Rice House Chinese Restaurant

I love the rice house. I live in Galena, and it is about a 20 minutes going there. Butt I would gladly drive that far to just get some food. This is the only Chinese restaurant I will go to.
Before I ate at this place, my boyfriend talked very highly about the rice house and how good their rice and cashew sauce. He loves the place. So I figure I should try it myself. So I went ahead called in my order. I’ll be honest the women who picks up the phone it is hard to understand her and she doesn’t know English as much. So putting in a order is hard. So we figure we will just drive down there and tell them what we wanted. When we got there the sign is small and can be easily missed. The sign alone made the place somewhere I wouldn’t want to go to. It was very general and the font was something that didn’t really appeal to me. Walking in was a little weird the place looks pretty bad. It looks like a place that would shut down at any time. We place order our food and in no time at all it was already done and we were on our way home. Don’t judge this place for its looks the food is amazing and will make you wanting more. Just try it once and I promise you won’t regret it!

New owners, new menu, higher prices, and food that can’t match what they used to serve here. Altogether, it’s no longer worth driving out of your way to eat here.

Update October 2014! This restaurant has changed hands, and it leaves MUCH to be desired. While the shrimp & vegetables my husband ordered were great, I’ve had better cashew chicken on a five dollar buffet than this. Really not happy with the service either. We arrived at the late end of the lunch special only to be told we had to order from the dinner menu. My meal was much more expensive than any other cashew chicken I have ordered, and did not include soup. Soup was my primary motivator for traveling twenty miles to eat at Rice House and I am not sure I’ll ever return to be honest. Tiny flavorless crab rangoon and old tasting rice. Unimpressed, and in the past I gave an enthusiastic five stars to this restaurant. I really miss the old Rice House!

Awesome food. Great flavor! I have seen the owner be a little rude to customers sometimes, but she is really appreciative to regulars. She is always really friendly when we come in and remembers us even though we don’t come very often, since we moved. Lo mein and fried cashew chicken is amazing! We order the same thing every time, but my check is always different! Lol

Everything about the way this place looks will make you question the quality of the food, but don’t judge this book by its cover!
We read the other reviews before deciding to try out their food, but when we got there, we slowly lost confidence in our choice.
The outside was run-​down, the inside was tiny, the menus are curled from age, and there was one other customer.
We half-​heartedly ordered our dinner combo plates and sipped our drinks while we waited.
The food came and it looked good! It was love at first bite. Very unexpected. Everything tasted FRESH and the meal was the perfect amount. You feel full without feeling sluggish. We ordered beef w/​veg, chicken w/​veg, and sesame chicken. Everything was perfectly seasoned and sauced, only thing I wasn’t too fond of is their side of fried rice. It’s just plain rice with soy sauce. But that’s so minor.
The server was friendly, the wait was short, the food was great and even though the place looks dingy, they keep it clean. New favorite Chinese restaurant!