Congee Bowery

I had dinner here two nights this week and both times the food was delicious and authentic and the service was very good. We had the chilled dungeness crab, Peking style pork chops, baked Chilean sea bass, and bamboo steamed rice which were all delicious. I had a golden shrimp dish in the past that was also pretty good. The waiters were all very friendly and attentive. A very good dining experience overall.

Ugh, what happened to this place? I used to love coming here because it feels just like being in China, and they had good food. HAD.
I was here in Feb. and had a terrible experience. The food was over salted, the dumplings were flavorless and the steamed buns were blan. But I thought maybe it was an off day and gave them another chance yesterday. I think it was the biggest dining fail we’ve had in years in NYC.
The place was pretty empty after 9pm, and we had decided on ordering a bunch of fun dim sums to try and an entrée to split. When we ordered steamed buns, dumplings and our entrée, we asked for another dim sum. The waiter yelled NO! when I tried to order it. Thinking maybe they were out of it, I asked to order a different one. Again he yelled NO! ummm???
Then he got really pushy shoving the menu in my dates face demanding we order a second entrée and yelling YOU TRY THIS! TO MANY DIM SUMS!
More like he wanted a higher tab.
My date ordered a half chicken just to shut the guy up.
The food came out in a weird order and we asked for hot/​soy sauce which we never got. The food was again over salted, flavorless and disappointing. I’ve had better steamed buns from the 80 cent bakery.
The $ 16 clam dish was hardly any food since the clams were so small and didn’t come with rice. The half chicken was mostly bone so not a ton of food either. We for sure could have used the extra dim sums we had been not allowed to order. $ 50 later we were not full and just excited to GTFO of there.
Sadly, I won’t be coming back here again. In addition to the bad food and crap service, this place is just not worth a visit.

Horrible. Call ahead if you’re getting take out or you’ll be waiting over a half hour for the wrong order while they stare at you. Also, you won’t be able to eat because your whole lunch break was spent WAITING even though you work literally 50 feet away: D

So, you happen to be in Chinatown, but you are not feeling dim sum, then Congee Village might be the place you want to check out. That is, if you have previous concerns about the staff and the level of services in Chinese restaurants, heard headlines about the nasty bits of Chinatown, or even had a couple of bad personal experiences before, let me assure you that Congee Village (s) is not one of THOSE places. Yet, Congee Village won’t be your unique food experience in Chinatown — they serve traditional Cantonese cuisine, but it could set the tone for becoming a frequent diner here, whatever the occasion may be. Having been here many times on both personal and professional occasions over the years, I’ve come to embrace this place: the food is consistently good and the staff always runs the show on-​point （most of the time that is; there are still the occasional anecdotes about poor services and the few mishaps that i have experienced personally, but these are to be expected from a place that is as bustling as the street intersections in the heart of NYC). On to food, there are a few items that I would definitely recommend to start out your entrees for sharing: the house-​special spare ribs, house-​special chicken, and, as if the name of the restaurant weren’t getting to you, congees! The house-​special ribs and chicken are famous here — you will see them on nearly every table. The chicken is crisp on the outside and flavorful throughout once covered in the oil sauce. The slightly fatty spareribs need no sauce, they are outright delicious.
Congee Villages is my favorite traditional-​style restaurant in Chinatown, hands down. They have top-​notch food but also a very respectable service staff that makes you feel dining is as much what goes into your mouth as it is an experience that is accompanied by a hospitable and attentive staff.
Tip: (no pun intended) recently, they changed to a no-​tip policy. This saved me a lot of mental math. Now I just need to stick to my divisions.

Recent visit was not the best between service forgetting my table’s dishes along with my neighboring table and the food. The garlic chicken was terrible likely because they forgot it and pushed it out overly quickly. The fried calamari and the clams with black bean was good as always.
There is something questionable, I’m being told dining in includes tips. I don’t see it written but it makes sense with the large differential between the price of dine in menu versus take out

I hate this place. I never liked this place. My sister had her birthday celebration here. Is it me or what, I feel like just because I didnt speak cantonese, they were extemely rude. Last time, I came with a bunch of cantonese speaking ppl, they were much nicer. But foodwise, I didnt like it either. I dont know why people come here. We always end up spending 300 – 500 for 8 people. Their service is lacking and did I mention, they charge 10 dollar if you bring a cake for your birthday celebration. If you guys gave me legit plates, 10 dollar is more reasonable. But paper plates？ I hate this place and I’ll be praying everyday for this to run out of business！

Best authentic Chinese in NYC!
Try any Congee, try the steamy buns, and *WARNING* if you try their General Tso’s, you’ll never have it any place else.
Service is hyper attentive in shop; delivery is friendly and speedy.
Secret’s out! Get you some Congee!!!

Awful! Tasteless and bland. We needed full pours of soy sauce and extra chili sauce to make this insipid stuff palatable. Fried rice was cold and went back — forget the bare hint of anything approaching protein. Dumplings were gummy and had a stale, off flavor. At least it’s cheap. Do not, ever.

