Burry B.

came here, was very surprised with the extensive menu. i do have to give this place a 3 star rating due to the fact nothing was spectacular. one of my favorite chinese dishes is the cubed tofu with ground beef. we did proceed to order this dish here, but it was simply ok. the spice level of all the dishes here wasn't too extensive, but there is a herb i did injest that numbed my mouth which was unpleasant. i've eatten this herb by accident at another chinese restaurant as well and it was a surprise. the dried chili's here are on a low spice level and do taste a little of the plastic bag they were shipped in. i would like to try spicy town again, and revise my review, but as it stands fremond is a bit of a drive for me.
(3)
Chris K.

Heard some good things about this place from here and some friends so decided to head there for dinner. I love spicy food and I tend to eat a lot of it so to hear about a szechuan type place in the area was a nice thing to hear. Anyway, ordered the ma po tofu, tender beef boiled in savory spicy sauce, and the chicken with cucumber and chili's (forgot the exact name) for something a bit cooler. The beef dish was one of the best I've ever had in terms of tenderness and the ma po tofu was smooth and not overbearing. Both go perfectly with rice (unfortunately when you ask for rice they only give you one bowl at a time) and the chicken dish was refreshing. They have a good balance between spicy and non/spicy dishes to even things out if you decide to eat family style at the restaurant. The service also isn't too bad. In terms of spiciness, it wasn't that bad. I love spicy food and the dishes were not the spiciest I've had which is a bit disappointing, but still gives a nice tingle on the tongue. However, it would probably be perfect for those that enjoy spicy food every now and then. Overall, a good experience, definitely plan on going back during the fall/winter seasons.
(4)
alice y.

I didn't think much of this place after coming here for the lunch specials. But let me tell you that the hotpot changed my mind! Try the hotpot - it's awesome!
(5)
C. L.

The food was good, but I only give it two stars because the service s-u-c-k-e-d. Maybe someone can write it in Chinese so they can read this? I couldn't even understand the waiter and he was speaking English!! If he would quit mumbling and speak up maybe I could understand what he said! We ordered the hotpot which was really good, but even that was hard to figure out becuase when we asked the waitress how it worked she said just order anything and walked off. We had to practically tackle the waiter to get napkins, and order more food and the water we asked for came at the end when we were done. Work on your customer service and maybe I'll bump up the rating.
(2)
Ding D.

the best szuchuan restaurant in the bay area by far, altho it's not nearly as authentic as the real szuchuan food, but it's close. Food is great, remember to get the spicy fish in boiling water
(5)
SP Y.

Went there last night because Food Talk cafe next door was closed. So we thought we'll give this place a try. Bottomline, we'll never go back again. Restaurant itself: Oily and dirty tables and chairs. Sticky floors. Warehouse style high ceilings which echoes everything happening in the place. There was a table at one end that were celebrating someone's bday, about 8 - 10 people. That table itself creates noise that echoes through the restaurant louder than any other chinese dim sum restaurant (if you know what I mean). Bad design... Food: Not bad, but not good either. It's edible but unless I have no other choice on earth, I won't eat theere again. There's no comparison to Spicy Szechuan (1 & 2) in SF Clement street. Similar kind of food but WAYYYY better tasting. Service: Don't even know where to begin. So the place was pretty filthy, not the kind where you see food scraps on the floor, but just everything is plain sticky and oily. So our booth got a lot of hair oil and chili oil all over, so we wanted to switch to another table which just have regular chairs (at least no hair oil....). So we told the waitress that we want to move to the other table (this is 9:30pm and there are like what 3 tables in the whole restaurant). And this is out of my expectation, as the waitress first response was "WHY?" in a very rude way. We were kinda shocked and tried to utter a word that the place is dirty. She looks like she doesn't understand english, so I tried to say a few words in Mandarin to say that it was oily.... She gave is a dirty look and here's what she said as she turns her back away "move your own stuff". Geez.... at least "pretend" to help move a few things would be good enough... I didn't know that we have to justify why we want to move to another open table when there are like a million other open tables in the restaurant. And who is she to ask WHY to a customer in that way! Service is non-existence after that except we got our food delivered. We even need to hunt down the bus boy to help us find someone to give us the check.
(1)
Adam C.

This is an awesome restaurant you need to try in Fremont! Great authentic Szechuan cuisine with bold flavors and some of their dishes carry a punch with spiciness. For those who do not like spicy dishes, there are plenty others on the menu to try. I would recommend some of their fresh fish or lobster dishes. For those spicy food lovers, I would try their tender beef boiled in their savory hot and spicy sauce (yum, yum). I have not personally tried their hot pot, but I plan to on my next visit. Spicy Town is a family business and their friendly staff will do their best to please you during your dinning experience. They also offer private dinning/large parities and they will sit down with you to prepare a special custom menu for your event (many of the dishes are specialties of the chef and the presentation was outstanding!). The last work dinner I attended was truly a memorable experience. Go Spicy Town, you guys rock and your food was excellent!
(5)
Jon K.

I love hot and spicy food. Somedays this restaurant have very authentic food, but other days the taste can change. On a good day, the food here is excellent. Other days, fair. The service is fair, and price is mid-range. So I would return for the food, but consistency needs improvement.
(3)
Don L.

