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Porridge Place - CLOSED
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
137 reviews for Porridge Place
Review Highlights
"The addition of yummy side dishes."
(in 34 reviews)
"Perfect place for comfort food."
(in 22 reviews)
"Although I'm not a super big fan of the Yam porridge."
(in 33 reviews)
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137 reviews in English
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Review from Mayumi K.
Sunnyvale, CA
9/7/2011
Does anyone know where they moved?
seems they are closed.... -
Review from joan e.
Cupertino, CA
10/30/2011
An alternative is
The Porridge
1706 N. Milpitas Blvd. Milpitas, CA
(408)935-9369
The original cook at Porridge Place works here
http://www.yelp.com/bi... -
Review from Eugene P.
Santa Clara, CA
11/20/2011
CLOSED! I wish they would remove this location from Yelp.
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Review from Derrick H.
South San Francisco, CA
6/12/2011 6 photos
What is more comforting than a bowl of porridge? The addition of yummy side dishes.
Second time coming here with friends and it has yet to disappoint me. Recommendations: Tofu with Perserved Eggs, Napa Cabbage, Eggplant and Dried Bean Curd. But everything goes well with the porridge!
Try this place if you're in the area! -
Review from Chloé N.
Mountain View, CA
5/21/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I liked place since the first time I went there, though a little confused at the beginning of how to order. The food was not bad, and the porridge is really nice!
I'm quite into porridge when the weather's hot, but don't have much patience to make it myself. Or sometimes I just feel like eating porridge with some veggies when I wake up. It's good I found one here!
What I like most there is definitely the cabbage--seems really easy to make, but no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't taste as good as theirs! The other food is average, but relatively cheap, so overall I'm pretty happy with them.Listed in: Restaurant
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Review from Eduardo M.
Chicago, IL
I have not the words for the this place. Seriously, there are no words I understood in the menu or outside, or anywhere (all in Chinese!). Well, ok, there were a few words. Words like the name of the place, and "Lunch Special - pick three" were about all I was about to make out.
Now, food can be a universal language, and as much, all I did was point at all kinds (well, three of all kinds) of foreign things and just saw my plate fill up.
When I got to a table, they gave me a bowl of sweet potato rice porridge, and I was in Taiwanese food heaven.
Definitely a return lunch visit will happen. -
Review from D S.
San Francisco, CA
2/24/2011
I used to come here with my cousin. We loved the cheap price and tasty side dishes. But!!!! one day after we ate there, we had some left over and asked for the to go box for the side dishes and the porridge. The waitress said we have to pay extra for the porridge if we want to take it home. We told her, we're just gonna take the left over porridge in the big red bowl that she served us with. Then she said "oh you still have to pay $1, because we put the porridge back in the pot."
We're like "WTF!!!!", we were shocked, didn't know what to say. I guess the waitress realized that she spilled the restaurant's "secret". She quickly said, "oh oh it's okay, you can take the porridge home."
Yeah ..... so we left, didn't even take our side dishes home and never go back ever since. -
Review from Minty O.
3/16/2011
Ate here for lunch. The service was rude. The side dishes were pretty good. I'd recommend the minced pork, green beans, tea eggs, and the bok choy.
The porridge itself is totally bland and tasteless.
The hot tea was good because it had a ton more flavor than the porridge did.
The service absolutely sucked salty balls... hmmm i bet those have more flavor than the porridge too.
Would i come back here? "Eek! Methinks not." -
Review from Aris L.
Los Angeles, CA
7/5/2011
not bad for the taiwanese porridge..i like their pork intestine...ask the waiter ''ZHU ZHANG" because in the menu they list in with chinese words..the price also reasonable..CASH ONLY if im not mistaken
CONCLUSION = RECOMMENDED!! -
Review from Katrina v.
San Jose, CA
3/6/2011
I'm not crazy about porridge in general, but this stuff hits the spot sometimes i.e. when it's freezing out. Always crowded during weekend dinner times...pop in during an off hour if you hate waiting. I come here every so often because a few of my family members love porridge.
So, here's how it works...you go up to the counter and point at whatever stuff you want. Some of it looks scary, but most of it tastes good. You can't really go wrong with any of the tofu dishes.
