Maxim Cafe

#8 pork chop and rib eye lunch menu
#91 Singapore noodle

Nooooooo dont tell me they closed. This little hole in the ground with the huge menu is no more. My husband is sad too.
So many memories coming here late at night.

I’m going to miss this place.
I remember coming here since I was in middle school with my family. The owner would always talk with us when he was there and he’d always have a wacky tie on.
I still tried to support their business even though I was working in a restaurant myself (ironically, just across from them) and ordered to go for my lunch break at least once a week.
It looks like someone else might’ve bought the place out and some red fish is the new logo with some Chinese words.
Hoping it’s not a knockoff of Boiling Crab.

maxim café is now closed for good. :(
i’m so sad. this place brought me so many memories… even before it was called maxim café.
friendly people, welcoming owner, cheap food, and huge portions. i was so sad to learn that this place was closed especially when we wanted to eat there!
hopefully, a similiar café like this opens up in its place.

HK café… usually top 3 in the area with garden café and boston café. Is it great? Not really… still, this place is an institution. It’s been in Rowland Heights for a very, very long time and for many people, it provides a lot of food, decent taste for a very fair price.

Went there today to see the place is now closed. Sold apparently according to somebody who knew people who worked there and one of the owners. I should have have been tipped off before by really odd service: like 15 minute (checked my phone) wait to get change back for tips about a week ago. I guess they didn’t care anymore.
Quite saddening since this place has been here since I was a child and this was our backup sit in restaurant no matter what. No more late night out grubs.
Gone in a sudden like a older relative. Bye bye Maxim. I’ll miss you.

Yeah, I’m not big fan of these types of cafes. Lots of food variety, but no service and the food is usually mediocre.
Came by here after a super long drive back from Vegas. We were hungry but not really craving anything. Since Maxim had a large menu, we thought we would find something decent.
After being seated, the first thing I noticed was the lighting. So terrible. Kind of dim for florescent bulbs. It made the interior look really outdated. When the server gave us our extra plates and bowls, they were DIRTY! We flagged down the waiter and even w/​o pointing to the dirty dishes, he knew exactly what we wanted and takes it back like it happens all the time. Definitely not a good sign!
The food was pretty decent once it came. We ordered the century egg and fish porridge and the beef stew egg noodles. Large portions. Definitely enjoyed the porridge. Came out piping hot and the egg and fish were very plentiful. The beef stew noodles were ok. Nothing to rave about. Found the noodles kind of bland. And wasn’t expecting semi wet noodles. It’s like they took out the noodles and forgot to give us the broth. Weird.
Service was pretty much non existent unless we wanted something and flag someone over.
I’m not a fan.

Service is okay… typical Asian service. While asking if drinks had refills, the waitress made it very clear refills were meant for one drink per person and not one drink per table… rude? Haha Well, the Boba Thai tea is diluted): but iced coffee isn’t too bad! Crispy fried squid (Calamari) has a lot of flour so wouldn’t suggest that. The lunch special: garlic and butter flavor fillet beef with red sauce fried rice is SO GOOD! And lastly, the wonton noodle soup is yummy! Really good size to share for two.

«SIC TEEN? OR TWENTY WON?!»
that was response we got when our party of 16 entered and asked to be seated separately in fives but in the same general area (to avoid large gratuity bills).
we all stood there in shock for a good two seconds, only to be yelled at again the same question. If it weren’t rainy, 8:30PM already, and a Saturday night where all other restaurants had hour long waits, I would have vouched to eat somewhere else.
Very average, bland canto-​western style food. No jello dessert like people said, only a tacky 20% coupon that came with our receipt that expired in 15 days… uh.
Rude service, average food, and a generally dirty looking restaurant… yikes. Looks like I won’t be needing that 20% off my next meal.

get the 20%discount coupon from them! well worth the money.
Large portion, decent taste, reasonable price.

Good place to go to, esp when all the nearby spots are really packed. Open til 2AM too, so that makes it a good post-​activity destination.
Had the pork chops and mongolian beef, pretty good-​sized servings, each entrée can prob serve 2 – 3 people. Food was tasty, nothing out of the ordinary. Only thing that sucked was that they ran out of soup so we didn’t get soup w/​our food (it was about 11:45 at night tho, he he he).
Very affordable, not as packed as the aforementioned other restaurants, and service is pretty quick.

