wouldn’t recommend this place. This place used to be good, but now the quality has gone downhill. Good amount of food but below mediocre quality. Gets very crowded as this place shares dining area with other 2-3 restaurant. looks bit understaffed so don't have high hopes for the service, took us 45mins to get
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Michelle B.
De.Lish.Us. Worth the wait for sure. Want sure how to eat it since they brought me a giant spoon, so used it to mix it up then used my sticks. Was super hot (temperature) but tasted great! I'll be back. (Can we turn the heat up inside, though?)
Chena N.
When I was younger, I was known as the "FAN TONG 飯桶" aka Rice Bucket, because I ate SO much rice and I HAD to eat rice for lunch and dinner in order to be full. Obviously, at my old age now, I had to cut out the carbs so it was a treat to be trying out Rice Monster (located inside Social Eatery). .:: FOOD ::.Chicken Feet and Pork Ribs $15.99 (+$1.99 Chinese Sausage add on): chicken feet, sauteed pork ribs, chinese sausage. Comes in a clay pot and a very known canto dish, 煲仔飯. The rice on the bottom crisps up as it sits on the pot . Very simple dish. Wish the pork ribs were more on the salty savory side, it had more sweetness to it, and I wish the chicken feet had more meat to it. .:: Service / Ambiance / Parking ::.Terrible Service. Pretty much self service on everything. You order on your phone through QR code. Wait was super long and unorganized. Located inside Social Eatery, but there's no waitlist, no way to put your name down. You literally just wait at the door in line (very narrow if I may add), until a table opens up. They need to at least let you write your name down. My friend wanted to ask if we could add something on our order and the waiter was so rudely annoyed. He did a big sigh, rolled his eyes and was like no your order is in you cannot add anything. It was SO hard to flag ANYONE down, we just went up and grabbed things ourselves: napkins, to go box, etc. All the waiters literally did was bring food out and thats it. The place has a cute little exterior outside, when I went it was during Halloween week, it was decked out in Halloween decors. The inside had logs / wooden vibes as table. There were ones in high chairs, ones with benches, ones with low tables/ chairs. Parking was scary. The parking lot is SO narrow and small. I feel like its asking for an accident to happen. I would recommend parking on the street, its much more space and safer.
Dharma M
We came here for lunch. It was fully decorated with the Halloween theme. It was not that busy, and we were seated right away.The ordering is using QR code on the table. You also pay right away. You can keep the tap open or close it. They automatically charge 15% granularity fee.We ordered Lap mei, which is clay pot rice with preserved pork and chinese sausage. It takes about 15 to 18 min for the food since the rice is cooked based on order. The second order was beef stew and tendon Biang Biang noofle soup.Both are yummy. The beef and tendon are tender, and noodles are chewy. Sooup is delicious. The claypot is also yummy. One downside is that it is too oily. Service is good. My advice is to come early. When we leave, the restaurant is full and so many people are waiting outside. Parking is limited on the premise, but you can park on the street.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Beef Stew Noodle Soup
Monica G.
Can't believe it took me so long to try this place out as I pass by it every day. The clay pot rice was super nice and crispy on the bottom (my favorite part!) I loved it that they have steamed soup as well, I have been missing them for quite some time. The staff was very nice and attentive even though he was all by himself.
Kristina L.
The food is delicious. It's my first time here and I ordered the spicy lamb curry soup. The ambience is great. It is clean, well organized, well lit, and fresh. Easy to use if you have a phone because you scan the code and order your food. I will definitely be coming back and I recommend trying it out.
Norris T.
Rice Monster is located inside the Social Eatery Food Hall in Millbrae. They're known for their rice dishes which are made fresh to order which are both delicious and well-balanced. We tried the Bao Zai Fan, Lap Mei Rice Clay Pot and soup combo, and unagi rice. All of them were delicious and definitely a must-try for those who love crispy rice. The rice was cooked in a clay pot until it was crispy on the bottom, and it was topped with a generous amount of stir-fried vegetables and meat. Overall, I had a great experience at Rice Monster. The food was delicious, the service was great, and the prices were reasonable. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great rice dish.
Ron Lui
Stopped in to try the food, this is my my parents goto for clay pot rice, specifically the chicken feet and pork spareribs clay pot. Chicken feet are pretty good compared to some dim sum restaurants. Overall food is good. It's getting harder to find places that offer clay pot rice so I'm happy a restaurant close to home is available now so I don't have to drive into San Francisco.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Beef Stew Noodle Soup
Amy Z.
This is one of the restaurants inside the Social Eatery food hall, and the clay pots are delicious! The lap mei clay pot was our favorite. The meat in the pork rib clay pot is also super tender.