Then, you sit down at your table and they bring you a big pot of porridge with yam inside. You can put all your food into the porridge and eat it..or like..whatever, you know? Eat it however you prefer!
This place is pretty unique when it comes to Asian/Chinese food cos there aren't too many porridge places around. Not the kinda Taiwanese place where you see (m)any non-Asians...I'm Filipino and i"ve been coming here for years. I've always gotten just OK service, but no big complaints. -
Review from J T.
CA
Updated - 1/28/2011
Grilled salty fish (mackerel?), mustard greens, garlicky cucumber and carrot salad.
Big bowl of porridge studded with yam/sweet potato pieces.
MM-MMMM-YUMMM.
Now *this* is the perfect comfort food, on a grey threatening overcast day like today.
Bonus: Taiwanese being spoken at the next table.
Ahhhhh. Feels kind of like childhood.
:D1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/10/2010
Holy han-chee (sweet potato)... do you like tofu that's not deep fried? Garlicky dark soy sauce… Read more »
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Review from Maggie Y.
Fremont, CA
1/13/2011
Perfect place for comfort food!
Atmosphere: Very casual. You can either order to go or eat there.
Food: They have most side dishes you would expect at a porridge place. My favorites are: green bean + minced pork, edamame beans + tofu, eggplant and pork belly + bell pepper.
Cost: For $6.50 you get 3 side dishes and the choice of rice or porridge for lunch.
This place is perfect for rainy/cold days or weekend brunch.
If you're going for lunch, I would recommend going 11:30 to avoid the lunch rush. -
Review from Steve M.
Sunnyvale, CA
3/2/2011
I normally come here on weekday lunches and really like this place.
They have a lunch special for around $6 to get 3 items with porridge.
I came for the first time at night and it was BAD!!!
They didn't have the eggplant dish I normally get.
I got leftover porridge and it was much different from all the porridge I got at lunch. They charge $1 to take home leftover porridge because they serve your leftover porridge to other customers.
PROS: Good food and lots of choices.
Cheap during Lunch Special on weekdays.
CONS: Expensive at night and weekends.
Combines leftover porridge to server to new customers. -
Review from Serena V.
San Jose, CA
5/24/2011
Best place to eat if you're in Cupertino Village and feeling very hungry. It's a bit like fast food restaurant. The big difference is that it's porridge and not burgers.
I ate here 3 times in a span of a week because of some family and friends in town were staying in the hotel next door. We didn't tire of the food at all. It's almost like home-cooked food... simple fare but delicious. Prices are very reasonable.
If you are there for lunch and in a group, it's cheaper to share dishes than to get the individual lunch plates. The lunch plate actually has too much food... well at least for the average-sized stomach. ;)
If you can't make up your mind about which dishes to get, try the minced pork balls and the cabbage dishes.
Service is nothing to write home about, so don't expect too much. -
Review from nellie t.
10/8/2010 1 Check-in Here
Oh man, where to even start? The porridge here is fantastic--love that it comes with yams--and all of the side dishes are fresh to death. I've been here several times (two times with my gramma, who is totally OG), and have yet to have a bad meal here.
It's nothing flashy--just good old fashioined comfort food. Taiwanese style (aka baller-style)
Yes, the service can be a little lacking, especially if you come here during off-peak hours (say 3pm), but the food makes up for it. The parking in Cupertino Village also sucks. Ugh, I would definitely come here more often if I didn't hate parking there so much. Seriously. It's like California just handed out drivers licenses to everybody and anybody.
So, anyways..
You can also get the food to-go, which is like magic to me. Oh man, there's a good chance I'm stopping by here for dinner tonight. Yum, yum, yum. -
Review from Amy C.
1/16/2011
How have I not reviewed this place yet?? I come here all the time. A warning, though: if you're not Chinese, this place will be a bit of a culture shock. Not only in terms of language; the servers don't even try to give you good service, but will still chase you down if you don't leave a tip. But the food is cheap and good, if oily.
When you walk in, a lady will ask you how many and tell you which table you're sitting at. Then, at the front, you pick out the dishes; during lunch, 3 for a lunch special, and during dinner, individually. Finally, they insist that you sit down (the only thing making this place a sit-down restaurant, and therefore the only real reason there's tip) and they bring you your food and a ton of porridge with sweet potato, along with some hot tea. At the end, you pay at the front.
