Max Noodle House

$ 8.50 for congee /​noodle in a small small bowl (probably a size that fits less than two fists). The service there was not too bad, normal Asian service. The quality of the noodle and congee was good, but the quantity is so small. Unless you are die hard fan of the food chain, or you are desperate to have a taste of traditional HK food, I would not recommend anyone to go there.
TL;DR: tiny quantity for expensive price, will never go there again.

Wanton were very tasty! The noodles were springy and the broth was flavorful!
Had an extremely great meal, reminded me of noodles I could get in Hong Kong itself! Don’t expect much of an ambience but come prepared for a tummy warming meal. Portions might be deemed small for most patrons, so be prepared to at least have two bowls per person.

Even missing the main ingredient of 虾子大地鱼in the soup which make it a high end wonton soup, I still very happy for the food. The one in Hong Kong even have a smaller portion. Congee is very authentic Hk style.

Looked up local places on Unilocal and stumbled upon this place. Ordered Chinese broccoli appetizer, and 1 wonton&dumpling noodle and 1 braised beef brisket noodle.
Everything was delicious and had an authentic, simple taste to it. The Chinese broccoli was a bit small and I would’ve liked more volume. The noodle bowls were small too… think of a size a little bigger than a standard miso soup. The wonton and meat were soft and delicate, the noodles al dente, and the broth was delicious. I think I drank all the soup in both bowls. The total came out to $ 20 CAD which was a bit pricey but worth it. If I’m in the area again, I would visit again. FYI Cash Only!

This is a MUST TRY wonton noodle place in Canada. So this place is very famous in Hong Kong and that is where it started. Later on, they opened one in Canada, which I am very jealous, wish they came to SF! This is not your ordinary wonton noodle soup even though it looks pretty standard. How they make the noodles, soup and wonton is very well done and authentic. Eating here made me feel like I was in Hong Kong again, that’s how food it was.
This place ain’t cheap, $ 7 per bowl, but hey it is worth it and make it worth your trip! My mom ordered like 5 bowls for herself, and her taste buds never lie :)

Overall Rating: 4.5÷5
This is my favorite Wonton Noodle restaurant EVER. I lived in LA, and Vegas most of my life, and even when I go to HK… although HK is very good, there is nothing like food prepared with Vancouver WATER!
Yes, the water here makes all the difference for the preparation of food. As well as the ingredients. We are so lucky here!
The only reason why I ding’d them 0.5 is because sometimes when I come, I can tell if its a different chef. Sometimes the broth, or sauces might have less flavor. But this place is overall very consistent. I come here at least once a week, so I’d say ¹⁄₈ times, they might have an off day.
Here are some of my favorites on the menu:
BEEF BRISKET WONTONS:
I alternate between thin egg noodle, and thick egg noodle. Its also good with thick rice noodles. The brisket is soft, and has a good ratio of fat/​meat. I like to dip the meat in the chili paste sauce. The wontons are delicate and perfect to dip in red vinegar. If you like tendons, you can order them with your noodles. I personally don’t eat tendons, but everyone really likes them here.
ZHAJIANG MIEN: (dunno if i spelled this right lol)
So many different variations of this all over asia. The one here is usually really good. Its a pretty traditional HK style, which is shredded pork in a sweet/​spicy sauce, served over thin egg noodles with a broth on the side to make the noodles wet. I’ve found this dish to be hit or miss here. Sometimes the meat is a little hard, and too flavorful. Maybe because its been sitting long. I’ve had it here other times when its soft, and just perfect.
CONGEE CONGEE CONGEE:
I recommend the sliced fish, chicken abalone, or the pork & preserved egg. Always good. The chinese donuts are just ok in my book tho. I dont bother ordering them, but not a deal breaker.
DRINKS:
Lemon Ice Tea, and HK Milk Tea (hot or cold) are all great here.
ROASTED CHILI OIL:
They won’t always give this to you. It is not on the condiment tray.
You have to ask for it. Its the best hot chili oil to add a kick to your noodles. They make this in house.
Again, I come to eat here every week. Its definitely the best in Van, and north america for the most part… and ranks up there with the best of HK.

If you love hk style wonton noodles, this is your must go spot when in Vancouver. I’m not a big fan of egg noodles, but even I found this place to be so good! You can rarely find noodle quality this good anywhere!
Wonton noodles are a must order. If you don’t want noodles, you can order wonton soup by itself. The stewed pig feet noodles are another must order. The pig feet is stewed so soft and tender, and so flavorful!
Another must order is the fish balls. They have fried and steamed. We opted for the steamed for a healthier option and it was delicious. Apparently if you order the fried version, they give you a fermented clam sauce that goes so well with the fish ball!
The place is small, and popular, so expect a wait for a table. We went for a late lunch on Friday and we still had to wait about 20 minutes for a table.
Parking: Free parking in the strip mall lot.

MSG galore and even then it didn’t taste particularly good. I haven’t been there for a long time but clearly remembered telling myself never to return.

Delicious wonton noodle soup and congee!
Very small portion though. Average price per bowl is around $ 8 and the bowl size is similar to a rice bowl.

Yummy wontons, but baby-​size portions. I ordered the beef brisket with wonton ($ 7.75) and I got about 3 – 4 pieces of meat and 4 wontons.
I will say their wonton wrappers were some of thinnest I’ve ever had in my life and we’re obviously of good quality. the shrimp inside was well seasoned. My dad also ordered the dumplings (which are bigger) and they were also delicious.
I can see how HK people would like this place, but IMHO, not worth the money. Tried once, had good tasting food, but probably wouldn’t go back. Plenty of other places with comparable food for less.

I have been here for years. I’ve been to the HK ones too and even the original founder, Mak’s new place which is now closed. But this place still got the soup and the secret marinate for the wonton.
TIPS:
If you like the crisp al dente noodle texture, order the dry one called «lo mein» which comes with a bowl of soup, dip in the soup so the noodle will keep crispy al dente.

The noodle at this place always good.
My favorite is the dried noodle with shrimp roe and shrimp dumplings.
The soup base is a tag on the salty side.
This is not the same quality as Mak’s in 77 Wellington Central Hong Kong.
Good atmosphere. Good services. Most of the host and waitress has been here for years.

The congee was good but too watery. I had the fish filet congee and it was close to $ 8 and the portion was so small that an hour later, I was starving. The fish filet was cut so thin that they are transparently see through. Good cutting skills that’s for sure.
Over priced and over rated. That sums up everything about this place. It was good no doubt. But Its hard to justify.

I don’t know WHO are the people writing reviews or not writing them for this place, but their servings are FAR FAR from 4 or even 5 stars, reviewers should identify their ethnic background first.
The only thing I remotely liked was the shrimp wonton, everything else we had was pretty BAD (low level street food) and has terrible presentation. When people say 2 generations of HK natives come here, they need to specify if they came here for the nostalgia or just the street meals.
The other thing is that this place is actually super small portions and higher than usual price for a place of this caliber.
I would not return, there are so many other good places to go to in Richmond.

Highly Overrated.
I first read about them, after the blog Vancouver Is Awesome awarded them Best Congee And Noodle. With so many congee noodle spots in Vancouver, that is quite the accolade.
So, with that we drove out to Richmond, to see if it was really worth the praise.
In a word: no.
I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say, if you’ve been brought up on congee, (either homemade, or dined in), you will be disappointed with this place.
With small portions, being overpriced, and weak service, I’m not sure who to be angrier with: the restaurant, or the blog.
The unfortunate thing is, I’ve been looking for a congee noodle place to overthrow Congee Noodle House on Main & Broadway, which HAS great congee, but HORRIBLE service, and «hostess».
Oh well, I guess the search continues…

