Rice-N-Tea Restaurant

This place was the place I used to always go to for lunch. I think the owner sold the place and turned for the worse. I stopped by for lunch and while picking the 3 entrees over rice, the ladies gave us very small portions. When we sat to eat it, the food was cold. Been going there since 2008. Now I’m going to the other rice n tea on Queens blvd elmhurst.

Unsanitary (unfortunately, that doesn’t usually stop me) and everything here tastes a little off (this DOES stop me).
When I’m lazy, I come here for dim sum but nothing really hits the spot, or tastes like its supposed to. The ha gaow (steamed shrimp dumplings) had a smelly shrimp taste to it, and the beef rice rolls tasted smelly too, while the rice roll was hard. The rice boxes here are very mediocre as well. WHY DO I KEEP COMING HERE?!

Don’t come here to expect anything gourmet!!!
For lunch throughout the afternoon there is typical, as Chinese people call it, «lunch box» fare where you get to choose 3 entrees with your white rice and there is a good variety to choose from. Some entrée items will cost $ 1 extra but they will warn you, so listen carefully.
A soup comes with your lunch box meal too. The soup just mostly tastes like water. No real flavor. But for $ 4.95, I don’t expect much and I always come out feeling full.
I like the fish fillet with tofu, General Tso chicken and pork meatball. I ask them to take it from the top, no sauce to avoid the pools of oil.
If you keep your expectations low then you’ll be happy.
They also serve dim sum and Chinese barbecued products like roasted duck, roast pork, roast pig, soy sauce chicken, etc. They also sell a variety of stir fried noodles, large or small boxes.
FYI, no gratuity needed here because there is no table service. There is plenty of tables for you to sit and eat though.

Really bad san bao fan. They give you a o. d amount of rice and give the worst pieces of chicken, duck, and pork. The soy sauce chicken is very salty and poorly chopped. The peking duck is the same. They give you the fatty pieces with no meat. Just bone and skin! They keep all the good pieces for themselves or for their friends who come in! They give you a whole lot of rice to make it seem like it’s a big portion. You’ll end up taking one bite of each meat and end up eating just the white rice. It’s a complete waste of money. It’s just a bunch of really shady china people in here and I really can’t stand how they conduct their business. I’d rather have“american chinese” food than what they offer here.

As a Caucasian this place can seem a little intimidating. Here’s the deal… DON’T BE AFRAID. The food here is good, just not the «Americanized Chinese» food that you are used to.
You get 3 selections plus rice and soup for under $ 5. I’ve been coming here for years, here’s what I do. I point at things. I see what other people are eating, and look for it at the buffet selection. Try to remember the look of what you liked and what you didn’t like.
I usually point at the light brown breaded fish thing, the clam thing and the chicken /​mushroom looking thing. This is literally how I order.
Have there been some items I haven’t enjoyed? Only 1 or 2 and I’ve learned not to order those again.
And hey, for under $ 5, you can afford to experiment, get 2 items you like and be daring on the third.
Enjoy !

New York Supermarket is adjacent to this Restaurant and once a week my husband & I shop there for almost everything… from. Meats, Fish, Vegetables, Fruits. and some of my oriental condiments & spices…
Once in a while before going home we would pass at this Rice N Tea place for something to eat… they serve Congee, all kinds in the morning and Buffet, 3 kinds of food with rice for $ 5.00…there is also a bakery inside, different breads, pastries, cakes & cookies. I must have eaten there 3 or 4 times … their Buffet was quite good, large variety of selections of Meat, fish, Noodles & Vegetable dishes and cheap, but i particularly liked their noodles!!!
I was horrified when I opened the New York Post yesterday, the Headline revealing the NYCity’s top 15 filthiest restaurants and Rice-​N-​Tea Restaurant are # 9. The health department required the grades to be posted just outside the eateries so the public will be aware of their misdemeanor… Restaurants that fail to post grades face $ 1,000 fines. WHOA!!! Grade C is the lowest grade, can’t go lower than that. Made me sick to my stomack. My husband & I went to pick up some things today & passed the restaurant. Their grade was posted in front. I think that was a good move by the city’s Health Dept.
The filthy 15 are the following:
1. Red ThaiCurry — 339 Lexington Ave., Manhattan
2. Uptown Juice Bar — 54 W 125 ASt., Manhattan
3. Picardias Mexicanas — 102 – 21 Roosevelt Ave, Queens
4. Tu Sabor Latino 3864 Broadway, Manhattan
5. New Hongkong Restaurant 1 – 1831 E Tremont Ave, Bronx
6. American Taste — 414 E. Fordham Rd, Bronx
7. CafeFeliz– 340 Broadway, Manhattan
8. Bay of Bengal Kebab — 2914 36^th Ave, Queens (Closed)
9. Rice N Tea — 82 – 74 Broadway, Queens
10 Dragon Land Bakery –135 Walker St, Manhattan
11Bread & Pastry Café –330 Bleeker St., Manhattan
12Eaurasia Café– 602 Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
13Boulevard Pizza– 89 – 04 QueensBlvd, Queens
14Gus’s Deli 35 – 50 11^th ASt., Queens
15Americana Diner — 6501 SeventhAve., Brooklyn
So there folks… be careful where you eat… Look for the A sign .you’ll never go wrong!!!

This restaurant is like 3 stores-​in-​1, (1)Chinese bakery with dim sum which I don’t care too much. (2)The buffet counter serve 3 dishes plus a soup for $ 4.95. Their buffet is better than average, for this low price, I can’t complaint. (3)Cold cut & roasted meat department with entire roasted pig, roast pork, spare ribs, roasted chicken, soy sauce chicken, Peking duck, etc. Their roasted meat is above average. It is very difficult to find great roasted meat like Hong Kong. One thing everyone should complaint is that the worker weight the plastic container with the meat together. The container alone, weight over 2 oz. (I am paying for half a pound of meat but I am getting less than 6 oz of meat). This is definitely an illegal practice.
The only reason I came back is that their food is good with the convenience of free parking in the Great Wall supermarket.