The Rice Bowl in Manchester

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!

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

Very busy restaurant Highly recommended the crispy duck with wraps

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Excellent Chinese food and atmosphere

Excellent food and service as ever

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.

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 meal and good staff very friendly

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.

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.

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

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.

Thank you rice bowl. You reignited my love for Chinese cuisine after a series of awful take aways in my local area of urmston. Service was funny and attentive and I've been craving chinese ever since. came here 15 years ago and can't believe I left it so long

Really bad service food terrible and very rude

Cannot be beaten, unbelievable Chinese food at great prices.

Rude to anyone that isn’t white

With my friends to get a table as meeting my parents . The waitress/ owner looked me up and down and “said no go away…” The middle aged couple just before me also waiting stood shocked. Disgusting service, to be treated

Food and staff are very good. Very fast service. Would recommend a visit

I've been a long-standing fan of Tai Wu (previously Tai Pan) and Yang Sing as the best places for Dim Sum/Cantonese food in Mcr. But this place trumps them both! Amazing food...the Dim Sum is obviously made in-house...packed with fillings and the rest of the food was equally top quality. The restaurant looks good...ans price too was very reasonable. This will be my go-to spot for Chinese now. Totally recommend it!

Very quick service; ordered, ate and paid in 35 mins! Lovely food, but a bit on the expensive side

Found by chance and what a little gem highly recommended

Loved this place! Went pre theatre and the food was really tasty and well presented and the service was quick and friendly. A variety of dishes to choose from so will definitely be back to try more! Also they have non alcoholic beer which I appreciated very much.

Amazing food beautifully served. A bit slow service but the food is worth the wait

Visited here again after a number of years. The food was ok, although we were rushed, asked if we’d finished the duck, no, not just yet, literally had to take some duck off the board, whilst they took it away. The food was okay, but the place lacked ambience and was too rushed.

Really disappointed tbh. £7 a pint which were flat. Most waiters don’t speak any English so you think you have ordered something only for another waiter to come over 10/15 minutes later to ask you what you wanted. Asked for a mixed starter with ribs, prawns etc they brought a fully deep fried platter which we sent back. So just asked for our mains. Changed our plates 5 times without actually serving us any food. Sent my main back as it was too sweet crispy chilli beef which was dripping in a ginger sauce which was so overpowering I couldn’t eat it. Advised the server who asked “what the problem is” I said it’s too sweet and is like chewing on ginger. She stared through me- I said I don’t like it please can you take it back to which she mocked me and said “awwwww youuuu dooooont liiiiike iiitttt” like a child. My cousin ordered the same dish and Didn’t eat it but he hadn’t dare send it back after the performance I received. Also Serve you rice out of dirty wooden barrels. Never again.

I dined here solo on 26 October 2023. It was a good that I had booked the table by phone earlier in the day, as the restaurant was already almost full when I arrived at 6PM. I had the and sour soup, 1/4 crispy duck and the sweet and sour pork with a small side dish of egg fried rice. All items were delicious and well prepared. Special mention for the sweet and sour pork which was especially tasty. The pork was crispy and very lightly breaded, which I much prefer. The service was also friendly and unhurried, which isn't often the case at a Chinese restaurant. If you are dining in Manchester, this is a "must" place to dine.

What a night!!!!! Amazing food and service. A diamond of a place ✨️

Everything fantastic... Food, staff, atmosphere. The best Chinese restaurant in Manchester... Highly recommended. Can't wait to visit again...

Good food & service , you can see why it’s soo bust

Tom yum soup was out of the world, and crispy chicken was divine. SUMPTUOUS Chinese food

Very nice place and amazing food!

Would definitely recommend, we had lunch time special 2 courses 19.50 but more like 4 course as you got the best prawn crackers and dips to start then 2 course meal then fruit to finish. Alli can say is please come to Newcastle upon Tyne

Food fantastic and just like being in China

Simply put, best Chinese I have ever had.

Enjoyed the whole experience. Really tasty food and great service. We had the lunch time menu £19.50 for 2 courses. Hoi sin roasted spring rolls followed by slow cooked five spiced beef, broccoli and mushroom in ginger and spring onion sauce. Served with rice. Generous portions.