It’s funny how a 3 star Chinese restaurant in Rowland would be 4 stars, maybe more in Irvine
I woke up with a random craving for Hong Kong style Iced Lemon Teas so I dragged the bf to Rowland. We had already tried Garden Café so we decided to try this place instead.
They have soooo much stuff on their menu… I really could not decide so I went with my childhood favorite baked pork chop over rice and my bf ordered the grilled steak with black pepper sauce. We also ordered a smaller size dish (apparently it’s a late night special?) of their Ong Choi sauteed with fermented bean curd… mmmm my favorite! Their Ong Choi was fresh, perfectly salted, and one of the better ones we have had in a restaurant. I definitely recommend it!
First off, my lemon iced tea was only okay. It wasn’t too sweet which i really appreciate (10+ years of drinking diet soda ruins your ability to handle sweetness…) but there wasn’t enough lemon taste… it really made me miss Hong Kong
My grilled pork chop (7.95) over rice was actually not bad. They included peas and carrots which other places don’t and fried rice. Their sauce doesn’t just taste like ketchup which my mom swears is how they make it… but I don’t believe it. All in all, this may be one of my better experiences with this dish.
My bf’s grilled steak was a good size — two slices of ribeye, white rice, and some steamed vegetables (cabbage, zucchini, corn, and broccoli) The black pepper sauce definitely did not lack flavor. They ask you for a number when it comes to done-ness…he ordered a 5 which we thought would be ‘medium’ but it’s actually more of a medium rare, more rare so if you are not fond of bloody meat, i would recommend a 7 or 8.
The service was really good except that we had three different languages thrown at us. Our hostess spoke to us in English, our waitress spoke to us in Mandarin and the Manager spoke to us in Canto… luckily my bf speaks all three. If it had been me it would have been a hit or miss!
All in all, good experience… way better than anything else i would have had here in Irvine. If there’s one better… I’m destined to find it!

Like Garden Café with better service and higher prices. Food isn’t any better and the place is sorta falling apart inside in some areas…

I’ve been here a few years ago and it really was not that great compared to places like garden café or boston café… but I have family that go here every week so I decided to go with them again… service was very sub-​par – we sat in the very back where apparently there was no service. The waitress would nod at re-​fills and say «wait one sec» then never come back. It took forever to ask for the bill. The food…
Yin Yang ice: Red bean and grass jelly with condensed milk and a tiny bit of coconut milk… this is the one drink that I love the most from this place! Most other places just flood the sucker in coconut milk, but maxim puts more toppings and condensed milk mm!
Beef tongue with red wine sauce: The beef was very soft and tender, but the red wine sauce was not good at all. It had a sour aftertaste that made me wonder if the sauce was from a can, and the thick consistency was just not good at all. I couldn’t finish the dish.
Chicken and steak rice: Bf did not like this dish. The chicken was so-​so, but the steak was too chewy to be any good.
To me, Maxim is still crappy as it has always been. No change there… hopefully I can convince the fam to switch to another café. One extra star for the drink though :)

This place used to be better.
This used to be one of my fave cafes to go to, but alas, Maxim, your quality, quantity, and customer service has lessened throughout the years.
I usually either get the Mixed Special or the Pork Chop with Chicken Steak Combo.
My most recent trip, the pork chop shrunk, my steak tasted odd, like it was soaked in water and starch, and my «sausage» (which is actually a hot dog) was too salty.
Don’t get me wrong– it’s still a lot of food for a really good price. Relative to the rest of the café food in Rowland Heights, I think it’s still up there. I could not even get close to finishing my food.
But it’s not as good as it used to be.
Also, I usually get it with the hot coffee. On my last few trips, the taste of the coffee does not seem as strong. One time, they accidentally gave me tea instead of coffee on one of my refills, and it ended up tasting half of coffee, half of tea. I didn’t mind it, much, but I’m sure some people would.
Oh, at the end of the meal, they have almond jello (sometimes they have mango pudding). It was pretty good.

