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One hot Arizona evening my mom and I were wondering around Tempe looking for decorations for a float for an upcoming parade when we happened upon several restuants in a row... not knowing where to go, the only thing my mom could say was "Anywhere but Manuel's!" I started to read off the different signs and she said, oh! let's try Rice King... ummm... sure I said. We entered the DESERTED dining room around 5:30 PM, in the middle of what normally is the dinner time rush... but not a soul in sight - NOT a good sign! We went through their mini gauntlet of fake plants and approached the counter infront of a VERY old sign displaying their menu. Straight out the 80s. Old worn out photos of their signature dishes were warped and dingy looking. I honestly had a positive outlook, I was hoping for the best and gladly ordered the Lemon Chicken and my mom ordered the Cashew Nut Chicken from the nice Chinese man who ran the place. We paid our $18 for our meals, got our drinks and sat down. I would like to say that Rice King's food is where the old meets the new. Not old traditions meet new techniques and fresh ingredients... more like... old ingredients meet old techniques drenched in newly thinned out sauce. *shudders* First came our egg drop soup served in a small styraphone cup. It was lukewarm... like a single serving of incubation soup. It had a decent flavor but when I bit into one pea... it was disgusting! I couldn't take it! It tasted like the once frozen pea had freezer burn! My mom quit eating hers after two bites and I got through it all except for the peas. Next came our meals. Check the pictures for how the looked... it was a big plate of beige. The Lemon chicken would have been decent but the sauce was old and gloopy and not very hot. The chicken itself was an old filet but the batter was nice and light and crispy. I started to just eat the crispy skin. The rice was hardening and hosted more of the freezer burned peas. It was slightly peppery again, would have been good if it were freshly made. The eggroll was the best part of the meal... if only it were larger than my thumb! The sweet & sour sauce it came with was watered down so much it was literally flavorless. However it did come with some friend wontons which gave a nice crunch to things. The cashier was friendly, which earned them another star. But man, the food was baaaad. We only finished it because we were starving! When we left we wished we had gone to Manuel's after all!
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negative