Garden Café

Service is getting worse. Waited for a long time for them to bring my friend’s order. Tried to talk to them, however, nobody seems to care at all. We have to leave for the appointment, the waitress finally brought our food after we paid. They all careless ! Why do I need the food after checked out? I didn’t order the food to go. We told them we were leaving, and they did not even say sorry… Very disappointed, used to come every month, I guess I will not come back again !

Everytime I come here for lunch or dinner, I always order the baked rice sole spinach which is much cheaper here than any other Asian fusion restaurants in the 626 area. And it has more spinach and sole filet in it in comparison to other of those cafes as well.
The breakfast is also reasonably priced and I love that they stay open late as well as serve free soup appetizers.
However, –1 star for the service which sometimes is less than mediocre.

I took my dad here for Father’s Day dinner. is not busy at all, but our order is taking like forever to come… we didn’t got what we order for… especially my dad order, he wait like 1 ½ hour for his order to come… bad service too. if I can I put zero star for this experience… never never will come back here again!!!

how should I put this, this is one interesting Sunday brunch. I ordered what I normally order, fish soup noodle and pork chop bun. as you may know, garden is generally pretty busy for brunch so their service is never good to start. anyhow, the pork chop sandwich today came in an interesting form, huge bun and very little pork. I have been here a couple of times and generally order the same thing, but this time, the bun were twice as big and the pork was half as big. ultimately you get what you pay for both in terms of service and food.

They’re open until 4am here! I got the veggie chow mein (asked for super crispy) and shared it with 2 of my other friends. The whole plate was able to feed the 3 of us. The taste was okay, had to put a lot of chili oil on it, the veggien selection is the same as everywhere else. I didn’t like how the noodles weren’t very crispy. They had some portions of it crispy, but only very little. Most of the noodles were soft because of the sauce.
Great service, guy came to refill our waters multiple times ! But in the end, this place will always be mediocre café food like every other canto place

I would have given it a negative rating if I could.
I went there today and order a Foo Chow Fired Rice.
I found a long hair wrapped in the rice. I called the manager to point it out to him.
The manager’s response was that no one at the restaurant had long hair so it could not have come from them (it should have been very obvious to him that the hair in the rice was much much longer than mine, and they had waitresses around).
I had been to this restaurant many times before and I had liked many of their dishes, including the Foo Chow fried rice. However, the sea food in the fried rice today tasted/​smelled like they were getting bad.
I’d NEVER go to Garden Café again.

That awkward moment when you cant pay for a meal because they have a new policy that nobody cared to tell me about before we started ordering. If its such a big change in policy, why isnt this notice posted on every menu and on the tables themselves? I understand that if you implement a new system, it takes time for people to adjust, but if no one knows about the change, you end up trapping your customers in an extremely unfavorable position.
I was going to rate them 4 stars today, but the server who told us he wouldnt accept my debit card because it doesn’t have the newer security chip did nothing to help solve the issue and instead told me «well you have cash, dont you?»
First of all, rude much? I get that you probably dont get paid enough to do your job, but please dont pass your shitty pay plan onto your customer. Funny thing about customer service is that you should service your customers, not telling them you need cash or a newer card or whatever.
4 stars for good food, –1 for shitty credit card policy, –1 for shitty server attitude, –1 for the is sorry excuse of a sign i «should have read before coming in»

The best place to get Chinese food late at night after drinking!
I love how late this place opens (4 AM)!!! A lot of places aren’t open past 1 AM if you’re lucky.
I normally order the Beef Chow Fun with soy sauce and a lemon iced tea. Although traditionally their meals are meant to be shared, the Beef Chow Fun is just too good to be shared.
So we know this restaurant is practically open 24/​7, the food is good, next is price. The price of their food is competitively priced as they have competitors just next door serving similar foods in a less amazing atmosphere.
Lastly, parking is in a private lot with a security guard on duty!

Service problems.
I’ve come in here twice since my last review and both times ordered a single item to go — Japanese minced pork over rice.
Both times they have collected monies upfront. Both times either the kitchen or the wait staff forget to put the order in. The result, long long waits for a single to go item.
This tagged along with their prices (which are literally double elsewhere) Just don’t add up.
Though the host was apologetic, this has happened twice already. Guess coming here is ok so long as you have money and time to burn and kill
PS. One of your waiters often picks his ears between tables and flings the ear wax up in the air so it comes down like snow

Jack of all trades and master of none.
Bad quality of food and service. Afraid to eat here due to sanitary reasons.

Been here a few times. Food is tasty and prices are cheap, as usual, service is OK unless you are a regular.
Everything I’ve ordered has been good, baked pastas, curries, etc. They can get pretty busy on the weekend so don’t be surprised if you have to wait.
Would return.

