RICEBOY — Restaurant in New York

What an exciting experience at the grand opening of Hmart's new food court at the LIC location! The bustling atmosphere on Friday showed just how many people were eagerly anticipating this event.

The layout is well-designed, with most food stalls conveniently placed near the cash registers and a couple of options (Oh K Dog and Gong Cha) by the elevators. I decided to sample the Rice Boy food stall and was impressed by their offerings.

I tried the Miso Ramen ($13.99) and the Beef Boy Rice Bowl ($12.99). While there was a bit of a wait due to the grand opening crowds, the staff were working hard to keep up with demand. The food was definitely worth the wait!

The Beef Boy Rice Bowl was a delightful combination of flavors. Tender, thinly sliced marinated beef (bulgogi) sat atop a bed of white rice, accompanied by fresh lettuce and japchae noodles. While I personally might have enjoyed a few more grilled onions for extra zing, the overall dish was satisfying.

The real star was the Miso Ramen. The broth, packed separately to maintain freshness, was rich and savory - a real treat for the taste buds. The ramen egg was cooked to perfection with a beautifully jammy yolk. While I wouldn't have minded a bit more pork, the flavors were spot-on.

What really impressed me were the reasonable prices, especially with the grand opening discount. There's a generous 30% off discount running until June 6th, giving everyone plenty of time to explore the various food stalls.

If you're planning to visit during this opening period, I'd recommend bringing a little patience as the staff get up to speed with the high demand. But trust me, it's well worth it for the quality and value of the food. I'm already looking forward to my next visit to try more dishes from their diverse...

Rice Boy is adjacent to Kimganae in the food court inside Hmart LIC. By and large, they complement each other pretty well in terms of covering Korean street food, with just a few overlaps. Rice Boy is a bit more casual and at slightly lower price points. Grand-opened in May'24 with 30% discount throught Aug'24.

Their signature offerings are the Cupbops, with many spins and mixes of (non-soup) Korean cuisines placed inside a paper bowl: boneless chicken, glass noodles, kimchi, bulgogi, fried dumplings, etc. Another main offerings are the mini pots/stews: tofu based and soy bean paste based soup dishes. These pretty much occupy 2/3 of its menu space.

Sweet & Spicy Chicken Cupbop $10. Very safe and balanced dish. Good mix of glass noodle, rice and garden salad in addition to the boneless chicken. Soy Garlic Chicken Cupbop $11. Ditto the above, except the price just gone up between our visits! Can't go wrong with either one, except this one is saltier and missing the kick that the other one has. Jajiang Noodle $13. Dry udon with onion and jajiang sauce and noodled cucumber. This was the first time I have jajiang on udon. It's OK but I prefer thinner type of noodle with this dish. Soft Tofu Soup with Seafood $13. This is the classic Sundubu that I love. Hot, spicy with heavy seafood flavor and tantalizing texture of soft tofu. Beef Denjang $ 13. This is the soy bean paste version of sundubu. This was the first time I tried it and definitely my last. Essentially miso soup base which is too lame for me.

3.5 but round down to 3 to differentiate my rating on...

The food here is average. Nothing special. The prices are average. Even though they are lower because they’ve just opened. The staff, sadly has to be better trained. First, they couldn’t understand what I was ordering, second, after waiting more than 25 minutes, in a practically empty store, they get everything wrong. I specifically said that The wanted my order to go. Half of my order is packed to go, and the other half is served on a plate, and on a tray. It’s just wanted them to fix the order, and actually give me what I had paid for.

Instead, the gentleman at the register, gave me a half refund for the food that I didn’t want.

Horrible customer service.

Shame on you RICE BOY, for not teaching your staff on things as simple as correctly take an order!!

Next to me there were at least another 4 customers that were having the same issues as me. No happy customers today.

It’s a shame that the owners, or the managers don’t do a better job at training their employees.

This is my first, and last visit.

Thank you so much for spoiling the whole experience for my family and myself.

0 stars...