Excellent Cantonese cuisine in a pleasantly upbeat (if somewhat loud) setting. Located on an otherwise deserted segment of Bowery at night.
The beef with bitter melon is extremely tasty, balance of soy and black bean sauce flavor. The bitter melon retained much of its bitter flavor without being watered down. The congee is rich but not too filling; one reservation was that in the fish congee, there were a few bones scattered about. The Chinese gailan was doused lightly in oyster sauce; while cooked to the right amount, could have included more leaves and less of the hearty large stem. The mai fun thin rice noodle with squid (forgot what they’re called on the menu) was also fairly tasty, and complemented the rest of the meal nicely as it was a lighter flavor. Finally, the eggplant salted fish (maybe also with chicken? can’t remember) casserole bowl dish really hit the spot; not too much salted fish, rich flavors without being overly smelly.

It’s basically our canteen. Food is great, decent price. The taste remains me of the food I had when I was young. Very authentic.

My party of 8 arrived at 6pm with a reservation on Saturday. A reservation is a must especially on weekends or else you will be in for a wait. The restaurant was fully packed that night. This is a «nicer» Chinese restaurant compared to your standard in Chinatown.
My family likes this place because you get pretty good food that is always consistent. You must get the garlic chicken! It is by far my favorite dish and so delicious. The chicken has a crispy skin and the fried garlic and light sauce under the chicken is just perfect. It’s great if you go with a group, so you can try a bunch of dishes.

The food here is really damn tasty. The large snails are a must order, the best I’ve ever had frankly! I’ve been here twice with my Chinese family and almost everything we’ve had was great. (Stay away from the noodles because they’re just alright) But RIGHT ON to the large fish and scallion dishes, stir fried meat and green veggies (w/​seafood, tofu or mushroom) dishes.
Congee Bowery is a nice casual place for a large group of people. I would recommend this to be a SUPERB place if you’re introducing cultural Chinese foods to your American friends.

I personally had a good meal here. I came with a group of 4 friends, three of them Chinese. I think they treated us really well because my friends demands things in Mandarin.
Anyway, our service was quick and polite in manners. We ordered many dishes to share and they all arrived almost together.
Food was good, and tasty.

I love this place, and they never disappoint so this is always one of my favorite places to bring my guests for a meal. I’d arrive early bc this place can get packed.
I personally obsess over their fish fillet with preserved eggs (aka Pidan or thousand year old eggs) congee. My boyfriend and I love their Singapore fired noodles because it is load with ingredients for under $ 10 and their steamed Shanghai Dumplings (Xiaolongbao) are fresh and juicy. The savory salt + pepper razor clams are seasonal but a must try as well.

Today was actually the celebration of our birthday so I really tried my best to be generous in terms of making judgment; however congee Bowery really let me down!
Long story short, we have ordered the short ribs and have waited for more than an hour on the dish. In the end, they told us that they did not record that dish down! Why did you not tell us beforehand, when we were back and forth asking when our dish would be ready?! I sincerely wish they could have hired someone that does not have hearing issues.
Very disappointed, can I give zero or even negative star? Nevertheless, if you would like to celebrate some special occasion, please do NOT come here!

So, they make ok congee and they listen to orders well — i wanted preserved egg in all my congee! however their other things that were not congee were not that great,
E.g: their soup dumplings, super doughy no soup… basically a normal steamed dumpling and their beef chow fun was tasteless and had like a few pieces of beef
but if you’re here for congee, then you’re at the right place.

I love this place! It’s my go-​to for quick Chinese comfort food. The congee is the best that I’ve ever had (aside from the ones that my mom makes of course). The portions are pretty large and very well priced (average of $ 4 for congee). I’ve had the classic pork and egg congee many times as well as the three meat congee, neither disappoints!
The tables are pretty large, so it’s a great place to come with a large and hungry group.

Came her for dinner with family. The décor to this restaurant is nice and unique. But it is on like the outskirts of chinatown and a little out of the way to get to. Maybe that is why it not as busy as the other chinatown restaurants on a saturday evening.
Ordered a whole bunch of food but nothing was memorable. Even the cold crab was kind of disappointing. Definitely not worth it. The crab was kind of bland. The boil which is around the area is much better if you want to eat crab. I believe they put way too much msg in their food. Was feeling so thirsty a little after the meal.
Food was mediocre, Service was mediocre. Not worth the walk there. Plenty of better options in the heart of chinatown.

Congee Village/​Bowery has done it once again… only difference btwn the 2 is at Bowery the chef is a little more heavy with the msg. other than that it was simply deeelish… we had the healthy veggie congee, lobster congee, sauteed beef w/​veggies, veggie dumplings and veggie spring rolls. This establishment is a gem!!!

#My Go-​To restaurant if I want food or drinks pre-​show at #Bowery Ballroom around the corner. It’s seems the most chill, affordable place in the area.
#I like the Small Juicy Buns (Soup Dumplings) and the #congee here. They are decent.

