went. Later she started to clean other table and didn’t even bother to look at me or bring back the change. How can someone decide that whatever is inside is gonna be for them. Even though the service was nor good i still had the tip amount with me and waited for her to come back with the change so i can keep it. But there not a curtesy or indecency here. It is my right and my wish to keep the tip and not her’s to decide what should i keep. As a customer it is my money which i kept there and i wish that the change would come back to me no matter how much it is and I should be deciding how much should i leave there. We just left the place because we didn’t want to embarrass ourselves asking for the change and sometimes getting yelled at for not leaving them tips.

Pls do coach on your staffs to be professional and unless a customer says keep the change it is not ment to be kept. Never gonna come back here just because...