Gosh are my lips burning? Coworker Y hails from Sichaun and she likes her food spicy. Like nearly inedibly spicy - I've seen this girl add buckets of chili sauce to perfectly good food to make it more attuned to her palate. Michelle also accompanied us down the 880 for lunch yesterday. After an extended discussion of the menu in Mandarin with the waitress, we ended up with three dishes. First grilled beef skewers with a dusting of ground chilis and a garnish of fresh cilantro. These weren't bad, pretty spicy - my lips were burning and I was sweating and Y looked happy. The beef was tender and we each had 3 skewers. The dish had changed since Yanli ordered it last - the waitress explained the kitchen had adjusted the dish in response to customer comments. Our second dish was a chicken and taro stew with some really scary looking red peppers in the broth. Not hot at all though - I liked the chicken more than M did. The three of us all like the taro. M enjoyed the broth enough to take it home for use as a noodle soup base. Our final dish was deep fried shrimp with little cubes of fried taro. Not bad, perhaps a tad bland, but there were plenty of shrimp and taro cubes. Our experience with the service was better than other reviewers. Maybe because it was the day before Thanksgiving and everyone was already headed out somewhere, but the place was pretty much empty. Servers liked talking to M and Y. I thought one server was going to give Michelle some noodles but it turned out he was recounting a story of a visit to her hometown many years ago. My Mandarin is so bad Y feels sorry for me :( On the plus side - stylish decor, someone has clearly spent a lot of time on this, and the tea is really excellent. This is a good thing if you're pretty sensitive to hot food like me and need to wash the capsaicin down with a good drink. I also appreciate the friendly servers. Too bad we're leaving Fremont, otherwise I'm sure we'd return for another go at Spicy Town.
(3)
R K.

like food talk cafe in the same center, i also thought this place was just so-so. at spicy town, you can either have a regular sit down chinese dinner or chinese hot pot. the hostess was really pushing us to do hot pot. she kept saying it's better and we would get the food right away. we had not had hot pot in a while, so we decided to try it. anyway, getting the food right away is a bit of a lie. yes, you will get all the raw food right away, but remember you got to sit there and cook it yourself. i'm thinking they were a bit short staffed in the kitchen that night since we did notice their wait staff was a bit short.
(3)
rice r.

I like this place. It's full of chinese --- really chinese chinese. Felt like I'm eating in a restaurant in Shanghai/Beijing.. We ordered -- 1. spicy noodle bowl (擔擔麵 ) - very spicy!! but noodle texture is good.. 2. spicy chicken (麻辣雞 ) - pretty good 3. beef with bean sauce (豆香牛肉 ) - not bad, but also nothing special 4. double cooked fish (回鍋魚片 ) - amazingly tasty.. Price is decent too. We'll come back to try their hotpot next time =)
(4)
wayne w. H.

b4 i begin, just wanna clarify that this review is for the Mala HotPot only. we've not tried other spicy food there, though based on the hotpot experience it's very unlikely that we will return to test 'em out. i LOVE spicy food, and i can eat VERY spicy. but what's important in a spicy dish is not for it to be ONLY spicy, it has to be TASTY, which w/out saying goes for any type of spicy food, be it Korean Soon Tofu, Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Taiwanese Beef Noodle, Mexican dishes w/ chilies galore , or Thai/Indian/Japanese Curry, and of course, most Szechuan dishes, which are known for their extreme spiciness. with my veteran of spicy status established (rather than some young spring chicken who has yet to embrace the realm of true-spiciness), i just want to say: this was simply THE WORST Mala SPICY HOTPOT i've ever had! now as far as SPICY HOTPOT (Mala for short) goes, i've tried numerous restaurants down throughout the greater LA area (lived there for 12 yrs) & Taiwan (which has a huge congregation of Mala crowd and equal numbers of restaurants to satiate that craving) over the years. there are various ways of preparing Mala and each style yields its individual uniqueness in spiciness & flavoring. some Mala may not be as spicy as others but they can be tasty as hellfire (now that's a compliment!), though in order for a Mala to excellent & truly 'numbingly spicy', as the name literally suggests, it really has be both 'spicy' AND 'tasty'. OK. so here's my review: we went there based on a co-worker's recommendation, thinking i might finally be able to catch some 'real' Mala hotpot here in the SF Bay Area. well, maybe it was this expectation that made the Mala worse than it actually was... perhaps. but by golly, it sucked! really bad! we ordered the 'House Special Yuan-Yang SPICY HOT POT', which consists of two separate sides of soups in one single pot, one side being spicy & red/brown while other side is normally a white based soup (usually sour vegetable w/ sliced pork, which compliments the spicy side rather well). the white soup normally plays amazing wonders when the red soup is too spicy, and for folks who cannot take spice too much, they can eat more out of the white soup side to reduce the spiciness. our friendly waiter brought us individual small bowls of sesame oil (which is strange.... sesame oil in Mala? in regular hot pot that'd work perfectly fine, but in Mala?) and a few small containers w/ minced garlic and green skillet so we can make our own individual sauce. that was OK. tho not seeing the special 'peanut sauce' kind of let me down a little, as for some strange unknown reason, the presence of THE special peanut sauce in a Mala shop is usually is a good indication of something grand to come. tho SAUCE is also a big part for me when i eat Mala, but no matter, maybe the real Mala here is damn good even w/out the sauce, so let's wait and see~ our order came fairly quickly and it LOOKED pretty in red, i must say, and it LOOKED SPICY! tho i was puzzled seeing a good numbers of large red chili peppers AND small round Hua-Jiao (a small round Sichuan pepper w/ a very strong and poignant flavor) floating on top of this very red soup. it was actually the FIRST TIME that i've ever seen a Mala hotpot w/ sooooo many peppers floating on in the soup (usually there's NONE). mind you, good spiciness does not necessarily come from peppers alone, and seeing so many floating about in the soup is truly a strange sight, as all the other good Mala I've had just... didn't have any! but heck, benefit of doubt, right? perhaps this 'new' type of seasoning may provide something grand & unexpected to my spiciness craving taste buds. after all, it DID look very spicy... so we waited for the soup to boil then we dropped in our food... to be fair i'll give the restaurant its proper due credits, for the food material is fine- meat was fresh (we ordered beef, pork, lamb, shrimp & fish) and veggies (several types of vegetables & mushrooms) were good too. what was WRONG was THE most important part: its soup base, which was just PLAIN and WAAAAAY SALTY... and it WASN'T EVEN SPICY! it was also the cheapest soup base i've seen/had w/ no ingredient other than chili peppers and too much salt, other good Mala places usually have a lot more goodies in their soup base. the overly abundant amount of the weird tasting small round pepper killed it even further, we had to pick out these little poignant peppers in every bite, AHHH! the white soup had nothing 2b writing home about either. again, quite poor & lacking w/ nothing in it. what's more, when i asked our ever-smiling waiter about our Mala not being spice at all, he happily brought me a bowl full of regular chili pepper sauce... WTF? surely that would spice things up, but in a wrong way! i could've bought a jar of pepper and do that @ home! their so-called "Mala Hot Pot" was truly a NUMBING (and i wasn't on fire) experience for us, THE END~
(1)
Lisa M.

