Rice Bistro — Restaurant in Port Orange

With my time in the Daytona Beach area coming to a close, I had a list of local Asian restaurants to try out. This time it was Rice Bistro in Port Orange. Sad to say I was disappointed by the lack of care and kindness and outright experienced a condescending, snarky attitude and demeanor of the manager/boss. They are of East Asian descent, as I am too. I thought we would get each other, but nope.. When I walked in I grabbed a menu and saw the price of the combination pho was $17, and commented to her that it seemed pretty high, and I remember pho prices costing $9, $10 or $11 before. She said that was five years ago (2017), which is fair.

However she then proceeded to belabor the point by saying: "Do you know? A pound of chicken costs $3.89/lb. at the grocery store. You would know if you went grocery shopping." I do, and I do not grocery shop at places where the chicken is $3.89 per pound. A better response to my comment? She could have either said: "Yeah it's tough, inflation is real," "Sorry that the price is high," or just not said anything at all and acknowledged/nodded to my comment/observation. I asked her if there was a lunch special for pho, and she proceeded to say with an attitude that there are no lunch specials on the weekends. Wow ok.

She then proceeded to ask if I wanted to order, and I told her I would order to-go and showed me to the back. Originally I wanted to dine-in, but her behavior and demeanor warranted a to-go order. Even though the pho was plentiful and tasty, I do not recommend encountering this employee/manager at Rice Bistro. Her actions do not define the other employees. I'm sure the others are more kind and friendly and have somewhat of an empathetic character. If I am a first-visiting customer and who wants to try out the food and pay for it -- you do not operate, talk, or behave in that manner to a paying customer, especially a first-time visitor. I understand the pandemic has thrown a lot of restaurants, food, cost of living and inflation in disarray, totally get that. But to project that onto a customer is excessive.

I get that I should not have made that reactionary comment to start with, but it would've been courteous if they had their prices published on their online menu, so I had somewhat of an expectation of the price. I have seen some previous reviews from others who have commented on the prices and/or one particular person's behavior, so I am glad I am not alone in this.

The person may have been jaded, tired, frustrated, I don't know, but I sincerely hope they do better. Wish them continued success. In no way does this review reflect on the quality of the food and/or...

This place is a hidden gem! My wife is Chinese, and I have traveled and eaten all around Asia, so I know how Asian cuisine should be. I also know that a lot of authentic Asian cuisine does not appeal to the typical American palate, especially in the provincial Daytona Beach, Fl area. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Rice Bistro has done a wonderful job of making delicious, fresh Asian cuisine from a variety of Asian cultures: Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean that will appeal to locals and Asians alike. They have a HUGE menu to select from, and I was told by one of the co-owners that almost everything on the menu can be made vegetarian or vegan.

Fist of all, the food itself is fresh, well prepared, not overcooked, with delicious flavors from the ingredients, not copious amounts of MSG that is often substituted for flavor in many Asian restaurants. They do use some MSG unless you ask otherwise, which we did. I didn't find the flavor lacking at all without MSG; the chef obviously knows what he/she is doing. I had a table of 4 people with some to go items and everyone commented at how good their food tasted. There is a plethora of other Asian restaurants in the area, one just a few doors down from Rice Bistro, and all of the ones I have eaten at are the typical overcooked, bland, processed, Americanized, cheap slop. While Rice Bistro's main menu is somewhat Americanized (and delicious), they also have an authentic menu in Chinese & English for anyone wanting real authentic Asian cuisine, much to the delight of my wife.

Portions on the dinner menu are very big. I can eat a lot, and I got the dinner portions of Pad Thai (noodles)and Tom Yum Goong (soup) for lunch. Delicious, and it was way more than I could eat. They have a large $9 lunch menu, but I haven't tried that yet. They have bottled water so you're not stuck with tap water as in some other local restaurants.

Service was excellent. One of the co-owners waited on my table and she was very helpful & friendly; service was fast. Prices were very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food.

Unlike a lot of other small local cafes, Rice Bistro has a very pleasant, clean, uplifting atmosphere inside and out. It's in a nice, new shopping center with nice landscaping, and the inside is nicely decorated and well lit, a detail that many local cafes miss. Some of the other local Asian cafes, aside from having mediocre food, also have very boring antiseptic strip mall...

My friend wanted to try a "new" place for dinner and we decided to take our families to the Rice Bistro for dinner. We both have a passion for Asian cuisine. I love and miss Authentic Korean Food and he used to be a Japanese Sushi Chef. Some of these asian food restaraunts can be sketchy and a complete disappointment. Rice Bistro knocked it out of the park. We decided to try several dishes. I had Bulgolgi and seafood combo stir fry. He had Pho with Brisket. My daughter had a side of Kimchi and chicken Lo Mein.

We started off with just about every dumpling they offered. Steamed or fried, stuffed with all kinds of deliciousness. The Krab Rangoon was completely homemade and came out looking that way. It wasnt some premafe or frozen triangle with the forked edges. It had the perfect balance of creamy rich crab rangoon and dough. The Korean pot stickers or yaki mann do and the asian potstivker dumplings were all perfectly made with the same perfect dough to mix ratios. The kimchi came out and it was definitely home made. The cabbage, onions and spices were perfectly blended. The heat was perfect. Reminded me so much of my time in Korea. Between that and the Bulgolgi, I felt like I was in a tent next to the railroad tracks in Seoul.

The Bulgolgi came out like fajitas sizzling on a hot cast iron pan. Topped with sauteed onions, pickled daicon, and a little kimchi! It was magic in my mouth. I think it hit ever tastbud on my tongue as it went down my throat. It was the best I have had here in the states and definitely brought back to that time in my life. The sauce was sweet and the meat had the just right amount of char. It was delicious! The seafood stir fry recommended by our server was very fresh and delicious. It was packed with scallops, shrimp, squid, and fish.

I will definitely be back. My buddies wife found it and said it was new. Found out lastnight that they have been there for seven years. It was new to us and I have or want to try a lot of other things...