The lion's head meatballs, Chinese sausage, napa cabbage, bamboo shoots, ground beef sauce, dried tofu strips, and egg fried with pickled radish (the last is from the all-Chinese menu on the back wall) are all good. Everything is best with steaming hot porridge. -
Review from Amy S.
10/6/2010 2 photos
No visit to the Bay Area is complete without lunch at Porridge Place. I. LOVE. THIS. PLACE. It's nothing flashy but it's Taiwanese comfort food at it's best. I prefer going at lunch instead of dinner because the lunch deal makes it more worth it: $6.50 for all-you-can-eat porridge + 3 side dish choices. The portions are huge for lunch, enough to take leftovers home. The only thing that dinner has on lunch at Porridge Place is the century egg and tofu dish which is one of their best dishes. They don't offer it as a part of the lunch deal, but you can order it as another side dish.
Usually there's a wait during the peak lunch hours. When your table is ready, just go straight up to the buffet section in the back and pick out your 3 side dish choices from the 20+ they have pre-made. Don't worry if you can't speak Chinese or don't know what it's called; pointing is sufficient. They'll bring those and the pot of porridge to your table, along with tea or water. I always take forever to decide because all the dishes look so tasty, but somehow I always seem to end up with at least two of these three: the spicy marinated tripe, the bamboo shoots, and the sliced stomach with pickled vegetables. If you go with more people, you can get different choices and share.
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
The rice porridge at Porridge Place isn't quite like how mom makes it at home because they add yam to it. I don't particularly like the yam so I avoid the big pieces and go for the smaller bits, but if you like yam then you'll love this porridge. The consistency of the porridge is perfect, not too thick and not too watery. Free refills of the porridge too!
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
**Cash only!Listed in: California Dreamin'
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Review from Carrie C.
Philadelphia, PA
9/4/2010
This place is great for warm, soupy, yummy in my tummy comfort food. The porridge is always piping hot and slightly flavored with yams cooked in the rice. Lining up at the front counter, there are a myriad of choices for sides, and all of them are very affordable. Today we had the sliced bean curd, chicken, cabbage, tofu, tea eggs, string beans, and xiao long bao.
Good: sliced bean curd, cabbage, xiao long bao, chicken
- All these dishes were very flavorful and well done
Meh: tofu, tea eggs, string beans
- Tofu a little too salty, eggs kind of hard and overdone, string beans a little wilty and soggy
The service is only okay, as tonight they were understaffed. Ordering the side dishes at the counter took much longer than it should have because there was only one person taking peoples orders, filling the dishes, and delivering them to the table. There is also very little sitting area, so even at 8:30pm, there was a long wait for a table.
If there was another porridge place in the area, I would love to try it out because my experience at this place has only been okay. However, for well under $10/person for a full stomach, it's a great deal, and I will probably keep coming back. -
Review from Helen H.
San Jose, CA
6/12/2011
I don't think the kind of people that frequent this place would read from reviews on Yelp but I feel compelled to write one, this place has the same set up as Lu's Garden in LA which was one of my favorite restaurants, they make all the dishes in advance, lay it out buffet style & you just let the waitress know what you want, they will bring all the dishes plus a big bowl of traditional porridge with yam to your table. Lu's Garden's staff were friendly, there were always abundance of food, and they all look and taste delicious. The Porridge Place was quiet the opposite, the first time we went, we had arrived at 9:30pm, this restaurant close at 10pm, most restaurant would allow you to stay to eat as long as you order before the kitchen closes, so I didn't see any problem going in with 30 min to spare as all their dishes were pre-made, but the waitress asked if we would be done with eating by 9;45pm, meaning get out of the door by 9:45pm, we were appalled with this comment & just left...