The moment you walk into the restaurant, you can smell the chili pepper. Not sure if it's a good sign or not but you just know that they will live up to the name "Spicy Town". We came here for lunch and it was surprisingly not too busy. The atmosphere was nice and clean. We had a large table that fit 7 people comfortably. First of all, please excuse my inability to remember any of the names of the dishes that we ordered. I was with a group of people who knows their stuff. Whatever they order usually turns out pretty darn good. If it's not good then it's the restaurant's fault. Yes, that's how much I trust these people's tastes. The good news is for those of you who do not speak Chinese, do not fear. The menu is filled with photos of all the items. My favorite had to be the cold noodle w. chicken (cools down your mouth), beef cartilage thinly sliced & the spicy hot pot. The broth of the hot pot was delicious. Do note that we were here during lunch time so the hot pot was a small pot. Perfect for 2 people to share. We also had a few spicy noodle, noodle soup and meat dishes that were really good. But within a few bites, your mouth is blistering hot. You may begin to sweat and your lips may become fish lips but you can't stop eating. Delicious!!! The only complaint and why they do not get 5 stars would be the service. It's not horrible, just not great. Ask for what you can right up front because you don't know when you'll see the server again. I recommend asking for extra water and tea. Nothing worst than burning lips and no water in sight. Last note, I normally do not eat spicy food by choice but the food here was tasty and still edible (spice wise) that I will definitely come here again.
(4)
David H.

horribe service. decent food if the waiter didn't challenge your every decision. one waiter got the order wrong and insisted on arguing with my friend saying that that is what he had ordered.
(1)
sophie c.

Cautious if you are not ready for greasy and unfresh food. I went with a friend for lunch. We ordered lamb leg,roast pork and pig ear (appetizer). My friend had some stomach upset, he was lucky. I passed out and was sent to ER. It is a true story.
(1)
Andy B.

I can't really say I've had better since I've never had sichuan hot and spicy hotpot before. The tasty: beef meatballs, pork wontons, fish balls, assorted mushrooms. The good: beef, pork, veggies noodles. The bad: unfortunately the broth. I didn't enjoy the flavor of the broth at all. It had this weird flowery/bitter taste to it. The stock barely had flavor. I think it was mostly water. They put lots of dried chilies, chili oil, this funky smelling seed-looking thing (I asked what it was but the waiter didn't know the english name for it) and sichuan peppercorn. The sichuan peppercorns really do make your lips and tongue numb and tingly. It was the strangest feeling I have had when eating something. I liked it after awhile but the novelty couldn't save the hotpot. I would like to try and put it in something else to see what it can do. This place is too far for me to go back and give it a try with other non-hotpot items on the menu. If I am in the area I might give it a try. The place looked clean when we entered but we were the first customers at 5:30pm. Nice modern decor and we didn't have problems with the wait staff. So that plus the novelty of the sichuan peppercorns adds another star. I really wanted to like this place too!
(2)
Ruchell F.

my boyfriend and i ordered da whole crab wit prawns on spicy sauce. da server brought out a big platter and i was already contemplating on how we wer gona finish it. but after turning over da crab shell i realized dat it was all peppers and vegetables dat made it look like a lot. it was pretty spicy and overall the taste is ok. i wish dat the sauce was smoother instead of havin tons and tons of chili pepper and peppercorns. i wouldn't order dis agen...but i wana go bak to try somethin else.
(3)
Quincy L.

This place was "so-so." I took my wife to the place for lunch. She ordered the Hot n Spicy Beef Noodle Soup and I ordered the Sweet & Sour Pork Spare Ribs Lunch Combo. While mine tasted alright, but it was very simple. The flavor was great, but the small dishes were cold and bland. As for the Hot n Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, my wife only ate several of the braised beef pieces but it was not even soft enough to chew or melt in the mouth. Also, the soup base was literally 2/3rd oil and something else. It was so oily that she ended up not eating any of noodles or soup. Other than that, the place was decorated very nicely and the service was good. Just make sure if you do charge it, it has to be a min $20. We probably won't come here again.
(2)
Peter W.

went there once a year ago and the food was not fresh, but this visit two days ago was pretty good, so 3.5 for now
(3)
Chloe H.

went there with a friend the first time & ordered few dishes. everything was way way way too spicy for me!!! 2nd time went with hubby. ordered 2 flavored hot pot...price was reasonable...the tomato base hot pot was good....except hubby complained about the smell was overwelming. too much for him to handle....i guess if i'm coming back, i will come solo....
(3)
Vicki R.

If slow service is a problem for you don't eat here. If you care more about the food then chow down! This place has some of the most interesting chinese food that i have ever had, well seasoned, spicy, subtle and very tasty. Try the mini mushroom hot pot, or this fired eggplant appetizer (can't remember the name...) My kids loved the egg fried rice. I have eaten there three times in the last month and I can't wait to go back.
(5)
Melissa Y.

