Five Spices House - Boston

This location is in Chinatown Boston. The location is in a corner very easy to find, but not that easy for parking. The atmosphere was kinda unusual because the restaurant has two levels and is kinda small. We were directed upstairs and a server greeted us and showed is our table. The food was very good and fresh, we had lo-mein, rice and salt and pepper shrimp. I expected the fried rice to be much better but, it wasn't bad. The other two dishes were really good. If you are craving some Chinese food and are in the area, this would be a good choice.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. This place needs a major attitude and customer service adjustment. Upon being seated, menus were LITERALLY thrown at us on the table... flag #1. Then we are treated PISS-poorly the whole time we are dining in their run down establishment, and we were highly dissatisfied. After receiving the bill and paying for my meal, I was returned the slip to sign for the merchant. I chose not to leave a tip, and the lady says, "Tip not included." I proceed to notify her that I wasn't leaving one, and she asks me why. I explained all of the aforementioned items and she slams the receipt BACK on the table, flips it over and asks me to specifically write out every single issue I had with the establishment. For me to be questioned about why I won't leave a tip is absolutely absurd. Then, the icing on the cake, TO WRITE OUT WHY I DIDNT LEAVE A TIP, is crazy. I will never return. I hope no one else does either. This place needs an overhaul from the front to the back and everything in between.

I will give an honest review here. We ordered colorful soup dumplings and half pecking duck. The Peking duck is ok, nothing special but I dont think they cooked the duck in the way called "Peking", it's more roasted duck. The soup dumpling has the weird flavor, the green-abalone, the pink- scallop, the black- sea cucumber have the weird flavor, the soup inside the dumplings is sour!!! Which made me questioned why! It's not supposed to have the sour flavor in the soup dumplings! The traditional, crab, and the yellow-truffle dumplings are normal without the sour flavor. So my question is they served me spoiled food tastes sour?The lady served our table is too fast, as soon as we just finished the food, she cleaned the table and gave the bill, like wanted us to leave for the new customer! I think that is their service style, which I don't like, after eating we want to sit a bit just for the food digested, and we will call for the bill when we are ready to leave. They should take experience from this!My friend said he would not want to come back because of this!

I came here on a pretty busy Friday night with two friends and despite the crowd, we were able to get seated on a calmer 2nd floor, which made the experience a bit more comfortable. Starting with a disappointment, the tea left a lot to be desired. We were served a teapot with a single tea bag, which hardly sufficed in both quantity and quality. Not only was it not loose leaf tea that you'd probably expect from a Chinese restaurant, but the flavor was non-existent because again, it's a single tea bag. If I remember correctly, they charged $1 per cup for this fascinating set up.However, the food thankfully took a turn for the better. The Szechuan beef was the star of our meal - truly remarkable and left us wishing we had ordered more. Truly redeemed a lot of the dining experience. The eggplant, szechuan fish, and orange chicken were all very solid picks, but did not shine nearly as hard as the beef.The restaurant was honestly a bit of a rollercoaster of experiences. Given that you're in Chinatown, I think you could find more consistent and reliable options in the area.

Omg the crispy chicken appetizer - amazing!! Sooo good! Basically it's popcorn chicken but the pieces are small pieces and strips. So good especially when they were hot and fresh crispy on the outside and tender on the inside- perfect flavor too - savory not too spicy just delicious! We were looking to order Chinese street food and our usual go to restaurant was no longer on GH so decided to look for alternative restaurants and came upon 5 Spices house and gave it a try. We were not disappointed at all! We ordered our usual go-tos - scallion pancakes, hot n sour soup, steamed pork dumplings. And for entrees - dry spicy chicken, kung pao chicken (a bit too sweet), beef n broccoli (good) and mapo tofu (tasty).Needless to say we had plenty of good food and also plenty of leftovers! Food came pretty quickly and all the food was hot and fresh. Portions were quite good. One thing I should point out though that none of the entrees come with rice! We usually expect that but only realized it when the food arrived. So we ended up having to cook some rice lol! Oh well lesson learned for next time, but I do think they should clearly mention it on the online ordering that you would have to order it separately.Anyway overall good food and looking at the menu will surely try them again for some of the other dishes.

0 star for service!! The waitress upstairs was very rude and in a bad mood. When we asked a question, she was annoyed with out questions about the menu. She should adjust her bad attitude. We didn't leave tips as we did not receive service. She pointed to us about the tips and we told her no tips for you with you being rude to us and did not provide good service. She didn't deserve tips not even $1. We would never come back.

Really good food and HUGE portions for the price. We got chicken fried rice, chicken lo mein, and steamed vegetable dumplings. I really liked the lo mein and fried rice. They have seating inside and service was fast.

A real disappointment, especially considering its prime location in Chinatown.The Sichuan won tons were watered down, literally. The flavor was barely detectable. We tried the crispy beef, this was pretty decent although very salty and obviously loaded with MSG.The dining room has no ambiance, service was abrupt, and the menus were dirty.Please consider going somewhere else

My first visit here as I usually go to a restaurant next door where the menu is almost the same... The service is lacking as is in many restaurants in Chinatown but the server was having a bad evening and I tried my best to not exacerbate her annoyance... Regardless, the food was a disappointment. 1. Fish/Vegetable/Potatoe dishes that we ordered were more oily here than at neighboring restaurants where I have ordered the same dishes.2. The Mix vegetable dish was not cooked well enough before it was brought to the table in a small hot pot with burner. The same dish in neighboring restaurants is much better.One saving grace of this restaurant is that prices tend to be lower than the restaurant opposite it but one notices a significant drop in taste. Id recommend the restaurants nearby instead.

Vegetarian friendly. Plenty of delicious options for vegetarians and also willing to accommodate, ex the Dan Dan noodles or hot and sour soup without any pork/meat. If you choose to order through delivery app services, some items (tofu in hot pot unavailable on DoorDash) may not be available. My go tos are the mapo tofu, tofu in hot pot and/or tofu in garlic sauce. The food has very strong umami flavors and paired with the white rice, an amazing combo. Have never personally dined in person at the restaurant but it does tend to have a handful of people here and there when I do order in person.