ABC Cafe — Restaurant in Monterey Park

i have been coming here since 2002. This has to mean something when you come to place since so many years. Of course any cafe/restaurant has its ups and downs. No matter what, though, this place is open 24 hours. Hate it, like it, whatever. I love this restaurant. It's definitely home to the best won ton noodle soup in san gabriel valley. The owner (both husband and wife) are very friendly, unlike most restaurant owners who just want ur business. they actually care about customer service. The waitresses and waiters who have worked there for a long time deserve the credit as well. However, i have come across by some new blood, but overall the restaurant is the best so far. The only reason I have rated it a 4 star.. is for the new blood of waiters.. but u can't just judge the restaurant by that... as like most cafes in san gabriel valley, ABC Cafe offers both western and chinese menu. So those who want some american food.. they have the choice.. as for my family who don't get enough of chinese food, we aim for the chinese menu. A few menu items I would recommend is the rack of lamb, cod fish on rice with cheese (baked in oven), red bean slush, ask for the borscht soup.. yes my dearies.. they make really good russian borscht soup and they sell out fast.!!!! The beef chow fun is always a seller as well as beef in black bean sauce over rice. The fries are also good.. and the best drink I have had over there is the hong kong milk tea (hot). Everytime i drink it, it reminds me of the cafes in hong kong.. yummy.. so all they really need is to teach the new blood .. some less attitude.. and more customer...

I went there around 10pm on a Thursday. It was not crowded, but still the service was very slow. There were two or three waiters waiting only about five tables. We were provided the water, dishes and utensils quickly. Unfortunately, one of the bowls offered us was very dirty. It still had a lot of either cream (from cream soup), or mashed potato on the inside of the bowl. It looked like it had not been washed. It might very well be because it was inside a stack. The dishwasher probably did not separate the bowl above it in the wash. After notifying the waiter, he replaced it with a bowl without the residual cream. However, one wonders how clean the other dishes were with such an experience.

The menu is very extensive. This is good and bad. The good is you have a large variety to choose from. The bad is it makes me wonder how the quality is for many of the dishes one could order.

We ordered some congee, a oven-baked rice, a soup noodle, and a vegetable dish. One would expect the oven-baked dish to take some time. It turned out it arrived at our table first. All dishes took a long time (over twenty minutes) to arrived at our table. We were not in a hurry but I wondered why the kitchen, with so few customers to serve, would take so long to prepare the dishes.

Quality of the dishes was average compared to similar...

Woke up a little too early for an already early appointment, still had some wiggle room though, for a morning bite before a short drive to the meeting. I stumbled into this neighborhood joint that used to open 24/7, it struck me as no longer catering to round the clock hours under a new management. I decided to give it a shot this early as opposed to as a night owl before. The past experience here had never been out of the ordinary, with the new management, it felt like the old parents had abandoned it behind, whereas the new ones were thrusted with a handful. I noticed the morning crew scrambling to get the setup ready. When the combo plate came, the chicken tasted barely fresh like it had been sitting in the fridge and long overdue, macaroni with texture like anything but supposed to be, topping it off, over the medium eggs with spilling yolk, more indicative of expiration day issue than fashioning a savory look. In the former days, this place was like a late night pit stop, at least rendering a vibe of camaraderie among the patrons and owners. With the so-called new chapter, as though anything might unravel, chances of one might end up a guinea pig could be disconcerting. Despite the concerns, to salute the past and farewell the present, a token gesture was still added on...