The Rice Bowl Chinese Restaurant 飯碗樓 — Restaurant in Great Britain

From the outside you are unlikely to leap through the door with much enthusiasm as it all looks a bit drab and dusty but it you take a deep breath and dive in and go straight through to the restaurant area you'll find a very genuine welcome and décor that probably hasn't changed since the 1970s. But that's how Chinese restaurants are and this is clean 1970s. we even had the marble rotating centre thing which makes sharing dishes easy provided everyone heads in the same direction.

The menu has both Peking and Cantonese items and we chose one of the pre-set menus with a bundle of additional items. Prawn crackers arrived at the table almost as quickly as we did. The rest of the food was considerably slower, though. That's not necessarily a bad thing and it was all very freshly cooked and sizzled nicely on arrival.

As a group of five, three teenagers a 30-year-old and I'm not giving away my massive age, we'd decided just to share everything and asked that they just bring it all as and when it was ready, expecting a sort of continuous flow of food. We also thought we'd ordered two of the set meals and worried that they were tiny portions but it transpired we'd only been given (and charged for) one. As well as misunderstanding that bit of the order, our desire to have most stuff arriving together didn't seem to get heard either and there were quite long gaps between 'courses'. We thought they were just being slow but they were just waiting for someone to finish something and that someone was trying to make it last until something else came along. Chicken and egg. Or maybe a beef and oyster sauce situation.

For all that, the elderly staff were like old Chinese mothers looking after us and you kinda didn't want to hurry them along. The dishes were all excellent and, once the main courses arrived, there was plenty, despite the single set meal, and all was good with the world. I particular noted that we were only provided with chopsticks which was a nice change to the boring spoons and forks most establishments now give people as standard. I am sure we could have asked for some though so if you're worried about your chopstick skills sending prawns down others' cleavages you'll be fine.

It was a Monday evening, quite early and there was just one other table occupied so we were able to laugh and joke without worrying about disturbing anyone. For what we wanted it proved an ideal place. Good quality, reasonable price - about £16 a head in total - and I am happy to...

I want to start the review on some positives: the restaurant was clean (we ate in), the fish tank as you walk into the restaurant is a really nice feature as are the paintings on the wall, the mint at the end of the meal and the taste of the food itself.

Ok, so the above paragraph stands as a means of showing that I always look for the positives and I don't like to moan for its own sake. So now to the stuff that I wasn't so impressed with...

We walked in and was shown a table, like they pointed to a table in the corner of the room in a way that seemed really flippant as in "yeah yeah park your carcas over there, whatever" kinda thing and we were like "oh, er ok".

Our waiter didn't seem smily even though I was very polite and smily to him. Our meals were served to us promptly but I had to ask for basic cutlery which surely should be given to us anyway!

The food tasted good but considering the competition regarding Chinese food in Towcester, the portion size didn't feel like good value for money.

It wasn't appallingly bad but it was less than impressive which is a shame because the restaurant looks like it has a lot of potential but sadly it is let down by a passive style of customer service. We were the only two people in the restaurant and I'd barely finished my last mouthful before they took our plates away and they didn't ask if we were finished or would like to order anything else. It was as if they wanted us out of there.

Awww Rice Bowl, you have potential but it didn't feel like it quite made it yannow! Bit of a shame really because the menu is potentially very impressive.

Not sure...

We have not been to the Rice Bowl for a number of years as we have been away. We fancied a Chinese and this was the only one local, we were shown to our seats and then it went downhill.. our started arrived well one did and it was dumped on the table near to my wife we then waited for mine which when arrived also dumped near me, off they walked no "enjoy your meal". The starter was poor tasted like it was frozen, with a gluey sauce over it. Whisked away the plates when we finished and then the main arrived... well i ordered the "House Special" if that is the special i am so glad i did not order anything else. Chicken with chilli.... so get a bit of processed chicken half cook it then pour uncle bens mix on it... splatter it on a plate make sure the sauce messy and is all round the edge and dump it back on the table...make sure you do not make it look nice as it tasted as it looked foul, no chilli either. Two people came in and waited to be seated, nobody could be bothered with them so they walked out. I was going to complain at the table but my wife said no just lets go and never come back.. in the end i did explain in a very clam way away from anybody that we were not happy with the meal the service and that they missed a customer... the waitress came over and asked what we did not like i explained again.. OK thanks and off she went. did we get a sorry have a glass of wine on the house or how about 10% discount next time... just paid the full bill which was very expensive for what we had, and offered some unappetizing looking mints on the way out....I will not be going...