Okay before I begin, let me explain that we came here several times before I wrote this review and each time was a decent visit. They have a good variety of food, and the quality was good enough for us to return up to this day. However, today’s visit was bad enough for us to realize this place really is hopeless when it comes to the diminished food quality and ESPECIALLY the dirt poor service.
Usually, I can ignore the service if the food is decent because I don’t go to restaurants for good service, I go for good food. Our table ordered three bowls of ramen while I ordered spaghetti with crab and chicken. Personally, my dish was good. I was perfectly fine with it. However, my dad, sister, and grandmother took a few bites of the ramen they have been ordering for the past several visits and noticed that there was an odd bitter taste to it. The three of them are very kind and patient people and tried their hardest to stomach the ramen, so that they wouldn’t need to go through the hassle to complain.
However, they just couldn’t do it.
They told a few waitresses and waiters about the problem and suggested maybe the broth was expired. They looked at our table as if we were crazy, so we told them they can try it for themselves if they didn’t believe us, which they refused. One of them finally told the manager.
The manager storms to our table and immediately says «I tasted the broth in the kitchen. It tasted just fine to me.» We offered her the ramen for her to taste again in case the chef already cooked a new batch in the kitchen, or if it wasn’t the broth’s fault (could have been bad/​vegetable quality or even poorly washed dishes), which she refused. We explained we have been here several times already, so we know how it is supposed to taste, but its quality today was way too poor for the table despite trying really hard to eat it out of politeness. She ignored it.
My grandma even mentioned how we don’t want to complain at all and would have avoided it if we can, which the manager ignored again. She blames us for the complaint and stated «No one has complained about the ramen except for you guys all day.» This is a laughable statement because the lunch menu isn’t distributed until 11 a.m. and this fiasco was happening at 11:45 am which means not even an hour has gone by so there’s little to no chance that people have ordered the ramen dish out of the many food items on the menu in such a short span of time.
The manager (very visibly irritated) decides to void our ramen dishes, and agreed to let us exchange the dishes. However, she bitterly says «Just don’t order the ramen dish next time then!» before throwing the menu on the table for my family to look through. It was like watching a prideful but stubborn child throwing a tantrum, except in the body of a middle aged lady. Frankly, it was an embarrassment to witness such behavior from a manager of an establishment.
My dad ordered some fried rice, but the order didn’t arrive for half an hour (service coincidentally slowed down after our complaint??) so we just asked them to make the order to go instead. Both the food and check didn’t arrive until much later.
This is probably the worst service I’ve ever encountered. It’s as if the staff is in denial of the quality of their food. Apparently, any form of criticism immediately falls into the fault of the customers. There is no sense of professionalism.

Came here for hong kong breakfast after our marathon and what a treat a lion dance performance while we eat LOL!
They sat us in a little room which at first I thought was cool but it was freezing inside. Service was ok. I guess with everything going on they weren’t as attentive as they should be.

Ah, I don’t know if I want to come back anymore… My grandma likes this place, but I’m just not willing to deal with the crappy service. Waiters are rude (ignored me when I flagged them down after I looked them right in the face), and this place’s menu isn’t cheap enough to justify turning a blind eye to service.

If I don’t have to give star I would not want to give one at all. We came to their afternoon Tea today and it was a totally upset and much more than disappointed experience. I think they deserve a minus number of star.
One of us ordered the Tuna and Cheese Sandwich. They only give us one super thin layer of tuna and a piece of cheese in a very thin piece of toast. The portion was really small. Even drinks, only coffee or tea, was included, it was still overpriced for $ 7.25. This was not what we pissed off mainly. When we reflect our opinion of the overprice to the lady server, her attitude was really terrible and horrible. She just said this was the way they served and they serve the sandwich with a piece of cheese… Oh It’s a big deal that they gave you a piece of cheese! The attitude was already bad here, but worse to be continued.
One of us ordered from the afternoon tea menu with the honey lemon tea. We were charged for the tea. We did nor really notice that the afternoon tea meal only come with coffee or tea. We complained that we should be reminded when we placed the order. The server blamed us not reading the menu ourselves. Ok that was our «fault» and that is fine. But the afternoon tea meal should come with Coffee or tea then why were we not being asked what we want? The server assumed she will not need it because she ordered something else.
Our main complaint was not on who is at fault, the server’s attitude was bad and careless. Although we order another kind of drink, we should be still entitled to get what it comes with the meal. It should be her responsibility to ask what we want.
Regarding the food, it did not taste bad but not so good either. Food quality was average. I think if they have better customer service, I still would like to go again as they are close by my house. After the experience tonight, I would strongly recommend not going there if you want a pleasant dining time. There are many same grade of restaurants around the area and have much better and more professional customer service.

