Rice ‘N Spice

I absolutely love this place. I’ve been going to Rice N Spice for over 10 years. When I used to live and work in downtown, I went almost everyday.
For $ 8, you get a curry, two vegetable sides, and rice. Good value for your money. The flavour I think has changed over the years. I remember when the curry pork was more spicy.
I recommend the Chicken Shawarma with chicken curry sauce and extra tzatziki sauce. Don’t go for the sriracha. Sriracha is more for SE Asian foods and doesn’t quite mix well. The bamboo chicken is also a great choice.

Delicious lunches for $$. The vegetarian dish is a must take. The meat dishes are little heavy with lots of meat pieces. The papad you get free with each dish is tasty.

I’m a fan of the butter chicken at Grounds for Appeal on Cambie (approximately 1.5 blocks down from Rice ‘N Spice) but because Rice ‘N Spice is closer to my office, I went and tried it for lunch instead today. Huge disappointment. I got the one meat dish and somehow ended up with less than what they would give you at Grounds for Appeal but with a heftier bill. Mind you, my lunch was still under $ 10, I felt slightly disappointed at my lunch. My butter chicken tasted like nothing I’ve ever tasted butter chicken to taste like. If anything, it reminded me of Chinese beef brisket. They gave me lots of chicken pieces but I was so thrown by the sauce that I could care less how much chicken pieces they gave me. In comparison to Grounds for Appeal, Rice ‘N’ Spice definitely has a better atmosphere for eat in, but I would definitely hike that extra 1.5 blocks to Grounds for Appeal for a much better butter chicken or curry next time. Oh, and if you were wondering — I threw out a bit of my lunch at the end, something I would have never done if it was from Grounds for Appeal.

I liked it. Good food, great prices. I’m surprised that they charge about the same as Grounds for Appeal but they give larger portions, with more diverse options, and the ambiance is much nicer with real plates, cutlery, and padded seats..

This place is for people who don’t like spice and heat. Food is very mild and the curries just taste like tomato sauce. The place is quite clean which I find nice. I think I would rather go to an Indian all you can eat lunch buffet.

Read mixed reviews about this place that almost put me off from trying it for lunch but I’m glad I went anyway. Friendly service (even let me sample a bit before ordering) and tasty food but warning:
Do not order the chicken masala if you can’t handle some heat. Oh boy, was it ever spicy and I like spicy. Overall, good choice for a quick bite.

Affordable Indian Fast food, however, the flavors were a little bland for what you paid for. I also got mildly frustrated with having to repeat myself 3 times for the. I recommend getting the full order as the half will barely fill you. I little on the $$ for fast food, however, diet compatible none the less.

I absolutely love this place. Perfect for lunch. I usually get the vegetable dishes — the lentils are fantastic. The portions are generous and it’s also great value-​for-​money. I work out of the library quite a bit, and this is my go-​to lunch place. They’ve also got wifi and it’s not a bad place for a meeting in the afternoon, as an alternative to a packed and noisy coffee house. One tip — order extra poppadoms when you make your purchase! You get one as standard, but it’s worth getting a few extra.

Blah uninspired food, unfriendly service and both me and hubby didn’t feel well after eating, which makes me seriously question the quality.

Not great.
Place is far cleaner than the other two cheap curry places I like (Curry Point & Curry Fusion) but the food isn’t so hot. I presume the ingredients are of a slightly better quality than the aforementioned dumps, but if you can’t enjoy your food than why bother eating at all? Hunger strike until R’n’S improves.

Quick, affordable, and apparently one of few Indian places in this area. I guess India didn’t send many delegates to Vancouver, because it was a white guy and an asian guy running the place.
But that’s no problem, the food was pretty good and there’s a decent variety. It is good-​in-​vats like a buffet, but still good flavors, so it’s not an issue.

Have gone here a few times just due to it’s proximity to work, and getting bored of the regular Robson eats. Overall a nice change in the ‘hood, but the vegetable dishes leave a little to be desired… they are all fairly mushy and either way too fricken’ spicy, or way too bland. I’ve read other reviews of that same complaint. The meats (I’ve only had the chicken dishes) also are similar — mild (butter chicken) or damn spicy (chicken masala). If you want SPICY, check the place out. Mild dishes are just a tad bland.
Overall — good bang for the buck.

I’m so sad I don’t live in the Couv anymore. Rice and Spice, I love you. I got sick the first time I came to eat here because I couldn’t stop stuffing my face with the delciousness presented to me. And we walked in just a few short minutes before they were going to close. The owner was kind enough to still serve us (kindly!) and answer any questions we had about the food. He told us that they were expanding, as well as they should be! It’s delicious and I always love me a good family business :)
Eat here!

hmm. not what I expected.
I went here with a friend for lunch it was her pick, she has some dietary limitation so it’s often hard to find places to eat with her. But she checked it out and it looked good according to Unilocalers. So when we entered it was a «food court» /​cafeteria style type place which we didn’t mind, we were looking for something quick. You can pick and choose your items 1 or 2 meats or vegetarian comes with 2 veggie side dish for 9 – 10 dollars. My friend asked which dishes came with no dairy but coconut milk instead (which she had read online) the server had no clue what she was talking about, she had to go back and ask one of the other workers, possibly the cook. We finally found out, we both ordered small plate one «meat» dish she got the vegetarian. It was pretty decent size considering was «small». I got butter chicken as my meat, spinach and potato sides. It tasted OK, they told us some of the stuff was spicy but it was not even close, I thought it was just above average from your normal food Court stand (that sounded mean). It seemed like a really clean place, nice and new but I barely eat my food so I don’t think I’ll be back.

People who are working at Rice ‘N Spice are very friendly.
Their food is pretty for the price.
They have a lot of vegetarian options.

Rice ‘N Spice is a place where five-​star people handle three-​star food.
When my friends and I recently went there, we ordered a variety of half-​size curry plates. (Half-​size is fairly large, by the way.) You order one meat and two vegetables, which are then placed on rice; you can also order two meats for a dollar extra.
The «mild» dishes, of which there are few on the menu, particularly when it came to veggies, were not only «not spicy,» but also unfortunately bland – not *bad*, just a little boring, which isn’t something often said about a curry dish. Meanwhile, the spicy dishes were so hot that we couldn’t really enjoy the flavor. It would be nice if Rice ‘N Spice had some more menu items and gave spice «level» options as many restaurants do. We all ate half of our half-​size dishes, felt mostly «meh» about them, and left.
All that said, I’d like to share that one of my friends left his wallet on the table. We didn’t realize it was missing at first. We checked our hotel room, the front desk at the hotel, etc., but it soon became obvious that our only hope was that he had left it at Rice ‘N Spice and that whoever found it would be kind and honorable. Unfortunately, Rice ‘N Spice was closed by the time we went back to it at 8:00pm, but my friend returned first thing in the morning. The owners of the restaurant had indeed found his wallet and kept it safe for him. It may seem like a small thing to some, but it’s a very big thing when you’re traveling overseas.
If Rice ‘N Spice can improve a few of their dishes and offer some more options, I think it will be a really great place to eat.

In my never-​ending hunt to find decent food at a decent price working in Yaletown, Rice n’ Spice was a new adventure for me. The restaurant is located right beside the fire station at Smithe & Hamilton.
I’m generally wary of eating Indian for lunch because of two critical factors: 1. The food coma factor is much higher w/​Indian than other cuisines and 2. The no gum/​mint factor (I didn’t have any on me or back at my desk).
But it was a Friday and breath be damned so why not? I walked in during the lunch hour and it was mildly busy. There were a few people sitting and a few waiting. The menu is pretty decent: you can order a meat dish with rice & 2 sides for $ 8.95. However, ordering either a beef or lamb dish is an extra $ 1 (wtf? that really only limits you to chicken being 8.95). Vegetarian dishes are much cheaper with 5 different veggie sides w/​rice for $ 7.25. They also have a selection of curry bowls which I didn’t try but they range in the $ 8-​$ 11 area.
I ordered the curry chicken with mixed veggies and chickpeas as my sides. It came out to just over $ 10 after tax. To my disappointment, the sides were slightly on the cold side with the chicken being only slightly warmer. None of it was piping hot (which I should have noticed when they were scooping it onto my plate). Some of the chicken bits were also dried out. You would think with the lunch hour crowd being your first big rush of the day, the stuff would be fresh out of the kitchen?
All in all, an ok choice just outside of Yaletown. I’ll give this place one more try on the hopes that the food will be fog-​up-​my-​glasses-​and-​burn-​my-​tongue hot.

I found myself starving in Yaletown after visiting a friend and losing track of where I parked my car (ha!). As I wandered aimlessly with a screaming belly, I saw hipster types walking their polished dogs with little take away bags with this restaurant’s logo on it, and I suddenly spotted it with lots of people coming and going. I thought this was a good sign, so I decided to chance it, and feed the belly monster.
I ordered a two meat special, and had the lamb curry and the beef vindaloo, and the potatoes and dahl with rice. It came slopped on a plastic tray with a cold deep-​fried, greasy tasteless poppadom. The lamb curry was pretty tasty, but had huge chunks of cold raw green pepper and white onion, which made it cold and oddly crunchy.
The beef vindaloo however was really bland and tasteless, just like the dahl and the potatoes. They were in serious need of taste, salt or otherwise. Also it was extremely mild when I was assured it was hot.
At 13 – 14 $, for lunch, with no drink, it was a pretty bad deal. My belly monster felt gypped and it would have been happy with just about anything I put in it at the time.
Rice n Spice isnt so nice.

I love my curries, and was looking forward to trying this place out.
You choose a selection of a few dishes (up to 3 meats 2 veggie dishes or up to 5 veggie dishes) for the full dinner which gives you a good selection of options.
Don’t let the second photo fool you into thinking this is just a café, there is plenty of seating available.
The food was fresh and tasty, but I found the veggie dishes a little bland and the potatoes a little dry.

OMFG! Happy days are here again and I don’t mean the arrival of Spring or the ability to poop after being constipated for too long. Rice and Spice has finally opened their newest restaurant in Yaletown! YAHOOOWEEE!!!
The hubby and I have been waiting for this location to open for months. We have been ever devoted and loyal customers here (
) all along for years, and now with this new store opening, they are within a 5 second running distance from us to heavenly eats. I’m not kidding!
RUN HERE NOW folks, their food is darn tootin’ fanEFFINGtastic. The End. Whatchoo still readin’ this fo Willis? You shoulda been eatin’ at Rice and Spice 5 minutes ago already!