The first time hubby and I had lunch here, we enjoyed the food, service and restaurant decor. However, the second time to Spicy Town was a huge disappointment. WHAT A MISTAKE!!!!! We even invited our friends to try out their "famous" hot pot. We called earlier to make reservations for 6.30pm on a Saturday night. We were seated at a corner table behind the cash register, hidden from other tables. It felt like we were pushed off to the side. We ordered hot pot and other side dishes within 15min of arrival. We waited 30min and no one served us. We didn't even get any hot tea. I had to stand up to catch a waitress for tea and to check on our order. Unfortunately, the waitress who took our order forgot to enter it into their computer system. She blamed us for not writing down the table number on the order sheet. How are we supposed to know the table number?! Even after she entered in our order, we didn't get our food right away. I expected them to improve on their service! We waited another 20min with a pot of WARM tea and no food on the table. FINALLY after 1 hour, our food was served. Even after all this, we were still ignored. No one even bothered to apologize. One waiter mumbled that they are understaffed. Is that our problem?! He needs to let their management know. It'll take a FREE dinner from Spicy Town before we will go here again.
(1)
Jake w.

This place only excel in authentic chinese food. It is the top one on our list. For the bad reviews below, I'm not surprised you got diappointed - you are ordering american food in a chinese restaurant. Why not just go to panda express instead if you order chow mein or wonton.
(5)
Yang N.

Uhm, this place had its moment during its grand opening phase. But as the days go by, its kind of like the economy, slipping by the day. The service is getting bad, the food is becoming crap, and its loosing its customers one after another. They do serve hot pot, but you can get better ones anywhere.
(2)
Joyce B.

one of the more authentic spicy food places i've been to. the portion could def been more for what you're paying, but i think the quality of the dishes is def there. inside the restaurant is pretty fancy. food: i wouldn't recommend anything that's not spicy here. i think the tendons and the fish was pretty good. they have hot pot option, which i would like try next time.
(3)
John N.

My gf and I decided on this place during a rainy Sunday evening. Not too many people (we got there a little early, before dinnertime) and after about a minute of waiting were given a seat by one of the waiters (guess the host/hostess had the night off). We ordered the squid with cumin appetizer (which turned out to be a bigger appetizer than we expected) and a half-and-half spicy/non-spicy hotpot with mushroom platter, meat platter, tofu and tong ho. Everything was very fresh for the hotpot foods, and the tong ho was surprising since nothing was wilted at all (big plus!). The tofu was not frozen either. The broth was okay, the spicy part was a little too much (had to boil it to move the chili-looking sauce away) but this place gets big points for the freshness of the entree. The squid was also very good, had a nice spiciness but more of a dry heat, and it was a little crunchy along the edges, which was very nice. Not sure why others are complaining about the service... sometimes we can be a little demanding but the waiters did their best to help, even after the restaurant started to get a little busier into the evening (maybe the Spicy Town owner has been reading Yelp?). They even asked us if we wanted to take the broth home (sometimes people do that so they can reheat the broth for home-made hotpot), and provided us with boxes and a bag for the food. This is the second time I've been here, and I think we're going to have to come back again sometime.
(5)
Irene L.

Ehh I came here for some spicy food and it was mainly OILY and salty. The chicken with stir fried chili was the best thing we ordered but the worst thing was the ground pork with string beans. It had a weird sour taste to it that after one bite you just don't even want to take another bite. what a waste of a dinner.
(1)
Venkat M.

Good food. Lamb skewers is really tasty.
(4)
Firas A.

If you like spicy food, this place is good. If you like Chinese/Sechuan food, it's good too. If you like your Sechuan food very spicy, you'll love it.
(4)
Christina Y.

(To the tune of Funky Town) "Won't you take me to... Spicy Town!!! Won't you take me to... SPICY TOOOOWN" Okay, shut up.. like you've never thought about singing that when you passed that place.. So this place was our last hope when Food Talk Cafe was closed for vacation and Asian Pearl was packed like a can of sardines. Overall, I can't really say much about this place because I might've been in a bad mood that day.. and I can't really remember what we ate! What I do remember was spiciness galore, which is what I like! ..and that yummy pot of tea you get to have all to yourself. The restaurant's decor was super nice too! Can't beat a restaurant with nice decor! So until I decide to come back, this can be considered as a filler review and an excuse to sing "Spicy Town" to the tune of "Funky Town"
(3)
Jun W.

It was a cold night and this was the perfect spot to hit to warm up. The decor was pretty nice, a modern look using traditional Chinese design. When I opened the menu, the first thought that came to mind was "is there any dish that isn't covered in red?" I mean, 90% of the menu is spicy, hence the name I guess. We ordered quite a few dishes. beef skewers, with cumin and cilantro meat plate appetizer that has different cured pork and sausages fatty pork with preserved veggies kung pao chicken spicy lamb stew and a spicy stew with blood pork, tripe, and other goody bits overall, the food was tasty, not overly spicy for the most part. Although you do leave with major dehydration afterwards and the next morning bathroom visit is not something to look forward to.
(4)
Tracy C.

Those who know me, know how much I love spicy. I didn't actually eat in here, however got take out. This place isn't kidding when they say they can do spicy. I ordered the dan dan mien (spicy noodle), nu rou fan (beef noodle soup), their spicy fish dish, and a veggie dish. Not, only was my palate satisfied with spiciness, however I do like the fact that everything had FLAVOR and was not overly salty. Next time I'm in the area, I'd totally hit up this joint again.
(5)
Yb W.

***1/2 Very solid szechuan style chinese restaurant. Chef is clearly professionally trained. I knocked off half a star because the quality of food and service can be a little inconsistent depending on when you go. The portions are chinese-people friendly (we don't like to pay oodles of money for itsy-bitsy portions). Both the service and cleanliness of the place are well above average. They also serve hot pot, which is good, but the soup is not quite as flavorful as at little sheep (on the flip side, you also don't smell after leaving the restaurant).
(4)
Sue Z.

Everytime an Asian place opens in Fremont/Milpitas, all the Asians crowd there for the first few months. You see your neighbors, your old high school classmates, and everyone else in between. Before you come here, you should already know that Szechuan food goes hand in hand with the words "oily" and "spicy". Knowing that, I really liked the food. Some plates were too salty (pickled veggies & pork) but the boiled fish in pepper sauce & some of the half veggie/half meat dishes were great. Although I may be biased because I loooove spicy food..I like when my eyes water, my mouth gets dry, I drink 7 cups of water, and my lips tingle.
(4)
Robbie M.