Had breakfast here. I had the breakfast combo vermicelli noodle soup with a side of peanut butter french toast and sausages. It was alright. The soup noodles were a little salty with vegetables and a decent amount of meat, the french toast and sausages were fair and the cost was about $ 7 — $ 8 for the very filling combo. This is a decent choice for breakfast nothing to write home about. Service was okay.

This place is your typical asian restaurant you find in SGV + a few bonuses:
1) clean
2) open until 4am (woot)
3) good service
And a few negatives:
1) slightly pricier
The japanese minced pork dish with rice hits the spot.
All in all, you can’t go too wrong coming here with a few friends :)

I’ve been coming to this spot for almost 20 years. Never again. I’m used to lackluster service but it’s getting ridiculous. Took about 30 minutes to get a bowl of noodles on a Friday morning– and the place was only half full. All our orders came out and different times so everyone had at least part of their breakfast before I got my noodles and my order wasn’t even done correctly. After asking for the final part of our order repeatedly– they kept reassuring me it was coming. It never did. Just walked out. No tip. My tip to all readers– find another café. There’s plenty of them in the SGV

Eh. Your typical Asian restaurant you find in 626. I recently came here with my mom and she ordered ramen and I ordered wonton noodle soup. She got her dish first, and I had to sit there staring at her for about 10 minutes before mine came out. By the time I was barely starting my meal, my mom finished her meal and just sat there.
The wonton noodle soup was good. The egg noodles were chewy and delicious. The beef was soft and tender. The wontons were large. I’ve had it at better places but you can’t really expect much.

This is, for all intents and purposes, like a Chinese Denny’s. It’s opened late, has mediocre food, and has so-​so service. Despite all this, it can get busy.
I’ve been here mainly for their breakfast. Like most Hong Kong style cafes, Garden serves a mix of Chinese and Western style food items. Nothing is amazing, but you can get a decent breakfast for under $ 10. Expect to be somewhat rushed on weekends.

My parents and I eat here at this restaurant often because of their variety of food. They have different types of noodles, fried rice, congee, meats (grilled also), and they also have desserts and drinks.
the only thing I do not like is that they cannot understand english enough. Also, when order something like a grilled chicken, it comes with rice or pasta. I did not want either, so I asked the waiter if he can just double up my steamed veggies (which comes with the dish too). He said «you have to pay extra» =_​= seriously?! it is just corn, carrots, and peas! freaking A!
service is so-​so, depending on who’s the staff for the day. some workers are fast, some are not.
good side: portion is huge for one person. their food taste good as well and has no MSG (thumbs up).
tip: try their chicken steak (my favorite) or baked porkchop pasta (very unique if you wanna try something different)

Horrible service! I can understand why their service never changes… because people keep coming here!
I have to admit that their food is pretty good. Better than the other Chinese cafes I’ve had in terms of quality, portion, and presentation. I ordered the preserved egg porridge and the pan fried dumplings. Dumplings were so good. Porridge was also good. I have to admit that I would come back for their food… but let’s talk about their service.
Waitresses come to your table after stating we are ready to order, and then walks away to help another customer. Wtf? My hot water and my friend’s milk tea comes after the food. The waiter places the drinks at the side of of our table instead of right in front of us… and then walks away. None of the polite «who ordered water?» Nope. Just places them down and walks away. I don’t understand how this kind of service is possible. We were ignored for a while, and had to flag many waitresses down before we got one to finally stop at our table. Social etiquette is definitely lacking.

I’ve came here for many many years before. I have got to say the only thing I love about this place is that they close at 4am, it is the perfect after long night food.
Their food is alright, not the best but you cant always expect a lot from a café place :) one thing I love the most about this place is their free tomato soup, I honestly can drink that every single day.
Every time I come here I usually order the sizzling beef udon, it’s definitely a lot better when you eat it at the restaurant. One time I took it to-​go (I love about 10 mins away from garden) once I got home the whole udon were all stuck together, that was pretty disappointing. I thought since it has oil it might not get so sticky but I was wrong.
Lastly, I have to say that their service did got a lot better than before, they actually finally notice you when you walk in lol so I guess that’s a good sign. I’ll come back again but definitely not often.

