Rice Pea

When you enter the restaurant, it may look like a regular chinese delivery restaurant but the food is great. I visited the place when we were in Ottowa on Christmas. We drove there from our hotel, it didn’t look like a 5 star restaurant but when we got the food on table, it was delicious. It is a family run business. We wrote out order to a paper she left on the table. For great delicious Chinese food, you have to eat there.

One of the best Chinese food I’ve tried. Just a warning though, if you don’t speak Chinese (which I don’t) it’s a little awkward asking the waitress for recommendations… my bf and I are open to everything and love trying new things. I asked for a recommendation and was pointed to pretty much the whole page of the Chef’s Special. lol. Regardless, the items we ordered were delicious. We ordered way too much, thinking it’d be more appetizer size items, but the dishes are big portions, definitely family style. We will definitely go again and try other things until we basically try everything ! Lol really is delicious.
We ordered the pork joint slice (cold dish), deep fried squid with pepper salt, sesame crispy beef, Hot Oil Topped on Handmade Noodle (soooo good),
Singapore style fried noodles (the only mediocre dish we ordered), Chinese pork burger (delicious and crunchy), skewered BBQ lamb (meh, it was OK. Good but over spiced and a little gamy)
PS make sure you order rice, as it isn’t included.

This is one of the very few authentic Northern Chinese restaurants in Ottawa. The service was a little awkward* but the food was very good (by Ottawa Chinese food standards) so I gave it 5-stars…because there are very few comparable establishments, if any, in the area.
Beef & tripe in chili — The chili sauce reminded me of the stuff my relatives used to make /​feed me back in Northern China. The best dish of the meal.
Moo-​shi chicken with bean curd — Not a big fan of this dish compared to the other dishes of this restaurant but still good compared to the other Ottawa Chinese restaurants.
Egg & tomato with homemade noodles — This is my ultimate nostalgia food and it was very good. The handmade noodles were excellent — could taste the care and effort!
Pork spine hot pot — This was only written in Chinese on the glowing «specials» board. I wish they’d translate it. It’s like they assume non-​Chinese-​readers won’t like it. Anyway, the meat was very tender and fell off of the huge bones when gently pulled, sauce was good. Veg consisted of basically just cabbage. You also get vermicelli to put in whenever you like.
*Awkward service = I am not talking about food prep time because all the food came super fast (and still yummy). Mad props for that. The server (s) just seemed uncomfortable in dealing with 1) Asians who are not fresh-​off-​boat but not totally banana, and 2) non-​Asians who can/​want to eat authentic Chinese dishes including animal intestines. For example, I wanted a little more info on certain items on the «specials» board (written in Chinese only) but was met with a weird attitude, and she assumed that my companion who is very used to eating authentic Chinese food would not like beef & tripe dish. Also, it always took a long time to get her attention.
All of that being said, I can’t wait to come back to try more dishes, or when I have handmade noodle cravings.

Our favorite Chinese food in Ottawa. Authentic and delicious. Wish the place is bigger, so we can have large party for dinner

This is the only place in Ottawa that serves legit Northern Chinese food. The place serves a mix of Shaanxi and Dongbei dishes and it does it quite well. If you want spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken, go else where. If you want to try real authentic Chinese food, come here.

This is my favourite Chinese restaurant in Ottawa, period. The food is fresh, has a homemade feel to all the dishes and the noodles are locally handmade.
The food is also not too salty, sweet or oily as in a lot of Chinese restaurants.
My favourite dishes from today are:
— the «hot oil topped handmade noodles» was a plain handmade noodle bowl with a mix of chili and soy sauce
— the fern root noodles which were served cold and soaked a vinegar and chili oil sauce but were not very spicy. The flavours were subtle and well balanced against each other
— the pork belly and nappa stew/​soup which came in a rich broth. It was served in a cute small wok atop a tea light.
— the fish filets and tofu casserole with nappa and black fungus was very homelike — it might be bland for some but it was close to how my parents would have made it.
— the Chinese pork burgers were essentially pulled pork served in a flat Chinese bun — I thought it was ok.
— the lamb skewers with chili flakes were well made.
Definitely will return to try other dishes I saw at other tables that looked equally awesome!

I have not eaten at too many Chinese restaurants (nor have I ever been to China), but I find the Rice Pea Restaurant (Carling Ave. Ottawa) to be quite unique in terms of their menu — and I have been back there several times. First, they have a unique lamb and bean-​sprouts burger (which I have never seen at any other Chinese restaurant). It is quite tasty and spicy. They also have a shredded spicy potato appetizer — again, not something that you can find at other Chinese restaurants. Both of these appetizers are delicious and worth a try (or in my case, a repeat purchase). We tried two soups (not awful, but not great); and they have a main dish that I tried recently: beef with eggplants in a slightly-​sweet sauce: very nice. The restaurant appears often quite busy; and the portion sizes are quite generous. If you are a group of 4 people, you will not need more than 3 main plates. The sauces are quite oil-​heavy, but very tasty. I highly recommend trying the Rice Pea: bon appetit!

