Rice

I really had a bad experience at a Rice last year .but my friend wanted to come here after the cinema .
I was not looking forward to it but I hadnt tried this one before so I thought I’d give it a go.
The décor is like a cheap café, but the food menu did not reflect this. Walking around to the counter we viewed the menu from afar .was The average meal cost £8, and was limited for vegetarians or fish eaters.
When the queue had finally cleared my friend ordered thee katsu curry, while I chose the salmon skewers for a tenner.
The lady that took our order was beyond rude, and slow. While I ordered she conversed with other staff and halfway through paying for mine she started serving another customer. She completely forgot about me, so I entered the amount due on the card machine and processed the payment myself, leaving her a copy of the receipt.
Ten minutes later she came over saying I left my receipt, to which I waved mine and assured I had it. Baffled she walked off and said she’d bring the food over. Normally you have to collect it yourself when your orders called, but she sensed I was annoyed: p
My food was surprisingly tasty, with fresh mango, nicely cooked rice and beans with sticky terriyaki salmon… but £10 ?? And in this environment for fast food. hmm no thank you.
Overall, poor service, poor décor and extremely expensive for fast food.

This place is okay. The quality is inconsistent though, and I’ve unfortunately been let down a few times :(
They never have any bloody chopsticks anymore either. And always forget my sweet chilli dip :(
The first couple of times I went the food was awesome, and I really loved that they served it in takeaway boxes. But the quality started to dip, and left me feeling sad inside :(
I’ll keep trying to get that same quality every now and then from Rice because it’s been good before. Some of the staff are awesome and super polite, whereas some are pretty outright rude and ignore you.
So it’s literally a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance that you’ll get awesome food and polite service, or mediocre food and poor customer service.
Give it a go though! Because when it’s right, it’s good!

Not a terrible option if you’re after some quick food around Piccadilly Gardens, but also not great and quite pricey. I opted for the soba noodles with mushrooms which at £5 were one of the cheapest things on the menu. They arrived quickly. They were tasty and the portion was huge! Nicely seasoned, though I think they’re missing a trick by not having condiments on the table e.g. sriracha, soy sauce etc.

I popped in here and got a can of Rubicon. It surprised me when it was £1.20 as I forgot what I found when I came here before — its a restaurant that feels like a takeaway.
I didn’t enjoy the food I got on my last visit. Japanese Katsu curry, I suspect the people of Japan wouldn’t have liked it either. It was just bland and very disappointing. It felt like a chicken curry you’d get at a takeaway that’s open til 1am ie not great.
To me the layout of the place feels like a big takeaway too and naturally no table service is involved. You pay at the till and get takeaway cartons on a tray. I like the actual tabletops with the design done in rice. I also like the big fish tank. That is all.
I’m giving it an extra star for the location as its good for people watching as it’s right smack in the middle of Piccadilly Gardens.

After a day of meetings and a flat viewing I decided to pop into Rice in Piccadilly Gardens to grab a quick something for dinner before heading home.
It was a good choice. I’ve always been a fan of Rice and used to come here quite often as a student (they do a student discount).
My favourite has always been their Singapore Style Noodles — which are really basic but perfect for my liking.
The portions, served in a takeaway tub regardless of eating in or taking out, are always huge and managed to take away the hunger.
There are loads of rice and noodle dishes on the menu to try, they even do some grilled dishes too. My noodles were around £5 and considering you watch them being made fresh — which only takes a few minutes, I’m more than happy to pay.
I got my noodles to take away, but had to give up on the chopsticks halfway to Victoria and use a fork. (Don’t tell Lucas S.)

I used to visit Rice quite a lot, quick and tasty food guaranteed with a mix of flavours from Thai to Caribbean. But recently it has been a bit of a let down.
The service speed is still really good but the once tasty food is now mediocre. No meal seems to really hit the mark and the rice was often undercooked.
Rice, come back to good cooking!

