Rice King Restaurant

One hot Arizona evening my mom and I were wondering around Tempe looking for decorations for a float for an upcoming parade when we happened upon several restuants in a row... not knowing where to go, the only thing my mom could say was "Anywhere but Manuel's!" I started to read off the different signs and she said, oh! let's try Rice King... ummm... sure I said. We entered the DESERTED dining room around 5:30 PM, in the middle of what normally is the dinner time rush... but not a soul in sight - NOT a good sign! We went through their mini gauntlet of fake plants and approached the counter infront of a VERY old sign displaying their menu. Straight out the 80s. Old worn out photos of their signature dishes were warped and dingy looking. I honestly had a positive outlook, I was hoping for the best and gladly ordered the Lemon Chicken and my mom ordered the Cashew Nut Chicken from the nice Chinese man who ran the place.We paid our $18 for our meals, got our drinks and sat down. I would like to say that Rice King's food is where the old meets the new. Not old traditions meet new techniques and fresh ingredients... more like... old ingredients meet old techniques drenched in newly thinned out sauce. *shudders* First came our egg drop soup served in a small styraphone cup. It was lukewarm... like a single serving of incubation soup. It had a decent flavor but when I bit into one pea... it was disgusting! I couldn't take it! It tasted like the once frozen pea had freezer burn! My mom quit eating hers after two bites and I got through it all except for the peas.Next came our meals. Check the pictures for how the looked... it was a big plate of beige. The Lemon chicken would have been decent but the sauce was old and gloopy and not very hot. The chicken itself was an old filet but the batter was nice and light and crispy. I started to just eat the crispy skin. The rice was hardening and hosted more of the freezer burned peas. It was slightly peppery again, would have been good if it were freshly made. The eggroll was the best part of the meal... if only it were larger than my thumb! The sweet & sour sauce it came with was watered down so much it was literally flavorless. However it did come with some friend wontons which gave a nice crunch to things. The cashier was friendly, which earned them another star. But man, the food was baaaad. We only finished it because we were starving! When we left we wished we had gone to Manuel's after all!

Stop leaving your trash (menus) all over my house and property!I am going to start dumping all my garbage on your front door, because that's what you keep doing to me and the entire neighborhood!Your food is crap and always will be crap. I've eaten live cockroaches over in South America that tasted better than your food. Dead serious.

Was with a friend and we wanted takeout. I was in my optimistic, "well, not all Asian delivery places in AZ can be bad" phase***, and went along with this idea to try Rice King. Holy f***king crap. The tip I gave the driver was more than this "food" was worth. So embarrassed to have ordered, so embarrassed to be professing this online, but I'm taking one for the team so you DON'T EVER EAT HERE. This review is my good deed for the day.***Um, yeah...this no longer a phase. All such takeout/delivery is bad in AZ. I'd love to be wrong, but chances are I'm not.

I, for one, am shocked by these awful reviews! I was staying at a nearby hotel for a Balloon Twisting Convention and was given several area restaurant menus. Well, when my friends and I pulled up to Rice King, the general consensus was to go to the (awful) Hawaiian Food place a couple of doors down. Halfway through that meal, I was so disgusted with the Hawaiian shortribs that were inedible, that I headed to Rice King. I thought, 'ok, so they have an old menu, but that just means they've been there a long time,so they have to be good', and I was right! RICE KING has the BEST Crab Rangoon that I have ever had. EVER. Then there's the "Grandma's Salad" which I ordered every single night of our 5 night convention. The GS was spicy-sweet with delicious crisp veggies including the main ingredient, cabbage. We even stopped in again on the way back from some Arizona Spelunking. My business partner also concurred that this place rocks. We both enjoyed ALL the food we had there, including some fantastic vegetable Lo Mein where the veggies were so fresh and tender-crisp (instead of soggy, nasty, overcooked vegetables like most Chinese Restaurants serve). I wish I could remember all the dishes my friends and I had over the course of the convention, but suffice to say, we all enjoyed it!This place has been in business for 20 years, and I know why. Good, fresh food, served by a very nice gentleman (the owner), Vincent.My partner and I are no slackers when it comes to Asian food either. I've lived in NYC and had fantastic Chinese Food in Chinatown there; and we've both dined in San Francisco Chinatown and MANY other SF Bay Area restaurants. We consider ourselves Foodies, and are always trying new restaurants.Each day, I was chanting "RICE KING, RICE KING, RICE KING" (like when they chanted "FOOD KING" in Animal House).Go check out this place. Yes, the decor needs some, uh, updating (or MOBILE would be better), and the menu is old and, uh, not pretty, but the food rocks! Good stuff!!!Dang, now I'm craving some Grandma Salad. And Crab Rangoon. And.....RICE KING!!!!

In Tempe for business and the local hotel gave me a list of restaurants I can order take out from, out of the three Chinese restaurants was 'Rice King' also marked as "Where the locals go".I ordered the curry chicken combo and found it to be an abomination of what Chinese food should be - not to mention Chinese take out which is iffy to start.The sauce was a corn starch rich concoction with very little curry flavor and very little chicken (was that chicken?).I had also ordered two sodas which never came, and when I called - the owner said, I did not hear you. 'Wonderful.' Of course I also tipped the driver more than the food was worth.I am telling the hotel NOT to recommend this place to any other guests.I am thirsty, unhappy, and still hungry.

I really try to support local business and really tried to like this place. I even went a few times, thinking the next time would be better. The last time I went I spent 7 bucks on what was old, cold, nasty lemon chicken. I really, really wanted to like this place. After my last experience, I won't go back.

If I could give this place no stars I would....okay so the guy in the front of the restaurant is nice but I'm convinced he has to be to make up for the horror that is the food. My daughter and I was looking for a chinese food place and this was the first I saw and it looked okay, but yes it was deserted and that should have been a clue. Anyhoo I ordered a few things because i like variety and everything was bland. No I take that back the potstickers were okay because they were covered in some kind of sauce. But the eggs rolls were mostly roll...i mean wtf!!! it was a vegi eggroll and hardly no vegi's. The food was BAD I didnt like anything. I WILL NEVER GO HERE AGAIN....I feel like I got robbed. You know it's bad when after you spend your hard earned money you want to throw away the leftovers just so you dont have to be reminded that you were stupid enough to buy nasty food. I wouldnt eat here again if:1. They were giving food away2. I was starving I only had 6 bucks and this was the closet place...3. Wait there are so many I could keep going forever.....just save your money and dont eat here. yuk

Quite possibly the worst Chinese food experience of my life. Inedible, left the undercooked beef, the overcooked chicken and what I think was supposed to be soup and ran out the door with kids in tow. DO NOT EAT HERE should be the only sign on their door.

If you want some quick, affordable, and tasty chinese take-out in Tempe than this place is reliable. I've only been coming here for a short time now and never had any problems. Just don't have any high expectations for something less than 6-7 dollars for a meal and you'll arrive home happy and full.

I think this Chinese food restaurant should have been closed down years ago. i was very disappointed that my food turned out to be tasteless and gross fellow teenagers i approve this to be prank food for you to send to your friends because that's what this restaurant really is...A joke.