After a couple of weeks, we were in the neighborhood, having the porridge craving never satisfied from the previous time, we went again, this time at 8:30pm, most of the dishes there were half empty, the only vegetarian dishes left were napa cabbage, and bitter melon, I asked if they had any braised eggplant, I was told it was sold out, well, they still had more than 1 1/2 hour before closing, shouldn't they make all the dishes available???? so if the kitchen ran out of eggplant, the Ranch 99 market was right next door! Okay...no eggplant, we ordered 5 dishes and they wanted the 3 of us to sit in a table for 2! Only when my husband insisted, that we got to sit in a bigger table, plus water and tea wasn't brought to us until we were half way through our meal & we had to ask for it. The entire staff had so much anger in them, it just shows... my husband wondered if all of them were mute b/c you hear nothing from them. As I was paying at the end, no one came to pick up the check from our table, I had to walk up to the register, the guy who took my money must've been related to the owner of the restaurant as he brought in a couple of his friends & just gave them free food and started playing card next to us... I can understand bad services from a disgruntled employee, as owner or part owner, you want your business to do well, right? no, this guy was also a mute, I tend to say Thank you after visiting a restaurant, but I wanted to see if he would say anything after giving me the change, so I would say it or not say it accordingly.... man! NOT A WORD! so I said nothing too! it was such a strange exchange.... and not a word as we were leaving either. no goodbye, no come again!
So needless to say the service was horrible, the food???? the only dish I liked was the minced pork w/ pickle... reminded me a little of the taste I had in Lu's Garden, but everything was laden with MSG, the spicy kidney was overcooked, the eggs were cold when it was brought out although it was a special order... I would never visit this place ever again! and hope no one else does either! -
Review from Catherine L.
Palo Alto, CA
11/10/2010 1 photo
Been coming here since high school and I'm still a fan. My mom and I always order from the "fast food" section instead of ordering food from the kitchen. They have a lunch deal on weekdays which is more than enough for one person. For almost $7.00 you choose 3 items from the lineup, take a seat and chow down. They bring the porridge with huge yam chunks, warm tea and the plate of food to your table. You pay at the front when you're done.
It's a no frills place and very homie which I love. Great if you have time for lunch but not tons of time- know what I mean? Don't want fast food but you don't want sit down and wait until the kitchen is done preparing your food too.
Great on a cold day since the porridge will warm you and it's also great on hot days since they have cold dishes like bitter melon, pickled cucumber, squid and others. I want this now and I just ate lunch!
Parking is troublesome since it's in Cupertino Village but it's manageable. -
Review from Barbie M.
Los Gatos, CA
8/24/2011
IT'S NOT THERE ANYMORE?anyone know of its new location.
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Review from Kristin P.
San Jose, CA
9/5/2010
Went on the recommendation of a friend of a friend. There were four of us, none Taiwanese, so we were kind of out of our element. Frankly, we had no idea what most of the foods on the tray were, and some of them looked kind of odd to my untrained eye. Atmosphere was fine -- casual, friendly. Our service wasn't bad, as some of the other reviews suggest. My medium-low rating is really based on the fact that I thought the porridge was bland, bland, bland and I didn't like the tofu at all.
Big pluses were a tasty cucumber dish (whatever the dressing/seasonings were were fabulous), an equally tasty green bean dish, and yummy bok choy.
I wouldn't suggest non-Taiwanese people go without a friend who knows the ropes (and the food). -
Review from J J.
Cupertino, CA
Updated - 8/21/2011
Closed T_T
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/6/2009
This is a good place to eat or for carry-out when you're too lazy to make dinner xP. The waiters are… Read more »
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Review from Josie H.
10/9/2010 1 Check-in Here
I came here right before my flight back to school.
Very few dishes compared to the one in new milpitas. No, correction, very feww " dishes that josie likes". I was disappointed, and it was pricey!
I was sad that this had to be my last NORCAL meal before i left for school. sigh., should have gone to tofu house -
Review from Minako A.
San Jose, CA
2/27/2011
This is a nice place for porridge. The food, price, and place is overall decent. Nothing too special. It's simple food that's not overly hard to make at home.
Good:
Bamboo shoots
Shredded pork and tofu
Meatball
Napa cabbage
Pig ears
Asparagus
Bad:
Stewed tofu ( tough )
Overall rating:
Service: Ok
Food: Good
Value ( price for food quality ): Ok
Atmosphere: Ok -
Review from Jessica V.
San Jose, CA
8/19/2010
THIS PLACE IS GREAT. I went here last night after a three hour water polo practice. My friend and I were still wet from the pool and we were shivering as we walked around Cupertino Village searching for a place to eat.
When we turned a corner, I looked up and recognized the sign. I've read Yelp reviews about this place! So we walked in and we chose 4 side dishes for our porridge:
Tofu, chinese sausage, cabbage with mushroom, and a meat dish that looked like pork that has been broken down to bits?
