For a Monday work lunch, I stopped by 5 Spices House as usual. While the establishment looked almost full, a few tables at the back remained empty. Sometimes, staff would make dumplings there during off peak times. Today, however, that became my seating. Rather than ordering the $12 lunch special, I decided to try the spicy sichuan beef noodle soup / 川味牛腩湯面 ($14.95) from the regular menu. This arrived within 5 minutes. This represented a simple, homely, and decently done dish. Portion size seemed generous, with ample wheat noodle and beef. It had few pieces of spinach and bamboo garnish. Chili oil added flavor but wasn't too spicy. It also came in an aesthetically pleasing stone bowl. read more

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Very decent American Chinese food and traditional Chinese food in a nice clean space and mostly affordable especially lunch specials (though I'm not sure why it's one or 12three for 33 but no two for 22) I had beef and broccoli, which was very good. The beef was tender, and the broccoli was crisp tender like it's supposed to be not overcooked at all.. The hot and sour soup was not too hot not sour just right. All in all the great experience read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Hot and sour soup - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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My friend and I came here to try the lunch special. I ordered the mapo tofu and friend ordered the general chicken. Mapo tofu was the saltiest tofu I have ever had. I thought there must be some sort of mistake. The general chicken was mostly breading. The soup that comes with lunch just tasted like thick salt water. The service was not friendly or good. We were still eating and waitresses kept coming up to our table to try to clear the dishes. I found it rather odd as we had forks in our mouths! Maybe other dishes are better? read more

I couldn't capture all of the food, but came for a work dinner and everything was absolutely delicious. The food came out at a great pace and we had plenty of leftovers. It was truly a great dining experience and I'd definitely go back! Service was quick and they were not only attentive to our giant group, but the other patrons as well. read more

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Food is atrocious ! Everything is terrible. Crab rangoons flavorless and crunchy not light flakey and flavorful. Spring rolls consistency of baby food . Chicken was tough . My belief is they're using sub par frozen ingredients left over from days of thawing and refreezing . Not authentic or fresh AT ALL! STAY AWAY read more

The house tofu was too greasy for me, but the flavor was nice and the portion was large enough to share. Please note, it didn't come with rice so you will need to order some on the side. The potatoes with green pepper was my favorite!! So flavorful and delicious. Overall, if they used a bit less oil everything would have been amazing. I will definitely be trying a few more dishes to see if I can find some with less oil. read more

THIS PLACE IS SO AMAZING! The food is so good and tasty and nothing has failed me the multiple times I've been here. Everything tastes authentic and perfect amount of seasoning and for reasonable prices. Service is fast and the food comes out fast too. It's a huge spot and I've always came when it's not busy. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Fish - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Cold Sesame Noodle was fantastic!!! Wonderful service :) comfortable seating. Great AC in the heat. Fantastic summer spot

This place is gas. Shared a scorpion bowl with someone and got drunk, ate my food, and got drunk again. Also the food is great.

Rude, racist service. I'm Asian but not Chinese and don't speak Chinese. When I ordered the spicy dry pot the older woman there asked if I wanted spicy "mild, medium, or LARGE." Hearing "large" (I was confused with the idea of "large spicy"), so for clarification purposes I kindly asked if she meant size or spiciness - I was dining alone so a large size wouldn't do. When I asked she gave me a hard stare like I was stupid, then gave a loud sigh which yelling at me (not even looking at me) that she meant "spiciness level!" The food is decent but very greasy, unlike the spicy dry pot dishes I had in Asia seasoned with powder spices. When I asked to order a bowl of rice, a second woman (who had already talked to me before so knew I didn't speak Chinese) yelled something in Chinese at me. As I didn't understand, I clarified that I wanted rice. This time she yelled back, "WAIT!" The reason I say "racist service" is because while I was eating here I saw the two staff that had been hella rude to me smile and serve multiple other parties who were of a different ethnicity much, much kinder. So much kinder I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. I wanted to love this place because I was so excited that there was a place that offered spicy dry pot near me, but after this experience I won't ever be coming back. read more

The make your own spicy dry pot was yummy but the portion size was incredibly small. The chicken with scallion was pretty standard. I placed an online takeout order on a Friday night and it was ready for pickup within 20 minutes. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Make your own spicy dry pot - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Big restaurant with lots of seating. Ordered the shuizhu beef soup and it was delicious. Serving was huge, and I had leftovers for two days after. Added my own Chinese cabbage, beansprouts, and tofu to the mix at home. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Beef soup - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I have actually been there before- today 80$ of nastiness- lobster was old and dry teriyaki and chicken sticks or nothing small and dried. The rice was undone with the vegetables nasty tasting like a refrigerator.- last time ordering from there read more