Ricky K.
Coming on an afternoon weekday, it wasn't busy at all! This place is located in a private parking lot with a decent amount of parking spots. I love sizzling rice pot and I actually haven't had them in quite a long time. So to know that there's a place in Millbrae that specializes in this place is honestly exciting. Solely basing this off of what I ordered, I got the Unagi Rice Bowl to-go. The thought of steamy hot unagi (bbq eel) paired with crispy rice just sounded so decadent and delicious I just had to try it out. I even added a poached egg to give it more texture to it. And I love eggs so I just had to. My verdict? It was delicious! The unagi soooo soft and steamy. And the rice was hot and crispy on the bottom. I loved it. It's exactly how I envisioned what it would taste like and it did not disappoint. Add that poached egg in there, it definitely helps. If you do get it to-go, the egg might cook in the hot rice bowl so eat it asap. Mine was a little cooked but it was still delicious. Overall, this place is solid! It may be a little pricey in terms of portion and what not, but it's a great place to come try out. And I would definitely get that unagi rice bowl again.
Tried their Lap Mei rice clay pot and soup combo and their chicken mushroom clay pot. Nicely packaged and securely imbedded on a cardboard box. Made to travel to the top of the mountain with out loosely a drop of soup and sauce. Food were tasty and portion quite generous. Good to read the Yelp comments from others so I knew to make extra veggies to supplement. May be there should be an all veggi no rice option? Definitely worth coming back soon to try the other selections.
Eric M.
Nice atmosphere with poor service. Ordering is confusing, their menu is combined with 2 or 3 other businesses sharing the restaurant space (seems this should be better explained). Anyway the meat patty has the texture of a meatloaf or more of a pâté. It was also bland. The service didn't ask if we wanted any hot sauce or seasoning and their were none to be found at the table. The bill had an easily overlooked service charge added of 15% so be careful or you will tip on top of that like I did!
Mei Fu Lee
This place is located right next to the bart station with a small parking lot in the back. I noticed all the high reviews for their clay pot rice and wanted to try it out. I ordered on my phone for take out since I knew the rice would take a while to cook and planned to just eat there. (I assumed it was cafeteria style based on photos.) When we got there, I realized that you actually order from the table you're seated through a QR code. They also charge an automatic service fee. However, since I ordered prior, the rice was done almost as soon as we were seated. I noticed not many people had ordered rice, but were eating soup noodles as the restaurant is also with grapeholic and social eatery.Since I ordered takeout, the bowls came in foil to go containers. We ordered the eel bowl and pork rib with chicken bowl. We were definitely skeptical of how the food was going to be in the take out containers. But the food was great! The meat was well seasoned with generous portions and went really well with the rice. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the perfect crisp you expect from a clay pot. The bowls are definitely meant to be an individual size. It came with soy sauce, but I felt that the food was salty enough without it. I was really impressed with how the rice came out, considering the food came out in aluminum bowls.I would absolutely order from here again. The food was prepared quickly and really well. I think that the food is really good for take out since you would definitely have to wait at least 20 minutes for the bowl. The only thing I wish was there were some more vegetable options, but for clay pot rice, the food was cooked perfectly and the ingredients were high quality.
Mei Fu L.
This place is located right next to the bart station with a small parking lot in the back. I noticed all the high reviews for their clay pot rice and wanted to try it out. I ordered on my phone for take out since I knew the rice would take a while to cook and planned to just eat there. (I assumed it was cafeteria style based on photos.) When we got there, I realized that you actually order from the table you're seated through a QR code. They also charge an automatic service fee. However, since I ordered prior, the rice was done almost as soon as we were seated. I noticed not many people had ordered rice, but were eating soup noodles as the restaurant is also with grapeholic and social eatery. Since I ordered takeout, the bowls came in foil to go containers. We ordered the eel bowl and pork rib with chicken bowl. We were definitely skeptical of how the food was going to be in the take out containers. But the food was great! The meat was well seasoned with generous portions and went really well with the rice. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the perfect crisp you expect from a clay pot. The bowls are definitely meant to be an individual size. It came with soy sauce, but I felt that the food was salty enough without it. I was really impressed with how the rice came out, considering the food came out in aluminum bowls. I would absolutely order from here again. The food was prepared quickly and really well. I think that the food is really good for take out since you would definitely have to wait at least 20 minutes for the bowl. The only thing I wish was there were some more vegetable options, but for clay pot rice, the food was cooked perfectly and the ingredients were high quality.