Found this place while we were in the area. We were in the mood for some porridge (congee).
We were quickly seated and had our order taken and food was coming out right after the other. The congee was so delicious, almost HK level delicious. I ordered the duck, chicken, and pork combo congee. It was smooth and just the right consistency.
The Good:
Congee
Chicken rice with black mushroom in bamboo pot
Juicy dumplings

The so-​so:
Taip Peng Style Chow Mei Fun
Fish porridge
Fresh honey dew juice
The bad:
Beef noodle soup, the ice water had more flavor.
Would definitely go back as this place was priced right and the some of the items we ordered were quite good.

A Large and beautiful restaurant serving authentic Cantonese food. The restaurant can get packed at times, especially on weekends. So come early in the morning or on weekdays.
For appetizers, I recommend the soup dumplings. They come in orders of six and are very tasty and authentic.
I highly recommend the Peking pork chops or the assorted seafood with tofu casserole if your looking for some main dishes.
For congee (porridge), any kind is good. They are served in large bowls so you can easily share with your friends or family.
There are also private rooms available for large parties.
Overall if you would like to try authentic Cantonese food and enjoy some authentic décor, I highly recommend this congee place!

Did you know that 7 is an unlucky number, especially for festivals and ESPECIALLY for Chinese New Year? A group of us (7 people!) ordered 7 things, and our server told us we should either get rid of one or add another.
Anyway, the food here was really good and came out quickly. I came here with a few Chinese people, so they ordered everything for us and we ate family-​style. The flounder (part fried, part broiled?) was really good, as was the garlic chicken and their tofu. I’m not a fan of congee in general, and this place didn’t change that for me.
Good spot for groups, so that you can order one of a bunch of things and share.

Its a shame that the service wasn’t better, because the food was definitely not up to par.
When I first arrived, the waiter had a really bad attitude and was talking to us like we didn’t know what we were talking about. We just asked if there was anything not fried, the dude rolled his eyes at us, and was like if you don’t want anything fried then eat at home. Anything you see that doesn’t say steamed is fried. My face totally went like: O, I was thinking, is this dude serious? If I was alone I totally would have just walked out.
I understand that a lot of people like it here, but to me the food was just greasy and bland. The only reason the food is good is because most of the dishes’ meat have «went through grease» (meaning before they actually cook them, they dip them in oil, so that they aren’t exactly deep fried, but really greasy.) It is because of this process that the food has its texture, but to me, I rather eat something with less grease.
I would recommend the congee though because it pretty mild. However, do note that the base of the congee is all the same, they just make a huge pot of it, then when you order they «flavors» they just add the ingredients in. So they actually do all taste the same.
I wouldn’t go back for anything except for maybe take out plain congee?

Yes! Finally, a good congee place in the city!
Congee, a rice porridge commonly eaten (drunken?) during breakfast and lunch in Chinese culture, is one of my favorite comfort foods.
After all, how can you go wrong with rice, meat and veggies in broth?
Aside from the traditional congee that I recommend everyone try — sliced pork and preserved egg — they also have a variety of additional porridge combinations.
The porridge here is served in large bowls, with smaller bowls for everyone to scoop the broth into for easy slurping. One order of porridge, anywhere from $ 3.95−7.95, will feed you for an entire meal.
You can also order soup dumplings here, «Small juicy bun in Shanghai style,» ($ 4.50 for 6) to share with friends. It’s not the best I’ve had, but soup dumplings are soup dumplings, and 99% of the time you can’t go wrong ordering them.
Besides the porridge, you can also order the more staple Chinese dishes. Those I can’t really vouch for, but according to my white-​friend-​who-​basically-​eats-​like-​an-​Asian-​because-​she-​lives-​with-​me: they’re good.
On top of the good food here, you get to actually enjoy eating said food without having to worry about cleanliness or awkwardly bumping into other people crammed on your table.
My biggest issue with this place, however, is their crappy service. Given how quiet it was when my friends and I arrived here, you’d think we’d be given full, or at least better, attention. But, that being said, bad service and Chinese restaurants go hand-​in-​hand, so eh, I’m over it.

I been to the Allen St. of Congee Village many times in the past. This was the first time visiting the Bowery location in all these years I’ve lived in the NYC area. Definitely on par with their other location if not better. I believe the restaurant is smaller but both décor look very new and clean. We were here for dinner on a Friday evening around 6:30 and plenty of empty tables were available.
Food wise I definitely thought their congees were very delicious although a single order of congee is probably not even enough to satisfy a grown adult as a full meal as its mostly water but I think portion wise its fairly decent for $ 5 – 6 to have about 2 – 3 small bowls to share and taste.
The chicken was wonderful I can definitely see why its the first item under their special menu, and the fried pig intestine was pretty chewy rather than crispy meaning they didn’t fry it as long as some other places I’ve been to. I thought they were pretty good to be honest as they weren’t as dry.
Lastly the garlic snow pea leaves were good but I felt the portion was a little light especially given the price ~$ 15. Fried Bean Sprout Leaves are usually more expensive than other dishes under the Veggie section but I’ve definitely seen other restaurant more generous with the portion at this price range. Still, the food was delicious so overall just minor complaints :)
Definitely lives up to its reputation of awesome Cantonese Congees and Food. I think you won’t be disappointed if you’re in Chinatown this is definitely a regular spot if you’re not in a very large party.