"This place is a hidden gem! My wife is Chinese, and I have traveled and eaten all around Asia, so I know how Asian cuisine should be. I also know that a lot of authentic Asian cuisine does not appeal to the typical American palate, especially in the provincial Daytona Beach, Fl area. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Rice Bistro has done a wonderful job of making delicious, fresh Asian cuisine from a variety of Asian cultures: Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean that will appeal to locals and Asians alike. They have a HUGE menu to select from, and I was told by one of the co-owners that almost everything on the menu can be made vegetarian or vegan. Fist of all, the food itself is fresh, well prepared, not overcooked, with delicious flavors from the ingredients, not copious amounts of MSG that is often substituted for flavor in many Asian restaurants. They do use some MSG unless you ask otherwise, which we did. I didn't find the flavor lacking at all without MSG; the chef obviously knows what he/she is doing. I had a table of 4 people with some to go items and everyone commented at how good their food tasted. There is a plethora of other Asian restaurants in the area, one just a few doors down from Rice Bistro, and all of the ones I have eaten at are the typical overcooked, bland, processed, Americanized, cheap slop. While Rice Bistro's main menu is somewhat Americanized (and delicious), they also have an authentic menu in Chinese English for anyone wanting real authentic Asian cuisine, much to the delight of my wife. Portions on the dinner menu are very big. I can eat a lot, and I got the dinner portions of Pad Thai (noodles)and Tom Yum Goong (soup) for lunch. Delicious, and it was way more than I could eat. They have a large $9 lunch menu, but I haven't tried that yet. They have bottled water so you're not stuck with tap water as in some other local restaurants. Service was excellent. One of the co-owners waited on my table and she was very helpful friendly; service was fast. Prices were very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food. Unlike a lot of other small local cafes, Rice Bistro has a very pleasant, clean, uplifting atmosphere inside and out. It's in a nice, new shopping center with nice landscaping, and the inside is nicely decorated and well lit, a detail that many local cafes miss. Some of the other local Asian cafes, aside from having mediocre food, also have very boring antiseptic strip mall atmospheres."
Fusion Pizza