Vibe /​layout
A great casual hang out spot, late night munchies after partying, or just come here for a quick dine in experience. They do open until 4am which is a plus for late night cravings.
The layout is like a hong kong style café. They had booths, and round tables, and long tables as well. Most of the servers were guys. I do believe they did a renovation and the AC was working and cool on a hot summer day.
Food
Beef brisket won ton noodles soup
The soup was very rich in flavor. i can’t taste the herbs inside the broth. The beef brisket was tender mixed with meat and tendon. The noodles were not soggy and was done right. Overall we all liked it and thought it was one of the best things we ordered that night.
Grilled rack of lamb and salmon
The lamb was grilled to medium rare. The lamb was juicy and tender. We did request black pepper sauce for the lamb. The black pepper sauce was kind of lumpy and there were lots of oil. overall the black pepper sauce was tasty, but just a bit too oily. The salmon was cooked to perfection. The salmon did have a seafood sauce on top with shrimp and salmon roe. Also came with mash and veggies such as peas and carrots. We did paired it up with jasmine steam rice. The presentation was great overall.
Borsche Soup
It was in a beautiful red color broth, served with cabbage and carrots. I did find the soup to be a bit salty. I do like how they give you crackers on the side to put inside the soup. Overall nice presentation, just a bit salty.
Lobster porridge
The porridge was served in a ceramic crock pot. The porridge was flavored with light fresh lobster. There was real lobster inside the porridge with the claw and body. It was only 11.99 and I found it to be a great deal. Although i did thought there was a bit too much ingredients and not enough porridge.
Steam rice
Yes good quality of rice. They do use jasmine rice. Usually rice comes with most of the meals. It was fluffy and cooked well.
Spaghetti
Simple spaghetti noodles mixed well in a red marinara sauce. After they mixed it, each bite was well balanced with flavors.
Drinks
Lemon tea
Personally I think the tea was lacking in some taste. I think it was lacking in tea flavor, although the color was dark but still was missing something. I do like tasty garden lemon tea better, because the taste is right and the right amount of sweet, and served in a boot cup. I do like how both places are have the same concept of unlimited refills for the price of one.
Service
Not as bad as I thought it was. The service was quite attentive with checking up on us. Also coming back to refill our lemon tea when we flagged them down.

I love this place. Open super late. Consistently good food. Placemats with real estate agents on them. What more could you want?
It’s pretty identical to Tasty Garden next door. Service is whatever. Huge portions. I like that it’s pretty clean and well-​lit but that wall next to the bathroom is a mess. The one where they stack the kid chairs. You’ll know what I mean if you see it. It’s fucking insane.
It’s a little frustrating to come here because there are SO MANY items on the menu. Also, I think they just don’t have lotus root anymore because the last two times I’ve come here I’ve asked for lotus root and pork neck, only to be told they’re out of lotus root… maybe that’s my fault for always coming here at like 2am though.

After all these years of coming here, they deserve an update. This place has been remodeled twice already since the business started. It looks modern which is much nicer. Garden Café is considered one of original cafes in the SGV.
Their menu is quite large and has also become more diversified. The serve café individual plates, family style Chinese dishes, pastas, and sandwiches. The food has become consistent every time. A major plus for them. They have a breakfast menu until 10:45am, and also has a lunch special menu served until 3:00pm. Then there’s the dinner menu which is the regular menu until 4:00am, their closing time.
The meal prices are not expensive. The quality has gotten a lot better, and basically you cannot go wrong with whatever you order here. They also have bottomless iced teas and coffees. Just a precaution, if you have a sensitive stomach, or is lactose intolerant, stay away from their milks, and their milk by products. For some reason, I suffer more here than anywhere else. Lol.
The service is much better now compared to a long time ago. But can still be a miss. They’ve come a long way though. You can’t really ask for anything more at a Chinese café.
Keep up the good work Garden. Big improvement throughout the years!

OK place like any other Chinese café. Good lunch deals that come with soup and free refill drinks.
I ordered filet mignon with chicken steak and it comes with a scoop of mash potatoes, some peas and carrots, choice of sauce, and either pasta or rice.
Service is slow, not enough waiters. There was only 2. This place use to be dead when I came in the past but since they remodeled, the place is crowded on Saturday’s it seems.

This was the place to be when I was little. My family’s hangout spot for breakfast every weekend and my after clubbing hangout pad. Cost was more descent and food was great. Somehow since they were close for a short period for remodel about 5+ years ago, we have not gone back. Recently went back and everything changed. Cost was much more expensive and the food does not take like it used to. They also changed up their menu quite a bit. Ever heard of not fix whats not broken? I heard that the owner let go a lot of her old staff/​cooks and hired a brand new group of employees to save cost (paying the new staff much less than the old).
Breakfast was still ok but not like before. For lunch, the 2 items we got was gross and taste like food I would randomly cook at home. So why on earth would I pay a premium for a food and flavor I can make at home? Current staff are more rude then the old staff and one (with a bob cut hair) discriminates toward mentally disabled children/​adults. She would give obvious looks of disgust and annoyance when a disabled autistic child made noises. Seriously, its customer service and a part of life. If you can’t deal with people, go work in areas not associated with people.
Will never come back.