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Got delivery. Shrimp chow fun noodles were inedible, mushy and odd flavor but good amount of shrimp. Threw out noodles. Pork with bamboo: barely edible as pork was mostly fat, unpleasant. Lots of bamboo in dish. Had to throw out. Crab rangoon, Chicken fingers, Veg Fried rice were great. Scallion pancake - mushy but tasted ok... Good size portions. May try other dishes and reorder appetizers some other time but this round was not too good at all. Uber delivery was great. read more

Well here it goes, my first yelp review. We decided to give this place a try and after the first bite, it's easy to say we won't return. The General Tso and Orange Chicken were delivered in small portions, had little flavor, and the chicken tasted a bit off. Keep in mind that this portion is $20 and does not conclude rice, but you can add it for another $3. In total, $57 for 2 to-go containers of subpar chicken. Best of luck to 5 Spices House. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Orange Chicken - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

This is the best Chinese place I've found in the Boston/Cambridge area! The dishes here all had their distinct flavors, with combinations of spicy, sour, smoky, and tangy. We got the Shredded Pork with Pickled Cabbage Soup, the Szechuan style cold jelly appetizer, and the double cooked pork. Each one knocked it out of the park. They also have a make your own dry pot bar, which I haven't tried but have heard good things about. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - a bowl of soup and a bowl of soup - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

The masses seem to love this place and I cannot figure out why. Put a knife to my throat and I still could not think of a reason to give 5 Spices House five stars. I guess my throat shall be slit and my carcass tossed in the Charles. Anyways. I've had food from here several times--several times too many, if I can venture to say. The food I've tried is fine. Nothing exceptional. Most recently I ordered Hot and Spicy Chicken. Generally a good Sichuan dish. The flavors at 5 Spices House were decent--again, nothing exceptional. But let me tell you. This venue has the gall to charge innocent and unassuming guests nearly $20 for a measly plate of Hot and Spicy Chicken that is more "hot and spicy" (i.e. peppers) than chicken. Not only this, that price does not include rice. Imagine the gall and imagine the shamelessness: $20 for a measly plate of Hot and Spicy Chicken that does not deign to include even a single grain of rice. What a disgrace. Service is fine and ambience is fine. But I would return to 5 Spices House if and only if someone else is paying. read more

I was told to come here specifically for their dry sauteed Chinese eggplant ($14.95). It is truly incredible! The eggplant slices are fried to a perfection where the outside is super crispy while the inside is soft and cooked through. The seasoning on them is amazing, too-- lightly garlicky with lots of white pepper, cumin, and sichuan peppercorns. It reminds me of salt and pepper shrimp, but it's vegetarian. The portion is very big as well. I wanted to try some of their other dishes so I also got the home style spare ribs with potatoes ($16.95). The dish came with a large portion of ribs and potatoes. The meat was super tender and the potatoes soaked up the sauce. However, the dish seemed a little boring to me because the sauce was mostly just soy sauce without any other flavor. The sauce was also extremely salty. I regretted not ordering another spicy dish. I will continue to come back just for their dry sauteed Chinese eggplant! That dish alone definitely deserves 5 stars. The other dish brings it down to a 4. read more

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Came here for lunch right at opening on a Friday late morning and we were seated quite quickly. We were the only ones in the restaurant which led to pretty speedy service which was really convenient. The soup was really great - I would honestly order just the soup next time as it was really well made in my opinion. We got four entrees for lunch to share between two people and it was plenty of food. The lunch deal I thought was very solid as it's a soup, rice, and one option as your entree which I felt was more than enough for a good price. The scallion pancake was deliciously crispy, the squid was well seasoned, the tofu was really yummy, and the chicken was spicy as well as tasty. I probably wouldn't get the chicken again honestly, but I'm glad I tried it. We couldn't finish everything and when we asked for it to get packed, we asked for the two bowls of rice and two soups that we didn't get served and they happily packed that away for us as well. Good service, great food. I'll definitely be coming back - thanks 5 Spices House! I've been to both their sister restaurants in Malden and Chinatown respectively and found both great alongside this one! read more

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Overrated and expensive for no reason. The lady at the register with glasses is very rude.

This is one of the few authentic Chinese restaurants that I enjoy going and it never disappoints. I highly suggest getting the steamed pork and garlic as appetizer 10/10!!! We also got the fried chili beef, mala tang ( you pick your own ingredients, spice level and cooking method- dry or soup) and Dan Dan noodles ( so starchy, so yummy). They' also feature an extensive menu with many options to choose from. The interior is like a normal Chinese restaurant and it's clean. The service was quick and waiters were friendly. Food: 9/10 Service: 8/10 Experience: 8/10 Value: 8.5/10 read more

Ok I just realized the one for all photo I posted didn't save. Also it is limited to 140 words. I can't possibly name all the dishes in a single photo. Anyway a review without a photo is fine with this one. I have been here a couple of times and it's average. Let's start with what I love, I love their string bean! And that is what I ordered the first time I was at the place. That is what also gets me to come back a few more times. Because the string bean was soooo good, I thought others would be great! But it turns out some of them were average and some of them were "trap" dishes what that means is dishes that shouldn't exist in the menu or simply exist to make the menu look full. It just happened that most of the dishes were average and few of them were trap dishes. Ironically the only good were the string beans The service was OK, the ambiance was ok, and the space was on the slightly larger side. The price is a bit expensive. I feel like most of the dishes aren't worth the price. Only if they cut down $5 for each dish... read more

We order our drinks minutes later the full entire order the food arrived. I've never seen something so fast the food tasted really good specially the steak sesame. Our server was really nice. She was always checking up on us. We also ordered sweet and sour chicken, which it was awesome. The ambience on the restaurant was nice. It was a small hole on the wall but those are the best. Overall we recommend. Review was written by my 11-year-old and 10-year-old kids. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

We have eaten at the restaurant here once before but typically order delivery from this restaurant which we love! We like the chili dried popcorn chicken, the pork fried rice and the dry hot pot! The Dry hot pot is our favorite and we typically get the pork fried rice and the dry pot together. Delicious and never disappoints! Service is okay, we prefer to just do delivery since we typically always get the same thing anyways and can eat comfort food in the comfort of our own food. Will continue to order from here! read more

The Pork fried rice is awful and flavorless looks like just boiled rice with vegetables and questionable looking pork. All the fried foods are saturated in oil and that's all you taste. Crab Rangoon was very sweet and the salt & pepper chicken was just chicken, no salt, pepper or any other kind of seasoning. Waste of time (pick up) and money. read more

The food was absolutely delicious. Tons of flavourful veggie options. Cumin tofu, bean curd soup (4 people can share one) and the cauliflower dry pot absolutely a must have! read more

I was visiting from out of town and staying at a hotel in Cambridge. I hopped a bus and walked around for a while and happened upon this restaurant so I went inside. I had the General Gau's tofu. It's a good thing I hadn't eaten anything all day because I think my portion was an entire block of tofu!. It was delicious but I was a little disappointed it wasn't spicier. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

If I can put 0 star, I would do it. I and my friends went to this place many time for lunch break. But this time, the service was awful. The restaurant had the customer only one table. A waitress took a long time to take my order. Once I finished my food, I was walking through the counter for pay my food which I always did it because it was a lunch time and there was a cashier stand there. However, one of the waitress (i guess she is a new waitress because I had never seen her before). She shouted out loud like I will run away without pay my food. I wont come here anymore. This was terrible experience I have never met. read more

Oh my Gawd. Fried rice with invisible scallion, spicy sweet and sour potato, spicy grilled peppers, cumin chicken...heaven on earth. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Spicy grilled peppers! - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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This place is on a slightly more expensive side of Chinese restaurants (about $10-$20 a dish) but the portion is fair and the dishes taste really good, so I think it was worth it. It's not a typical American Chinese food that you are used, too..but they actually use spices (e.g. cumin, mala, etc) that are more common in Chinese cuisine to make the dishes taste more authentic, too. I had a chance to try their Sichuan Spicy Crispy Shrimps and their House Special fried rice. I love their shrimp dish. There were many shrimps in the dish (10+) and the shrimp size was large. It was spicy and super flavorful (albeit slightly oily...but hey...lots of Sichuan cuisine can be like that). The house special fried rice is slightly oily, but came in a large portion as well. I'd say, from Asian fried rice stand point, there's nothing much about this dish that distinguished it apart from other Asian fried rice that I was used to, except the fact that there were more ingredients mixed into it (e.g. bits of bacons, veggies, eggs) vs. fried rice at cheaper place, where the dishes really consisted 95%+ of rice...and maybe..rare bits of egg or onions. The place could be crowded. I stopped by after 8pm on a weekday night and the restaurant was pretty much near full, with maybe 1 table left empty (customers constantly came in to pick up their orders to go, too). I'd say, if you'd like more authentic Sichuan chinese cuisines (with spice!), definitely worth checking this place out. I have yet to try the dry pot (where you get to pick the ingredients in the dish making and priced by weight yourself), but I will be back to try it for sure! read more

