Congee Village
“They have a few private rooms available and perfect for small party.”
“Congee Village has always been popular in both their Chinatown locations.”
“I would recommend the house special chicken, it was AMAZING.”
Congee Village
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
5 reviews
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There are plenty of better authentic Cantonese cuisine around the area, sadly this place is not one of them.
I know they were trying to go for that dynasty look, but this place look hella ugly.
Food presentation is horrible, ordered Dungeness crab, cold platter with jelly fish, stir fry cauliflower with Chinese sausages, sea bass, Peking duck, and spinach to start and try first. Everything was pretty greasy and cold. We had to ask the waiter to take the spinach back because the vegetables tasted stale and old.
My party was in one of the private rooms. Service was a hit or miss, you might get a waitress/waiter who is very professional, but you might get one who is totally new and has no formal training in table service.
After coming home, I get reports from the members in my party that they had to make frequent visits to the restroom. One even got food poisoning or a stomach virus.
Eater beware, there are other places to spend your money.
Like other reviews, I was also super excited about Congee Village opening in Flushing. The two locations in Chinatown is always busy and pretty far if you're not already in the city. The place is huge and decor is similar to the one in the city. I went there around 10PM. The hostess was nowhere to be seen for about 5 minutes. The downstairs part still had a lot of customers. We were seated upstairs and there were two tables where all the waiters/waitress were having their dinner.
We placed our order and this is what we ordered initially… 2 pork/thousand year old egg congees, seafood pumpkin baked rice, 2 bamboo chicken and mushroom rice, garlic string beans, jellyfish, pan fried tofu with soy sauce, half a chicken. The waitress recommended us to eat their crab which I don't even know how expensive that could be but we said no crabs.
The waitress tells us they don't have any baked/bamboo rice available so that section is off limits. Then she comes back and tells us they don't have jellyfish. Again she comes back and tells us she doesn't have the garlic string beans either. So we had to order other things. We changed our veggies to pea leaves. And she also recommended us a $30 steak with asparagus dish. We didn't want to order that cause we noticed the price on the menu so we ordered chicken with garlic sauce and this other chicken casserole dish. We asked them why don't have anything especially their signature bamboo rice dishes since they just opened. The waitress said sorry and she'll give us free dessert.
During our dinner every hour the dim the light downstairs and plays house music. I don't get what the point of that is.
So the bill arrives, our free dessert was cut up oranges and we see this $113 charge for this one dish chicken and abalone (we absolutely didn't order it). We asked if it was a mistake but they accusing us of ordering it and eating it for a good while. We keep telling them they messed up the order so we got fed up and told them we would just pay the bill and forget it. The customer service was horrible. They ended up taking it off the bill and offered us the real free desserts which was pudding. By that time we were already pretty heated because we were accused. The manager then keeps apologizing and tells us to come back again.
Let's just say the whole thing was disappointing. Giving them 2 stars is already generous. They have to get their act together before I would go back there again but at this point it might be a while. You can definitely go experience yourself.
Queens welcomes Congee Village! This is their third location in New York City with two in the Chinatown area in Manhattan. Their grand opening was on Friday, July 22nd. We made reservations for a private room on the second day of opening to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had 11 people. Despite having a "reservation" we still had to get a number and wait nearly 30 minutes before being seated. It was very crowded.
This Congee Village appears very confused in terms of decor. And when you enter the private room, fuggedaboutit! Animal-printed faux furs lined one wall and another wall with mosaic artwork. It gave me a Mongolian village or Native American feel. The ceiling of the room had blue skies and white clouds – like a cheesy Greek restaurant. Everything was just so random. Our room had karaoke which was kind of cool, I suppose. Not to mention the lower level of the restaurant would occasionally play uncomfortably LOUD house music, you would seriously think you are in a nightclub – quite ridiculous. Luckily our private room has heavy duty doors which really shut out most of the noise. The double doors look like it came straight out of Game of Thrones. Anyhow, while we were ordering our waitress told us there was a minimum in terms of dollars that has to be spent in order to be in the private room but we found it odd that the hostess didn't tell us this before we were seated. When we asked what the minimum was, she responded in Chinese that she thinks "tonight should be around $600-700." First off, I think she should've checked for sure because she did not seem sure herself. It's a yes or a no, there can't be a "should" or "I think." Either way, we spent just shy of $500 and there was no issue so whatever. Imagine if we spent over $700 ordering whatever just to meet the minimum and it wasn't necessary?! Not okay.
Among some of the dishes we ordered were: house special shrimp pasted pork ribs, house special chicken, clams with black bean sauce, snow pea shoots, mayonnaise shrimp with walnuts over a fresh fruit salad, pan fried lamb chops, lobster over sticky rice, conch, steamed live fish, and seafood with fish maw soup. While all the dishes were slightly smaller than I had expected, everything was pretty tasty. No complimentary fruits nor "tong sui" dessert at the end. They do have mango and coconut puddings for purchase however – and FYI the coconut one is pretty awesome. No liquor license just yet.
But here is the all important tip: We asked if we pay in cash, if tax would be lifted from the bill like in many Chinese restaurants. The answer is no. However, we were told by our waitresses that Congee Village actually has a NO TIPPING POLICY! MIND BLOWN!!! Who knew?!! So yeah, that's pretty awesome. But I guess that explains the inflated prices as well.
Horrible…waited almost two hours. It wasn't grand opening or anything but there are still so many people waiting. Apparently if you asked for a table of 5 or below you will wait longer than those with a larger party. How would we know what the magic number was.
We finally got a table all the way in the back in this private room with a few other large tables. The room was HOT! I requested to turn up the AC because I have an infant with me and it won't be wise to suffocate an infant. As it turns out their AC in that room is BROKEN! Oh but the main dinning area outside the room is COLD. We can't request a change of table because we will have to wait another hour or so. My family and I are not waiting three hours for another table. We were starving at that point.
Ok let's just go straight to food. WAIT what food? We couldn't order much because it was OUT. So we got congee (small portion fed only four people in tiny small individual bowls) , beef fried rice (eh..), peking style pork chops (yay bummed up a star for how tasty it was), crab with sticky rice (was sold out last min and waiter came to us towards the end of our dinning service to tell us), pan fried tofu ( it was soft in the center and crispy glazed on the top and bottom. It was good but portion wasn't a lot), fruit punch cocktail ( I expected it to be a color red but it was orange, it was luke warm, and there was no alcohol. Please don't call it a cocktail on your menu if there is no alcohol.)
Overall I like one dish out of three we ordered. Food isn't terrible just terrible service and confusing. I like the décor but they poured money more in décor than service and AC. I will only come back when the hype dies down. Also maybe during the winter to avoid guess which room won't have AC. Look I have an infant and if he cries because of discomfort from the lack of cool air then it makes my dining experience even worst.
Good food. Very spacious inside and nice private rooms. We had one of the rooms for a birthday party with 22 people and the servers were on point. They were quick and mindful of our concerns (at one point, we asked for a temperature adjustment, then we requested a photo of the cake before they cut it, and we also asked them to take multiple group photos for us). There are great dishes: we tried everything from chicken to soft shell turtle. The congee was nice. I was into it. Great time overall but definitely make a reservation.