My GF and I went for lunch at Spicy Town yesterday and was very disappointed with our experience. The restaurant itself is very nice but the service was horrible! Our main dish came out first in decent time. Followed by our appetizer 10 mins later (hmm... thought that should have came out first). But 40 mins later, after asking a waiter, waitress, and hostess about our other food (fried rice and soup!), we finally got our rice and soup. By that time though our main dish was cold and had to be reheated. For the price of the food, they should value good service. There was even other tables accross from us having the same issues. I'll never go back there again...
(1)
J S.

Wow, the past reviews were very consistent with my experience. SERVICE: Bad! FOOD: Good! It took about 30 minutes for our food to come and it wasn't busy. I'm not sure why it was so slow. The food is very tasty, though. We ordered the spicy fish with bean sprouts. Excellent! The breaded eggplant was also very, very good. I love the pickled veggies and tea that they serve everyone. Why can't they just do something about the service??? Perhaps they don't read Yelp. Go there on a day when you have nothing to do. Don't arrive hungry. Oh, and the bathrooms were not clean at all. That always bothers me.
(3)
Kim W.

For our regular Thursday date night, the hubby and I decided to try this spot based on the yelp reviews. What a treat. Service was great. Food was great. Pretty environment. We had the spicy beef skewer appetizer. Really thin slices, quick cooked. Lots of cumin and heat. Lots of cilantro sprinkled on top. Had the dungeness crab from the live tank. Served with garlic and ginger sauce. Not much heat considering how much ginger was in the sauce. Crab was cooked perfectly. They even provided a bowl of hot lemon water to wash your hands. Had some shrimp with salty egg. First time I've actually enjoyed eating the shrimp with their shells. Pot stickers were meaty and not too doughy and perfectly cooked. We had the mango pudding for dessert. They served with a thin layer of cream on top. Nice finish to our wonderful meal. They have only been opened for two months. Not a lot of people there when we arrived around 6:30. Happily, quite a few more people were there when we left. This place has a nice mixture of authentic foods with a handful of Americanized items. We'll definitely be back and get a little adventurous.
(5)
San P.

Their signature chicken dishes are some of the best I have ever had. If you want spicy chinese. this is it baby! crowded but decent ambience. Not a place for vegetarians.
(4)
Lydia W.

I've come here numerous times and have tried the hot pot as well as ordering dishes family-style. It's all delicious! The tea they give you is different; I think it has herbs to help calm your body for the spicy shock it is about to receive. I always start with the Dan Dan Noodles (relatively cheap and always tasty. It's super spicy though) In the winter time it's fun to get a mala hot pot and add whatever you want in it! Also the decor is very nice for an authentic Chinese restaurant. Do try this place if you're feeling like an adventure in your mouth!
(5)
Vivian W.

Yowza. I think my stomach is still burning. Spicy Town is definitely no joke. Phew. I couldn't even take their "mild" spicy broth, I was sweating like a madman!! Spicy Town is more of an upscale Chinese restaurant serving authentic Sichuan food. They have traditional plates as well as Mala hot pot. For lunch you can order mala hot pot for one. Or if you come in a large group for hot pot, you can order ingredients a la carte. Upon entering, we noticed the restaurant was packed (12:45 pm on a weekday) and the food looked great. The decor was really classy too which is a huge plus. My coworker posse ordered a whole bunch of food to share. Check out the pictures I took of the dishes...it gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect when you come here. Spicy beef noodle soup - The broth is really spicy and flavorful. (They use a lot of chili oil ) The noodles are delicious, thin, and perfectly cooked. The beef was tender and juicy. I love spicy beef noodle soup and crave it often...so it's nice to know it's just down the street! Shredded pork and pickled vegetable noodle soup- Great flavor in the broth, they use authentic Chinese herbs too! These noodles were great! Spicy Wontons and Vegetables appetizer- average Beef Mala hotpot- Comes with pieces of beef, meatballs, napa cabbage, tripe, tofu, and more. This was ordered mild spicy, but woah it was super spicy! Careful ;) Fish hot pot- Comes with fish, fishballs, napa cabbage, spinach, enoki mushrooms, tofu, and more. *For the hot pots, make sure to ask for a soup spoon and bowl. For some reason, they don't give them to you unless you ask. The noodle soups were great and the portions for the hot pot were fantastic. I like the fact that you can get individual hot pots or one to share. There are also a lot of choices for the hot pot broth: clear, spicy, half/half, and more. The ingredients they use for both the dishes and hot pot are very authentic, which I love. Flavors were great too. Prices are on the more expensive side...but I would still recommend it! Definitely try this place out! (check out the pics) ----------------- Update (11/16...about a week after previous review) I'm sad to say I'm removing a star for this place. The food is good still, but the service was absolutely horrible. I really hope they can get their act together. Last week, the service was a little slow, but it wasn't anything unforgivable...especially considering they had just opened. However, we had some bad experiences today. - MISCOMMUNICATION After we ordered, ten minutes later another employee (not our waitress) came by to tell us one of the dishes we ordered wasn't available. After we reordered, our waitress came by and told us the same thing. We told her we re-placed the order, but she seemed confused and tried to track down who had our ticket. - LATE APPETIZER All three of us ordered noodle soups and we ordered spring rolls for an appetizer. The spring rolls arrived after our meals...and they were really subpar. (There are 2 pc and 4 pc orders...we ordered the 4 pc, and they brought the 2 pc) - SPOON FIASCO The noodle soups arrived and the waitress quickly disappeared (the rest of the staff did as well)...there were no spoons for the soup. We only had chopsticks. It took us FOREVER to track down a random waitress to get spoons...when she came back, she came back with these super long American style spoons. Hello? Where are the Chinese soup spoons? Then I look at the spoons, they are all covered with grease....SO gross :( WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET A FRICKEN CLEAN SOUP SPOON HERE?!?! We ask another lady for some spoons and she never came back! At that point, all the soup had been sucked up by our noodles that we just gave up on that. -SLOW SERVICE Looking around...everyone was pissed. People's orders were coming out slow and some didn't even have their order taken yet. There was a ton of people standing by the door waiting to be seated. It was like this for over an hour while we were there. -GETTING PAID TO EAT? So we are finishing our meal and the host gives us our check. I'm like hmph, she is quick to give us that...but so slow with everything else. We open it up, and instead of a bill, there is someone's change! hahaha. We were cracking up...we told the lady and she looked very confused. So many things happened, I can't even begin to list all of them...but I'm sad to say the experience was not good this time. The food is still good....but service was horrible and they have something against providing spoons. weird.
(3)
Stanton C.