As we sat down and poured our serving of porridge, it felt so good to feel the steam warm up our cold faces. THE FOOD IS ZE BOMB. The tofu wasn't something I was raving about, but everything else was!
If you're a fan of rice porridge, eat here!! It's so cheap and delicious! -
Review from Sarah T.
Palo Alto, CA
7/25/2010
The food is decent. I like the casual atmosphere and the little side dishes.
HOWEVER, their customer service is DIRT horrible. They used to be a cash only, pay at the front place, but recently started accepting cards. Everything is still the same, you pick out the dishes and then carry it to a table and they bring out a pot of porridge, EXCEPT they make you pay after the meal now. And..why is that?
Because they want TIPS! They probably figured that that tips will earn them more $$ than avoiding the processing fees.They barely ever re-fill your water or offer any service, but when you pay at the end, the cash register points out at the "tip" column and demands "you can write tips here or pay cash" in a totally brazen tone. Plus, they charge you extra for taking your left overs home. Who does that?
I'm very surprised that they're still in business. -
Review from Ken K.
Updated - 10/2/2009
Pig Parts Guy here.
Oinkity bump!!!
(\____/)
/ O_O \
( ( (oo) ) )
` - . U . - '
Today at lunch: for $6.50 (tax included, ca$h only) you pick any three items from their steam table. Then you automatically get charged $0.60 a person (whoa I thought they used to charge $1 per person??) for unlimited servings of their Taiwanese style congee/porridge (chi faan or tsing zho) which contain chunks of orange yam/sweet potato.
The porky steal of the century! If you like A$N nasty bit$ off the porky carcass, then look no further.
Also these guys stepped up their game in the steam table offering quality.
- simmered pig feet (very tasty) especially the skin part. A tad bit boney though, but where you can, try to pry out the bone marrow for oinkstra pleasure
- boiled pig intestines, interestingly shaped like big macaroni. After scooping this $hizzle up, they drizzle soy paste sauce, a little vinegar and ...garlic juice(?) over it. A little QQ/toothy/bouncey, but nothing the Pigs Part Guy can't handle.
- Hai dai, aka seaweed. Looks like the green jelly in those Vietnamese dessert drinks, except dark green. A little vinegar and soy marination goes a long way, went down great with the hot congee
- sour cabbage stir fried with thin slices of pork stomach. Woof woof woof! Looked fugly and unappetizing, but the combination of textures was woot woot oinky.
- thin slices of cooked bitter melon. Great for breaking down all that cholestrol. Less guilt after Pig Parts Guy stuffed the hell outta himself
- stir fried bamboo shoots (an absolute must)
OK I think I grossed a lot of you out.
But that's ok
This is the Taiwanese and high tech slave's everyday commoner's meal.
Quick, fast, CHEAP. And H3LLA delishiosho. Best of all filling, but light.
I mean from $1 to now $0.60 per person for unlimited Taiwanese style congee. That's cheaper than $1 per person tea at dim $um!
The sad part is that you cannot just order one lunch special and share between 2 persons (believe me I tried...).
Wall special STILL advertises their xiaolongbao, which is fine if you don't care about quality. Cheaper than HC dumpling house next door and likely nowhere near as refined (even though HC fugged it up big time the other day....). So my advice is to skip it.
It appears they offer Taiwanese style oyster omlette at less than $5. Try at your own risk.
If you don't like the pig parts, they have pig stomach slices (whoops), various vegetable based offerings, soy sauce marinated hard boiled eggs, squid, lion's head meatballs, amongst a few others.
$6.50 for 3 items of your choosing + $0.60 for unlimited refills of congee = $7.10.
Now tell me what can you get for $7.10 that gives you a happy ending (no not THAT kind) during lunch in Cupertino Village?
- Joy Luck Place? Fugghitabbaaaadit. You're out $25 dim $olo.
- TottyMelon Fromo and gelato? Only if you are on a lacto sugar only "diet"
- A&J? Sheeeeeeit, their signature spicy beef noodle soup is already at the $7 mark and I can still eat afterwards!
- The sichuan place? Naaaah
- The Guandong place? Errrrm not so sure
-Quickly/Fantasia/Tapioca X? doh....
