Rice sits at 20½ Seymour Street in downtown Middlebury — a modest storefront that looks, from the outside, like any quick Chinese takeout spot. That assessment is wrong, and regulars know it.

The restaurant serves Chinese, Thai, and Malaysian food in a small, clean, comfortable dining room with a few tables and free self-serve hot tea. It's a family operation — the owners, a married couple originally from China, run the place alongside their kids, who you'll often spot helping out behind the counter. They've also brought on a young staffer, maybe around 30, who's unfailingly polite and genuinely knows the menu inside and out — the kind of person happy to walk you through a dish you haven't tried. Despite regularly being busy, service stays prompt.

It's the kind of place that is consistently better than it needs to be and charges less than it could get away with. The portions are generous. The ingredients are handled with real care. The crab rangoons are genuinely good — crispy, hot, with a filling that doesn't taste like it came out of a bag. The teriyaki chicken is a standout. The vegetable mei fun (rice noodles) is a go-to for regulars. The sweet and sour chicken is executed properly. The combination dinner plates are a reasonable deal.

In a town with limited options for Asian food, Rice doesn't just fill the gap — it fills it well. Chinese community members have ordered off-menu here for traditional dishes they recognized and trusted, which is its own endorsement. A Tripadvisor reviewer who moved from a city with abundant Chinese options called it "considerably better than the look of the place might suggest," which is exactly right.

The management changed around 2017 and the quality improved noticeably. Since then it's become a consistent local favorite — the place Middlebury residents default to when they want something reliable, satisfying, and priced fairly.

It's not the most glamorous. It doesn't need to be. Sometimes the best thing a restaurant can do is be exactly what it is, consistently and without fuss. Rice does that.

Rice
20½ Seymour Street, Middlebury, VT | (802) 388-3883 | ricemiddlebury.com
Mon–Wed 4–8:30pm | Thu closed | Fri–Sat 4–9pm | Sun closed