Two words: HORRIBLE SERVICE. It was pretty ridiculous at this place... and I've had pretty bad service before (especially in places like China) - this place rivaled that. The thing about China, though, is even if the service stinks, the food is usually good. I have a feeling they treat us ABCs differently 'cause we look Chinese but can't speak Mandarin... I dunno, though... overall, this place didn't impress me in the very least... When we arrived, we were seated after ten minutes and not given menus or even water. I ended up grabbing a set of menus for us and water came out another five minutes later. Our waitress took our order in a sort of "I don't care what I'm doing and you're just another table I have to serve" manner... We ordered 3 dishes: Crispy Tofu with Vegetables - $8.95 - The tofu was not really crispy... there were only two types of vegetables (bell peppers and these seaweed type things)... and it was drowned in this brown sauce. bleh. Spicy Lamb Hot Pot - $14.95 - It was okay... my brother in law felt like the lamb was overcooked... I'd definitely have to say there wasn't $15 worth of food in that pot... =/ Combo Fried Rice - $8.95 - Probably the only decent dish we had that night... but it was sort of an Americanized version of fried rice with soy sauce giving the brunt of the flavor... =/ Each dish was just placed on our table without much explanation and they came at odd intervals... the tofu dish came first after about 15 minutes... then another 10 minutes before the hot pot came out.... and another 5 minutes for the rice to come out. And they didn't even bring bowls for the rice... we had to ask - TWICE... I think the worst part was our "waitress" came back to bus our table when we finished but it was after we had paid and were ready to leave.... but she wheeled up her busing cart right in front of my sister's seat so she couldn't get up and leave... come on - common sense people!!! Geezus... no thanks to this place ever again...
(1)
Mavis G.

It all depends who you are going with and what you are ordering. If you order the right (spicy) dishes and coming with a bunch of people who enjoy spicy food - it would be a blast! One great restaurant!! If you are going with people who can't eat spicy food, please just go somewhere else. My experience: The food was well prepared and really tasty and the meat - beef, lamb, chicken - all very tender! Can't remember how the service was as we were busy having a good time.
(4)
Eling H.

The slow burn of spiciness creeps to the edges of my mouth.. I am fully satisfied with my lunch! This restaurant was slow when we got there, granted it was 1130, but it started to gain momentum. My family decided to try the restaurant out as they had heard the chinese hot pot was good. Luckily my mom had ordered the hot pot and when it came, it was just a heaping bowl of deliciousness! Spiciness that tingles your mouth to the point of numbness, and the addiction factor is to hard to resist! I would totally recommend the spicy fish hot pot to everyone! I shall be back to conquer more!
(4)
Joseph G.

I enjoyed the food here. Very authentic. Not overly spicy food as well. My friend and I ordered the hot pot with 2 broths. spicy and mild. we ordered the thinly sliced rib-eye,squid,beef,chicken,shrimp,udon noodles,shitake mushroom,pork meat ballsand we ordered grilled spicy squid as well. right wen you come in all you can see is smoke/and the hot aroma coming from the hot pots. everything was super fresh and very tasty as well. they gave a little condiment which was sesame oil garlic and green onion. very nice to dip the beef into after cooking into the broth. over all very good,spicy and tasty! try this place out . Something different from your everyday boring chinese food.
(3)
J. C.

I've been here three times and I've enjoyed my experience every time. If you like Sichuan spices, this is definitely the place for you. This place is not for the everyday American taste buds, unless you brave a unique blend of spices, oil, and peppers that is very popular in China but only rarely makes its way out to the States in a full blown, modern Chinese restaurant. I'd recommend the "ma la ji" -- spicy chicken appetizer. Also, the rack lamb is good. Anything where it is boiled (shui zhu) is also a winner -- but watch out for the spice and oil! The kou-rou (it's like a fatty pork) is also prepared with a unique blend of spices that hits you a bit later... and then I was like.. "wow! that's pretty cool and slightly different in a good way!" Order white rice for a neutral pallet and plenty of ice water to keep those taste buds from overworking! *And after a crazy spice-experience at Spicy Town, walk over to Yo-Swirl for some frozen yogurt to reset those taste buds!
(4)
Mayank R.

OK, I was told I would love this place by my colleague and friend. I am Indian and love chinese spicy food. However, my review is biased on the fact that I don't eat everything that moves, and specially not every part of everything that moves :-) So, we ordered our favourite Mapo Tofu and Diced chicken in hot sauce or some like that. Mapu tofu in almost every other place is veggie and they had pork in it. And Diced chicken was like so so.. and nothing was spicy as I thought. It might be a great place for people who eat any kinda meat, but if you are veggie or eat only like chicken.. I wud say there ain't much there nor tasty.
(2)
Phillip M.

If you like spicy Chinese, don't miss this place. Taste is authentic. Lunch special includes "pick 3 items" so you can always get diverse tastes.
(4)
jennifer w.

The first time we came here was with a group of Chinese people. We got hot pot (half spicy, half not) and a wide assortment of meats and vegetables to cook in it. It was kind of fun and tasted really good, but after a while my head started tingling and kind of tightening up and I couldn't feel my mouth anymore. That's when I pretty much stopped eating. What was the point, anyway, as I couldn't taste it by then. We've been back a couple of times since and ordered off the regular menu, which is not as much fun. Meats are weird and kind of fatty, but I guess that's authentic. One thing that this place does have going for it is the waiters all carry extra napkins around and hand them out just in time when your nose starts running.
(3)
dining c.

