Chinese restaurants that charge for rice

[Imp]

Just a final rundown of what's "free" in my experience, your mileage may vary obviously, but the ones we go to are mainly Cantonese or Hong Kong run. Usually for dinner, they provide "free" tea and refills, "free" soup at after you dictate your orders, charge a buck or two for a bowl of rice, and provide "free" dessert at the end -- the crappier places give you orange slices.

 

[BoomerD]

Went to a Chinese restaurant recently. Most plates were $12-$25 there. After we got the bill, I noticed that we were charged $12 for white rice! I double checked the menu and there was no mention that rice wasn't included and there was no menu listing for rice, so I assumed it was free. But we were charged $6 per container of rice. I felt pretty ripped off that they'd nickel and dime us like.

When you go to Asian restaurants, do you assume that rice is free?

Free? Nope...but included in the price of the meal.

$12 should buy more rice than one man can carry.

 

[positivedoppler]

Thats like charging extra for bread if you dine in. It up to the restaraunt but it really only makes sense in expensive produce places like Hawaii.

 

[pontifex]

Local place has a meal section on the menu that includes rice and a section that doesnt include rice. so if you want rice with your general tso's you either order the general tso's meal or you order general tso's AND rice.

I'm guessing you get more doing it the 2nd way??? never ordered it separate like that.

 

[richardycc]

What is a "real" Chinese restaurant?

'real' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/asia...Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA#Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA

'fake' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://blogs.rep-am.com/whatsfordinner/2013/02/20/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/beefbroccolistirfry/

 

[NikolaeVarius]

'real' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/asia...Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA#Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA

'fake' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://blogs.rep-am.com/whatsfordinner/2013/02/20/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/beefbroccolistirfry/

While beef & broccoli is regarded as a Cantonese dish, it is very much an American dish, even the version using gai-lan. It has roots in traditional Cantonese, but otherwise, developed in America.

 

[Imp]

'real' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/asia...Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA#Nim_9WPwux0FpSeBWLtJyA

'fake' Chinese restaurant's beef with broccoli:

http://blogs.rep-am.com/whatsfordinner/2013/02/20/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/beefbroccolistirfry/

OMFG... I went to a Chinese restaurant once that used steamed broccoli as a bed for every single dish. We ordered like 5 and they all came on a bed of broccoli.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

lulz... Perfect.

Servers are very nice by Asian standards most of the time. I find they're worse in the "not real" restaurants with staff that don't even bother dressing up.

Dessert's only oranges in the cheap places. The nicer places usually have a sweet soup like white or red beans, or tofu drenched in warm sugar water.

The translated names usually make no sense or sound terrible.

Ugh, I hate sweet bean soup. Oranges ftw.

Yeah the translated names are usually garbage or don't translate well at all. Chinese is just so drastically different than English, there are concepts, ideas, words, etc that don't exist in the other language. Translation is so much more of an approximation than going from English to another European language.

 

[midwestfisherman]

Nothing in life is free! Get over it!

 

[sdifox]

up here it is per bowl unless you ordered some sort of rice dish.

 

[Imp]

Ugh, I hate sweet bean soup. Oranges ftw.

Yeah the translated names are usually garbage or don't translate well at all. Chinese is just so drastically different than English, there are concepts, ideas, words, etc that don't exist in the other language. Translation is so much more of an approximation than going from English to another European language.

The soup is sugar water, who no like? I've seen it made before, you literally drop big sticks of sugar into the water. The beans are essentially background flavoring.

 

[lupi]

unless ordering just rice (which I had someone do when I was being the pickerupper) I've never been to a chinese place in the US that didn't include some amount of rice with each non-appetizer ordered.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Why would they not charge for rice? That's like expecting McDonald's to not charge for fries or something. Though it depends what you mean by "included". If you get a combo with chicken balls, rice and egg roll or other food then yes, the rice is "included", it's part of the combo.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I feel like American restaurants should include with every entree, a big free heaping box of bland potatoes.

...wait, shit, that's what french fries are. Down to the 'free' part, when you consider the fast food trend of making a sandwich cost fifty cents less than a combo.

Why do you call dishes entrees?

 

[Berliner]

Germany is awesome. Really turned things around since ww2

Thanks mate. Not everyone notices.

 

[nageov3t]

I've been to some pretty nice, high-end Chinese restaurants in NYC, Montreal, and Toronto... don't think I've ever encountered a restaurant where white rice wasn't free unless you asked for extra beyond the bowl served with entrees.

 

[madoka]

did it list entrees as being A la cart?

No, it organized the menu by beef, chicken, pork, etc. and there was no entry for rice whatsoever.

Why would they not charge for rice? That's like expecting McDonald's to not charge for fries or something.

It's like getting charged for chips at a Mexican restaurant or bread at an Italian. You just don't expect that to happen, especially since rice is $8 for a 20 pound bag. Where I live, I rarely run into a Chinese or Korean place that charges for rice, let alone such an insanely high price.

 

[Captante]

Why would they not charge for rice? That's like expecting McDonald's to not charge for fries or something. Though it depends what you mean by "included". If you get a combo with chicken balls, rice and egg roll or other food then yes, the rice is "included", it's part of the combo.

Maybe that's the norm up there in the frozen tundra however down here in the civilized world we expect rice included with most Chinese food!

And what in gods name are Chicken balls?

 

[sdifox]

Maybe that's the norm up there in the frozen tundra however down here in the civilized world we expect rice included with most Chinese food!

And what in gods name are Chicken balls?

for him it probably means small chunks chicken in (a lot of) batter and deep fried.

Proper Chinese food place stir fry chicken testicles with ginger and some strong rice wine (Mijiu). :awe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mijiu

 

[OutHouse]

In Germany rice is usually included.

I lived in the Hunsruck for 4 years and one thing I noticed about Germany is that every village no matter how small has a Chinese restaurant.

man i would kill for a jagerschnitzel from my old Gasthaus right now. so damn good.

 

[zinfamous]

What is a "real" Chinese restaurant?

Are the poultry dishes looking at you when they arrive at your table?

 

[Howard]

for him it probably means small chunks chicken in (a lot of) batter and deep fried.

Proper Chinese food place stir fry chicken testicles with ginger and some strong rice wine (Mijiu). :awe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mijiu

Chicken balls are an unholy American creation of fried battered ground chicken.

 

[Paladin3]

The problem isn't if they charge for rice or not, it's when they hide it on the menu. Please be honest with your prices and make it obvious on the menu what I'm paying for. Don't try to sneak in extra charges, or float coupons and then look at me like a thief if I redeem them. Don't give me shit if my kids eat off of my plate or vice verse. I go out to have a good time, not feel like I'm imposing on your hospitality. If your prices are so low that you are grumpy at me for being a customer, then raise them accordingly.

The secret to running a successful restaurant is to treat people well, make the feel welcome and dazzle them with service. You can serve two-star food with five-star service and flair, and most of your guests will swear it was five-star food they just ate.

 

[Thebobo]

Never seen a restaurant that charged extra for rice.

 

[mikeford]

SoCal charge for rice is common, but usually $1 or less. Most of the more expensive places we go to don't charge for rice, just the cheap and take out spots.

OTOH its freaking 5:45 am and now I want chinese food.