Every weekend I always come here with my parents! They’re traditional Chinese people so they always order congee and noodles and drink the Hong Kong style tea.
It’s always busy here and it’s a great place for groups. But that also means they lag on service sometimes. It’s hard to catch them to give you a refill on your drink, but they are quick with the food and the food is super hot when it comes out. Overall it’s a good place for groups :)

I came here with my father in law. It’s much like the Bacilli café across the street. I came here during breakfast.
I could not decide what to eat… Prior to entering the restaurant I wanted some beef. However, I did not see a beef option that triggered my interest. I was basically being fickle. So instead I went with the breakfast option f. Option f comes with toast, white eggs and mushroom, a creamy corn side and fried fish.
The creamy corn is sweet and creamy and I thought that it was such a random side for breakfast. However, it was so tasty and now I want it for breakfast everyday now. The toast was thinner than I expected but it was a perfectly toasted piece of bread. The fish was crispy and juicy inside the crispy batter. The batter was a bit sweet and had a hint of saltiness that really made the fish addicting. The mushroom and white egg scramble was perfect with a dash or ketchup.
It’s less busy than Bacilli café so it has a more relaxing atmosphere.
The restaurant is newly renovated (within the 3 year time frame). The restaurant looks clean. The décor is modern and has a funky edge. The restaurant has pops of bold colors and it has a playful modern twist.

What the heck is going on this week?!
This place also accidently dropped a piece of juicy pork into my Vegetarain fried Rice!
I remember coming here back in them days when i went clubbing every freaking weekend and a nice sober stop would be none other than Garden! After so many years Garden has def. Mondernized since my last visit.
Servers are actually nice and seemed attentive about what i needed and wanted but the mistake one the pork was unforgiveable especially when they come back with, so what do you want me to do? Once again explaining to me HOW it happened, i don’t need explaination i need you to just fix it !
Ugh, i actually can’t be surprise at chinese places… they naturally will always f up!

Alhambra, CA: Ignore the very plain and modest exterior.
By the time you walk three steps into the restaurant, you’ll be struck with «Wow!» and the «Pop!» of the interior. Clean and simple. Spacious.
Discovered that they offer Special Afternoon Tea meal deals from 3:00 — 5:30 pm daily. See business photos for menu.
FOOD (from Special Afternoon Tea menu)
*Beef Chow Fun with Dark Soy
*Shredded Meats (Chicken, Pork, Beef) Chow fun
*Bitter melon w/​Beef and Black Beans over rice
The food was delicious! I did not notice excess oiliness. Portions were generous and made with very fresh ingredients. Each of the chow fun dishes, made with fresh, wide, rice noodles, were pleasantly seasoned, not too salty. All three dishes contained ample amounts of meat and adequate vegetables. Our dishes were wonderful, homestyle, Cantonese food.
Each entrée included free house tea (green) or coffee (made from beans ground fresh for each pot). The coffee was a nice French roast blend that did not require enhancements of either sugar or cream, though both were served, with sweetened condensed milk as the sweetener.
Service was friendly and quick. However, our server was unable to tell me what brand of coffee they used. There was no additional charge for refills of drinks that were included with the tea special entrees.
Free parking is available in the structure located behind the restaurant. The entrance to the restaurant faces the parking structure.
If I lived close by, I could see this restaurant becoming a favorite lunch spot, and would return to try their dinner service.

Make no mistake about it, the food here is not healthy. Everything’s in giant portions, super oily or deep fried. Hey what do you expect? It’s Hong Kong style cooking!
I love Garden Café because they are open until 4 am everyday and they make a lot of my childhood favorite meals. The macaroni soup with spam and ham is delicious and the pan-​fried Hong Kong style chow mein hits the spot! The fried rice still needs some work though.
The service, as most of the Unilocalers had described, is off & on sometimes. The mexican busboys are usually pretty good about refilling your waters or your specialty drink and that young asian guy who wears the tie during the graveyard shifts provides excellent customer service too.
If your searching for a healthy meal, Garden Café isn’t a great choice. But if your looking for some greasy authentic chinese food after a night of dancing, Garden Café is your choice.
*For anyone wondering, Garden Café and Tasty Garden reside in the same strip mall. I have been to both and I believe Garden Café smokes Tasty Garden out of the water when it comes to food quality and service.