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Rice Chicken

4.0 (508 reviews)
Closed 11:00 am - 8:30 pm

Order Rice Chicken Takeout or Delivery

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RICE CHICKEN ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Trendy
Moderate noise
Good for groups

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Recommended Reviews - Rice Chicken

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Boneless chicken with green onions
Arlene K.

Rice Chicken is a great little spot in the strip mall for Korean chicken. The food takes a bit longer, but it's worth the wait. Love that they give free pickled radish and coleslaw when you dine in. Service is super friendly and attentive, and the chicken is excellent. The downsides: no alcohol, prices a little on the higher side, and the bathroom setup is awkward (one stall + open urinal, shared). Still, the food and service will definitely bring us back. And there are def a bunch of unusual combos on the menu that need to be reviewed.

1a and cajun fries
Joe M.

I had this place booked marked and happen to be in the same complex I was in. Chicken was pretty mid for the price. Nothing too special and I think Church's chicken or other franchises are better and less expensive. I probably wouldn't return.

Mei T.

My daughter and I stopped by to grab a snack to go. We ordered the sweet potato fries and six piece spicy chicken wings. I have to say, I was extremely impressed with the spicy chicken wings. They were perfectly seasoned and were extra crispy, even 30 minutes later they still retained their crunch! What makes these wings extra crispy? It's the rice flour that's used to coat them. The sweet potato fries were a bit disappointing because they were a bit on the burnt side. Five solid stars for the chicken, but the wings brought it down a notch. I look forward to trying other flavored wings from here.

Cajun Fries
Kim T.

Some of the crispiest Korean fried chicken wings ever!! We always order the fried wings with snow cheese on the side. We got the wings mixed in with the honey garlic sauce. I wish the sauce was thicker but the flavor was still good. I recommend getting the sauce on the side too so you can control how much flavor you want. Service was great. They were really nice and even offered gloves.

Fried Dumplings, chicken Wings, white rice
Crystal C.

I really love this place the food is great, the fried chicken is my most favorite here but the fried veggie dumplings are just as good. The server was great he really went above and beyond, it's a big enough place for the family. They send you coupons and specials if you sign up so I really do suggest this place.

Menu
Celeste C.

First time coming here. As soon you go in I got confused because I saw people ordering in the front than sitting down but u can also sit down and a waitress comes out. The rest is big so it's great for groups. The food though EVERYTHING was delicious. I swear just one issue was one of the chicken we order was dry not my favorite. Other than that it was delicious.

Partial view of the front entrance
Emmett T.

What makes this Korean fried chicken (KFC) spot different than many others is that it incorporates rice flour into its batter. Rice Chicken is located right next door to Everbowl in the Rancho Penasquitos Town Center. The suite can seat roughly sixty customers inside. There were also a few outdoor tables for seating on a small patio. I came on a weeknight evening so there wasn't a wait. I decided to sit at the bar where I could look towards the kitchen window to see the staff prepare the food. The menu had four different choices of preparation with numerous ways of flavoring. A half order was six pieces while a full order was 12 pieces. I decided on a half order of the Snow Cheese Chicken which had a special parmesan powder sprinkled on top. The crust was nice and crispy, but I found the meat to be dry and not as flavorful as I had hoped. The cheese powder didn't stand out either. I also bought a half order of the Honey Garlic Marinated Rice Chicken to take home for another meal. The honey garlic sauce was very tasty, but again I thought the meat was overcooked and dry. It's convenient for North County residents to have another KFC option in the area, but I do think Rice Chicken ranks behind its competitors in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood. There is a statement that it takes 15-20 minutes to make each order fresh so you do have to exercise patience while waiting for your food. Overall, I gave my dining experience between three and 3.5 stars.

French Fries
Steven Binh N.