My fourth visit to this Chinese restaurant in the last 12 months. Food was fabulous as always. Can’t fault it. Massive choice. Lots of different things. Highly recommended. However I’ve always found Chinese restaurant staff to be quite abrupt in terms of servers and this one is no different. This accounts for one star deducted. But on my latest visit we were sat immediately adjacent to the toilet corridor and around 30-45 mins in to our meal, a very strong smell of chemicals wafted through to our area and was so strong it got the back of my throat and I started coughing. The two ladies adjacent to us also made the comment the chemical smell was strong and it was affecting their enjoyment of their food. Once my coughing subsided I brought the matter up with a passing waitress thinking they might try and relocate us. How wrong I was. She listened. Said “OK” and the matter closed as far as the restaurant was concerned. Very disappointing customer service. Not only that when the ladies next to us left the member of staff cleaning their table down squirted so much cleaning product on I got another dose of the throat closing chemicals too. So food 5 stars. But service and over enthusiastic chemical spraying brings it down to 3.

Had a really nice meal. The staff was outstanding. Would highly recommend a visit. The restaurant was recommend to us prior to our visit. Will definitely be going back next time I am in Manchester

Followed the reviews and was blown away with the sizzling chilli chicken and noodles.First class

Went for lunch with my son. I love duck in all its incarnations. The restaurant was very quiet, only another 8 to 10 customers present, hence the medium atmosphere mark. I had dim sum and then duck. Beautiful, plenty of meat and pancakes. Lovely sauces, whole thing, just delicious. Will definitely go again.

Always a good stop for lunch when in town.

Delicious and mouth watering food. By far the best Chinese food I've ever had. The environment is very relaxing and perfect for a quiet meal with family and friends. The the staff are very polite and accommodating.

I came here for lunch with my friend who is vegetarian and we were so surprised with the amount of veggie options they had!! The food was incredible as well as the service. The portion sizes are very good as we could barely finish our food there was so much and the price is reasonable. Toilets are clean and staff are very welcoming and friendly. Thank you :)

Some of the most delicious Asian food we’ve had, very authentic taste. All dim sum options were superb, including some unusual combinations like pork with kimchi. Chicken with black pepper and garlic served sizzling hot, monkfish with curry was excellent. We plan to be back tomorrow night!

Our favourite Chinese restaurant ever!

We make this restaurant the place to eat whenever we visit the city. Great food, well presented and served with care. Would recommend the lunch time special menu with wide choice available.

Great food, really tasty, definitely worth a visit.

The food here is great and the service team is really helpful. They serve nice sized portions that can easily feed 2 people. The restaurant is really popular now, and that means you may have to stand in line before getting a table during peak periods. However, it's worth the wait. The menu contains Chinese and some Japanese dishes. Check the photo I posted to see what we ordered and what it cost. The food was a lot, and we ended up taking half of it home. They asked everything up in a takeaway for free

Fantastic food and lovely people

The food is good but disappointed that the set lunch is now considerably more expensive and the choices have been reduced. The service is rather slow. Not as busy as it used to be. The lunch menu used to be £11-50 it is now £19-50 which is unjustified. Not nearly enough staff to provide a good service.

Fantastic food service excellent

Amazing food and service. The staff are very attentive and the food is some of the best chinese I've tasted

Most delicious Chinese food in town! 🤩🤩🤩

First time having dimsum and it's amazing

Lovely fresh food and flavour. The atmosphere was ambient and private. The staff were efficient. Reasonably priced. Highly recommended.

The best Chinese food in Manchester. The staff are amazing. We go every week, could not recommend this place more!

Average, authentic is definitely not, though it’s not bad for Anglophile Chinese food tastes. The location is good, right in the shopping district of Manchester. Service is fast. What I don’t like is that I had a reservation, the proprietor asked if my friends are coming soon (why) She seemed afraid if my friends wouldn’t turn up (why) and kept me waiting a bit. Why? It wasn’t even busy! Worst is the charge for Chinese tea, £2.80 per person. In Chinatown, most restaurants charge an average of £1.20 per person. It’s basically day light robbery. For average taste of food that has a city centre price tag, I will go to Chinatown instead, more choices and prices.

Without exception this restaurant is excellent for dining in AND takeaway. My Mum is unable to access restaurants at 93 and of limited mobility. She is a VERY picky eater but when I go into Manchester (rarely) I am instructed to bring home a meal from here ( Yup Jenny - chicken with green peppers and black bean sauce - I KNOW you will remember and we still have your cool/hot bag, it will be returned at some stage!!!! This meal from The Rice Bowl has much sentimental value.) Thank you.

Why did I have to come all the way to Manchester, UK to get the best Chinese food I've ever had. Curry chick and prawn fry rice was 👌

I went here with 2 friends while visiting the area. I am not sure whether to rate this 3 or 4 stars as the experience was varied. Splitting this into categories, the food was stunning. A classic Chinese that you would expect in the UK but with great vegetarian options. I had the vegetarian duck pancakes and the sweet and sour chicken, both of which were absolutely delicious. The service was also good. However, it did take a while for us to be seated and for our orders to be taken. I would put this down to them being busy. The atmosphere is where I would pull back slightly. My friend sat under an air-conditioning unit of sorts that was leaking, and the toilets were slightly run down in comparison to the aesthetic of the dining space. Overall, it is a great place to eat with delicious food, lovely staff but the atmosphere needs some work here and there. I will visit again!

My go to Chinese restaurant in Manchester. Tucked away downstairs just along from King St the service is excellent and the food is delicious. Usually working away and they can find me a table for 1, always has large table bookings when I've been so would recommend making a reservation if there's a few of you.

I must have passed this restaurant hundreds of times and never ventured in. Three of us went on a Saturday afternoon. I found the restaurant to be a little dull in appearance and atmosphere. The food was quite good including the dim sum. It is not too expensive so if you are in that part of town it is a good place to eat.

Delish Chinese food and amazing service. Go every time I'm in Manchester.

You can always tell it's a really good Chinese restaurant when Chinese people go to it, and I've been going there for about 15 years, the food is undeniably beautiful

Cozy atmosphere! Staff was friendly, attentive and helpful with the menu. This was my first meal in Manchester and it didn't disappoint. I had the fried chicken mochi dumplings and I might go back for more. I also had the beef dumplings, the crispy chili chicken and the green beans in bean sauce. Everything was flavorful and the experience was great! Thank you!!!

Went there on day trip to Manchester. The decor is tired and needs a good makeover. That apart, we went for the food. Chose the two course special featuring dim sums and Crispy beef. Oh forgot, we had to pay an extra £3.50 each for our choice of starter. For that we got two dim sums which were far from tasty. Pork was tough and chewy and the prawn one just was tasteless. Main course, chrispy beef. Rice was nicely cooked and very nice but the crispy beef sauce was very acidic and a suspicious deep red colour. All that, washed down with a glass of red wine at almost £10 a glass left us feeling ripped off after a rather poor meal. Maybe we just chose rather poorly from the menu but we would only rate the food as very poor.

I have been coming here for easy over 10 years and I dont even live locally ha. II've never had a bad meal or experience and have tried most thibgaon the menu and I'd reccomend them all.

Really good quality food. Had classic british chinese restaurant food but that was our choice. Great crispy duck, fillet steak sizzler was banging and the sweet n sour didn't disappoint Services was good as well

Great food. We did go a bit safe but has a great range of food. One of the best crispy ducks, lovely sizzling steak and great atmosphere

We were amazed by the food. The dumplings were perfectly steamed and tasted great. Our mains were sizzling hot and felt freshly cooked. The atmosphere is so refreshing. Perfect temperature and never felt we were underground. Prices are good and we had plenty of food. A place to visit again.

We went on Saturday for dinner. The food was tasty and the service good during our meal. The reason of rating service only three stars, is because the staff “invite you” to leave to make room for new customers. We understand the busyness of the place but it is annoying specially after paying a large bill.

Some really tasty food all round with some morish dimsum, soft fluffy rice and powerful tasting mains along with some incredibly attentive staff. My only downside is that the place can occasionally feel a tad on the high price side but the portions, taste and service all make up for it.

We arrived late after a concert and were lucky to find this place still open after 11pm. We had three dim sum choices of har kau, Korean kimchi bau, and Korean spicy gyoza. For mains we had silky Korean chicken, and crispy chilli beef. This was served with shared egg fried rice. We had a nice Australian chenin blanc to go with food. Server was pleasant and attentive. We have eaten here before and would return again.

Hidden gem. Highest quality food. Very friendly service.

Upon entering your greeted with stairs and a lovely mini waterfall before you enter the restaurant which has lovely decor inside and very traditional! We had the dim sum share platter and it was fantastic and everything that came out the kitchen was lovely would 100% advise anyone to go and will be going back

Excellent food, nice relaxed service

A close friend took me here and we had the crispy duck/ fish / egg fried rice and dim sum platter. The décor in this restaurant is beautiful, feels like you are in China (probably Song or Tang Dynasty), they are on low staffing level but the service is still good, food is a bit salty to me but I think overall is a good place to try something different 😋

Lovely place and wonderful staff