Kings Rice Restaurant
“Kings Rice doesn't rest on the laurels of their eel casserole alone.”
“Great eel rice, awesome lamb dishes and the house special of string beans w fish filet are your best choices.”
“Love their lamb stew though at times it can be tough.”
Kings Rice Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
5 reviews
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Total Overdose!!!
I think my family so O.D. on ordering food. Too much to eat and plenty of leftovers to take home.
King Rice Restaurant is the sister restaurant to Lian Won Cafe. This restaurant is bigger than Lian Won Cafe and seats more. Both restaurants are known for their Eel Rice Casserole.
If you have a big family like I do, you should get there a lot early than schedule because the wait for a big table can be long.
My family ordered 12 dishes…Holy Cow!!
1. Eel Broth Tofu Soup- It comes complimentary. One tasty broth soup.
2. Lamb in a ClayPot- I think they gave us the most fattest lamb. Way too much fat in the lamb.
3. Oxtail- I think this was the only dish I didn't eat because I have braces on.
4. Steak and Peppers- Chinese got to cook the steak all the way. Not how I prefer my steaks. Be careful with the peppers because it is spicy hot.
5. Assorted Seafood with Snow peas- Okay dish. Nothing special about this seafood dis.
6. Sauteed Vegetables- If you are a Chinese family and eating family style, you must have at least one veggie dish.
7. Duck- Quite disappointing. It was still red. I question some of the duck meat, because some tasted like chicken meat.
8. Spinach- Eat your veggies. Can't eat all meat.
9. Peking Pork Chops- Highlight of the meal. Nice sweet and sour taste. The pork chops were crispy. Totally Yum!!
10. Intestines- A bit salty for my taste.
11. Lobster with Ginger and Scallion- This was eh to me. Didn't have enough lobster meat. It was a small lobster. All the meat was in the head.
12. Eel Rice Casserole- I was a little disappointed. While the rice had nice flavor and taste, the eel was a bit chewy. I feel like some of the eel wasn't cooked all the way.
The Eel Rice Casserole was suppose to be the highlight, but turn disappointing. Wait was long. Stick with Lian Won Cafe. A smaller restaurant, but serves up some better dishes and Eel Rice Casserole.
I had their ever so famous eel fried rice. I was freaked out by eating eel in general and picked out all the eel parts in my fried rice. This is because of my irrational and deeply seated fear of eating fish products that have confirmed bone particles. I don't care if eel bones are soft. So if you are NOT an adventurous eater and can relate to above statements, then be forewarned. That being sad, the fried rice was pretty good. I loved their soup that comes complimentary with an order of eel fried rice. They make their lobster traditional cantonese style with an egg. It is ok. I had another stir fried dish with scallops, snap peas, & lots of macadamia nuts, that was quite good but I forgot the name (sorry!).
This place does not serve any type of beer or liquor. It is quite divey but seems to be a popular local spot. Feels quite authentic but not that aesthetically appealing.
PROS:
– Eel casserole rice – very good. The eel casserole is what they are known for.
It tastes way better than the one I had in Chinatown. There is a place in Chinatown that makes it with dried orange peels and I hate the taste.
– lamb stew – pretty good. My favorite part is the dried bean curd.
– they serve the food pretty fast
OKAY:
– Jumbo shrimp with walnuts and broccoli – it's standard. The mayo sauce was too thick. It's like they scooped it right out of the jar and plopped it on top of the shrimp.
CON:
– service is not good. waiters are so busy they barely have time to talk to you.
– it is pretty pack at night around 7pm so you can expect about 20 minute wait or more.
Recently opened in a storefront that has seen quite a few businesses come and go, despite a location with excellent foot traffic. Word from a reliable source has the owners/managers as veterans. A recent visit suggests if they're not, they're doing something right.
Bustling and full at 6 PM on a Sunday evening, with a line waiting for tables, we arrived thankful that someone in the group had the foresight to make a reservation, although we still wouldn't be seated for some time. Not too large, not too small, the space is bright and casual, no different from standard family-style Chinese restaurants. Their round tables are split about evenly between those that seat 4, 6, or 8, although they have the ability to expand some in the back to 10, tightly. Seating overall is cramped and tables are close together. This is no banquet hall restaurant; if its a group 8 or more, make that reservation ahead of time.
Service is the usual rushed, get-the-job-done variety, although the general busyness of the place means more work flagging down waitstaff for anything at all.
The house specialty is eel rice casserole, available in three sizes. Best ordered immediately upon sitting down, as it takes time to prepare. The order includes eel bone soup, a milky soup with flavorful tofu and cilantro, delicate with a mild sweetness. The casserole itself is generously large, with plenty of crunchy rice along the bottom and sides. Plenty of eel pieces mingle with scallions in the fragrant rice, without too much other distraction. Its a well-made rice casserole, comforting yet restrained, and worth coming to this restaurant to have.
Not that our ordering stopped there, although depending on the size of casserole ordered, it can be better counted as 2 or even 3 dishes on its own. Their English language menu features a short list of fairly recognizable dishes that can be found at many Cantonese restaurant menus. Their Chinese menu, on the other hand, offers plenty of house specialties not as easily found. Somehow, my usually unadventurous family (when it comes to ordering Cantonese meals for family nights out) ended up sampling mostly new items.
Oddly, they are very specific about their inability to accommodate lunch time food items during dinner time, whether to dine in or to go. That includes all dishes on rice (discovered when trying to order something to go on a different day), fried rice and/or fried noodle dishes. Not a great impediment, but something to expect.
Kings Rice doesn't rest on the laurels of their eel casserole alone. The rest of the food was largely pleasing, sometimes quite good. The braised Japanese tofu with enoki mushrooms was a satisfying, savory mix of textures. Bone-in chicken pieces were steamed in a richly seasoned sauce, the meat smooth and tender. Stir-fries impressed, from the addictive vermicelli to the house mix of vegetables, seafood, nuts, and innards. Like the tasty eel soup, a soup casserole of baby bok choy, clams, and taro was delicious, well-flavored but restrained, just like home cooking. The classic fried shrimp and walnuts in mayo was very competently made. The equally classic Peking pork chops were fine, although rarely a dish I get excited over, and I've had better elsewhere.
Kings Rice is a very good Chinese restaurant, and the lines of patrons speak volumes in a neighborhood without many similar choices but where most are rarely very full on most nights. Do go for the eel rice casserole. Do try some of the items on their Chinese menu while you're there.
On a weekend, I came here for lunch, heard about the much hyped up eel rice casserole, so of course I had to try that. They have small and large and this casserole takes a while to come out. The small yields about 6-7 small bowls, while the large yields much larger, about 8-10 small bowls. I think the chef had a bad day, because it was really dry, not much juice or sauce at all. The small runs at $20.
I had the stir fried egg plant dish, chow fun and a veggie dish. The chow fun didn't look fresh at all. The dishes were in decent portions, larger than medium but smaller than large. I thought the food was just okay.
Surprisingly the service was pretty decent, considering it is a Chinese restaurant.