The Rice Box — Restaurant in Houston

Update 11/27/24: Our 1st visit in over a year and I believe that it has gotten better. I've ordered a few items on the menu. I might have found some new favorites. First, I've ordered last year's favorite Garlic Eggplant with minced meat, it was just as good as last year, if not better.

The second thing I ordered was a family favorite, Crab Rangoon. It was perfectly crispy and delicious. It came with a sweet chili sauce, it compliments the Rangoon well. The last thing I ordered and what I wanted to try, was the scallion pancakes with a side of curry sauce. The scallion pancake was perfectly thin and made to perfection.

The highlight of that dish was the green curry sauce that went with the scallion pancakes. I honestly can say that it was probably the best combination of flavors I had in a long long time. I've put the Garlic Eggplant with one of the scallion pancakes and dipped it in the curry sauce... my mind was officially blown. Seriously, I'll get all three items again but next time, I want a large tub of the green curry sauce.

The service is always top notch. We'll be back once again

Original Review: First time trying out Rice Box, and it certainly won't be my last. I ordered 2 dishes, an eggroll on top of the 2 egg rolls that came with the 2 meals, plus an order of 2 buns with Egg Custard inside.

The 1st dish I ordered was one of my favorite Chinese dishes of all time, Orange Chicken and I was a bit disappointed by the lack of seasoning of the chicken, but it was juicy, so I can't be mad at that.

The second dish I ordered was the garlic eggplant, which turned out to be my highlight dish of the day. The eggplant was cooked to perfection, and there's plenty of garlic, which I'm a big garlic fan. I haven't been much of an eggplant fan until today.

The eggrolls were good, a nice crunch when you bite into it. Also, the noodles and white rice compliment both dishes. The dessert was overall good. The bun was dense, but the custard helped it out a lot. The egg custard was not too sweet and very creamy, and I will get that again.

The service was fast and efficient. Not even 5 minutes after I placed my order, I got the text message saying it's ready. When I arrived and got my food, it was hot and plenty of food enough for 2 people. The ambiance was very nice, and the place looked back to the future-esque, especially at night.

I am looking forward to coming back and trying more items...

Randomly came across this restaurant while looking for somewhere to eat. What really enticed me was that everything was served in a Chinese box (brought back good ole college days).

We (group of 4 of us) went on a Sunday around 7:30 PM. There was a line but not too bad. Parking was a bit tight. They do have a decent lot but it was full. The turnover is pretty fast though because it seems like there was a lot of people who were either picking up food or ordering to go. We parked across the street without any issues. They have a great selection of entrees which you can substitute anything with tofu or cauliflower. The have Thai ice tea and Lo pan (sweetened black tea) on nitro which just sounds cool when you say it is on nitro! We got the Thai ice tea which was good. It wasn’t as thick as the teas at Asian restaurants (I don’t think this one used condensed milk) but still good!

We had four different entrees and two appetizers. I personally had the emperor chicken which was good. It was a brown sounds with more ginger and garlic. The rest of my group had Mongolian beef (excellent!), General Tso’s chicken (good!) and General Tso’s tofu (good!). The salt and pepper tofu was good but a bit low on the flavor (I think it could have used a bit more salt) and steamed chicken dumpling (nothing special at all). The presentation is the coolest. They serve their food in Chinese boxes which is awesome because you can just pack it right up in there and take it to go if you don’t finish your food!

It is a small restaurant but finding seats wasn’t a problem. Like I mentioned earlier, most people were ordering to go. They have about 4 tables with 2 long bar tables. The outside patio is really nice (until Houston summer hits).

The food was good, nothing super special but yummy still. The presentation was my favorite. Overall,...

I came to eat here because I heard it was good, turned out to be one of the worst place I’ve eaten at. Food: First thing I noticed was the way over cooked dark brown egg rolls they where serving to another table’s order. When I got mine, it was the same. So right off the bat they have low standards for your food. The taste was mediocre, my friend I took who’s Asian compared his food as dog food. We both didn’t really like the food. The unfolding box was annoying and I was really nervous about dropping the food everywhere. I felt like my food was just laying on the table, it felt rather too unsanitary for me. Dinning area: The place was too cramped on space. There is really not that much space to eat there. You eat on the counter if your inside, and outside was too blistering hot to eat despite the fans outside. The counter level varies in hight depending where you sit. I sat with my friend in the middle and the countertop to eat was absurdly high. The food was at my upper chest area. It was an annoying position to eat from. Room Ambience: Since the place is small you have a rather claustrophobic dinning experience. The place seemed over staff at my count there where 4 people shuffling behind the counter all talking rather loud with one another. Sine it’s a counter top dinning, your just watching then shuffling about. With the patroons and employees, the volume was barely bearable. I couldn’t wait to get out. The glass panel window behind you, the heat bakes your back. I had sweat trickling down my back while I was there. Not for me, the whole place experience gave me a headache. Update: Gave them another try years later… food still sucks! Burned egg rolls must be brand for them. Last time I’ll be coming to any off...