This is The Dining Critic. I review dining experiences based upon 5 criterias: Rating System: 1 (bad), to 3 (average) to 5 (excellent). A. Customer Service: 2. They received this score because they did not offer much in friendliness, warmth, or respect towards the customers. They did their job with practicality and nothing more. B. Pricing: 3. The pricing is fair and competitive for the food quality and service quality they offer. C. Food Qualtiy: 2. The food quality is okay. D. Atmosphere: 3. The look to the place was nice, new but feels cold. E. Experience: 1. We walked into the restaurant for their hot pot all you can eat, stood at the front waiting for service and notices that the place is spacious with all 6 sets of customers sitting to the right side of the restaurants where the vinyl covered booths are. The rest of the restaurant was chairs and tables. The restaurant felt cold and we got the notion that is why everyone wanted to sit in the booths where it was warmer. A female waitress approached us and we asked a question that we normally ask at all asian restaurants, "Do you use MSG in your food?" She replied, "We have one soup that doesn't have it." We were relieved to hear that and proceeded to be seated. The waitress seated us alone in the middle of the restaurant away from all the rest of the customers that are cozy in their warm booths. We asked to be seated in one of the 4 empty booths instead. She told us that the table top cookers in those booths did not work. We incredibly asked, "For all of them?!?" She answered, "Yes for all of them." She proceeded to point out on the menu that the spicy soup base might possibly have MSG and she pointed out the the non spicy chicken soup base that they make in the restaurant does not have MSG. She left to attend other things while we decided what we wanted to order. When a tall big waiter came to delivery us our place settings and tea, we requested to be moved to the next available booth as soon as the first set of customers leave. He informed us that we could just go to one of the empty booths now. We were surprised! The waitress either did not know or lied to us! But the idea that the waitress did not know that 4 other booths table top cookers did work was not reasonable or realistic. We moved over to the booths and proceeded to eat and experience the dining at this establishment. The scores in the various categories are above. But what did capture our attention the most are these pointers: a. the place was cold by appearance. b. the staff was cold by character. Not friendly or warm at all. c. one waitress lied to us twice! 1) she said they did not have MSG in one of their non spicy chicken soup base. It actually does!!! We felt the after effects afterwards. Dehydration, acne breakout, chap lips, mental confusion, and tiredness. 2) she said the other booths did not work when it did work. Overall experience? We would rate it a zero but yelp won't allow it. Therefore we give it a 1 star relunctantly. We understand the some Chinese restaurants standards have not yet matured to the other qualities such as friendly warm HONEST staff and no chemicals (MSG) in their food ingredients as other restaurants have but we hope they will one day wake up to the reality that restaurant business is a service industry which means that "restaurants service to the customers and not the customers service to the restaurants." We walked out disappointed in this dining experience and hope by sharing the reality with all of you that you will make an informed decision for yourself. The Dining Critic is a certified Health Educator who strives to enjoy life to its fullest by the criteria of optimal overall health. By sharing real life experiences in dining with you, the goal is to give you a choice to have a more healthier and fun experience with this informative view for you to either accept or reject. The Dangers of MSG (not my website) natural-health-restored.â€¦
(1)
Connie K.

The food here (although very oily, but that's to be expected) is quite flavorful and tasty. However, I must say though, the service was absolutely rancid. I'm honestly not the type to be necessarily overly picky about service, nor do I demand above-average level of service just for the sake of it. I know what to expect and what not to expect for Asian restaurants. As long as the necessary steps are done in a reasonably timely manner (taking our order, providing the bill, etc), then I am happy. No need to chit chat with me, smile, check in the quality of our food, bla bla. That's fine and doesn't really matter as much to me. But the service was essentially non-existent and SO sub-par to the point that by the end of the dinner, I did not have any desire whatsoever to leave a tip, and I actually felt animosity toward our waitress. Yeah, it was pretty bad. First of all, we were treated almost as though we weren't even there. I arrive to the restaurant and the lady seats me while I wait for my other friends. My other friend arrives, I haven't seen her in a long time, so we ended up chatting and catching up with each other. We realized after some time that it had been at least 20-30 minute and no waiter had yet even stopped by our table, although we were ready to order for a while. I get up to flag somebody down. Ok big deal, whatever. But throughout the entire meal, the waitress COMPLETELY ignored us. There were multiple times when someone at our table needed something, and I had to get up to flag her down because not ONCE did they bother to check on us (by the way, the restaurant was practically empty so it's not like they were "too busy"). Additionally though, and this was the part that brought me over some being annoyed to being straight pissed-- our waitress was also un-apologetically rude. My table was among the last patrons left. The waitress thrust the bill upon us as though she didn't want us there anymore, with an expression on her face that literally read loud and clear "Get the f*ck out of here please". Honestly, I did NOT want to even give her tip. I gave a $10 bill anyways as a tip, with the help of some cajoling from my friends, and handed it over to her. But then, she has the audacity to actually return to our table looking very irritated, asking us "where is the tip???" By that point, I was extremely annoyed and shocked that she could have the nerve to come back and ask us about tip in the incredibly b*tchy manner that she did after giving us such horrible, non-existent service. It turns out that the $10 bill had simply fallen out onto the floor, which I found and gave to her. She scoffs and walks away. Honestly, Spicy Town, hire some people with BASIC MINIMAL customer service and social skills please.
(1)
lily c.

My family LOVES this place. It helps that my parents come from Sichuan and we love spicy food. For us, food isn't spicy enough until your mouth is numb. Expect most dishes here to be swimming in chili oil and studded with peppercorns. Probably not something I would eat everyday, but very authentic if you're up for trying something out of the ordinary. I actually thought service and presentation were one of the strong points of this place. I like that the menu has pictures of nearly every dish and Chinese and English descriptions. I like the dark furniture and nifty flat-top stove at the table. Tea was really nice too.
(5)
Howard L.

