Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine 龍粥記 — Restaurant in Markham

Both food and service is a disappointment.

Our order: H26 Fried Rice Noodle/Beef & Soya Sauce w/ Fresh Red Bean Freeze w/ Ice cream B14 Lai Wan Style Congee w/ Iced pineapple

We choose to share the table with two other groups. The entire experience was frustrating as no one knew what was happening.

When ordering, we received a piece of paper and a pen in which we wrote down H26 and B14. The server came back to confirm what the dish name was called because they didn't know what H26 or B14 was?

The fried rice noodle came without a problem. However, the congee was a big problem.

We ordered the Lai Wan Style Congee in which it should should contain different kinds of seafood like squid, fish, as well as pork rinds, vermicelli noodles, peanuts, shredded eggs, scallions and cilantro. When we stirred the congee, we immediately knew something was wrong because the only toppings we got was BBQ duck, shrimp, pieces of white fish, squid and slices of ginger. On the PDF presented on the website, you can literally see the peanut symbol in which it means there are peanuts in the congee.

However, when asking the server to confirm what kind of congee it was because it does not seem like the Lai Wan Style Congee, she told us that different restaurants make it differently. We understand that different restaurants make food differently but why would you put the peanut symbol to warn people if you were not going to add peanuts to the congee??

As we did not eat the congee yet because we were confused why they put a random congee on our table in which we had double confirmed with multiple waitresses, the final waitress that came to confirm what kind of congee it was just told us to eat it because she didn't want us to wait any longer because she didn't know how long it would take for us to get the congee we wanted. However, she then told us that she could give us a discount because we got the wrong order?

So we ate it and it was not good.

We took the fried rice noodle home and then when it came to paying the bill, it was a whole other mess.

We informed the waitress who gave us the bill about what had happened. She then informed us the wrong congee we got was more expensive and we needed to pay for the more expensive one. But that was not the congee we wanted to eat? Literally if we wanted to eat the wrong expensive congee, we would order the expensive congee.

When we informed her that the final waitress told us to just eat it instead of waiting for the correct congee, she told us to find that waitress who told us about the discount???

She gave us another bill at the end but the discount we received is the 5% discount that everyone gets.

The experience was quite interesting, borderline unpleasant. We will not...

If I could give no star it would be a ZERO star, management was horrible, terrible service. Initially it was 2 of us, me and my friend who walked in, there was a waiter right in front of us, we told them for 2 please, the lady just walked away. Did not say anything like please wait I will get some one, she simply just walked away. Then we saw another server, I told her the same thing, can we have a spot for 2 please? There was no eye contact or conversation, the lady just walked right pass us, grabbed the menu and started walking to dining room, we did not know if this was for us, so we did not follow her, she then shouted something, or mumbled something that I guess she was calling us to follow her, as I did not understood a thing she said. Then comes the picking part, it was just me and my friend and we did not want much, the lady walked by, as we were looking at the menu, the lady pointed to the beijing duck and said something in Cantonese, which I do not understand, after some convo, I realized she want me to pick that one, we said no we don’t, and please let us pick what we would like, the lady then walked away. Me and my friend finally decided to get a wonton low mian and bbq pork with rice, when we were ordering, it was another lady, she said there is something about soup and no soup, and rest again, in Cantonese that we have no clue what she said, then we replied said “yes” thinking she ment this comes with soup? The she started question us, again bunch of Cantonese and only word we were able to pick out was “you sure?” We did not want argue with her so we just said yes. The food was ok Then comes the paying part, when we asked for the bill, the lady just handed us a $23.40 bill, said it’s cash only, and there was a 5% discount. Me and my friend did not carry much small amount of cash with us, I had 3 $5 and my friend had. $10, so we put it there thinking it’s good now. Then the lady came again (the one who told us what we should order)again, pointed to the bill shouting in Cantonese and only thing we understood was she keep saying “twenty three, 10%.” we really did not understand her, until I realized she meant the tip was not enough, we searched our pockets and I did not want to break my $100 bill, luckly I had a toonie and I gave it to her. It was interesting experience, we had practically no service but those people really wanted service tips, I really did not like the feeling of them forcing the extra tip, I thought the tip amount were not always mandatory, and it’s given when you feel there is good service, which is something we did not have. Me and my friend we will never...

Food: 2 Stars Service: 1 Star Ambience: 2 Stars Value: 2 Stars Overall: 1.75 Stars

We recently visited Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine for a family gathering, having made a reservation for 6:30 PM for our party of thirteen. However, upon arrival, we found that our reserved seating had been given away, and we had to wait an hour for a table. This was disappointing, especially given the size of our group and the expectation of being seated promptly with a reservation.

Initially, we were seated at two separate tables, which was inconvenient and uncomfortable for our group size. Despite our requests, it took considerable time and complaints before the staff arranged a proper table that could accommodate all thirteen of us. This delay and lack of proactive service were not in line with our expectations for a smooth dining experience.

On the positive side, the food was served quickly. However, the quality was lacklustre, with dishes either too bland or overly salty, falling short of the flavourful standards we anticipated from a Chinese cuisine restaurant. The service throughout our meal was minimal, likely due to the restaurant being understaffed. While we could see the staff working hard, the overall service experience left much to be desired.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was decent, but the seating arrangement felt cramped, adding to the discomfort of our dining experience. Given the issues with service, food quality, and seating, our experience at Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine was far from satisfactory. There are certainly better options for Chinese cuisine both in the area and beyond, and I would not recommend this restaurant based on our visit. A few improvements in management and service quality could potentially elevate the dining experience here, but as it stands, I am unlikely to...