Oryza Asian Cuisine & Bar — Restaurant in Iowa City

I'm writing this review from the perspective of a very picky eater. The type who enjoys next to no vegetables. I was warned by my friend that this place was definitely not for those types of picky eaters, but any fears I had disappeared when I look at the menu. Yes, it definitely wasn't for vegetable haters like myself, but there was such a diverse plethora of options that I was able to order something I'd never tried before, but was fairly confident I would enjoy. And enjoy it I did. I ordered the Duck Fried Rice, and from the first bite it ticked an immediate green flag: I could actually taste the meat! Not being able to taste the meat in say, a burger or a sandwich, has always been a big pet peeve of mine, and I'm happy I was able to actually taste the gamey duck. The meat was cooked pretty much perfectly, and even though the rice did have the vegetables I so dislike, they were distributed and prepared in a way that they were able to actually enhance my eating experience by adding touches of flavor, a nice texture, and the occasional crunch. My younger brother, a fellow picky eater, really enjoyed the dumplings as well, even though they contained cabbage. The menu also has clear warnings for allergies and if it's vegan/vegetarian friendly, which I appreciate. I also appreciate how the menu tells you what asian culture it originates from. It's a minor, but still nice, touch. The service was also great. The woman that served us gave us plenty of time to decide what we want, and she was always on top of anything we asked for. It really felt like she cared about our eating experience. The restaurant itself is a perfect balance between a "local diner" and "professional". The restaurant gave off a vibe of hard work, dedication, and homemade, making it a place I feel good about buying and enjoying my food. On the topic of price, I believe them to be fair. They range from about 15 to 18 dollars, which is fair for the amount of food you're getting (I still have plenty of leftovers to enjoy tomorrow!) and the quality. I also mustn't forget my boyfriend Stuart the Turtle. Love that guy. I'm definitely interested in going here again to try new foods outside my...

We've gotten take out from Oryza a few times. The kids like it there, and our first meal was truly yummy. We'd asked for no mushrooms in a dish and they forgot - but the delivery driver felt bad and apologized! So nice! Our second meal was fine. Cold, so we had to reheat everything, though. Last week, we ordered again and were horrified. The fried rice that came with our meals smelled unlike anything I've ever smelled before, and was so intense I couldn't go into our kitchen for hours without feeling sick to my stomach. It smelled like a combination of very sweaty sweat socks and urine. At first, I thought maybe the smell that punched me in the face was a fluke - so I tried a bite. I had to spit it out immediately - it was absolutely disgusting. In fact, I had to throw away any/all food that was touching the rice on our plates, it was so toxic. (Which was a lot - we probably ate $20 of the $60 we spent.) I called the restaurant because I wanted them to know that they may be receiving calls about this, if there was more of this batch that went out to customers - but also so that if they still had that batch, they knew to throw it away. The young woman I spoke to was very friendly, very apologetic - took my name and number and promised to have a manager call me (I didn't ask to talk to a manager or anything - she was just exercising good customer service). No contact of any kind was attempted from anyone at Oryza for over three days. The two stars are for the young woman I spoke to who tried to do the right thing by a customer. We'll never order...

This place was pretty disappointing. We wanted to like it. When you walk in the atmosphere is casual and clean and we were very excited when we saw the menu. Everything is clearly marked as to whether they are or can be made vegetarian, vegan, nut free, gluten free, etc. Unfortunately it's not accurate as we learned when we attempted to order a vegetarian version of their phó. At least our server knew enough to set us straight. We were very grateful that he warned us the phó was made with beef broth.

We ended up ordering fried tofu, scallion pancake, Jajing, and something I can't remember the name of that was described as kimchi stew. The appetizers were pretty yummy but the main dishes were extremely disappointing. The dish I ordered, jajing, was described as cold wheat noodles with cucumber. The dish had cucumber in it, but was served piping hot. It was also sweet and ultimately very boring. The kimchi stew my dining companion ordered had no kimchi to be found and it was definitely not a stew. He ended up adding the last half of my dish to his bowl of broth. We were hungry and had a movie to get to, so sending the dishes back wasn't an appealing option.

The appetizers were good and they beers on tap were enough to keep us happy. I honestly don't know if we'll ever go back, we're certainly not planning a return trip...