-99 Ranch steam table Chinese? HELL No! Cheap yes, but good? Nah.
It can get uber busy during lunchtime at this cheap fast good tasty porridge place. If you don't mind sharing a table, you could be set quite quickly.
My kind of fast food.
Wit da Pig Part$.
Wurd.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/26/2008
The Chinese name of this place is Wong Wong Qing Dsou or to that affect, i.e. Wong Wong's clear… Read more »
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Review from Lu W.
San Jose, CA
7/13/2009
Blame Yelp, I really wanted to give this place a 3 star. Problem is, I am a fan, and I'm a fan of a lot of sub-stellar places.
First off, it's expensive for what it is. A ginormous bowl of porridge that looks a lot more than there actually is, two little dishes of your choice for almost $9. That is a lot of money for a small fistful of pre-made food.
On the positive side, I can't live without this place. You come home from work and you feel like crap. You lay on your bed letting it soak up your sorrow, then your hunger strikes like Midwestern tornado. You hop into your pos car, precisely 1 minute 23 seconds later you are at the door of the Porridge Place. Alas, the food is hot and ready and you start shoving it down your throat immediately.
The seats are uncomfortable, and the staff couldn't care less about your complicated existence, further improving your eating efficiency.
How can you resist? -
Review from Frances W.
Eugene, OR
2/12/2008
Actually, contrary to what people said, I felt that this place was quite quiet..and um.. peaceful, if you ask me. But that could be because I have a cold right now and my ears are a little plugged up.
They have good deals.. You choose 3 sides for $5 and they serve you porridge with yam to come with it. And they serve it right to your table too. The food may not look that appetizing, but it is very delicious.
My friend ordered chicken drumsticks, ox tail? and some kind of fish...it looked pretty stiff but it's actually quite tender inside.
I ordered green beans, tofu strips, and bamboo shoots. Really good.. all of them, actually.
I recommend coming here, it's a good place to eat for lunch and/or for a quick bite. And you won't feel like a loner if you come by yourself either (that's the atmosphere I got, at least) =D
The tab for 2 plus tax and tip was under 12 dollars-- very cheap. And I'm a cheap person.. I didn't even pay though haha.
And apparently people say Taiwanese people will like this food because the cooking is very much like what they usually eat, and that Cantonese people won't like it so much... well.. I came with a Cantonese guy and he seemed to like it.
He eats a lot.. he ate all my food, all his food, and the whole batch of porridge. He's either extremely hungry or REALLY likes the food.
I have no idea where he puts it all... I wish I was a guy..Listed in: Sex in your mouth
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Review from highlightall l.
Mountain View, CA
7/27/2011
Whoever closed this place should get shot! Seriously!
For the sake of good karma, please PLEASE put it back! -
Review from Randy F.
8/16/2008 2 photos
After several days of stuffing myself to the max, I literally needed a break from the routine.
The idea of porridge sounded appealing. Warm and soothing, it's often the perfect antidote when feeling ill or suffering from eating a little too much.
The porridge served here is Taiwanese-style and more of a "rice boiled with water" than an actual porridge. There are yams in the porridge, but otherwise no seasoning or other ingredients.
You choose three sides for $6.50 to accompany your meal and there is quite a variety of items. I ended up choosing the pork meatballs, string beans, and ground pork.
Each side was fairly tasty and, with the plain porridge, a nice combination. A few sides were a tad oily, but overall, not too bad.
My personal preference for porridge is the thicker Cantonese-style with simple ingredients like sliced fish, pork blood, or minced beef. But given there isn't a solid Cantonese option in Cupertino Village, Porridge Place did a fine job substituting and giving my stomach a well deserved break.
Porridge Place is cash only.Listed in: Cash Only!
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Review from Jim C.
Redwood City, CA
3/16/2008
Porridge just ain't my thing. Thought I'd try this place for something different - it's was a cozy place but pretty packed so that was a good sign. You go up to the counter and pick a number of more authentic type Taiwanese-style Chinese small plates (each about $3-5 I think ) and then sit down at a table where they bring you the items you close along with a big pot of piping hot plain porridge. And you eat your porridge with those items - simple as that. They charged $1 per person for the porridge.