Rice is pretty cool. Not a newcomer on the scene at all, rice has been serving various noodle dishes and rice dishes to Manchester customers for several years. I like it because of the simplicity of noodles or rice, in a box to take away. The food is cooked fresh in front of you and so you know what’s going in there –to some extent at least. I’ve never been absolutely blown away by the food here, but if you want a decent Pad Thai or similar, you won’t go wrong. I personally think its a bit expensive, ⁶⁄₇ quid a go, but then its the only place on the high street in Manchester thats doing what it does. As for sitting in, theres a nice diner feel to the Piccadilly branch, and the décor makes it fun — all concrete and steel. The Deansgate store on the other hand just makes no sense to me — tiny tables, nothing particularly interesting to want to go inside for, I’d rather take it out and sit on the grass or a bench!
Ultimately it doesn’t have massive repeat visit charm, but if you’ve never been I recommend at least one visit! You should also know that its not all oriental food, you can get Jambalaya and some other interesting things.

Ohh, Rice. So near, and yet so far.
Right. Disclaimer. I live about a 4 minute walk from Rice. I’m lazy, and rarely cook. I’ve lived in Asia for over 2 years (this is a recurring theme of my reviews…). That means I’ve eaten at Rice many, many, times. Think of a number. Double it. Double it again. Is it 47? Of course not, any number you’ve just chosen would have have ended up even. But I digress, and I think you get the idea.
The point I’m trying to make, rather circuitously, is that Rice is inconsistent and I can tell. Sometimes this is refreshing: order the same dish and, depending on the chef, you’ll get a slightly different dish.
That would be all well and good, if all food was cooked to the same standard. I mean, I get it. It’s (exceedingly) fast food. But that really doesn’t mean that my chicken (obviously precooked) should be cold in the middle when finally served.
All of the above would be forgiven if Rice was reasonably priced, of course: but £7.50−8 for a rice dish is hardly cheap at the best of times, and a ‘Rice listens closer. Price gets smaller.’ campaign was entirely too brief and ultimately hollow. Prices are higher than ever. Tweaks to the student discount and loyalty programme (for the worse) haven’t helped either.
Ultimately, Rice is just too expensive to rate any higher given the issues with consistency. That said, portion sizes are excellent and dishes, when good, are very good given the prep time. But the food too often falls flat.

One of the most awful places to eat in town.
Both stores look nice enough and the menus promise a lot (especially as a big fan of all asian foods), the quality is quite frankly shocking, especially for the price.
Do yourself a favour if you’re in a rush for a bit to eat, avoid this and find a bit more time to sit down, try Baekdu if you want Korean, Wasabi for cheap sushi and any of the Rice ‘n’ Three places in Northern Quarter if you’re hankering for a curry.

I did NOT like Rice.
1. It is ridiculously expensive. If it’s a fast food lunch place serving things in cardboard boxes even if you’re eating in WHY is it £7.99 for katsu curry? Even in central London lunch is not that expensive. If a lunch dish is more than £6.50 it should involve a tablecloth.
2. The katsu curry wasn’t that great. Specifically, there was not enough curry v rice and the rice wasn’t nice enough to eat plain.
3. Iceberg lettuce in the salad. I hate iceberg lettuce. What is good about it? Nothing. Certainly not with curry.
So anyway, good to know where not to go I guess. I do have general reservations about so called «fusion» places that aren’t fusing anything, they just serve dishes from different places. Generally they aren’t doing any of them particularly well.

Like Emma has said — the food cartons from Friends with the chinese food!
It’s like a novelty that many more restaurants should really pick up on.
On a Saturday at work in Manchester, this was one of my regular food destinations. Rice noodles and chicken in a sesame sauce became a favourite of mine and if you wanted to make a change to one of the meals on the restricted menu, then they were happy to help you. Good, helpful customer service and a quick and speedy delivery of your food is essential to keeping people happy and they try their best to!
To sit in this place is usually a quest and sometimes it’s more worthwhile to take your meal out — those cartons come in use once again! And always choose the chopsticks :)

