If You Need a Fried Rice Fix, Try Rice House Express

Rice House Express, the self-proclaimed “home of the famous Chris fried rice,” is a local Chinese chain with locations in Dallas, Waxahachie, Glenn Heights, Burleson and Garland.

As you probably gleaned from the name, Rice House Express is a rice-heavy establishment. The menu offers 11 fried rice entrees, from the aforementioned Chris fried rice to Hawaiian (diced ham, egg, pineapple and vegetables) and mushroom fried rice. You’ll also find traditional Chinese appetizers like cream cheese wontons, egg rolls and dumplings. Many usual suspects like egg drop soup, orange chicken, General Tso’s, kung pao and sweet & sour are here, along with a few beef and flat noodle dishes.

We stopped by for lunch at the Glenn Heights location when we happened to be nearby. There were a handful of tables in a tight, no-frills space, but Rice House Express leans more into the takeout and delivery side of the business anyway (the motto on the receipt reads, “Take out made simple”).

Since Rice House Express is the home of the "famous" Chris fried rice, ordering that should’ve been automatic. But we didn’t learn about the Chris fried rice until later. And it does sound good. The Chris fried rice comes absolutely loaded with proteins: chicken, beef, pork, shrimp and egg. Instead, we settled for an appetizer and a couple of other fried rice options.
First up was a serving of eight fried pork dumplings ($7.99). Fried crispy and served with a savory-sweet Asian-inspired dipping sauce, these dumplings were a solid appetizer. No complaints.

Our first fried rice entrée was the chicken jalapeño ($13.99). The dish came with an abundance of fresh-cut jalapeños and white chicken breast strips. We ordered this dish mild (you can tell them how spicy you want it) since it was already loaded with jalapeños. This was good fried rice – fresh, hot and flavorful. Minimal to no soy sauce is required.

For the second fried rice entrée, we went with the salt and pepper shrimp ($14.99) and took the spice level up a few notches to hot (and the heat certainly made its presence felt). Like the fried rice entrée before it, it came with plenty of its featured ingredients. In our lone experience, Rice House Express doesn’t skimp on the main ingredients (in this case, the shrimp). This was our favorite and one we’d go back for.
Remember to add the chili oil that comes with your fried rice because it’s a game-changer.

On the way there, we were a little concerned when we pulled up the Yelp rating for that location. While the rating is far from the worst we’ve seen (3.2 on 90 reviews), there were still some eyebrow-raising reviews citing shoddy customer service and missing (or wrong altogether) orders. We didn’t experience any of that. The customer service was friendly, our order was correct and the food was hot.

Rice House Express, 113 W. Ovilla Road, Glenn Heights. 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.