Dine Out : Rice & Gold

Rice & Gold Review, Rice & Gold NYC

We've lived in downtown Manhattan for a number of years now and have seen it go through many changes. Chinatown for one is constantly morphing and somehow it has become a neighborhood with many hotels. One of those hotels is the Hotel 50 Bowery and Rice & Gold is the restaurant on the ground floor adjacent to the lobby. Serving breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner, Rice & Gold's menu centers on dishes with an Asian American influence. The restaurant is in large, industrial style space with a brightly lit bar and custom graffiti art installations adorning the walls.

We ordered a few dishes to share at dinner including the pho soup dumplings which are a specialty,  crispy mapo tofu dumplings, northern style beef pho with bone marrow and aged strip loin and peashoot leaves sautéed with bacon, garlic and lemon soy. The food as a whole was very underwhelming. Other than the pho soup dumplings which perfectly captured the taste and texture of pho, nothing in particular stood out. I mean it wasn't exceptionally bad albeit on the salty side but it wasn't exceptionally good either. The service was generally friendly and adequate. Given the prices they charge here (five soup dumplings for $16!), I would expect much better. I had high hopes for this place since it comes from Chef Dale Talde of Top Chef fame and also because of it's proximity to our apartment. I understand that they have rehauled the menu away from a dim sum focus since we visited a few months back but given our experience, I don't think we'll return.

Rice & Gold Review, Rice & Gold NYC

Rice & Gold
50 Bowery
New York City
$$$ - $$$$
Rice & Gold Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

17 comments

Gemma Etc. said...

Oh wow it looks like such an amazing place. I love the decor and that food looks delicious xx

GemmaEtc.com

Olga said...

Omg I had no idea you live in New York. I'm so jealous! Would love to go there someday. The food looks really good, sorry to hear that it wasn't great.
addarkzja

Doctor Anne said...

Such a shame that the food didn´t live up to the expectations (and the price!), the place looks great interior wise. But of course it is the food that counts.

ALLIE NYC said...

Oh that is a shame. I hate when that happens. I had dinner out with a friend recently and the food I ordered was so bad they comped it. It was awful. My friend ordered pasta and her meal was not bad but I ordered the individual pizza and it was dismal. The dough was bland, slippery and too thick my friend even said it looked like Dominos. The used unripe tomatos and the cheese was blech. I literally could not eat and %80 of it was left on the plate which is why the comped it. Oh well at least I saved a little money.

Allie of
www.allienyc.com



Jenny said...

The food looks good and the ambience seems really nice, it's such a shame that the flavors were underwhelming. The prices seem expensive too, even for NYC!

♥︎ Geeky Posh

Paola Lauretano said...

Lovely place and delicious food!
Kisses, Paola.

Expressyourself

windowtothebeauty said...

Everything looks very tasty: D :* Regards!

amely rose said...

Gos thebar or better restauran looks amazing. I love the wallpainting. The art is so perfect and eyecatchy. And the food looks so tasty my dear.

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Emmylou said...

Oh man! $16 for 5 soup dumplings?!?! Dayum! I can't afford NYC:P But good to know they are good at least:)
Happy Friday, chingu! (And thanks for letting me know about Encounter being done!)

Gabrielle said...

What a shame this place didn't impress and you won't be returning! My fingers are crossed for you to enjoy a delicious weekend filled with good food and better restaurants haha :)

Gabrielle | A Glass Of Ice x

Kinga K. said...

Pretty place to eat there ❤

Ivana Split said...

Sorry to hear you won't be going back to this restaurant, but at least you gave it a try and now can try some other place. The food looks yummy on the photos, but looks can be deceiving.

Mai Nguyen said...

Oh wow, I was curious about Rice & Gold ever since they got super popular on social media from their pho soup dumplings. It's good to know that the rest of the menu isn't super special so I can save myself a visit. Also I didn't realize you lived in NYC too!

Mai // maidoesthings.com

sonia // daring coco said...

Oh that's really disappointing Rowena. Especially considering the price. On a seperate note I can't imagine how amazing living in NYC would be. With the constant changes and "improvements", never a dull moment I suppose.

Sxx
daringcoco.com

Corinne said...

I love the name of this place! The dumplings look so good. 10/10 for presentation. Pity it was underwhelming!

Corinne x
www.skinnedcartree.com

Midnight Cowgirl said...

For that price you do want a good experience. The food does look good though :)

Lena L said...

We were just wondering about this place. We might still go since the dishes look so pretty and delicious, but now thanks to your post, we can make more of an informed decision.

Have a great weekend! <3