Crunchy rice? Yes please! Unfortunately they are still only open for take out, no dine in yet.
The Rice House serves up a variety of Bo Jai Fan also known as clay pot rice. For those who have never had it, yes the rice is supposed to be crispy or burnt on the bottom, it is purposely made this way.
So yay! Finally a place near home that makes this dish well and even for take out the rice was crunchy on the bottom. Not too many places around the area even serve clay pot rice and the ones that do, don't really cook the rice long enough to make it crunchy.
We tried 3 different toppings including the preserved meat (Chinese sausage and Chinese bacon), pork spare ribs, and special beef. All three were tasty and surprisingly the rice was cooked well even for take out. Most of the varieties cost $11.99 there's a few that cost $12.99 including the beef and duck. They only serve one size of the dish, but give a lot of meat on top. Untraditionally they serve all the pots with American broccoli instead of Chinese greens. Also only give 2 pieces of broccoli in each order. They serve the sauce in sealed packets on the side for to go. I think they're orders are meant to be single servings but one pot is enough to feed 2 people.
They had a few other items on their menu but not a lot of other dishes. Maybe a few veggie side dishes or soup dishes.
The service was a bit slow, we went in to order just a few minutes after 5:30 pm since they don't open for dinner until then. They close between 2:30 and 5:30. They also won't answer the phone until after 5:30. We were told it would be ready in 15-20 minutes. So we went to walk around outside for a bit and went back in 20 minutes later. Our order wasn't ready and actually took about 45 minutes to be completed.
They did apologize for it taking so long, but shouldn't quote 20 minutes if it's going to take double the time. A lot of take out orders and delivery service orders were being picked up and my guess is they gave one of our items away to the delivery people since they were waiting and we were walking around outside.
It would be nice if they opened a little earlier for dinner service as it seems they had a bunch of orders to fill right at opening. Being so busy, opening at 4:30 would be ideal. Many people were waiting to pick up orders that were probably all placed for the earliest pick up time available.
I'd go back again but would probably order before 2:30 just because we usually like to eat dinner early. The food was yummy but expect to wait. Hopefully they open for dine in soon or change their hours to open a little earlier for dinner.
Also a tip, if you order in the restaurant or phone in your order it's cash only, no credit cards. They do have online ordering and prices seemed to be the same if you want to pay by credit card. read more