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Came here for lunch on a Friday. We were seated immediately and ordered the beef chow fun and watercress. We initially wanted the pea pod shoots, but they were not available, so they suggested the watercress. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that cost a bit more than pea pod shoots. The beef chow fun was good, and the watercress was cooked well--a lot of times they overcook it, but this had a good chew. The pieces were a bit bigger than other places I've had. I've been here before and remember the food was pretty good, and they seem to have reasonably priced lunch specials. read more

You can never go wrong with 5 Spices House! Everything I have eaten here is such a hit. We ordered - dry pot vegetables - sesame chicken - greens - Szechuan peppercorn chicken - fried rice read more

Legit Sichuan food! For true fans of ma la. If you can't handle spicy, beware... The hot chili fish was perfection--I only wished there were more chunks of fish. It was mostly veggies in the oily soup. The few pieces of white fish fillet were BOMB. The spicy cucumbers were crispy and fresh, and the perfect accompaniment. For a non-spicy option, try the bokchoy. You'll want to have plenty of rice to go with your meal. The service was great. On a Monday around 7:30pm, there were plenty of tables, no reservation needed. I'll be back for more authentic bites! read more

We've been ordering from somewhere else for years and today they weren't accepting orders for some reason. We were hungrySo we ordered from here. The food was very good. And quick delivery too. Will deffenetly order again read more

Elite Chinese and Szechuan food. It was packed on a Friday night but they sat 4 of us in 5 minutes. We ordered multiple plates and split it. The food also came back in 10 minutes. Highly recommend. Plates are around $20 a piece but high quality and good service. read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Steamed Pork Dumpling - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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On a cold winter's day, I was craving some Sichuan food and boy, this place delivered! Got some classic dishes like string beans and eggplant - these were really well done, perhaps the best I've had. We decided to take the plunge and splurge on a huge bowl of fish fillet with pickled vegetables. The flavor was great, but we didn't realize the fish would be served basically whole (with bones inside)... it probably wasn't worth it for the price so next time will get the spicy fish filets instead. We had quite a bit leftover and I appreciated that they boxed them up very neatly. We will be back! read more

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I really enjoyed my meal today here! As a Chinese American, I often crave for good Chinese eats and this place hit the spot. I always order yuxiangqiezi no matter what Chinese restaurant I'm at, and today's version was a tasty one for sure. The ganguo yupian fish dish was exceptional, though! The fish pieces were crispy and the dish came with quite a few veggies such as onions. I also got the pumpkin pancakes and they were fresh and chewy. I am very pleased with my experience here and recommend. Very authentic as well! read more

5 Spices House - Cambridge - Yuxiang qiezi - Szechuan Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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it's a shame that this place is ~25% more expensive than dumpling house. but it's also ~25% better. I WILL NOT BLAME THE CURRENT INFLATIONARY CRISIS ON THIS RESTAURANT. WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY! 5 stars for 5 spices. here's what you need to know: *egg drop soup will warm your soul *mapo tofu melts in your mouth and packs a sufficient kick *string beanz are delicious and nutritious *cucumbies are to die for. must order. and maybe even save the sauce. *high presentation value on the sizzling beef, but not a need-to-have i will be back to do more recon, as this is my first visit. looking around at other tables, i expect every other new dish that i get will only further support this 5 spot. 5 spiced is BOMB. read more

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Had the lunch special of fish in spicy broth--good food and a huge portion of mild white fish (tilapia?) in oily hot spicy red broth with Chinese cabbage and enoki mushrooms. Tasty and enough for at least one (maybe two) more meals. Lunch special is $12. 95 and comes with soup--so an amazing deal! But the service was so astoundingly bad I regret that I won't be coming back here. I arrived twenty minutes before the end of the lunch deal--asked the woman behind the register if they were still serving lunch. She said yes, for another twenty minutes. I seated myself at a spot at the very front of the restaurant by the door--the place was virtually empty, just one other patron--expecting someone to bring me a menu and some water. But the woman who'd told me they were serving lunch for twenty more minutes disappeared. Two waitresses were at the back of the restaurant, maybe stringing green beans. I expected someone to come wait on me, but no one did. It almost felt like they were deliberately ignoring me so they could then come tell me that lunch was over. After about ten minutes, I walked all the way to the back of the restaurant and told them what I wanted (I'm familiar with the menu.) Came back to my seat to find a bowl of soup, but still no water. Eventually the waitress brought water, then finally my food. I ate, and a different man brought me the check. I paid with a card and tipped, even though I was kind of annoyed, because no one had really waited on me. As I was leaving, the waitress who had eventually waited on me tried to stop me, claiming I hadn't paid! The man who had taken my card reassured her that I had. Rudeness and incompetence. So I will not be back. And I urge you not to patronize this place either. read more

Food is good but NEVER ready for pickup when they say it will be. Staff is rude when I point this out.