We tried this place with high expectations based on the Yelp reviews but were disappointed. You get generous portions but the food is average tasting. Service was pretty quick and with standard brusqueness. Probably won't go back. read more

I've been here three times for lunch in the past week. Every day at 12:30, there's a skinny male employee who smokes outside before going in and handling the food. He doesn't wash his hands. Everyone reading this, don't let him touch your food. read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

The porridge portion is good enough to share. We order an abalone chicken porridge for $18, the price is reasonable. I'll come back to try other items. Since I came with a friend there is no way we can finish 2 items. 1order of Jok already filled up our stomach. read more

As the name tells, the porridge is great and must-try. The food is authentic and remind me of the days in Guangdong, China

Came here for a quick lunch to get my congee fix. I've lived in Hong Kong for months at a time and always loved going to streetside congee shops for breakfast. This place reminds me of that! I ordered a single bowl of HK-style congee with pork stomach, pork blood, and 1000 year-old egg. Sadly, they were out of pork blood. A few minutes later what I was expecting to be a single 2 Cup bowl of congee was actually a massive 4-6 Cup bowl enough to feed a small family. A smaller bowl and some condiments were provided. I dug in for the first sip. The taste, texture, and consistency of the congee really reminded me of Hong Kong. In HK-style congee, the toppings add some substance to the meal, but the flavor of the congee itself is supposed hold its own. This was the case here, I could have had plain congee and still be happy! This really was a throwback to Hong Kong, except for the American-sized portions, which was also the reason why I didnt order a side of chow mein to go with my congee. read more

We decided to get takeout on one cold night. We were an hour away from home. The smell of the food filled the car. It made all of us hungry reminiscing good old times. You might think this is a start of a bad novel and even worse gramma if you are actually reading. Never mind, it isn't. The Crab and Prawn Sawo Porridge is the most excellent we have had for a long long time. Are you still with me? Cause you need to hear about the Braised Goose, it was a little chewy, but hey, aren't we all? It is absolutely tasty though. Suddenly, I put the Pan Fried Oyster Pancake in my month. It exploded with all the old time flavors. I am sure it would have been way better if we could eat fresh out of the kitchen. Now, if you are still reading, you must be thinking, "should this guy be asking me if I am still reading?" Well, plot twist, I know you are still reading! You must realize that I am getting bored. Last but not least, the Napa Cabbage with Dried Seafood Pot, you would down that whole thing like you are drinking Mama's soup. But, what I really recommend you to try is that one dish that I forgot about, it was the most memorable, I tell you. Well, it was like 2 months ago, so I am sure you understand. Thank you for lasting this long, I will let myself out now. You must be bored too. read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

Service is terrible and unreasonable. Reservation system is a total mess up. Restaurant is not very clean as well.

Solid spot for congee and Cantonese food. Reasonable prices, decent portions. Tastes great. Good amount of seating. Lots of old Cantonese folk eating here, so you know it's pretty good. read more

Abalone & Chicken sawo porridge is my go-to. Definitely tastes better than it looks here in this photo. I've only ordered for to-go here, but overall the service is decent and tastes great. read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

This chicken is cooked perfectly, taste juicy and tender. And the ginger sauce on the side is my favourite! I always ask them for extra sauce cause it taste much better with the sauce! read more

Porridge & Things - Free-Range Chicken w/ Ginger & Onion Sauce - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

I went to try Porridge & Things for the first time the other day with my family. They are open for dine-in now and has ample space for social distancing. We had the yellow croaker, Napa cabbage stew, and steamed free-range chicken and goose. They told us their specialty was the steamed free-range chicken and braised goose so we decided to try both. Food was good, pretty authentic to the Chinese pallet, nothing to complain about. Will come try their porridge next time since its Porridge & Things after all. read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

Food is good, but service can really be improved. I was a regular because of the food, but the service really turns people away.

Portions are way too small. Overpriced. Fun to try for one time, but there will be no return visit from me. Wagyu sawo porridge: ($16) the sawo pot did not come full with porridge. Rice is so cheap dude...fill it up. Beef was rough and not tender. Simple flavor, but not much here. Could make it better at home tbh. Braised duck: ($22) flavor was decent, but again pretty unimpressive, and price was steep for this portion size. I could get a whole roasted duck elsewhere for this price. (Literally, go next door) Satay beef chow fun: ($16) i could see the chef making this in the open kitchen, and he did not look like he knew what he was doing lol. Dish came out and confirmed my concerns. The noodles were still stuck together in lumps. There was no "wok flavor". Dish was TINY. Like not enough for one person to be full. The satay sauce was clumpy. Service was excellent though. All of their waiters were very sharp and attentive. They deserve all the stars. One star for edible food, one star for great service. But yea otherwise just don't come here. read more

The $88 family of 4 menu is not enough food for 4 even for small eaters. We added a fried rice and it was also tiny with barely any sausages. Taste wise everything was pretty good but nothing so amazing I feel like I have to come back for. For this price I think I can easily get better food nearby. I thought crab porridge would be similar to the one I had in Macau but far far from it. It wasn't bad, just not super good and I was expecting super since it is their signature dish. read more

Love their crab and shrimp porridge. Serving size was generous and well priced. Will return to try their other items on menu