Christmas eve we ordered around 7. They were busy and trying to close, but takeout was ready in 15. Ordered General Tao’s (perfect) and eggrolls which were good — and beef and broccoli — which was a bit saucy but the broccoli was perfect. They’re friendly, fast and fair prices. Tasty.
There are some online menu items that they don’t serve any longer — but they’ll definitely find you something else.

Found it by accident.
They have SHANXI LIANGPI!!! That’s one of my favorite food! And they cook it well.
And RouJiaMo is nice also!

Perhaps it’s my own fault ordering the shanghai noodles but boy was I disappointed. Absolutely no flavor. I had gotten them because of the handmade noodles. Everyone is raving about the noodles but overall the dish was just blah. I have probably been to 15 different Chinese restaurants in Ottawa and I’m not impressed. I may give them another chance.

I’m surprised to see only three and a half stars for what was easily one of the best Chinese experiences I’ve had in Ottawa, surprising as the location may be!
Ambiance: It’s a fairly typical Chinese restaurant. It’s not too fancy, but it’s a little cozier than they sometimes are, too.
Service: Our server was obviously practicing her English and was not super efficient when bringing our food or drinks, but she was friendly. The service was not the best part of the meal, but she certainly didn’t ruin our experience.
Food: This was some really tasty and properly spicy Northern Chinese food. Lots of chilies because that’s how szechuan should be. A dish you really ought to try is the handmade noodles with chili oil (which appear on Ottawa Magazine’s 101 Tastes of Ottawa list), but be sure you toss them first to distribute the flavours. The pork belly, wonton soup (great broth), and spicy green beans were also great.
Price: This place is cheaper than Royal Treasure, my other favourite Chinese place in the city with comparable food (some dishes are better, the rest are close). We ordered *way* more than we needed (though we almost finished it) for $ 20/​person.
Overall a great Chinese meal for not too much cash. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rice Pea to anyone looking for Chinese in Ottawa!

Here is no doubt to be the best north-​east style Chinese restaurant in Ottawa, and the price is also in north-​east China style: Cheap price, big dishes, good value! The taste is the best and the most original among many Chinese restaurants in Ottawa. This place remind me many good old days in China. Try to come here with your friends and family, you will love here.

This is hands down the best Chinese takeout place in Ottawa. They use big shrimp in their shrimp dishes, not tiny little salad shrimp and their meat dishes have a lot of meat (not mostly onions like some other places). Their food is not overly greasy and not too salty, like most Chinese restaurants in Ottawa.
Here’s what I’ve had that was good:
–General Tao Chicken (lots of chicken, not just batter, sauce just the right amount of tangy)
–Cantonese Chow Mein (lots of BBQ pork, chicken and big shrimp)
–Sweet and Sour Pork (again, not too much batter)
–Egg rolls (better than most places)
–Shrimp Crackers (light and crunchy)
–House Special Fried Rice (lots of chicken, BBQ pork and big shrimp)
–Shrimp with Mixed Vegetables (lots of big shrimp and a good variety of vegetables — not just onions and bean sprouts like some places)
Salt and Pepper Squid was a bit too oily and the Hunan Dumplings had too much wrapping, not enough filling and the peanut sauce was just meh. However, even these «not so good dishes» were a million times better than say Manchu Wok or other chain Canadian-​Chinese food places.
Overall, this place is excellent!
Delivery is quick and prices are awesome (dinner for 5 is less than $ 50).

Came by Rice Pea for an Xmas lunch and the menu is slightly smaller and a bit confusing now. I reiterate this place is a Northwestern style Chinese restaurant. It’s not a Southeast style (Szechuan, Cantonese, Canadian-​Chinese) food so I can’t imagine that being any good… as the Southeast Chinese restaurants I consider absolutely terrible in Ottawa.
Good:
— Steamed noodles and chili sauce
— BBQ pork sandwiches
— Lamb skewers are still winners here.
— Dumplings in chili sauce
— Assorted meat in chili sauce
— Hot oil on handmade noodles
Ok:
— Dumpling in peanut sauce
Blah:
— Beef in hot and spicy soup base was really salty.
Please please please stay away from the southeast style food! I really wish they would pull it from the menu but I guess it brings in business for the familiar food crowd. I guess this is something similar that happened with Coconut Lagoon and introducing butter chicken even though it’s a northern Indian food and CL is southern Indian food.
We’re going to have to expand some of the food we try as I only tried a few new dishes from my first visit.

I’ve tried take-​out from Rice Pea twice now, and unfortunately I just didn’t like it. I find the food overly saucy, which overwhelms the taste of the meat and vegetables (which unfortunately aren’t that great). The szechuan beef was overly spiced with hot peppers, which masked a fairly tasteless sauce. The vegetable noodles were also fairly tasteless, as was the fried rice. I was hoping for more when this place opened, and unfortunately I’ve been disappointed twice now…

I’m a regular and am usually happy with the food. Last time, however, one main dish was very salty. I mentioned it to the waiter and hope it doesn’t happen again.