Maxim Café, you’ve been there for me through thick and thin– I don’t know what I would do without you! Those late night sneak-​aways, or that time I busted a tire and needed a roof over my head and some food, you were always there. Let us make more merry memories in the future!
FOOD: I loved your scrumptious Wonton Noodles in Soup– it’s light and savory. The egg noodles were perfect and the wontons were stuffed with shrimp, you know how I like it! But the last time I went (last week) you disappoint with the soup being overly salty that I almost gagged up the noodles! :(Moving on! Your Macaroni in Soup is also delectable, as they come in this ginormous bowl filled with carrots, sliced spam, peas, and plenty of other vegetables (and sometimes even eggssss!) I don’t know why I order them, but I like getting their HK style sammies too even though I could probably make those at home, but I think I get it so I can get the fries. :3 I love me fries, ya’ know! But still, I love the layers of spam and egg and bread– together, they make sweet music to my taste buds.
SERVICE: I hear it ain’t so great, but since you’ve watched me since I was a wee child, you have a soft spot for me I suppose. Still remember the man with the glasses, or the funny manager with the funky ties for each day of the week… They’re always making sure everything is filled and checking in on us. So I have no complaints!
AMBIANCE: Everything is old. I won’t lie to ya… The place has been the same tables, chairs, booths for as long as I can remember. That’s why the booth’s leather is cracked to a point where it’s kind of gross. The colors on the walls are slightly faded and the decorations feels like it’s from the 90’s. They need to update, stat!
But– I’ll be coming back regardless of how outdated you are!

«i am HUNGRY, i just want food!!!»
gets menu* «I JUST WANT VEGETABLES»
orders tofu & mushrooms w/​broccoli (comes w/​rice to soak all that gravy)*…OH that was fast & HOT. ow my tongue*. «wow this is a lot of food»
eHhh not that great… typical chinese café food
i’d skip it unless I only cared about hot food, fast, & a good amount of it! nuff said!

I really enjoy Cantonese style cafes. Not for the Asian food, but for their twists on European/​American style dishes. I haven’t perused the menu too much but I have been to Maxim many times and I always leave with a smile and a fully belly. Some quick notes:
* The food comes high in volume and the quality is decent. It’s not too fancy but if you’re looking for something hearty and tastes good then this is your spot.
* The combos are a great deal because they come with a soup and a drink.
* Eating cream sauce foods with rice is what really got me hooked on this plate. Imagine you have rice instead of pasta with an Italian dish and that’s what you get. I do this all the time at home!
What really makes this four starts to me is that when you order Thai Iced Tea, it’s got FREE REFILLS. How awesome is that?
It’s also great for a late night food run.
Cheers!

I’ve been here a couple times and its always been just a-​ok. I came here on a Monday for lunch? It wasn’t too crowded so cool. I don’t like eating in a crowded restaurant anyways.
What we got:
Seafood Udon with Black Pepper Sauce: the udon noodle was soft and flavorful to me. The seafood part of it consisted of shrimp, scallops, squid, and I think that is it. They give you a lot of scallops compared to other Chinese restaurants like this. The black pepper sauce was pretty spicy, but I’m fine with that. I thought this dish was good, but my parents said it was wayy to salty. I like salty food so yeah… good to me!
Chef’s Special beef and filet of sole?: it came with spaghetti and some steamed veggies. My bf doesn’t usually eat steamed veggies or well… veggies at all, but he said it had flavor to it. The beef was good and juicy. The fish was soft and flaky. The spaghetti did not go well with the dish so bad mistake on him and should have gotten rice instead.
Service:
Service was good. We took a long time to decide what to order, but the waitress didn’t rush us or stand there waiting for us to order so that’s good. Our water was always filled and if there was trash on our table, and the waitress would walk by, she’d pick it up right away.

I wasn’t too wowed by this place…
A large group of us (let’s say 30+) barged in at around 11:30 — 12 and were seated immediately. The waitress was prompt, fast, and courteous, but somewhat… rushed. We all ate pretty quickly even though we were insanely tired, and I would say it’s because of this little lady running all over the place.
6 – 7 hour drive from Tempe, Arizona after a weekend of dragon boat racing? Hell yeah we’re tired.
But anyways. We ordered our food, had a few scuffles when the food came out as to who ordered what (as always) and enjoyed our food. I ordered the ginger salmon, and I could not taste the ginger AT ALL. There was too much creamed corn on it, and the potatoes were completely unnecessary. The side of veggies were honestly just frozen ones from a bag.
But of course, we were tired, starving, and content with this dirt cheap food. The portions are huge too, don’t get me wrong. The waitress was really nice to us, and gave us coupons for 20% off, or something along those lines, our next visit.
If I was starving in the middle of the night, maybe I’d come back. But at the moment, I’d rather eat somewhere where I can really taste my food.