It took us forever to find this place! They changed their name to Max Noodle House and it’s in the corner of the Alexandra Plaza. Maybe it was because I was super hungry, but the food was amazing. I got the brisket and dumpling noodle soup, my friend got the brisket lo-​mein and we shared the chicken wings (tho I had 5 of the 8: p). The broth was very flavorful and the brisket fell apart in your mouth. The wings were just alright, nothing special about it. I’ll come back next time if I stay in Richmond again, but probably wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

I want to love this place more. The staff are friendly if you know how to order in HK Chinese or style and the deep fried tofu is amazing cause it’s so simple! It’s crispy and not oily and inside is like velvety smooth tofu softness inside. Too bad the wuntun and noodle soup isn’t really worth the price you pay anymore. Servings are designed for skinny people or those wanting to diet and eat less. The wuntun is a third of the size of regular wuntun. I’d inderstand the portion vs price ratio if it was organic and GMO free and the noodles were gluten free or something, but it isn’t. So why are we suckering up all the time to pay more for less? You tell me! But I keep ending up here somehow and I can’t explain why.

I dunno if it’s because we didn’t stop by Mike’s Noodle House in Seattle this time, but I thought the broth improved when we ate here recently. It had a more pungent seafood flavor during this trip, and I added some white pepper to give it a highlighting kick. The noodles and wontons were still as good as ever, so it’s hard for me to criticize anything now. Maybe more yellow chives?
Just as important, the hot milk tea was still excellent compared to anything in California.
There’s a couple things that I learned from eating here again.
First, the Chinese donuts (yow tiew) were inconsistent. When we ate here on Friday, they were great — crispy on the outside, airy and slightly chewy on the inside. On Monday, they were stale and gross. Hopefully, we’ll figure out their system so we know when the donuts are the freshest.
Also, for the clear broth beef brisket noodles (ching tong ngau lam mein), they take slices of braised brisket and put them on top of noodles in wonton noodle broth instead of the broth the beef was braised in. The wonton noodle broth is great, but using the beef broth for this would be better like what Kau Kee in HK does. I get the feeling their beef broth must be good because the brisket was tasty and tender. They used the right combination of spices and herbs to flavor the beef. Plus, what do they even do with all that broth that’s left after braising the brisket?

They’ve changed their name to MaxNoodle House now.
MaxNoodle no doubt has some of the best wonton noodle soup outside of HK. The noodles are the perfect texture, and have bite. The shrimp wontons are super juicy, flavourful, and addicting!
For $ 7.50, the portion size was disappointing, as it was ridiculously small. However, it’s definitely quality over quantity here and I can appreciate that.
I had to order a side of Chinese Doughnuts to fill me up. They were decent value at $ 1.50. The chinese doughnuts were of the crunchier variety and they were really tasty! They weren’t too greasy and were full of flavour.
I’ve heard that their congee is delicious too so I’m definitely going to try that next time! :D

[MiniNoodle]
‘Twas yet another workday lunch and needed some grub. Based on the hype surrounding MaxNoodle, we decided it was worth a trip. The interior looks dated but homely and cozy. Lots of table seating available with many banquettes along the walls.
The feature here is the wonton and dumpling noodles (#1 on the menu). The first thing I notice is how small the bowl is. Given a name like MaxNoodle, I was expecting a gargantuan bowl of steaming brothy goodness. Not so. In fact, the bowl could’ve maybe fit a large softball plus a bit. However, the quality of the broth and wonton was excellent. Broth was very light and tasty and didnt leave me in a sweaty heart-​palpitating state. The wontons were meaty and thin on the wonton skin compared to other places. What Max’s lacks in quantity, they make up in quality.
I was still hungry after the noodles so I ordered a plate of deep fried chicken knees. These turned out to he delicious! The bees’ knees so to speak. The were hot, tender and juicy with minimal batter. They aren’t as gross as they sound — they’re basically chicken nuggets. However, like the noodle bowl, portions were small — there were maybe 12 small pieces.

Value-​wise, I felt that $ 8 for a tiny bowl of noodle was a little steep — even as tasty as they were. The chicken knees were also pricey at $ 7.50. It’s worth trying but I don’t know if there’ll be a repeat visit.