The Rice Bowl in Manchester

If you like Chinese food this is the place to go

We were outside reading the menu as a couple of guests were leaving, they said if you haven’t booked we hope you can get still get a table as you are in for a treat. They weren’t wrong. We had the crispy duck and Vietnamese spring rolls to start. Both were very good, but were surpassed by the main courses, we enjoyed the beef with green pepper and black bean sauce and monkfish with chilli and garlic. Also a shout out for the soft noodles with bean sprouts and spring onion, i can’t recall ever having had better. Suggest that you book, otherwise you might miss a treat.

Food here this evening was amazing--so delicious. Staff were so attentive, and well deserved the large tip we gave them. Beware though---they charge a 'cover charge ' of 5 % even though there was just 2 of us ??

Very rude staff including management. Was removed from a table because my friend was 5 mins late for our table and replaced with a couple who hadn't booked. Also to mention that we are people of colour, the last time we came here it felt like we were treated differently then too and assumptions made about us because we are black. Won't be visiting again, awful and humiliating experience.

Fantastic food. Quick service and great size well priced food. We have been a few times and the food is always great. One of Manchesters greats.

As always The Rice Bowl never fails to be the go to place in Town (MCR), food is fantastic, tasty, great value for money, Atmosphere always relaxed & chilled, the staff are great and really helpful. I always recommend this place to everyone who is in Manchester, visiting or local and wanting a great place to eat. This is my number one place to eat in Manchester.

Lovely lunch on Cross Street…nice service

Always visit this restaurant when we visit manchester, everyone who works here is really nice, and they serve you quickly. Food is so nice, we always get the same thing from the menu and the crispy kale is amazing. Been here about 5 times now and it's never disappointed us.

It is 10 years since iI was last here and it has certainly changed from the noisy bustling busy restaurant to a quiet dull and boring place.They ripped out the banquette seating and put in drab brown chairs. Food was not as I remember it,and average quality only.I was treating g my hungry student grand daughter to lunch but even she couldn't eat the how mein.The chicken satay was tender but ina thin and runny spicy sauce. I shan't be visiting again.

Had a quick lunch here. Lovely tasty varied dim sum and great friendly service. Would definitely recommend 👍👍

We were in Manchester for the weekend, and called at the Rice Bowl for a meal. Had a generous portion of delicious frittered garlic mushrooms for a starter to share. Then chicken with cashew nuts and asparagus and sticky crispy mock chicken. All really good and would definitely recommend a visit.

very salty food. lovely atmosphere and staff very friendly. Probably won't go back though. Been before and food then was very good.

Very attentive service. A massive selection of good food done very well. The meats were all cooked, and the well known recipes such as chow mein are some perfectly. Rice is perfect as expected. I've been to many Chinese restaurants in Manchester over my whole life, and this one is very good contender as the best.

Best Chinese food In Manchester. Honestly amazing food, especially after a late night out.

Great place. I walked past it and didn’t even know that I was already there, but it’s nice inside. I had a 30 minute break from work, and quickly popped in there, and asked the waitress for the fastest food that I could possibly get, and they came up with this just in time, and I finished it before my break ended. It tasted soo good as well.

Excellent basement restaurant, great food and drink. Will come back here!

The finest Chinese restaurant in Manchester. Great location and atmosphere. Great menu

Amazing restaurant! This is my second time going with my family and we all loved it. The atmosphere is nice for a special dinner, and the turning plate at the table makes it easy to share dishes so that everyone gets to try different things. The food is delicious, and the service is great, not to mention we got our food so quickly! Would definitely recommend.

Disappointing. I won’t be returning.

Been coming here for many years when we visit Manchester, but never again. We came a few months ago and both suffered terrible stomach problems during the night. I won't go into details. But we put it down to one of those things. This afternoon we returned and had the set lunch menu. The hot and sour soup tasted like hot Bovril with a few Chinese ingredients thrown in, nothing like their soup has ever tasted before. The duck rolls were meagre to say the least and were sat on a sad looking bed of wilted lettuce. But worse was to come. The main courses and rice were pleasant enough. However, three mouthfuls in I found something alien in my mouth. At first I thought it was a very strong, thin chicken bone but, when I extracted it from my my mouth it was a partially coiled piece of very thin wire. What was worrying was when I called the waitress and showed her the wire she pointed straight at the dish it came from, as if she knew and expected it. In fairness the dish was immediately taken away and replaced. There were no apologies however and it appeared to be just one of those things to the staff. We certainly won't be back after today's experience.

Waiting in a queue outside in the cold for over 30 minutes after when our reservation was. The lady told us we didn’t have a reservation even tho we called up a week in advance, extremely rude staff that wouldn’t listen and told us we’re lying, absolutely ruined our night, would not recommend you come here.

I have type 1 diabetes I have an invisible dis ability and would not let me use toilet which is discrimination you can’t not allow someone who doesn’t have disability to not use the toilet she was nothing but rude

On entering the restaurant we were met by a waitress who said “2?” She then pointed at a table, and a minute later dropped 2 menu’s on our table. This was the extent of the conversation. Never felt so unwelcome before. We promptly walked out and won’t be returning.

We went to the rice bowl before 5 and it was pretty quiet. The staff were welcoming, and we really liked the look of this restaurant. The location is perfect as its right in the middle of town.The food was fantastic, we tried a few different dishes, such as the crispy beef, sweet and sour chicken, steamed dim sum, as well as chicken and sweetcorn soup and dessert and had a bottle of wine also and the bill only came to £100 for two people. I would definitily recommend. We will be back.

We visited the restaurant around 5pm before attending an event at the AO Arena. It was very busy so booking recommended. The location was perfect as it is a 10 minute walk from the arena. The staff were friendly and welcoming. We shared a banquet for 2 which was £30 each. The food was amazing and we had lots of time in between courses so didn’t feel rushed. I would definitely recommend a visit when you are in central Manchester. We will be returning !

This is a lovely looking restaurant, very clean with very good staff but unfortunately, it is expensive and the quality of their food is lacking. Singapore style vermicelli noodles were sweet, wet and totally lacked flavour. Some of the dim sum dishes were ok but on the whole they were not. Very disappointed with the lack of authentici cuisine.

Terrible Service and Rude Staff - Never Going Back Date of visit: 20/07/2024 My partner and I had a deeply disappointing and unfortunate experience at The Rice Bowl that I believe it is important to share to prevent others from enduring the same. Upon entering the restaurant, we waited for an extended period of 45 to 50 minutes without so much as a greeting or being acknowledged by any staff member. This wait was particularly difficult as we were very hungry, and my partner almost fainted due to her anaemia. Despite being in view of a staff member, we received no communication or updates during this time. She bypassed myself and my partner and actually stared through us as if we didn’t exist, but then was comfortably enough to attend to the Caucasian families stood behind us, asking whether they had a booking for a table to dine. The only interaction that we had from the host of The Rice Bowl just as we were about to be seated was “This family had booked a table and you are Next; Okay” Eventually, we were shown to a table, but the interaction was abrupt and unfriendly. For, the host deliberately walked back in front of my partner without any courtesy of allowing her to sit first. This lack of basic courtesy left my partner very upset. Our experience worsened when we tried to address the situation. The staff member claimed she had asked if we wanted a table for two, which was not true. When we expressed our concerns, she dismissively shrugged her shoulders and walked away, not returning to address the issue. Feeling ignored and disrespected, we decided to leave. Based on this experience, we will not be returning to The Rice Bowl. I hope the management takes this feedback seriously and improves their customer service. I would recommend potential diners if they value their time and dignity and overall dining experience, to consider these points before visiting.

So glad I finally tried this place. Best Chinese I’ve had. Friendly staff. Nice atmosphere. This is my new go to when I want Chinese!

Very good kitchen in 2023. 2024 good kitchen and very very loud

Lovely food. Reasonably fast service. Filled up fast

We have eaten here before and were very impressed. However, last night the restaurant was very loud, felt that the staff were rushing you when raking orders and overfilling wine glasses. The peking duck was excellent but that was it. I ordered a prawn dish and this must have been the cause of my food poisoning. Spent the night in pain with various trips to Boots for medication. Very disappointed and put off going back.

I cannot praise the food in this restaurant enough. The best in Manchester by a mile. You have to try it to believe it. Don’t miss out on this amazing gem.

Really lovely restaurant. Great food, friendly service and a very chilled atmosphere :)

This place is mine and partners favourite place to enjoy Chinese food. Staff are quick to assist and very friendly always having a laugh with us. Can be pricey but you don't mind that when the food is of great quality! Worth the journey to Manchester

Yummy food, lovely staff. We had the crispy beef and the chicken cashew plus some duck to start. Been here twice now years apart and both excellent! Will be back soon!

Can't beat this Chinese for service, quality and a great atmosphere. 9of us attended and we go 3/4 times a year. Just brilliant and amazing staff, very attentive.

Food was outstanding, the nicest chinese food ive ever had! However, this was the second time I've been as a party of 12 and feel like they're rushing you out before you've even sat down. Taking plates before you've finished, bringing starters with mains. I would still go back again but not as a big party.

Only walked past it but it was busy

Went on a very busy Saturday night for the kids birthdays. It was absolutely fantastic food service and atmosphere couldn't be faulted. We will be back again and again.

Amazing experience at the rice bowl. Fantastic food all around. I would highly recommend the chicken gyozas, which are extremely soft and light. Service was prompt and pleasant, no complaints at all!

Friendly staff, great tasting food!

Love the food at the rice bowl but my friend had lamb but found it a bit tough

Superb food, great vegetarian options. Really enjoyed it and will return again. Highly recommend it.

What a find! We were in town for a show and fancied Chinese food. The Rice Bowl came up due to good recommendations and it did not disappoint. I would say its the best Chinese food I've ever had, and I'm 70! Fabulous

The food was superb, the service was fast, the servers polite, and our meal was flawless. I'll surely return and highly recommend it to others.

Very authentic interior design. Service fast and caring. Food was good specially the slow cooked beef but a bit overpriced overall.

Fantastic food best Chinese in Manchester, would recommend booking as usually busy

Some things to like about it, but ultimately we were disappointed and for the cost, there are better options elsewhere in the city centre. + Very nice starters. I had some excellent dumplings. Mains were nice enough, but quite unremarkable. - Service was poor. Long waits for everything and quite impolite. We were heavily overcharged for rice. We ordered 4 full portions and they gave us a sharing bowl which was a couple of small spoons each. When we asked for more, they then charged us a 5th portion. We spent over £20 on rice, and barely had 3 servings. One or two of the mains were quite bland. The Sichuan sauce was gloopy and not bursting with pepper.

So today we called the restaurant and made a reservation for 4pm today 28/04/24 we we arrived at the restaurant the lady who was at the reception said we are fully booked and they didn’t have a table without even checking the book for reservations so when I explained we had a table and showed her she told me it’s best for us to leave because I’m a traveler and it’s discrimination and Racism against traveler and gypsy people in 2024 I think it’s a crying shame in front of my children it was a really embarrassing situation for us

A meal for one at this lovely restaurant. Good variety of dishes, from well known favourites to less well known . Tempura veg and faux sweet and sour chicken were very good.

I have been going to this restaurant for over 40 years and always enjoyed the food there.

Good food good service courteous professional staff

Introduced to this place by a friend. Probably the best Chinese in Manchester. Thanks Jenny!

Was looking for somewhere to have lunch and decided on here after reading the reviews. I have to say the food was excellent and good customer service. We had prawn crackers, king prawn sesame toast, Duck spring rolls and prawn Gozo as mixed starters followed by crispy chicken chilli in black bean sauce. All of the dishes were lovely. Would certainly recommend and if back in Manchester would go again.

My recent visit to this Chinese restaurant was nothing short of a disaster. After placing our orders, a deafening fire alarm erupted, filling the restaurant with panic and confusion. The alarm persisted for a grueling 45 minutes, with no staff members able to silence it. To add insult to injury, upon finally being able to leave, we were shocked to discover that we were still expected to pay full price for our meals, despite enduring such a disruptive and unpleasant experience. What was most disappointing, however, was the complete lack of accountability from the staff. Not a single apology was offered for the inconvenience caused, and there was no attempt to compensate us for the ordeal we had just endured. When I called the restaurant later to voice my dissatisfaction, the person I spoke to was dismissive and unapologetic. Despite my request to speak to a manager, I was met with indifference and ultimately hung up on. It’s clear that this establishment has a long way to go in terms of customer satisfaction and basic professionalism. Proper training for the staff members is sorely needed to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. Until then, I strongly advise against dining at this restaurant, as the lack of regard for customer experience is unacceptable. If I could give -5 stars I would. Avoid at all costs!

Great place for Chinese food, will definitely go again

I love the food here . The spare ribs are the best I have ever had . The food is so well prepared and cooked . The menu is extensive so I can’t comment on all of it , but we have eaten here several times and tried a variety of dishes . Tonight my partner had salmon and will certainly be eating it again . The staff are friendly, attentive but not too intrusive . The meals are reasonably priced for central Manchester

Very busy restaurant Highly recommended the crispy duck with wraps

I am a regular visitor to The Rice Bowl, however last night we had our Bon Voyage meal for one of our managers who is leaving and moving to Paris. 16 of us were seated on 2 round tables at the back of the restaurant and ordered our drinks, which were brought out promptly. We received complimentary Prawn crackers and dips. We had a variety of starters , mains, rice, noodles and s&p chips. The food was delivered hot and it was absolutely delicious. A great night was had by all.

Lovely food as always but a little cheeky on the sur charge considering only two of us having to pay for your food and then pay for someone to hand it to you is wrong I like to tip but I like to give what I think is appropriate not what I'm told

I met my old university friends here as we meet regularly in various places around Manchester. The food and service were very good as you would expect from a restaurant with a very good reputation. The restaurant was very busy and as "Old Boys" we found it very noisy. Good value, we will keep it on our list.

Another wonderful meal at Rice Bowl. Excellent food. Great menu choices. First class service. Highly Recommend.. Reasonable priced

What can I say?! This place is fantastic, one of the best Chinese restaurants I have been to. Service was quick, food was fresh and good quality, flavours were different to what the dishes usually taste like but it was all delicious. The crispy chilli beef was probably the best I have ever had, good quality chunks of beef and the sauce wasn't claggy, I'd just prefer bigger slices of carrot and I was surprised by the addition of celery! Service was friendly and price was reasonable given Manchester city centre for a great Chinese meal. I'd love to go back for the duck and to try other dishes. Well done Rice Bowl 👏🏻

10/10 service, food was excellent BUT very salty (not to taste - just VERY thirsty after). Great vegetarian options.

Post theatre meal with friends. Love it here, the food is amazing and service always good.

After waiting over 1hr The food was served cold and the staff wasn’t helpful at all with a terrible attitude. I would NOT recommend

Best Chinese food I’ve had before. My wife and I went twice while in town because we enjoyed it so much!

Amazing food and service. Been going here my whole life, never had less then amazing

Visited for a meal before going to the cinema. We were in time for the fixed price menu which was delicious and excellent value. Highly recommend a visit.

Two of us dined on the set menu Friday before 4pm. The food was as beautiful as I remember from a fair few years ago! Service was quick, every little detail like serving your rice, changing plates and cleaning between courses was lovely. We had the lemon chicken, crispy chilli beef, rice and noodles. The noodles were outstanding - as was all the meat! Look forward to coming again soon.

Excellent in answering a phone enquiry, then a warm welcome and clean table, the working together between waitering staff was something u don't see nowadays, food really authentic.

Very good Visited in March 2020

Im not a great admirer of Chinese food, but this place is a hidden jewel. Excellent food, tasty and well presented, enjoyed every bite of it. The staff are quick, very efficient, and make sure you have everything you need at the table. Some of the visitors were a bit drunk but didn't interfere with enjoyment. We shall definitely visit again next time in Manchester.

The food was excellent but this was let down by the service. We had to wait 20minutes between first and second courses. Thankfully the quality made up for the waiting. The toilet facilities, although very clean, could really do with being updated.

A long established eating establishment and ,imo, one of the best in Manchester. We always make a booking because it is always fullish. The Chinese food is the best and never changes. You must try it.

Flic's advent calendar gift was a Manchester dice roll. We rolled a 4 which ment finding a Chinese. We decided to try The Rice Bowl on Cross St for the first time. A great choice. The basement dining room was about 85% full on a wet February Wednesday. Good atmosphere and service. The portions are large and we ended up boxing up about half of it. Flic had honey ribs to start whilst boss had satay chicken. For mains we had chilli chicken and slow cooked beef with aubergine. Fried rice and soft noodles to accompany. Washed down with pints of lager at £6.75. Will definitely be back, especially as our go to Thai has gone downhill.

Myself and my husband have been dining at the Rice Bowl for 20 years. It was where my husband took me to for our first Valentine's, knowing how much I loved Chinese food and having just moved to the UK from Vancouver Canada – away from all my friends and family and home comforts. It was a wonderful surprise then and has never let us down since. In the last 20 years we have frequented the restaurant for regular meals, used it for takeaways (especially during lockdown), and we have taken all of our friends and family as well. All of whom loved it. Including every family member or friend that has visited us from Canada over the years. They too have been impressed and enjoyed it immensely. Without exception every visit has been great. The food is so delicious and well made. I personally don't know of any other restaurant in Manchester that has had such longevity and kept its standards so high and consistently for this length of time. And the restaurant has been around long before we started visiting. It's just a really good Chinese restaurant! It’s not located in Chinatown but rather in Manchester City centre, and it stands alone for so many reasons. I know people that have other favourite Chinese restaurants and I know there are lots of good ones, but this review is not just about that the Rice Bowl a great Chinese restaurant, but that it's an exceptional restaurant that has been so good for so long. Almost all other restaurants fall by the wayside at some point. Or the quality changes. I've lost many of my favourites over the years. So I felt it was important to do a very specific review. Kind of a 20th anniversary special if you will. I think after 20 years of giving us so much pleasure and great food, Jenny and her team deserve a real shout out and a thank you!

This restaurant is absolutely first class. It is family owned business that has been operating since 1969 and they care about every detail of food and service. There is an innate grace and elegance to what they do and how they do it. Look at the beautiful little fruit plate I got at the end of the meal. They really care!

Disorganised. Squashed 5 of us on a table of despite having booked. They took my coat whilst we sat down and when i got it back it was damaged.

We arrived Saturday evening as a walk-in, expected to wait as we were aware that they would be busy. Walked in at 5:15pm and heard it would be a thirty minute wait. By 6:00 we were near the front and excited to eat. However they said there were no tables available for 3 people and we would need to wait an hour longer. Then a table with four seats became available but the lady went around asking if there was two couples that were strangers to sit with each other rather than our group of 3 at the front of the queue. Then reaching 6:45, an hour and a half later we asked if they would seat a table of three to which the manager/host responded yes on a table with 4 seats so you will have to wait another hour (why didnt we get sat on the table she just offered to the 2 groups of strangers behind us) To be honest we felt quite discriminated against because of the ethnicity of one of our friends. They continued to seat people behind us in the queue. At this point we gave up and will not return. Which is a shame as I have enjoyed eating there before.

Poor service, food insufficient for the marked price.

My daughter booked a table two weeks ago for a surprise for my birthday for 4 people for sun 10th feb at 1.30. We arrived and the queue was quite big as it was Chinese new year, which was expected, that’s why we booked. When we arrived they said that they hadn’t got the booking and would have to wait outside and queue. Absolutely disgusted as we were all looking forward to it. My daughter insisted she’d booked it and the lady then said yes but we have no tables. So really they had overbooked and we didn’t get our meal. Shame on you rice-bowl.

They hate kids. I rang up on Thursday to make a reservation for Sunday, once I had said I wanted a high chair they went quiet and said their manager would call me back. Their manager did call me back and said "Sunday is a set menu, no bookings only walk in" I said fine, we will come as a walk in, and said if there's space there's space, if not....no problem When we arrived.... We queued up, to our suprise people were walking in saying they had reservations and walked straight to the front. No major problem to us, although we felt awkward we said we would wait. We had then said to we were happy to wait for a table and accepted it maybe a mix up in communication We had our drink orders taken and whilst we waited for them to arrive I took our children to the toilet. One I arrived back at the toilet (maybe 1 minute after) the manager said the kids can't be running around and pointed to areas of the restaurant which we were nowhere near (we were only two tables away from the toilet) she then said they can't serve us. She was very smug and smarmy and tbh not a nice person. We went to two more Chinese restaurants and one had no spare tables but they were kind and polite and pointed us in the right direction. As it was Luna new year and very busy I have been to restaurants both high end and budget right across the world and have never ever been treated like this, the kids were being very well behaved and have asked all day if they had done anything wrong, they hadn't. My only regret is not letting the manger know how annoyed we were with her behaviour, it's clear from the 1st phone call they didn't want any young children there. We will never go back there again.

Excellent Chinese food and atmosphere

Wow. What a place. Just ignore any bad reviews. The food , oh my word the food. Table of 12, just absolute perfection. The portions are big so be careful. And the curry sauce ….. THE CURRY SAUCE. Xxx

Absolutely excellent food. So good we came here again the following night. Loads of choice on the menu. Service was excellent as well.

We visited here today for my daughter’s 21st and we all loved the food even my fussy 11 year old; who took home her last spring roll in a doggy bag. The layout of the restaurant was nice and the staff were friendly and attentive. We would definitely visit again.

Excellent food and service as ever

Excellent professional service and food. Portion sizes were very generous. We visited on New Year’s Eve early around 3pm and it was already very busy, the staff were constantly running round checking all tables had everything they needed. The one thing I don’t agree with was adding the 10% tip to the bill, felt obliged to pay as service was very good but don’t like to feel forced into paying. The orange and melon was a lovely welcomed gesture after the meal. We live 60 miles away from the rice bowl, it’s always our go to place when visiting Manchester for the last 10 years.

Visited for 1st time during short stay in Manchester with my son. The reviews were accurate and the food was amazing. Nice, original decor without being over the top, great service and quality was excellent.

Great meal and good staff very friendly

Ripped off because festive menu £32.00 per person normally £19.00. Disgusting they can rip you off like that. Everyone struggling but when restaurants do this. They will lose out in the end

Great chinese been a few times now always good

Disgustingly rude worker. As paying customers, we used a plug point to charge a phone. Yes, we should have asked, but the rude woman decided to loudly say in front of others that we should have asked. Considering they also charged a 10% service fee, this is disgusting and ruined our experience.

This is one of the best Chinese restaurants in Manchester! We go every year and it's always exceptional.

Went as a party of 5 to The Rice Bowl for dinner today and we all agreed the food was delicious. Two of us had leftovers and it was no problem for this to be bagged up and taken home. The wait staff were very efficient, friendly and helpful. I used to go here for lunch when I worked nearby, years ago, and it was always good then and it was great to see that it's still good now.

Excellent venue very good food with great service ,quick and attentive

Walked past this place on numerous occasions as not inviting from outside. Then a lady in our hotel raved about this place so much we just had to go.. so glad we did staff and food amazing and good price drinks a little expensive but hey ho well worth it we will be back in spring 24

Sunday 10th Dec I went to The Rice Bowl with my daughter and sister. We were returning from The Cathedral and decided to go for a meal. A warm welcome and seated straight away. Food was delicious 😋 lovely atmosphere.

A 'go to' superb Chinese restaurant with a lovely feel to the place. Food always excellent: my son went there last week with his work colleagues: he thought it was superb. You wont be disappointed whatever you order. Not far from Thomas's Chop house too.