Unfortunately I didn't leave satisfied. The hot plain porridge was rather soothing in the cold evening but the dishes we chose (some sliced tofu dish, some veggie dish, and some bean thing) were just not that tasty and more on the oily side. For $13-14 we did get a nice decent amount of food and a pot of porridge more than any 2 ppl can eat (I hope they don't recycle the porridge for another table!)
Bottom line: If you're in the mood for porridge, this place could be for you. The porridge felt good but it just didn't hit the spot for me as the side dishes were only avg and rather oily. -
Review from Grace Y.
8/18/2008
I've been to Porridge Place a few times and it's a pretty good deal if you're looking for cheap eats. I don't like their porridge at all, the consistency of it is way too soupy and not very sticky, and I don't like yams.
The way it's prepared is a regional thing to China/Taiwan so that might be why. I like their side dishes a lot, and I usually come for that and I'll choke down some rice with it to fill up. I think it's just my personal preference as I grew up to porridge as a comfort food and it's prepared very differently here. Also I stopped by last time in the middle of the afternoon and the items on their steam table were very unappealing at that time. But still, can't beat all that food for such a low price!Listed in: When you have money to…, Cheap eats
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Review from Yuchi C.
Chicago, IL
5/2/2008
Best place to go when you are sick, either phisically sick or homesick. Everyone agrees.
I don't see why people are complaining about the price. I thought it's quite reasonable. We got a huge thing of porridge, cabbage, lion heads(juicy tender meatball), and mapo tofu. Simple, tasty, like my mom makes at home. Not too greasy, not too salty, maybe without MSG (at least i didn't feel it afterwards).Exactly what we needed when my boy and I both had stomach flu.
We asked for taking away the left over porridge, they charged up $1.00. No big deal, it's cheap, but feels kinda weird. You get charged by taking away your leftover that they are going to dump anyways? But it turned out that they gave us a huge new container of porridge. It's so much that it'll probably last for 1-2 weeks. -
Review from K. A. R.
Clovis, CA
5/13/2007
Chinese comfort food at its best. You can get a bowl of Taiwanese rice/yam porridge with three toppings for $5. Not the widest selection of toppings in the world, but what they do have on offer is excellent. My favorites are the chickens feet, Chinese sausage, and preserved eggs.
I have flashbacks to my halcyon days in Taipei every time I set foot in here.
Minus one star because they're cash-only.Listed in: Top Restaurants
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Review from Josh K.
4/30/2011
Porridge Place was my first time trying this format of Chinese "fast food". You get infinite amounts of porridge stewed with some cubes of hearty potatoes. Then you fill up a plate with fixins to eat with your porridge. Total outlay is between $5 and $6. You get seated cafeteria style next to as many other parties also fit at your table. It was cool! I'd definitely go to a place like this again but I feel like my friends would be kind of turned off by the minimalism of it all.
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Review from Liz C.
Los Gatos, CA
7/5/2011
This place is CLOSED. I just went there to eat today and it was cleaned out. Person there told me they closed last week. I'm devastated. Where else am I going to get Taiwanese dishes that are still not too weird for me to eat, and is a convenient take out for lunch?
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Review from Jason K.
Mountain View, CA
3/13/2008
We came today coz my +1 wasn't feeling too well. :( I thought having hot porridge would be an excellent idea. It's my first time here and we were both very satisfied with the food. There are many dishes to select from and they gave us a huge pot of porridge that comes with sweet potato too.
It's a small place but the service is good and prompt. I would definitely come back here again when I feel like having a light lunch. The lunch price is very reasonable. You can select 3 dishes and the cost for two person is only $11.
The most important thing though, is that my +1 became visibly better after the porridge.. :) -
Review from Shiho F.
Carmel by the Sea, CA
4/9/2007
Very unique concept well for me at least. Porridge served by the bucket (literally a plastic tub that might be an Igloo brand concept but you know it says Made in China in Chinese underneath). Porridge is cheap at a buck per person but the sides which include anything from chickens feet, garlic braised eggplant, long narrow bamboo shoots (I'm talking up to 6 inches), Chinese sausage, those dark Chinese style eggs, seafood etc... Make sure to get the hakusai or chinese cabbage which was seasoned with little brine, that was quite tasty. Didn't have the balls to try some of the other sides but I'm sure they are good if you have the stomach to look at it.
We went for dinner but I know that you get way more for your buck at lunch.