PH
Try this clay pot rice. It is not the best in the Bay Area, but it is worthy. However, there is no Asian swamp eel clay pot rice available ( the classic clay pot rice for Toishanese).
wouldn’t recommend this place. This place used to be good, but now the quality has gone downhill. Good amount of food but below mediocre quality. Gets very crowded as this place shares dining area with other 2-3 restaurant. looks bit understaffed so don't have high hopes for the service, took us 45mins to get
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
De.Lish.Us. Worth the wait for sure. Want sure how to eat it since they brought me a giant spoon, so used it to mix it up then used my sticks. Was super hot (temperature) but tasted great! I'll be back. (Can we turn the heat up inside, though?)
When I was younger, I was known as the "FAN TONG 飯桶" aka Rice Bucket, because I ate SO much rice and I HAD to eat rice for lunch and dinner in order to be full. Obviously, at my old age now, I had to cut out the carbs so it was a treat to be trying out Rice Monster (located inside Social Eatery). .:: FOOD ::.Chicken Feet and Pork Ribs $15.99 (+$1.99 Chinese Sausage add on): chicken feet, sauteed pork ribs, chinese sausage. Comes in a clay pot and a very known canto dish, 煲仔飯. The rice on the bottom crisps up as it sits on the pot . Very simple dish. Wish the pork ribs were more on the salty savory side, it had more sweetness to it, and I wish the chicken feet had more meat to it. .:: Service / Ambiance / Parking ::.Terrible Service. Pretty much self service on everything. You order on your phone through QR code. Wait was super long and unorganized. Located inside Social Eatery, but there's no waitlist, no way to put your name down. You literally just wait at the door in line (very narrow if I may add), until a table opens up. They need to at least let you write your name down. My friend wanted to ask if we could add something on our order and the waiter was so rudely annoyed. He did a big sigh, rolled his eyes and was like no your order is in you cannot add anything. It was SO hard to flag ANYONE down, we just went up and grabbed things ourselves: napkins, to go box, etc. All the waiters literally did was bring food out and thats it. The place has a cute little exterior outside, when I went it was during Halloween week, it was decked out in Halloween decors. The inside had logs / wooden vibes as table. There were ones in high chairs, ones with benches, ones with low tables/ chairs. Parking was scary. The parking lot is SO narrow and small. I feel like its asking for an accident to happen. I would recommend parking on the street, its much more space and safer.
We came here for lunch. It was fully decorated with the Halloween theme. It was not that busy, and we were seated right away.The ordering is using QR code on the table. You also pay right away. You can keep the tap open or close it. They automatically charge 15% granularity fee.We ordered Lap mei, which is clay pot rice with preserved pork and chinese sausage. It takes about 15 to 18 min for the food since the rice is cooked based on order. The second order was beef stew and tendon Biang Biang noofle soup.Both are yummy. The beef and tendon are tender, and noodles are chewy. Sooup is delicious. The claypot is also yummy. One downside is that it is too oily. Service is good. My advice is to come early. When we leave, the restaurant is full and so many people are waiting outside. Parking is limited on the premise, but you can park on the street.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Beef Stew Noodle Soup
Can't believe it took me so long to try this place out as I pass by it every day. The clay pot rice was super nice and crispy on the bottom (my favorite part!) I loved it that they have steamed soup as well, I have been missing them for quite some time. The staff was very nice and attentive even though he was all by himself.
The food is delicious. It's my first time here and I ordered the spicy lamb curry soup. The ambience is great. It is clean, well organized, well lit, and fresh. Easy to use if you have a phone because you scan the code and order your food. I will definitely be coming back and I recommend trying it out.
Rice Monster is located inside the Social Eatery Food Hall in Millbrae. They're known for their rice dishes which are made fresh to order which are both delicious and well-balanced. We tried the Bao Zai Fan, Lap Mei Rice Clay Pot and soup combo, and unagi rice. All of them were delicious and definitely a must-try for those who love crispy rice. The rice was cooked in a clay pot until it was crispy on the bottom, and it was topped with a generous amount of stir-fried vegetables and meat. Overall, I had a great experience at Rice Monster. The food was delicious, the service was great, and the prices were reasonable. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great rice dish.
Stopped in to try the food, this is my my parents goto for clay pot rice, specifically the chicken feet and pork spareribs clay pot. Chicken feet are pretty good compared to some dim sum restaurants. Overall food is good. It's getting harder to find places that offer clay pot rice so I'm happy a restaurant close to home is available now so I don't have to drive into San Francisco.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Beef Stew Noodle Soup
This is one of the restaurants inside the Social Eatery food hall, and the clay pots are delicious! The lap mei clay pot was our favorite. The meat in the pork rib clay pot is also super tender.
Coming on an afternoon weekday, it wasn't busy at all! This place is located in a private parking lot with a decent amount of parking spots. I love sizzling rice pot and I actually haven't had them in quite a long time. So to know that there's a place in Millbrae that specializes in this place is honestly exciting. Solely basing this off of what I ordered, I got the Unagi Rice Bowl to-go. The thought of steamy hot unagi (bbq eel) paired with crispy rice just sounded so decadent and delicious I just had to try it out. I even added a poached egg to give it more texture to it. And I love eggs so I just had to. My verdict? It was delicious! The unagi soooo soft and steamy. And the rice was hot and crispy on the bottom. I loved it. It's exactly how I envisioned what it would taste like and it did not disappoint. Add that poached egg in there, it definitely helps. If you do get it to-go, the egg might cook in the hot rice bowl so eat it asap. Mine was a little cooked but it was still delicious. Overall, this place is solid! It may be a little pricey in terms of portion and what not, but it's a great place to come try out. And I would definitely get that unagi rice bowl again.
Restaurantji Recommends
Tried their Lap Mei rice clay pot and soup combo and their chicken mushroom clay pot. Nicely packaged and securely imbedded on a cardboard box. Made to travel to the top of the mountain with out loosely a drop of soup and sauce. Food were tasty and portion quite generous. Good to read the Yelp comments from others so I knew to make extra veggies to supplement. May be there should be an all veggi no rice option? Definitely worth coming back soon to try the other selections.
Nice atmosphere with poor service. Ordering is confusing, their menu is combined with 2 or 3 other businesses sharing the restaurant space (seems this should be better explained). Anyway the meat patty has the texture of a meatloaf or more of a pâté. It was also bland. The service didn't ask if we wanted any hot sauce or seasoning and their were none to be found at the table. The bill had an easily overlooked service charge added of 15% so be careful or you will tip on top of that like I did!
This place is located right next to the bart station with a small parking lot in the back. I noticed all the high reviews for their clay pot rice and wanted to try it out. I ordered on my phone for take out since I knew the rice would take a while to cook and planned to just eat there. (I assumed it was cafeteria style based on photos.) When we got there, I realized that you actually order from the table you're seated through a QR code. They also charge an automatic service fee. However, since I ordered prior, the rice was done almost as soon as we were seated. I noticed not many people had ordered rice, but were eating soup noodles as the restaurant is also with grapeholic and social eatery.Since I ordered takeout, the bowls came in foil to go containers. We ordered the eel bowl and pork rib with chicken bowl. We were definitely skeptical of how the food was going to be in the take out containers. But the food was great! The meat was well seasoned with generous portions and went really well with the rice. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the perfect crisp you expect from a clay pot. The bowls are definitely meant to be an individual size. It came with soy sauce, but I felt that the food was salty enough without it. I was really impressed with how the rice came out, considering the food came out in aluminum bowls.I would absolutely order from here again. The food was prepared quickly and really well. I think that the food is really good for take out since you would definitely have to wait at least 20 minutes for the bowl. The only thing I wish was there were some more vegetable options, but for clay pot rice, the food was cooked perfectly and the ingredients were high quality.
This place is located right next to the bart station with a small parking lot in the back. I noticed all the high reviews for their clay pot rice and wanted to try it out. I ordered on my phone for take out since I knew the rice would take a while to cook and planned to just eat there. (I assumed it was cafeteria style based on photos.) When we got there, I realized that you actually order from the table you're seated through a QR code. They also charge an automatic service fee. However, since I ordered prior, the rice was done almost as soon as we were seated. I noticed not many people had ordered rice, but were eating soup noodles as the restaurant is also with grapeholic and social eatery. Since I ordered takeout, the bowls came in foil to go containers. We ordered the eel bowl and pork rib with chicken bowl. We were definitely skeptical of how the food was going to be in the take out containers. But the food was great! The meat was well seasoned with generous portions and went really well with the rice. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the perfect crisp you expect from a clay pot. The bowls are definitely meant to be an individual size. It came with soy sauce, but I felt that the food was salty enough without it. I was really impressed with how the rice came out, considering the food came out in aluminum bowls. I would absolutely order from here again. The food was prepared quickly and really well. I think that the food is really good for take out since you would definitely have to wait at least 20 minutes for the bowl. The only thing I wish was there were some more vegetable options, but for clay pot rice, the food was cooked perfectly and the ingredients were high quality.
Try this clay pot rice. It is not the best in the Bay Area, but it is worthy. However, there is no Asian swamp eel clay pot rice available ( the classic clay pot rice for Toishanese).