The Rice Barn

There is a crazy chef at The Rice Barn that cooks up a meal to die for. Japanese hot pot with shrimp, mussels, scallops, salmon just this side of heaven all marinating in a lemon grass broth! What a delicious experience on this cold winter day!

The food was fine, it is expensive for what they serve. The service was fine, a bit slow and not super friendly but fine. Probably the best restaurant in this location since before Joy Luck. We had a few different dishes, all tasted fine. Not goupy for thai food which was great, a nice surprise there. The menu is pretty big, so you can find a lot of options.

SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW! Tried Rice Barn twice this week since I am a local and had a typical experience with their service. Take out was not ready after 35 minutes when promised… I was asked to wait another 15! Almost an hour for two entrees and apps? Had a similar experience later the same week. We won’t be back. Sorry Rice Barn, you need to try harder.

This is the 3^rd time we’ve ordered from there — each time with a different couple or family member — and we’ve always loved it. We always get chicken pad Thai and chicken satay (which they forgot on the most recent time). We recently got the Mongolian beef and the Rice Barn ribs. Everything was really tasty, although the portions seemed smaller than I remember. I’ve only ever done take-​out, but would like to try dining in at some point. Somehow, the food was not that hot when we ate it, even though we waited for it when picking it up…
The forgotten satay showed that they have fantastic service. They were ridiculously busy, which is why they forgot part of our order. When we called about it, they apologized and refunded it — and gave us a decent discount off the rest of the order! That definitely makes up for it in my book.

Rice Barn is the end of my journey to finding good Thai food with the authentic taste (I’m Thai). The prices are alright given such big servings! The staff was very attentive and efficient to our table (of 20 people!) This is now my go-​to place whenever I want Thai food.

Confused. The Rice Barn advertises itself as Asian fusion, and with «Rice» in the name I would not have expected Spanish Rice to come with the meal. I was excited about enjoying an evening out, so I tried to ignore the odd odor of the place as I walked in – it was not the aroma of good cooking or cuisine-​specific seasonings, instead smelled like something had gone awry in the kitchen a few days prior and the incident lingered. I ordered a yellow curry dish, my favorite; the sauce was too thick for Asian cuisine (which I would have ignored (you know, creative license and all) except that), the dish did not have a hint of flavor (maybe the curry was old?). The service was okay. In itself I don’t need to share with others what makes my taste buds sing (or disappoints them); however, I chose to eat here because of the Unilocal reviews and because it was so far off, it seemed appropriate in this case. I lived in the Far East for many years so I’ll need to find another place to get my fix, but for the locals who may not know better and for the owners who are making their life’s dream, I’m happy for them and wish them success.

I lived in south east Asia for two years and this place is authentic! It’s better than most of the food I have had in Asia.
Every dish I have ordered from Rice Barn seems to become my favorite dish for a while. The menu has something for everybody to enjoy.
It is very apparent that they use fresh ingredients and it really makes the dishes flavors pop.
The service is great and extremely courteous.
I love dinning in and take out is great. They use great containers for the take out, so you don’t have to worry about anything opening up on the ride home.
Be cautious if you don’t like anything too spicy, because some of the dishes that are labeled as spicy are very spicy. I love it, but I could understand it being too spicy for others.
If you are in the area and have not tried Rice Barn, you are truly missing out.

Absolutely love this place for work lunch — wish I was in the area more often! Great for take-​out or dine-​in. Can be a quick option to take with you to the office, but they also have a nice bar and dining room for lunch with business associates. The curry dishes and coconut curry soups are all fantastic!

Food is ok. Not the best. No other Thai restaurant in Needham results in higher traffic to this place. If you are in mood of Thai food, live in Needham and don’t want to drive to Cambridge /​Boston for better Thai food, try the rice barn.

I occasionally get to Needham for appointments and decided to try the Rice Barn. It was good. I got a teriyaki scrimp lunch box and my partner got duck. My lunch box came with two gyosa (fried), a dressed salad, and a lot of teriyaki shrimp with a nice amount of rice. Everything was good. The gyosa were luke warm and the salad might be over-​dressed for some (I thought it was fine). The teriyaki tasted a little off (maybe too sweet) when I ate it alone, but on the shrimp it was good. The shrimp were lightly fried and tasty. Next time I will probably head down to the Indian buffet, but this was good to try.

Really want to support this place. But…funny overall funky bar odor apon entering the restaurant. Host was very nice, drink service slow, food service rather quick so glad we ordered apps first before ordering dinner. The atmosphere is nice, nice music. Now the food… some good some not great. Beef macadamia was very good, rice presentation is nice.
soft shelled crab dishes were good, pad thai disappointing. It seemed as though it was not freshly made, no? bean sprouts? ground peanuts. seemed more like a lo mein dish. crab rangoons were good, potstickers very good. Chilean see bass had a strange presentation, the deep frying took away from the fish… we decided we will give it a try once more, sit at the bar and split a couple of entrees. For Thai does not compare to the food and service at Crystals Kitchen in West Bridgewater, albeit the atmosphere is nicer at the rice barn.

The food was very good — it was a little less flavorful than ideal, but not problematically so, and that’s really not a problem for a $ 10 lunch. Presentation was beautiful (See photo of rice pyramid), and I received exactly the right amount of food.
The service was fast and nice — we walked in with 11 people without calling ahead and nothing got messed up at all. We were out within the hour. The waitstaff was patient and friendly, and it was nice to see that there was no gratuity added on to our bill (of course we tipped appropriately).
The restaurant was clean and decently lit, and had a somewhat crisp atmosphere.
Although I don’t often sit down for meals in Needham, I would definitely return to this place if I find myself able to spend the time again.

Fantastic! A++++ I get takeout from this restaurant at least once per week — everything that I have ever had from here has been perfection! Though my food heaven there is the Chiang Mai noodles — the best curry sauce! Its been three hours since I ate lunch and I am still on a food high! Great Service; Great Food!

Honestly, the best food I’ve had in a really long time! Our office gets take out from many places in Needham, but I have to say I’ve addicted the whole office! Gyozo is superb and delicate, yet filling and the Salmon lunch box is INCREDIBLE!
This is a type of place you have to experience for yourself!

Review for takeout experience only — Rice Barn Fail. We tried to order take out the other night and were told it would be ready in 20 – 25 minutes. Upon arrival, we were informed that the food had not been started and would be an additional 20 minutes. When we asked why we weren’t told that when we called, they said we spoke to the person at the bar, and he didn’t know how long it would take. A family friend was also in the restaurant waiting for her food, and informed us she had been waiting for over an hour, and it still wasn’t done. So, we cancelled our order. I’ve had their food many times before. It was fine, not amazing. Probably not going back after this.

While in the area, we decided to stop at the Rice Barn. The space is pleasant and the menu had the standard thai and asian fusion options. I went with the spicy basil noodle, which came with the wide noodles (which I love), pepper and basil. It had a significant amount of spice but was not overbearing.
I’ll certainly return if I am in the area — it is a convenient location if you are in the Needham area and do not plan on heading into Boston.

Rice Barn is the best location around the Wellelsley area to get Thai food. It’s certainly notches higher in atmosphere and food quality than the resident Coconut Thai and Lemon Thai, which have their fill of college students ordering all hours of the day.
Their soups (Tom Yum and Tom Kha) are tasty and come in a good «soupy» size. As for entrees, I enjoyed their Massaman Short Ribs, the Big Bowl Noodle Soup, Pad Thai, and Pad See Ew.
I would skip the appetizers since those seem under portioned… and most are not authentic Thai dishes, like the Roti Canai and the Saigon Fresh Rolls. Yeah no…

Not a fan of the tamarind duck. The sauce is basically sweet and sour sauce with water. and the pineapple chuck doesn’t go with it.
We like the spicy basil noodle though! A bit spicy and the taste is on the heavy side. We will certainly go back for other dishes. They do have decent food. Bonus: my friend left his cap at the restaurant and the hostess ran out to find us.

I went to grab some take out here one afternoon. Although the food was great, the service was very lacking and I left feeling like they didn’t care that I was there at all.
They didn’t give me my food when the bag finally came out but rather, they worried more about the people who came after me getting their take out. Didn’t make much sense serving the ones just walking in than the one who had already paid.

My wife and I love this restaurant. This is our third dinner visit. It has some fanatic Thai inspired dishes. It is not a Thai restaurant. Instead, it has the flavors of Asian fusion
For example, I had Sable fish in miso sauce over wilted spinach. The fish was delicate and prepated perfectly. The light sauce really brought out the flavor. My wife had deliciously prepated shrimp curry.
I REALLY APPRECIATE their desire to accommodate. I restrict my carbohydrates. They not only let me substitute for the rice, they brought an extra salad for the inconvenience.
Go. It is worth it.