I was amazed at their pork liver porridge, braised duck, and tofu which are authentic Chaoshan dishes. I ordered to go this time but want to try to dine in the next time. read more

it was an outstanding meal. both my husband and I enjoyed very much. Steam fish was so tender and fresh. beef with yellow bean sprouts was so delicious. A wise choice of dinner tonight. read more

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Food are good, service ok , ambiance not so much. Prices are moderate . Will definitely recommend to oth

The porridge is so good! Hope I can get to have it everyday! The seafood in the porridge is fresh and perfectly seasoned and cooked. The portion is quite satisfying as well. read more

The porridge at this restaurant is mediocre at best. I feel like their specialty are the dishes other than the porridge like their fried rice and noodles. Also other side dishes like their deep fried chicken cartilage and chives dish is very good read more

Apparently they have great food. This review is for ordering takeout over the phone. They DO NOT speak English. The woman answered with "hello" but could not continue taking our order in English. This was disappointing since I heard good things about the food. My take: They don't want anyone ordering food over the phone unless you speak Mandarin. read more

Great Chiu Chow dishes. Love their sawo crab prawns porridge. However it is on the pricey side.

We ordered takeout at the place and picked up in the store. When we picked up the order everything were in the bag so we didn't check. That's a big mistake so something I will definitely double check next time. After arriving home with more than 40mins drive, we realized that they only packed 2 out of the 4 things we ordered though every dish was circled on the tag. We called the store and they only offer one option that we need to drive back to the store to get the credit or the dish ?! We explained that we live quite far away and happened to be around today. They didn't listen and insisted that they only have that one option for us to get the dish or money back ( no venmo or other wireless transfer, and no delivery option). I mentioned that they left me no option but to share this review and they just asked me to do it anyway and hanged up my phone. I will never go back to this restaurant again and please double check your online orders! read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

very very good restaurant. I like the pork&dry oyster porridge. I already order this dishes more than 5 times. It tasted so good.

Visited this place last night, the food was ok. But while I was waiting in line, (only two tables were waiting). There were two ladies just enter to the restaurant and tell the waiter that they have a party of two, and the waiter just sat those two on a four person table immediately. Come on, do you really need to skip the line for two parties waiting ahead of us? read more

Don't come! No air conditioning! Indoor is 86 degree, and they reject to open the air conditioner.

Great place to come to if you like paying double for porridge.

Love this place! Its a new restaurant that has more than just porridge. We ordered their signature crab and prawn porridge, live steamed fish, fried rice and oyster pancake. All of them tasted great! Service was great too, especially with them helping de-bone the fish for us. We will definitely come back, probably tomorrow actually. read more

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Quality of the food: The crab and prawn in the Sawo porridge are not fresh. For sure they had died for a long time. The braised goose is very dry and tough. The pan-fried oyster pancake is very oily and not much oyster taste. The sesame glutinous rice dumplings are very dense and heavy. The worst yet is the Taro sugar dessert, it is coated with white sugar, very dense and no flavor at all. Price and Portion: The prices are too high for such quality, and portions are way too small for the prices. This is my first time there and will be no return visits. read more

Nice place with highly professional, acknowledged, and polite staff! They opened only some days ago but i already in love with their food! You really should try it! read more

Tried this new place in Milbrae downtown with two friends at noon time on a weekday. There's a public parking lot and two hour street parking around but this area gets busy during the lunch and dinner crowd. The restaurant is quite spacious and clean. We ordered a two-people set meal($48) that comes with three small dishes and large pot of porridge and one more dish to share. The three dishes are scallion pancake, fish ball, and some kind of shrimp and chive dim sum and all tasted pretty good. The seafood porridge is my favorite with generous amount of shrimps and a whole crab in it. The porridge is very flavorful and I love how the restaurant also provides 6 type of condiments to add to the porridge! However, my companions complained about how the crab wasn't cleaned very well. We also ordered an oyster pancake but I'm not a fan of this dish as the pancake was a bit dry and I didn't taste much of the oyster. The portion size of each dish is considered small and the pricing is higher comparing to similar type of restaurants. read more

Food not great for the price. Service was basic, had to chase server down as they don't check on you or make eye contact. Food not as fresh as it should be for price. Much better options in Area. read more

Perfect comfort food for days and nights. All their seafood porridge are worth a try, regardless oysters or scallops. Their marinated food like duck and chicken are great match with porridge. Desserts are not bad either. Definitely recommend! read more

The waitress is very friendly , but the portions are tiny ,and the food are over priced ,specially they charge fee for the tea which we don't drThey should put out a sign if u drink tea will be 1.50 per person .Surely they didn't asked if we wanted tea or something differences.They just put the tea on the table and we asked for hot water . read more

Authentic and delicious porridge. Should have taken photos. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but savory memory, hmmmm truly lasting.

Very delicious food! Cold crab, and the goose was so good! Definitely will return and try more food!

Overpriced for an ok and slightly below average Chinese food. The porridge was accompanied with bunch of small side dishes (seaweed, pickled daikon,dried salted fish, and peanuts) to add more flavor to it, otherwise quite plain. read more

Came to try out this place on a Sunday afternoon, pleasantly not too packed. Parking wasn't too hard on the street. The interior doesn't look like it went through major update since the last business, but the layout is definitely a lot better and seems spacious. We ordered a number of dishes to try; started off with the famous crab and shrimp sawo... read more