The Congee

Chinese restaurant · Alhambra

The Congee

Chinese restaurant · Alhambra

19 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801

Highlights

At this no-frills spot, dig into hearty, traditional Cantonese fare like silky congee and plump wonton noodles, perfect for any craving.

19 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801 Get directions

google.com

$10–20

@eater

"Cantonese hits fill the menu at this no-frills shop (the focus is on making superlative congee, not vibes) on busy Valley Boulevard. Hone in on the 10 varieties of porridge that include abalone with chicken, pig liver, and dried scallops. Get an order of spicy salt wings and stir-fried rice noodle rolls to round out any lunch or dinner spread." - Cathy Chaplin, Eater Staff

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@eater

"The Congee can be challenging to locate but be patient while finding the entrance and a table, because some of winter’s best seasonal goodies are here including shrimp wonton noodle soup, beef noodle soup, and of course, congee. There’s an entire menu dedicated to the latter with jujube porridge, lean meat and preserved egg, and a dish that is sure to stick to every bone in the body: the braised beef brisket porridge casserole. All of these items work well at any time of the year, but especially now when the temperature hasn’t budged past 65 degrees in over a month." - Eater Staff

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@eater

"The Congee offers humongous portions of wontons, lo mein, fish balls, beef balls, and other Hong Kong-style dishes, but its namesake congee is the star. Congee, pronounced jook in Cantonese, is a porridge made from rice usually served for breakfast or at dim sum. It’s made by boiling rice in a lot of water for a long time. Classic flavors include chicken, abalone, pork, scallions, ginger, and thousand-year-old egg. A good bowl of jook should be silky-smooth, which the Congee does just right." - Kristie Hang

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@eater

"I came to Congee for the namesake dish (the bowl with pork and preserved egg is excellent, as is the one with silken chicken and Maggi), but all I could think about after leaving the restaurant was the pan-fried cheong fun. Congee serves two versions of this Cantonese specialty — one ladled with stewed beef hunks and tendons and a simpler take that is cooked in a wok with a thick soy sauce. The tender rice rolls arrive tightly coiled and deeply caramelized, with the breath of the wok imparting its unmistakable sear and flavor onto every bite. A few lashes of the tableside XO sauce available on the condiment caddy dialed up the dish’s umami factor to an 11. —Cathy Chaplin" - Eater Staff

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Nat awee

Google

Very simple little shop with so many options of congee. Tired their chicken congee & wonton + fish ball soup and it was good! The congee’s chicken was very tender and mixed with the congee, it was dry chicken tasting. Very filling and everything came hot temperature. Reminded me so much of a congee shop in New York. Worker was super efficient and friendly with so punctual with both Chinese and English which did not make it hard to ask for details of what the item is on the menu. Everything was reasonable if not cheaper priced than in the Bay Area. So worth coming to visit if congee is a craving to anyone. Very spacious as well. Gonna have to try their noodle soup next time!

Mark sun

Google

The doneness of the pig liver is perfect! The beef brisket tangos with the cheong fan! The standard is similar to a Michellin place in HK!

Michael W.

Google

I love congees. When I saw The Congee show up on my search results when I was in Alhambra. I want to try them. I was there before lunchtime. So I got a table right away. The restaurant is not very big. The service was okay. I like the food. The fish balls are very fresh, and the congee is very yummy! I know I'll be back!

Jason Lao

Google

Very traditional, great broth with rich flavor

pim issaranukul-

Google

I drive for 1:30 m to get food for my employees and I order pork congee add pork River also egg the server say I can't add too many I said but am willing to pay and she yelled in my bestie's face I know she try to explain but the manner and hospitality are in very rude and I also told her I need her to wrap my food with produce bag and make sure is secure because I have been having a bad experience before. Here is my breakdown Food is excellent fresh and super hot ( temperature ) Ambiance is normal Service need to be improve

Michael Chu

Google

When we parked, we had trouble identifying the restaurant. From the parking lot, the only sign we saw said “海皇粥粉麵” and we were able to verify it was the right place by looking at old photos from other reviews on Google Maps. Shrimp Won Ton Noodles in Soup ($12.90): The shrimp wontons are indeed as big as other reviewers said. The soup came with four giant wontons packed with shrimp. The soup was delicious as were the wontons with no off flavors that I've had before at other places serving similar style wontons. The gailan/jielan (Chinese broccoli) in the soup was super tender and worked really well with the dish. Beef Stew Noodles in Soup ($12.90): The beef and tendon in this noodle soup were cooked to ultimate tenderness without the beef becoming stringy. Great flavor and excellent texture. Fish Tofu with Special Sauce ($10.25): This tasted like and had the texture of a light fried fish ball. Interesting to try, but probably just the once for us. It was paired with a spicy topping that worked well with the fish tofu. Special Pan Fried Rolls ($9.95): These are rice rolls are similar to steamed rice rolls but rolled tightly into cylinders and then pan fried and tossed in a sauce. It's like he fun / chow fun but many layers and rolled up. These were good, but we wished we spent $2 extra to get the Beef Stew Pan Fried Rolls. Oyster Sauce with Vegetables ($7.25): This was tender gailan (Chinese broccoli) cut into thirds and topped with oyster sauce. They were tender and cooked just enough. The bathroom situation was not ideal. The bathroom itself was locked (by accident). After they unlocked it, they cautioned not to use the lock on the door or the bathroom might end up locked again. There is a latch on the inside of the door to keep it from being opened when occupied. The bathroom is used for some cleaning storage and there were paper towels overflowing the wastebasket and no soap in the soap dispenser. After I informed them of the soap problem, they remedied it by putting a bottle of hand sanitizer in the bathroom.

Alan Duong

Google

Quick, simple food. Big wontons that were very satisfying to eat. Would recommend. Salt pepper chicken was fried fresh. It was pretty good too.

Chung Liew

Google

The wontons here are huge! Each wonton contain 3-4 shrimps in it, very succulent. The beef stew is also very tender as well. Food orders comes out quickly after order even on a busy lunch hour on Saturday. For take out orders the food is still hot and fresh tasting, they don't let food sit till cold or luke warm. They take phone orders as well, kitchen is very organized and fast like a well oiled machine. I ordered at the counter waited about 7-10 minutes to get my order. Take out orders were well packed with chopsticks, napkins, chili oil, red vinegar by default. Menu is in English and Chinese, while staff speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese.