Rice Box

Went there for the first time yesterday with a friend after a recommendation. Absolutely brilliant. Portion sizes are so large, we ended up bringing food back home for later.

Sophie (Unverified), 13/02/11

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If you like spicy food, the hot and sour soup at the Rice Box is out of this world. I have to get my 'fix' once a week! (My partner has a similar affinity for the wonton soup, which he finds 'homey' and 'nourishing').

Also love the tofu with chili and garlic, the black bean dishes, and the chili/garlic aubergines. Around Chinese New Year, we had the Hong-Kong style duck and it was tender, flavourful, and a very generous portion. Xie xie, Rice Box!

14/03/10

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We are American students and LOVE the Rice Box. The food is of a much higher quality than standard takeaways back home and more akin to a sit down mid range Chinese restaurant.

I have to say to those ordering things like sweet and sour chicken that to be honest your rating means nothing to me. That is about the worst thing one can get at a Chinese restaurant, and the deep fried syrup coated versions are not authentic. If someone is unhappy with that dish at any restaurant that is your own doing.

On to other things. We are obsessed with the Malaysian noodle dumpling soup from the "Specials Menu". Oh my God. Fantastic. The broth is definitely fish/shrimp based along with a sprinkling of fish oil drizzled on the top. There are a lot of chili flakes and seeds so it can get quite spicy - but I love spicy food. Back home all spicy foods are muted down for Americans - it's fantastic to eat at a place that doesn't do this! The dumplings are pork and plentiful as well as the rice noodles. I believe the vegetable is a Chinese cabbage, not bok choy, but I'm not certain. Seriously this is some of the most fantastic soup I've ever had. They also have a King Prawn version of this which I hope to try next.

We tried a couple of other things on the menu which were perfectly good but much more standard Chinese take-away.

I am curious to try to different Thai curries that are available.

Most things are £5 - you can totally go there for £10 per person and to be honest I can't imagine how so many people at this place manage to eat appetizers on top of their entrees because the portions are enormous!

AE (Unverified), 13/12/09

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The guys who run it are from Mainland China, not HK, SG, TW or MY, so the specials menu is far more authentic Chinese than many Chinese takeaways. Their standard menu is Chinglish food though. Cheap & cheerful all the same.

06/11/09

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I am a regular customer of Rice Box. It is the best Chinese food in Oxford that I have ever eaten. It has different cuisine include Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese and Thai Style. Certainly they supply traditional Chinese food. Also they will have some new dishes every season. Mixed Combination is the one of the most delicious food they recommended. Try it - cheap price got fine food and lots of it.

Julia (Unverified), 29/07/09

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I have to say it was the worst Chinese food I have had ever. It is totally not Chinese style, it might be some kind of English Style Chinese Food. Don't go there if you want to eat some real Chinese.

20/06/09

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Since Golden Wok went under we've been reluctant to get Chinese and have tended to stick with other kinds of takeaway instead, but recently we have ventured out again and last night tried Rice Box.

I ordered the mini vegetable spring rolls and the garlic tofu. The spring rolls are very cheap for what you get, not too greasy - which is unusual bearing in mind how small they are - and with a nice amount of flavour. I always forget though (having been used to other places like noodlebar in the centre) that they don't come with dipping sauce, so can get a little repetitive.

The tofu was really amazingly garlic-y. There were actual entire garlic cloves in there! Now personally I'm a big fan of garlic, so didn't mind in the slightest, since I thought it was perfectly done, but this might not be for the faint hearted. It's a little dry, since it is presumably fried up with the garlic and vegetables (really lovely colours in there - nice presentation!) but it was so flavoursome and tasty that I really didn't mind. I was also really impressed with how beautifully done the tofu is - the last time I got tofu from a Chinese takeaway it was really chewy, but this was done perfectly.

Rice Box doesn't blow my mind the way some of my favourite takeaways do, but with an entire meal of rice, main and spring rolls coming to just under 7 pounds, I'll be going back!

Rebecca (Unverified), 22/05/09

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Thank you Rice Box for lovely food all year round.
It's excellent!

all at 42 Donnington Bridge Road (Unverified), 13/02/09

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Visited Rice Box recently for a late lunch and was generally surprised (in a good way) with what I found. The fact that it was serving food just after 3pm in the afternoon was a plus point for starters.

The interior is very basic and not very appealing with formica-style tables spaced around a dull room with a large bar on the left. It feels a bit like a greasy spoon cafe and certainly doesn't look that welcoming from the outside (unlike local rivals Red Star and Cafe Sojo). I started with a decidedly average sweetcorn and crab soup (£2.10) which while generously served lacked flavour (you might see a theme developing here later!). I also had some deep fried spare ribs with garlic and chilli. These were also generously served and good value at just over £4 but were made very crudely with a whole heap of chilli/garlic chucked on top and the light batter seemed a bit greasy.

Despite all this fodder being quite filling I wanted to try something from their "Specials" menu (or are these just items that they found they did after their standard menus had been printed?). I went for the Thai-style Tom-Yam soup with seafood though I was intrigued by the no-nonsense sounding "intestines" which was on the menu. My soup was actually very good (£6.50). Generously served (I think that's a given by this point) with tasty flat noodles with chilli and mushrooms. The seafood quota was a little stingy but it was very tasty indeed. I accompanied all this with a better (and sweeter) than average lemon tea.

As a couple of negative points I thought the service was a little abrupt and there is certainly something of a language barrier issue. I was also seated in the presence of a very rowdy group of students who thought nothing of swearing and shouting loudly throughout their meal. I also noticed another couple had cause for complaint about something. But overall I'd say if you want a quick chinese bite to eat at almost any time of day you could do a lot worse as it's cheap and not that bad. Just don't expect any form of refinement or style.

Joe B (Unverified), 11/02/09

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We usually order Chinese food once a week. The last two times we ordered from Rice Box were both bad experiences. The second-to-last we received something totally different from what we asked. The last time we placed an order we were informed that we would have our food in 50 minutes because they were busy - fair enough. But 2 hours later we still didn’t have our food and after a number of calls to the (frankly, unfriendly) staff we managed to make contact with the driver. According to him he could not find the address that we'd given him. We cancelled our order and won't be going back.

Andrey (DI User), 08/12/08

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I think it is one of the best chinese in Oxford, nice and fast service, very good food and very cheap as well. Really worth going.

L. (DI User), 12/10/08

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I fear the Rice box has gone downhill. The last 2 times I've used them for takeaway I've ordered sweet and sour chicken and found that it's fast fried on both occasions. Which means the chicken inside is slightly undercooked and yet the batter on the outside is inedible.

The few times I've eaten in they seem to be using lesser quality chicken.

Sorry!

mr V (Unverified), 17/10/06

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For take-out customers, the Rice Box offers extremely rapid service and a more or less inoffensive (if bland) environment in which to wait for your food. It's not the most atmospheric of eateries, but if you're looking for value for money in terms of portion size, you could do a lot worse: each main course we had could well have fed two people. If you don't look out, though, they may well forget to give you the free fizzy drink* they offer with each box meal (this has happened to me twice now: I suppose I should be more on the ball).

We started with 6 veggie spring rolls, which were crisp and succulent and perfectly nice, although not particularly evocative of any interesting vegetables. Very good value for £1.20. The spare ribs with garlic and chilli are unquestionably for hardcore chilli veterans only – the meat itself (battered) is quite dry and chewy, and the highlight is definitely the generous litter of chilli pepper, garlic and spring onion fragments in which they are presented. My main course was quite satisfying: a large number of slices of tender honey-roast pork on a bed of rather plain rice and Chinese cabbage. The sweet and sour pork had by my companion was sweeter and less tender but apparently very good if you like that sort of thing. The whole lot came to £15.20 for two people, which is a fairly standard price for Oxford Chinese. A little bit basic when it comes to contrasts of taste and texture within dishes, but good if you're after enormous servings of Chinese-style munch.

*At time of writing, Coke, Diet Coke, Lemonade and Fanta.

M.R. (Unverified), 03/03/05

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