Congee Queen(Yonge&Dundas) — Restaurant in Toronto

i came in today to have a nice dinner, and i have been to many different locations of congee queen but this location baffles me, today was my second visit and honestly will be my very last visit. first of all the service is TERRIBLE, it’s basically self service, i came inside and was not greeted at all, there was a waiter and a waitress standing in the front, when they saw me come in, they just completely ignored me, did not bother to ask me how many people were dining in, nothing. i stood there for a good 2 minutes until they pointed at the ipad and told me to join the waitlist. I already did not have a good feeling about this but I decided to stay.

Trying to get some service was probably one of the hardest thing in this place, I was trying to flag down someone to give my order, not a single person came to help at all, there were waitresses just chilling at the back talking and giggling, even at the end when i tried getting the bill to leave this place, not a single person came, i had to wait for a good 5 minutes until a waiter came by.

Not the mention THE FOOD, congee queen is known for their congee, i ordered a seafood congee, when it came out, there was absolutely nothing inside the congee, took a spoonful after sprinkling some pepper on top and it was so bland, there was no flavour to the congee at all, and i’ve had this dish before at other locations and it shouldn’t taste bland, even with a lot of pepper it was not helping. So I called a waiter and asked him to send it back due to how flavourless it was. Even the couple sitting beside us told us that their congee was flavourless and that they had to add soy sauce because they thought that it was supposed to taste like that and thought they were supposed to add soy sauce themselves. after about maybe 10-15 minutes, the remade congee came back, once again when i tried it, same thing no difference at all still bland. completely ruined my appetite, i had to take it home to recook it. A waiter came by and asked us how the congee was and we told him that it was the same thing and he apologized, it was still nice of him to give us good service even though the other staffs didn’t. I decided to reheat one of the dishes when I got home and found a STRAND OF HAIR in the food, by the way this hair was long and thin which is nothing like my hair, I have short hair. It made me lose my appetite AGAIN. After reading other reviews, i can agree that this place is very unhygienic and has...

I was excited to try this new location that recently opened downtown since it was very close to where I live BUT was extremely disappointed and unhappy. We ordered 2 congees, soup noodles and a plate of veggies. When we finished one of our congees we were surprised to see at the bottom of the bowl some silver looking flakes. We showed it to the waiter and the waiter had mentioned he had seen something like that before. He explained that the congee is made in a big pot and when stirring the pot, it is possible that it could be the flakes from the pot. I'm not very knowledgeable about cooking utensils or cookware but I would presume if it's new cookware it should not ware out like that. If it isn't new, it is clearly time to get new ones. This is a big health concern and I was very angered about this because that is extremely dangerous towards our health and possibly others. For a new location I'm expecting proper kitchen ethics and this is unacceptable.

After we mentioned to the waiter, he had brought it to the manager on duty's attention. My concern was not for a free meal or anything but was for the concern of other people who are eating at this restaurant daily, including ourselves. I watched as the waiter had spoken to the manager but of course I'm unaware if anything was done about the issue. The manager was sitting at another table with another worker having their late night meal break. He had not come over to our table to apologize or show any type of empathy towards us. I will NOT be returning to this location again.

For anyone returning to this restaurant, maybe you wont be as unlucky as us but be cautious that...

First and foremost, I would recommend opting for takeout instead of dining in at this restaurant.

When my partner and I arrived, we were greeted by the host, but there was no smile, enthusiasm, or warmth. She simply asked how many people would be dining and led us to our table.

After placing our order through their website, the servers brought out our food but didn't engage with us at all. They just placed the dishes on the table without a word. It would have been nice if they had said something like, "Enjoy your meal" or taken a moment to explain the dishes.

The most frustrating part, however, was that it took nearly ten minutes for me to get the bill. We arrived around 6:30 pm, and while the male worker seemed to be the only one with a decent attitude, the rest of the staff looked completely uninterested in their work. They never checked in with us, instead just glancing over from the other side of the restaurant to see if we were raising our hands. After that, they’d go back to doing nothing or cleaning tables.

The service here is poorly managed, and the staff seems more focused on rushing customers out rather than providing a welcoming and enjoyable dining experience.

This is the first review I’ve ever written, but the poor service my partner and I received left such an impression that we couldn’t stop talking about it the entire night. We found ourselves questioning things like, "Were they treating us this way because of our race?" and "What was their problem?" These questions lingered with us, ultimately ruining what should have been an enjoyable evening.

Conclusion: Don’t dine in at...