Have you ever watched episodes of Friends and wished you lived in the US so that your Chinese takeout would come in cartons instead of those sinful-​feeling foil containers? I have. So have many of my friends. The fact that you can eat it out of the carton too, that just adds to that feeling of Americana. Eating it out of a foil container would instantly make all around you resemble a bedsit.
Thank heavens then for Rice, a canteen that serves everything from Chinese to Japanese to Thai to Mexican and Jamaican even… any cuisine with a rice base actually. That said, there are also noodles on the menu which are of course easier to yank with chopsticks, but at Rice some of the rice is so deliciously glutinously sticky that chopsticks make short work of it.
The canteen format can be a little daunting — it’s like fast food van meets street vendor — but don’t let this put you off, you can take away or sit in if you please and its location is perfect for people-​watching in the lovely Piccadilly Gardens. We went on the best possible day as the Hungry Pigeon music festival was on, and our spot in Rice gave us a perfect view of the stage. Live music while you eat, what could be better than that.
I went for a Thai red vegetable curry with the recommended Indionesian coconut sticky rice (that’s another thing about Rice, they suggest complementary flavours in case you get stuck). The vegetables were perfectly cooked, al dente little medallions of carrot and proper chunks of babycorn, aubergines and mushrooms… with many more in the medley, I was bound to be getting my five-​a-​day in that one carton. Spice levels were peppery and hot, soothed by the creamy sauce and the coconut rice.
After eating at Rice you feel surprisingly healthy. There’s none of the heartburny MSG of your average Chinese takeaway, and you feel like you’re getting something that hasn’t been completely Westernised. I was certainly set up for a day of watching bands and quaffing pear cider. Rice, I salute you. I’ll be visiting again, and so should any forward-​thinking Mancunian reading this review!

Short on time recently, and too late for the great curry places in the Northern Quarter, we stopped off for the second time here. Ordering from a giant menu of choices from across the world, the food is delivered in a takeaway-​style box, and delivered quickly.
This place could be fantastic. The city centre is crying out for a quick noodle bar serving Eastern food. Sadly, it’s very disappointing. If it seems difficult to believe that one place could do a good job at Japanese, Spanish, South American, Thai, etc. all in one place, you’d be right. The results are mostly just unpleasant: the kind of food you throw down your mouth then instantly regret. It’s clear the ingredients weren’t fresh.
My biryani was spiced completely wrong with hardly any of the «Indian» flavour you might expect. It’s not a great exaggeration to say that no matter what you order, it’ll end up tasting the same. This is not good food, and what’s more it’s absurdly overpriced: 17 quid for two boxes and two drinks; they can surely only get away with this due to their central location.
I haven’t eaten at the «proper» restaurants, and I hope they’re better, but if you need a quick bite near here, stop in at Barburrito next door instead.

This place is such a fab fast food place — ideal for a quick lunch although the portions are massive. Certainly get your money’s worth.
Rice is ideally located by the bus stop but is really quite small so finding a seat at peak times is a bit of a mission. The open kitchen makes for entertainment while you eat and as they say, does ensure you can see the fresh ingredients used.
I recommend the Indonesian Nasi Goreng (£6.49) because it’s a little bit spicy and has looooads crammed in that little take-​away carton. The Thai red curry is also yummy. The Thai fishcakes are apparently incredible too so defo worth a go.
You can also get a Rice loyalty card to collect points for a free meal.

Rice has exceeded in achieving something previously thought impossible: the successful combination of fast food with quality. From the moment you walk in your senses are inundated by the intense aromas, the hiss of the woks being set on fire and the cacophony of voices that accompany this refreshing dining experience.
Rice offers a truly international menu, with plenty for vegetarians, and all dishes are whipped up in front of you. All food is served in those classic white cardboard boxes you see so often in ‘Sex and the City’ and you can either eat in, on a glass-​topped table decoratively filled with dried… rice or take away. They have a fantastic assortment of drinks as well, including authentic iced tea from the Orient alongside your more bog standard coca cola. My boyfriend pleads with me to take him here whenever he’s in Manchester, and at around five pounds for a steaming box of exquisite Pad Thai noodles with tofu, I am always happy to oblige!