So this has become one of my favorite Monday and Tuesday specials to go at this location for lunch with co workers. You can get 10 pieces of legs and thighs for $20 which is a really great deal for a special. The chicken comes out spicy but not too spicy, I say like a 4-6 out of 10 depending on how much it's spiced. The service here is pretty good overall, as they try to explain the menu the best they can. The overall location has lots of food options from fried chicken, to Kim chi fried rice to even potstickers. There is plenty of space to have a small group or even a big group to be able to eat together. It's a little different from bon chon which I think is more sauce based fried chicken while, rice chicken can be eaten without the sauce on a mon and Tuesday special and still taste great !

Thick yellow layer with weird taste. Had to scrape it off and mask taste with ketchup.
Lily H.

1 star - Would not order again. I'm writing this as I'm gripping my stomach in pain after eating the original fried chicken. Maybe the issue was that I ordered through Doordash, as I didn't have an issue before when dining in with friends. But I was greatly disappointed by the food this time. The Pros: + I liked that they packaged the food in the cardboard with the lids open. The fries stayed hot and crispy this way. The Cons: - I had diarrhea 4 times since eating. - Chicken had weird neon yellow color. - Chicken had a weird aftertaste. The Food: 1. The Original Fried Chicken: 2/10 I didn't expect it to taste like it was marinated. It had an aftertaste almost like oil and cinnamon. There was also a thick fatty layer between the skin and meat that was neon yellow. I ended up having to peel the chicken and scrape this gunk. To mask the weird taste, I had to eat the chicken with ketchup. The texture of the chicken wasn't dry. There was one piece that essentially a battered up breast bone. 2. The Cajun fries: 5/10 Not impressed. They had a good texture but a little oily. I had better elsewhere for half the price.

Roasted Thigh Rice Bowl
Rachel K.

This restaurant, although on the smaller side has probably the juiciest fried chicken I've ever had. It was clean and the overall atmosphere was pleasant. We ordered the classic mild fried chicken, the half and half fried chicken with honey soy and plain, and the roasted thigh rice bowl. All the chicken is some level of spicy, it's either a choice between mild or spicy, and while the mild does have some kick, it's not too spicy. Our food also came with a side of pickled radishes and coleslaw, though I think you only get those sides if you dine in. Everything was amazing, the perfect amount of breading and crispiness as well as incredibly juicy. You could definitely tell all of it was cooked fresh and it came piping hot. The only thing I'd like to mention is our drinks (all water) didn't come until our food came and the overall service was a little slow even though there weren't many people there at the time. However, the people there were very kind.

honey garlic & original fried chicken
Julianne C.

a local gem! rice chicken has delicious and high quality chicken battered with rice flour which is a lighter type of batter. i would recommend the honey garlic flavor! the original was a bit plain, so i wouldn't get that again. however, the chicken itself was super juicy and delicious while crispy on the outside. radish & coleslaw come with the meal, and they are perfect for cleansing the palate. service is quick, attentive, and friendly! the ambiance is nice, the restaurant was pretty quiet when i was there. ample parking. i would definitely come back when i'm craving korean fried chicken, and i love supporting local businesses like this one!

Original Fried Chicken

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11 months ago

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3 months ago

Hands down the best Korean fried chicken in San Diego! Service was exceptional. If you like spicy try the volcano sauce.

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5 months ago

Probably the best fried chicken I have ever had. Pricing good and the spices worked. Will definitely be back.

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2 years ago

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1 year ago

Skin is nice and crispy, inside meat very juicy. Good seasoning as well. Hits the spot.

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Ask the Community - Rice Chicken

This checked sounds amazing. Are there gluten free and celiac safe options...?

Yes, the fried chicken is made with rice flour and is truly gluten free! Safe for Celiac disease. Not sure about all the sauces though.

How many pieces of chicken come with an order?

I ordered traditional fried chicken (whole), it came with 10 pieces of chicken.

Is the original fried chicken also soy and dairy free?

Is the batter also soy and dairy free?

Rice flour

Do you guys happen to have happy hour?

Yes. Happy hour special everything 20% off Dine in only, 10% off to go order only. Monday thru Friday 3:00 to 5:30 pm.

Do they use peanut oil?

We been try several different oil with different company. Now we use only soybean oil.

