Five Spices House

Go for: No frills, multi-region Chinese food with a huge menu.

Avoid if: You need to be pampered when you go out to eat.

Something surprising: The live seafood that's available. Oh, and there's a second floor.

Reservation needed? No, but you might have to wait a few minutes.

Overall Experience: 3/5. This place has an incredible menu and all of the dishes are executed well. You're not going to be treated like a VIP when coming here, but the food is worth it. It would be great if they restored and cleaned up the interior of the place a little bit, but it has a certain Chinatown charm to it.

Value for Price: 3
Sanitation: 3
Food Quality: 4
Menu Precision: 2
Service Quality: 3
Timing: 4
Decor: 2
Access: 3
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5 among the best
4 strong
3 not too bad
2 mediocre
1 never again

Simply incredible food. I highly recommend the Sichuan Diced Chicken with Chili Peppers. The fry coating on the chicken is super thin and crispy and was perfect. The flavor was spot on, nice and spicy, and there was so much of it. I also got the Sichuan Style Double Cooked Pork and it was great as well, but the chicken was just incredible.

The menu is gigantic with so many things I'd want to try, so I'll definitely be coming back sometime.

The service was admittedly in the slow side, but I'll give them a pass because it was Chinese New Year and they seemed understaffed.

The atmosphere was nothing exciting. Simple, no frills, but it doesn't need anything else.

Had hot and sour soup and spicy fish dry pot. Soup was your regular run of the mill that you would get any other Chinese restaurants.
My main reason to go there was to try the spicy fish. I was utterly disappointed. While it had a good flavor and spice level, the fish itself was very tough and over cooked. While ordering I was told that it is not served deep fried and it's just stir fried. What came out was a dish that was deep fried and then stir fried! It was as tough as an over cooked breaded chicken. Not happy!!

Ordered Take Out and staff was really nice.
Egg Fried Rice was quite sad. Very plain no soy sauce or other flavorings 😅 just literally egg and rice
Hot and Spicy Fish Fillet was very flavorful but perhaps not the best for takeout. I will dine in next time so the fish stays crispy.

Got takeout but i’ve been there before. Favorites are eggplant and the crispy chicken. The tendon was a bit of a bad deal, didn’t get much beef and mainly tripe. And the double cooked pork was fine but nothing spectacular.

Food was ok, nothing special. Atmosphere is basic. We had the appetizer sampler and the hot and spicy fish filet. The service was unfriendly and not good, so we tipped accordingly. They hounded us for 20% tip before leaving. Won’t be back.

An incredible meal. Food was absolutely phenomenal. Perfectly cooked meats, powerful flavor, great spice, delicious sauces and seasonings. Perfect meal. One of the best bites you'll have in the city. Cumin lamb, beef dry pot, and szechuan wonton are personal favorite highlights. Service was also extremely friendly, fun and knowledgeable. Very cheap as well.

All these people ragging on the prices might do themselves a favor and arrive before 4 for the lunch specials. I think it's 13.99 for a wide array of lunch dishes. I got the sezchuan twice cooked pork. I do hear what the other reviewers are saying about the saltiness of the dishes. Mine was absolutely soaked in oil to the point of excess but as most of the reviewers can attest, the flavor is strong.
I was feeling like a big spender so I got an iced tea drink, which hit for sure. I think I'll be back next week for a different special for my afternoon job.