Rice is a café/​restaurant/​fast food takeaway serving pretty much any dish from around the world that can be served with rice or noodles. It is located on Piccadilly Gardens, right in the centre of town, and is therefore perfectly convenient for a quick bite at lunchtime or to re-​fuel before an afternoon of hardcore shopping.
It’s menu is extensive, offering everything from South American rice dishes to Indonesian dishes such as Nasi Goreng (a personal favorite). It also serves sushi, and salads as well as other fish and meet on the grill. Rice, unsurprisingly has a great range of infused rice that you can pick to accompany your meal. These include coconut rice which is excellent, to Masala rice which really isn’t as tasty as it sounds! The Pad Thai is incredible, especially with King Prawns which always tasty really fresh.
At first glance, the food here seems quite over-​priced for a café and no real plates. However, the quality of the food and the size of the portions justify the 7 of your hard earned pounds. If you work in or around Piccadilly plaza you receive a card that entitles you to discount, the same is true if you are a student. This makes you meal around a fiver and makes you feel very smug about the whole situation.
My only criticism is I find it quite a stressful environment to eat in as it always so packed out!

Rice is a phenomenal take-​away. Right in the centre of Piccadilly Gardens, I literally cannot believe this place is not heaving. They serve oriental food. Not specifically from one country but everything from Thai, through Chinese and Indonesian to Japanese.
Its around £6−7 for a main, which is my only criticism of the place, as some Thai and Chinese restaurants in there area serve main meals for little more in a proper restaurant. However, as Sam points out, there is a student discount and there’s also a thing called the Piccadilly Card, available to people working in certain buildings in the city, which allows you to get a main for around £5. If you work on Piccadilly Gardens then look it up, as it has great discounts at a number of places.
The prices here, even if you are paying full price, are justified. In my opinion the quality is as good as you will get in any oriental restaurant and certainly a head and shoulders above all other take-​away places. Also, you get a huge portion, again as much as you’d get in a restaurant. Basically, you are paying almost restaurant prices but you’re getting good restaurant quality. They also don’t scrimp on your chosen meat and even the King Prawns are dished out in a very generous helping. The Pad Thai and Nasi Goreng are my personal favourites. The only thing I would say against the food is that the starters I have tried, especially the fish cakes, were a bit of a disappointment, so just go for the mains.
Also, there is space to sit and eat in. You can either grab a table or if you’re on your own you can sit on a stool by the glass front and look out over Piccadilly. Another nice touch is that they serve alcohol, including some cold Thai and Japanese beers.

On the edge of Piccadilly Gardens sits Rice in its unassuming, understated way. This fast food Chinese restuarant is quietly getting along at being one of the best places to go grab some lunch in Manchester.
For around £6 (and cheaper if you’re a student) you can grab a filling tub of noodles or rice with delicious toppings.
Every single meal I’ve had here has tasted lovely. The jerk chicken is hot and spicy and probably my favourite. You can take away or eat in, sitting at the bar overlooking the gardens or at a table full of rice. Yes, the tables are full of rice. This place is that cool.
The décor of the place is minimal and simple, and the kitchen is open, meaning that you can watch the chefs cooking up your meal. Despite Rice describing themselves as a ‘fast food’ restaurant, the grub is all freshly prepared and made to order, yet still served dead quick.

I’m not a huge fan of rice. The food, not the place. I find it very bland and not very exciting.
But this Rice shop changes all that. It’s yummy. It’s fast. It’s cheap. A winner.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken is definitely my favourite dish, so tasty and moreish. Finish the whole thing and that’s it though, can’t move for hours. The Thai curry ones are really good too.
Prices range from £2.99 — £6.49 which is pretty expensive but the portion sizes are good which makes up for it.

Don’t worry about the marauding swathes of pirate children who watch with unblinking menace whilst you eat, they’re just kids being kids– the rambunctious little terrors. Anyway it’s just a sign of how hip and with it we are at Piccadilly gardens and definitely worth the indigestion.
It’s the same with tramps, think of them as our way of providing ethical food– you get to feel guilty with each mouthful as they stare longingly at your Thai Red Curry with basmati rice– doesn’t it taste so much better now you’ve discovered a conscience? Now those idiots in the green T shirts who are waiting to pounce on you for the sake of chariddy actually seem really conveniently placed.
Piccadilly Gardens– the perfect place to come for a meal.