I'm assuming that it's Gluten-free since it's only rice flour, is this correct? If so, this is a game changer for the GF community

Yes. They advertise that and it's something they are proud of.

What is their lunch special deal?

They have lunch specials M-F 11-4 That are 9.99 and you can choose from 3 piece fried chicken, 5 wings, breast, Katsu, or roasted chicken. Comes with rice or fries and salad radish or cole slaw

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Full stars for the thoughtful service at this place. They went above and beyond making our dining…read moreexperience enjoyable. Highly recommend their tofu soup. Their potions are filling. The inside has plenty of tables to sit at, plus they have a patio. Would definitely come back.

Really happy that there was no wait time on a Friday night at 7:00 p.m.. place also had quite a…read morenice aesthetic and we got a table under outdoor space. Food was actually pretty good and service was also decently fast. Kimchi pancake was extremely large and we certainly appreciate that! Definitely good value for money there. Flavor was also exceptional. It was soft and light and had that kimchi flavor but wasn't too overpoweringly strong either. It was fairly oily though so I had to press out some of that oil using paper towels. Spicy chicken entree item was really nice. Not too spicy and it also had some veggies in there which I appreciate. Sauce itself was delicious and I think the only downside is that there was not as many large pieces of chicken so it was hard to tell what was chicken and what was rice cakes. Friend and husband definitely enjoyed the beef bulgogi. I only tasted a little and it was definitely good. I was really excited about the Hot Stone Bibimbap, but it didn't deliver as much. Rice on the side was fairly crispy which was nice, but overall I think it was missing a little something. The Bibimbap sauce they gave on the side was a 10/10 though!

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4.6(657 reviews)
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Romantic vibe
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Came here with their revamped fine dining Korean Asian Fusion menu during Happy Hour and this place…read morewas absolutely amazing!!!!! First off, there is free parking available, just circle around the building until you see a garage entrance for retail parking. Two hours for free! Let me first explain the aesthetics of this place. Clean and modern with mid century feel accented with greenery throughout. Please note that they won't seat you until most of your party is present. We came here for Happy Hour which was from 4-6pm from Tuesday to Sunday! This is fantastic that HH includes the weekend!!!! To start, got a wellness shot which had a meld of juices and ginger. A great drink to ready your palate. For cocktails, I tried the Suika Spritz, which was refreshing! The Absolutely Pho-nomenal definitely tasted like cold Pho broth but spiked. It wasn't my favorite drink, but glad I tried it nonetheless. Of course we ordered the $1 oysters, and ordered all three - Baja, Pacific Northwest, & East Coast. It came with some Asian fusion sauces to dress our oysters. My fave was the Baja as these were the freshest! All three were smooth and non briny. On the HH menu we also tried - Bulgogi Birria Vampiro - Tender meat with bulgogi seasoned beef on top of a tostada. Really liked the meld of the two cultures in this dish. Duck Liver Mousse - Comes with rustic bread & crème fraiche. Very duck forward. I liked this because it was rich with flavor. Stone Crab Taco - Loved the nod to Loganisa in this taco! This was by far, my favorite protein dish on the HH menu!!!! Regular Menu - Mango Nasturium Kimchi Salad - I absolutely loved this vibrant and fresh dish!!!! I had to go back for second and thirds! Shishito Peppers with Bonito Flakes - This was definitely a fun and flavorful dish with lots of umami. Dessert - Hotteok and Vanilla Ice Cream - this was my favorite dessert! The pancakes were flaky and delicious!! Bonbunja Tiramisu - Beware! This has a strong coffee taste. It reminded of the strength and flavor profile of a Vietnamese coffee. I can't believe it's not cheesecake - Definitely a mix of a brûlée but with a cheesecake flavor. Confusing but works lol. We met the executive chef, Kyler, who explained and served some of dishes we ordered. The entire staff was so accommodating and even reminded us if we needed our parking validated! Our water never ran empty and our dishes were promptly taken away as we finished. Definitely a place to visit during HH since they offer amazing food and cocktail choices.

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Rice Chicken - chickenshop - Updated May 2026

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