Food is ok, but the waitress was kind of rude... Seems like I owe her a million dollar???
(2)
Candy C.

Their name says it all. And they're not kidding either. My whole mouth was literally paralyzed by the spicy hotness of our meal. We ordered a mini hot pot and some eggplant dish, both of which were HELLA and I mean HELLA freaken' hot! My entire mouth was numb and the sensation lingered all the way home. Definitely the place for the serious food lover of spicy hot things. The tea was good, served in a clear pot where you can see the flower petals and things floating and brewing. The wait service was kind and they seated us way in the back where we could fit our stroller just perfectly (and away from the lunch crowd).
(3)
Chris E.

Got really exited about their menu and some of the hype from a friend who wanted to try this out for the first time. I'm not hung up on their service (this *is* a Chinese restaurant after all), but the food quality and taste was only "okay" ... After trying more dishes, I may adjust my rating, but only 3 stars for now.
(3)
Ema H.

Two reasons why I did not enjoy the food: 1. EXTREMELY greasy. The meat literally was swimming in oil. 2. It's an un-enjoyable spicy, to the point where all the dishes taste the same...you end up tasting oil and chillies. I'll have to say though, that I disagree with people who said the service was bad, but perhaps we got great service because it wasn't too crowded on a Friday night..the guy who served us was extremely friendly and nice. The Mu shu beef appitizer was probably the best dish..I'd give it a 3/5, although it was still extremely greasy, but the flavor was really good. The twice cooked fish (flounder) was pretty good too, also a 3/5. it was really tender and wasn't as overwhelmingly spicy as the other dishes. If you end up trying this place out despite the slightly negative reviews, be prepared to see a lot of out-of-the-ordinary stuff on the menu..'fresh frogs' etc.
(2)
Chi C.

The food at this place is ok, but the service absolutely SUCKS! We waited for almost an hour today, and we had to remind the waiter there about our order before it finally arrived. We had to ask twice about getting a glass of water. The lone guy waiter there didn't even bother to stop when we tried to get his attention. In summary, if you care anything about the service at a restaurant, don't go there!
(1)
Angela X.

This is the type of Chinese place where you have to be proactive as heck to get anything resembling service. If you don't have a problem chasing down servers to get a glass of water (in a restaurant that specializes in spicy food, no less, where you think water would be a given), then you have a shot at enjoying yourself here. I won't ding too many stars for this, because, frankly, this is a restaurant where only Chinese people go. The food isn't bad, just unmemorable. I will give props to their shui zhu yu (water-cooked fish, $14), which we actually go out of our way to order and drive all the way to Pacific Commons to pick up. However, you can sample a better version of that dish several restaurants down at neighboring Shao Mountain. In fact, that's probably a better restaurant overall.
(3)
Rachel R.

I checked out all the photos in front of the restaurant to decide what I would order. The photos are dishes served from the dinner menu. Not everything they serve at dinner is available for lunch but I managed to find two things I wanted to try on the lunch menu. My mistake was thinking since it had the same name on the lunch menu as the dinner photos it would be the same thing just a smaller portion served with rice and soup. I was wrong. The only thing I liked was the "kim chi" like smaller dishes served with the lunch.
(2)
JJ G.

This place is AWESOME FOOD is very authentic. Setting reminds me of those Sichuan restaurants back in China SERVICE is very bad, but that makes it even more chinese! So it's AWESOME! It's too spicy for me, so I always ask for extra cup of tea so I can rinse everything but somehow I still get pain in the *ss (literally). Hey, I am still giving it a FIVE because it's just that AWESOME!
(5)
sherry g.

Authentic taste, modern plating and trendy deco. But as time goes by, the restaurant is getting a little dirty comparing to when it's just opened. And the service is as lousy as any other Chinese restaurants. But it's still my favorite Sichuan restaurant in the bay area.
(4)
Stephanie L.

I decided to give this place a try because of the name.. "spicy town" sounds good cuz I am use to eating spicy korean food.. I didn't really know what kind of cuisine this was so i decided to ask the hostess.. she wasn't really helpful and was only able to give me a vague area in where the food comes from.. she said it's somewhere in CHINA.. "oh, great!!" So me and my friend had the hardest time ordering food.. I mean i'm chinese so i've had all kinds of chinese food, but the pictures didn't do any justice.. it didn't even look good on the pictures.. We almost bolted out before ordering, but we stuck it through and ordered 3 dishes.. we ordered a perserved veggies with pork bellies, taro and chicken and something that was totally forgetable.. anyhow the lady didn't bring us rice, so I had asked the bus boy and he took forever bringing us the rice.. it was so hard to eat the spicy food without rice.. and WATER.. they didn't bring me water either... The experience was horrible.... I mean I see people in there eating all the time.., but maybe we ordered the wrong thing.. either way.. the service was poor and the food was not memorable!! needless to say.. we had a big to go box..
(2)
Isabelle O.

Cockroach in the soup, not even a free lunch...no comment...
(1)
Betty W.

it's a pretty average sichuan restaurant--the dishes are pretty spicy but too oily most of the time. we ordered frog legs and they weren't very tender, so i was not impressed. however, it's got an authentic "chinese" vibe filled with lots of asians and mediocre service. yay!
(3)
hsiao c.

The restaurant's Chinese name is "Numbing Spicy Temptations". How appropriate! Came here on a cold Friday night. The restaurant is quite busy, despite being located near car dealer ships in a fairly isolated part of Fremont...a good sign! The restaurant looks very new and modern, which adds to its appeal. We ordered water boiled fish, stir fry pork with tree mushroom and celery with baihe. The celery are julienned then stir fried with baihe flowers. This is the only non-spicy dish of the night. The dish is simple and the subtle sweetness of the baihe flower shines through. The celery ribs is cleaned well with no fiber, cooked through but still crunchy. My only complaint is the dish is a little too oily. