My cousin made a reservation for our party of 12 relatives, most of whom are originally from Hong Kong but raised by their Teochew mother. We enjoyed trying the Teochew specialties, my favorites being the chive stems with squid and the fish porridge. The service was quick and friendly for our large party, and I appreciated being by the sliding glass doors for fresh air. read more

Parking on street, mostly 2 hours or public lot. Broadway usually one hour limit. Fairly good size seating. We ate make your own porridge. We ordered catfish filled. Tasted average to above average, green onion turnips, black fungus included. Braised goose dish tasted average, nothing special. Special rice noodles tasted good, less greasy than other noodles, shrimps, green onions, eggs, pseudo pork. The pork should be char siu but pork substitute was used. Improvement needed, eliminate the pseudo pork. Free tea. Service good, removal of finished plate entrees, gave us take away cartons. ambiance average, this looks like a family style restaurant. Overall, 3.5 stars out of 5, round up to 4 stars. read more

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I love their porridge. I got the scallops with oysters. We also got roasted duck and house combo fried rice. Will surey recommend. Perfect for this kind of weather. Service was good too. So yeah, glad we tried this place. Definitely will come back. read more

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We came here after top golf to celebrate a friend's bday. Food was great however the portion size seemed to be a little smaller than before. So I think overall this place is a bit pricy. Staffs were great & nice but our food did take longer to come out since of was pretty busy when we were there. Oh bring some cash with you if you want a little tiny discount. read more

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Decent place for porridge and other things. Chive dumplings - 3.5/5, from what I remember it had a nice chew to it, which I really liked; almost like mochi. Nice slight crisp, though a tad oily. Scallop and oyster porridge - 3/5, big pot with decent amount of scallops and oysters, scallops were good. Can season the porridge more to your taste Braised duck - 1/5, looked much better in the picture. It was too rough to enjoy, flavor was meh. Braised pork intestine - 4/5, soft and flavorful, can't go wrong. Yum! Braised beef stomach - 3.5/5, can't go wrong with this either. Soft and delish. Oyster pancake - 2.5/5, floppy pancake with oyster inside. I got this bc my mom liked oysters, but it was just alright. Stir fried chives - 3/5, it was alright, but on the saltier side read more

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The only drawback! It is too far from Sanfan and Nanwan because it is located in the peninsula! I only come to check in when I come to SF Airport to pick up friends or go for a walk in Half Moon Bay The food is affordable and large in quantity. The dishes are rich and you can eat until you are full and lean on the wall! The signature Chaoshan porridge is super delicious at the first bite! The versatile porridge can be matched with any ingredients, including beef balls, fish fillets, scallops, pork bones, abalone, and a variety of meat, seafood and vegetables. I like the scallop and clam minced meat porridge the most, with chopped green onions and olives, otherwise it will be a bit greasy if you drink too much~ The braised platter contains braised goose, tripe, large intestine, tofu, and eggs. It is a super large portion and you can't finish it at all! I had to go to LA to eat the iron pot stewed goose before, but I didn't expect to eat it in the braised dish! The casserole fish bone and belly pot is very hot! It's a bit oily but the fish is very tender and has Guangdong characteristics! The blanched pork liver is not fishy! Delicious! The fish balls soaked in watercress are relatively light, and the soup base is very delicious, but the fish balls feel a bit like starch balls. . The porridge is written as a serving for two people, but the amount is super large. If there are two girls, it feels like one serving is enough. There are many classic Chaoshan Cantonese dishes on the menu, and the preserved radish egg omelette, oyster stir-fry, and beef noodles are all very good! Workers living nearby can order one meal at a time as a takeaway canteen, which is super cost-effective. Cantonese cuisine is suitable for all ages and is very suitable for family gatherings. There are not many people on weekdays, so it is best to call and make reservations in advance on weekends~ Porridge&Things Wen Ge Chao Ting Congee Products 235 Broadway, Millbrae, CA 94030 read more

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Came here with my family around 11am on a weekend and it was pretty empty. Like other reviews have said, service is definitely not the greatest but if you grew up eating at these kinds of establishments you know that's just how it is, especially when it gets busy. Now if we're talking strictly food, it's pretty good. We ordered: Scallop fried rice w/ preserved olives (not specified but they're olive leaves) Beef chow fun w/ satay sauce Chicken and abalone porridge Chinese fried doughnuts Stir fried sea food with vegetables In my opinion, must gets are the porridge (the restaurant name is porridge and things so of course) and the stir fried sea food with vegetables (literally saw every table order this and it's SO good). The wok hei here is pretty good so if you order anything else stir fried I'm willing to bet it's pretty decent. Food also came out in like 5 minutes although we did come at a less busy time. All in all I would come back again if I am craving porridge, but I can't recommend coming here if you are looking for the best service. It's just not that kind of establishment. read more

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This porridge restaurant is always my first choice when I feel sick or feel like porridge. I love their meat ball porridge. read more

Porridge & Things - Beef mushrooms fried noodles taste amazing. - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

This place is honestly one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the bay. Everything on the menu is pretty special, meaning you can't really just make these at home, which makes it even more worth it! Came with a party of 5 and ordered 5 different dishes and it came down to $25/person including tax and tip, which is honestly such a good deal in SF. We all walked out super full too. I'd say the duck, porridge, and chive pancake is a must try! Tbh, excited to go back just to try other things on the menu since everything just looked so tasty. read more

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Food is good and we frequent this place, but the service this time was rude and unacceptable. While we were still in the middle of packing our food, the waiter came over, announced the total, and stood there waiting even though we hadn't asked for the bill and the restaurant wasn't even half full. We asked if he could wait, but he continued standing there as we packed. Feeling uncomfortable, we stopped and asked for the bill, at which point he repeated the total without showing an itemized bill until we requested it. Despite feeling rushed, we still left a small tip, only to be confronted by the waiter as if we entered the wrong amount. The entitlement and lack of basic etiquette left a very bad impression. read more

This place is usually busy whenever I've come by but thankfully today we went at an off time and there was no wait. Ordered congee and green onion pancake..super yummy read more

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It ruined my Thanksgiving night. Tbh, the only star I gave it to the foods. Is good quality. These are why I won't go back 1- The restaurant not even that busy and full yet, we had our reservations, then still everyone just keeps telling me next table will be us. Excuse me, then why I made reservations for? Also keep seeing other ppl skip ahead of us, I know they have reservations too, but why not me first since we both are on 6 and I came here first. 2- The waiter put an extra dish on my order and lied to me. I told him I didn't order this i ordered that. He said let me check then came back told me I ordered it both. Come on, I know what i ordered man. Well, I was mad about that but since is holiday, ok, I take the dish too. 3- Then found out he missed 2 things from my order. The oyster pancakes and chow mein are not there. No one even check it what we need in the middle of the dinner, we have to call them many times and ask if our foods still coming. Then they told me i didn't know order it. Till that moment my thanksgiving night be ruined for sure. read more

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We arrived late but thankfully they were able to seat us. Place wasn't busy and the appetizers came the latest. We made a quick meal of things tho as they were working to eat themselves at the end of the night. We had gotten wings and an onion pancake the share. The porridge we got the classic with pork and eggs. Solid flavors overall I'd say. I like the little selection dish for additions you can toss in. I'd say my only gripe was not having white pepper or chili oil but that's just a preference of mine. The appetizers were nice and crispy, and what'd you'd expect. It hit the spot for us though. If we went by again, it'd be much earlier than closing since that limited some things we could order timewise. read more

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Porridge & Things is an upscale spinoff of Noodles & Things, offering Teochew (Chiuchow) cuisine from Southern China in a spacious dining room. To start, we had the vinegar and chili-laced Jellyfish Salad, which had a nice crunchy texture and acidic flavor; and the Fried Oyster Pancake, made with egg, chewy potato starch, and oysters, served with vinegar on the side for acidity. The pancake was less runny than the Taiwanese version and featured a nice crispy, chewy texture and seafoody flavor. A must-get item here was the porridge (as a specialty of Teochew and given the restaurant's name), and we had the Signature Crab & Prawn Sawo Porridge, a luxurious congee featuring head-on, shell-on shrimp and pieces of crab (including the shell and glands), along with scallions and pickled vegetables as condiments. The porridge was smooth and balanced in flavor, and squirting the shrimp head juices into the porridge added a nice touch of flavor. Another opulent dish was the Braised Combo, which included five different signature braised items flavored with a savory sauce. There was meaty braised goose, eggs, fried tofu, soft beef tripe, and pork intestine (which had a funky flavor I just couldn't appreciate). We had a pot of Braised Tofu in Special Bean Sauce, a pot of pan-fried tofu cooked with scallions in a viscous sauce; and my favorite dish was the Stir Fried Seafood with Vegetables, which featured Chinese chives stir-fried with squid and peanuts. The chives had a nice crunchy texture and vegetal flavor, which paired nicely with the seafoody chopped squid and the crunchy, earthy peanuts. Overall, though the menu items didn't come cheap, the food here was delicious, and my favorite dishes included the Seafood Stir-Fry, the Oyster Pancake, and the braised items! read more

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Price increased and food portion decreased. Below average customer services. Not recommended.

1. 1/5 on the jelly fish appetizer. It was too sour and spicy. Lacked seasonings including sesame oil. 2. 2/5 on the satay beef chow fun. Traditionally, this dish should be served with pineapples. Little to no "wok hey" and nothing to rave about. 3. 4/5 on the pan fried chive dumplings. Even though there were under seasoned, I loved the mochi liked chewiness. They were crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. 4. 4/5 on the porridge. I enjoyed the flavors of the mushroom fish and frog porridge. It was big enough to serve 3 people. read more

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We initially planned to visit another restaurant for lunch, but Porridge & Things caught our eye, so we decided to spontaneously check it out. The beautiful open-air space, with plenty of natural lighting from the skylight, created a welcoming atmosphere. We ordered the scallop, oyster, and minced pork sawo porridge, which was delicious. The large, juicy pieces of clam added a nice seafood flavor. We also got a Chinese donut, which was fluffy and crispy, pairing perfectly with the porridge. We also ordered the pig ear and were impressed with the flavor. It was garlicky and one of the best I've had!! The service was quick, making this an ideal lunch spot. read more

Porridge & Things - Pig Spicy Pork Ear - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

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The food was terrible, and the service was even worse. A lousy restaurant, I don't recommend going.

Sautéed beef w mushroom Cantonese style, fresh from tank steamed Rockcod w scallions and soy sauce, fried rice, and clams w basil were all perfectly cooked and we ate everything read more

Hidden neighborhood gem. Relaxed atmosphere with friendly service. Quality and freshness of ingredients shine thru. Excellent Jook and fresh live seafood from tanks. Ask Sally for recommendations. She is the BEST!!! read more

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My daughter is vegetarian. She always enjoy the offerings on the menu. This place is a very convenient place to go since its close by the SFO. But this also means we need to schedule our itinerary around meal times! This place is always so busy with patrons. read more

Very disappointing experience. Food quality: 0/5 the beef scallop porridge wasn't fresh. The scallop had a icky taste. The beef taste was off. For the steamed egg with seafood, the seafood was definitely fishy and not fresh. Food variety: 2/5 lots of food to choose from. It's unfortunate that the porridge here are not customizable so not very accommodating here. Service: 3/5 decent. Brought plates to change, however no tea refill. Ambiance: super noisy as it's a place for big groups and gatherings. Air quality is stuffy. Would not recommend this place, even though the price is moderate but definitely not worth it! Better off going to a fast food place for some comfort food than be disappointed with mediocre food. read more

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Their porridge is probably one of the best in the bay area. They have various porridge choices and you can even customize your own. Our favorite is their scallop, oyster and minced pork porridge but this place is so much more than porridge. They also have the best marinated food. We got their braised combo and it was nothing like any other places around the bay area - well marinated, not too salty with complex flavors that you can tell they marinated with a bunch of different spices. Other dishes that we love includes bamboo with lamb belly in clay pot and beef chow fun with satay sauce. Can't wait to come again and try other items on their menu. read more

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Went there for lunch with my wife and daughter , waitress Sally knew us over 20 years ( at another restaurant), greeted us with excitement and excellent services, we ordered the congee, thousand year old egg and pork , fried donuts, seafood stir fried noodles. Marinated tofu and pork's ear. Very good food, will come back again read more

This place is relatively new. Not cheap. A dish of fried rice and fried noodles with no drinks ended up $50 (tax and tip). Quality of food was good enough, no surprises. Parking can be a nightmare, but you will find one in the 'hood. There are better places in the area. Had lunch there a week ago and saw plenty of empty tables at 12 pm. Dinner may be a bit busier. read more

Essentially, Porridge & Things offers a menu filled with Cantonese cuisine and, of course, porridge. When it comes to ordering, I usually leave it to my parents, so I won't attempt to name the dishes (you can just refer to the photos I took). The service was decent, falling neither into the excellent nor poor category. The staff conversed in Cantonese with my parents, and given their tendency to customize their orders extensively, I appreciated the staff's patience. However, there are a few key points worth noting: - The food, unfortunately, leaned heavily on the salty side. - Our custom porridge, featuring pork and century egg, turned out to be excessively watery and lacked flavor. - The fried dough sticks were dense and lacking the airy quality that makes them delightful. All in all, the dining experience was unremarkable. We arrived at 6 pm on a Sunday and waited approximately 30 minutes for our table, so I had hoped for a more enjoyable experience. In the end, I probably consumed an entire kettle of tea by myself, which somewhat sums up my overall impression. read more

Porridge & Things - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

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People are tripping for leaving less than 5 stars, imo (or maybe the restaurant has really improved in the past year or something). The food here is delicious and authentic, and it's one of the only places to get good porridge. The environment is beautiful. Definitely a place you can come with a big group of friends or colleagues. Service is standard Chinese: quick with no wasted words. Huge fan of this place, come here regularly. Only leaving a review because I don't agree at all with the star ranking right now. read more

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Signature garlic chicken is crispy outside, tender inside, just a little bit salted, super recommended. It is only limited to dine in option, since it takes a little bit time to roasting, making sure order it as soon as you can, about 20 mins-30 mins. Other dish is quick, like 5 minutes preparation. Beef is good as well. A lot of TV inside, kitchen is separate from dining area, I liked the environment. read more

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I've come here on two separate occasions for lunch and dinner and have enjoyed both times coming here. Located at one end of the Millbrae downtown area full of restaurants and shops, Porridge & Things offers a wide variety of Teochow and Cantonese cuisine with a specialization in making delicious porridge. The inside has a nice modern and clean look with a good variety of large banquet tables, smaller tables, and booth seating. The place has a good amount of business so coming here for a Saturday for lunch did require a short wait. Their menu consists of a wide variety of options. Even for their porridge alone, they have over 12 different options with two different porridge types and an option for a fully customizable porridge. I've tried two of their porridges and they were both excellent and came in a large pot with some delicious and flavorful pickled vegetables on the side that go excellently with them. The cost is pretty good too for the sheer size of the porridge and amount of ingredients added in it. Their noodle dishes are all solid too with their seafood fried noodle being one of my favorites here. Other dishes I've tried here include their oyster pancake and braised goose which are both pretty good as well. In the end, I've really enjoyed all the food I've had here and do look forward to more visits here in the future. read more

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Great place to eat before dropping off someone at the SFO airport. Came on Saturday around 7:30 pm whilst it was raining. Lucky to find street parking and the restaurant was packed. The name porridge or congee is Chinese comfort food, made with rice and flavored with meats. You can see most tables order the specialty rice porridge with additional dishes. A trio of garnishes is placed on your table meant to be added to your rice porridge to enhance the flavor and are not appetizers. We ordered the pork bone rice porridge $$22, fried chives with squid $26, Satay beef with rice noodles $17 and the fried oyster with egg $17. All the dishes were so good and satisfying. An inviting place to visit for Chiu Chow style Chinese cuisine. read more

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This is a decent place to grab Chinese. I've been here several times. Their dishes taste very authentic and true to dishes that you would eat in China. They're best known for their porridge, for good reason, because their porridge is well made - well flavored and good texture. The service is decent. The place is fairly well kept, and a decent size, good for any size groups. The prices are relatively high, for this style of food, but still fair because their food tastes so good. read more

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We tried braised duck half and abalone and chicken porridge early in the morning. We also order pan fried white mullet. The fish tastes good with freshness and salty flavors. It must be marinated overnight with salt. Porridge is in Cantonese flavor but the chicken and abalone are plain. Braised duck are good in portions! Served are decent and not too noisy due to holiday. read more

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Very authentic and delicious. The owner is from Shang Hai, China. So, if you are looking for Shang Hai cuisine, this is a nice place. read more

porridge tastes good, tried few different kinds, also tried jelly fish appetizer, chinese donut, stir fried asian cauliflowers with lap cheung 臘腸, all good. always go there to pickup instead of dine-in. it would be better if the waitress taking orders on phone be more polite. read more

My family loves coming to this place especially on a cold and rainy night in Millbrae! Nothing quite hits the spot like their porridge. I crave this place every time I'm back home in the Bay Area. Come for the porridge stay for the seafood! The crab is delicious and the ong Chong is filled with umami! If you're in the area give this place a try! Service is attentive and we always get what we need! read more

Porridge sounded really great after a night of wine... But man, this place really undersold. I rarely write negative reviews but I was pretty put off by the lack of anything in this porridge. For $18, we were presented with a large bowl of warm water and maybe less than 1/2 cup of rice. We had ordered the abalone and chicken sawo porridge. It was deeply disappointing as we rarely had any chicken and it was completely watered down and had no rice at all as you can see in the picture. I've had my share of porridge so this was generally, a let down. I would not come back here again. :/ read more

Porridge & Things - "Porridge"? Abalone and chicken sawo porridge. Just water/broth. No sustenance. - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

Love this place! We're a table of 4 and ordered 3 dishes: Braised Combo, Clam & Scallop Porridge, and Satay Beef Fried Vermicelli My favorite is the porridge with their authentic ingredients and taste of freshness. Servers are nice and most of them speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin... made me felt like home read more

Porridge & Things - Braised Combos - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

I wouldn't come back to this place. The food didn't taste good, and the service was just as disappointing. We were there for over 1.5 hours and were still waiting for our last dish. We followed up with the waiter twice, but he never came back with an update. We finally had to call him over to cancel the dish, and only then did he return from the kitchen with it about five minutes later. read more

===TL;DR=== - Braised Combos - MUST - Watercress w/ pork liver soup - Beef chow fun - wet - Signature stir fry ===TMI=== Came here before pre-pandemic and forgot to review them then so I'll review them now on a more current visit! Still love this place. Didn't get any porridge this time but their porridge is bomb! So many options and customizations. All time favorite hands down goes to the braised combos, you get to sample their most popular braised signatures all in one (if you don't like innards, recommend ordering them separately -wink-). Omg lemme hit the spotlight on the soup real quick. Out of all the innards, I normally don't like pork livers, they're usually bold and strong in flavor plus they're usually dry. This place, it was so fresh and bouncy, very acceptable (sorry non-innard friends, I'll move on). Their beef chow fun here, they used a thin rice noodle (picture turtle towers pho ga noodles) compared to the thick ones we're usually used to seeing. And their signature sir fry was so bomb, all you need is literally a plate of this a many bowls of rice and you're set (almost can pass for a snack). Honestly they have so much to explore on the menu, you can never go wrong. Come here for a family gathering, friend catch up, or for a comfy date :D Uh yeah... too excited to eat so forgot to take photos but you get the idea :) read more

Porridge & Things - (Nov 2021) Braised Combos - MUST - Chinese Near Me - Millbrae, California

The price of their food is a little above average but there are some dishes that you don't normally see in your typical Chinese restaurant and maybe because of the location. Both the service and ambiance are good. I went there twice during lunch time on weekdays and not a lot of people there. I heard it can be crowed during dinner time. The parking might be harder to find during dinner time. All my dishes are a little saltier in one of my visits and second time the food tastes normal (maybe different cooks?). The chew mein was ok. I like their two vermicelli clay pot dishes (one with shrimp and another one with clam and crab roe), chives pancakes and fish paste balls with watercress soup. I will definitely go back again to taste other dishes. read more

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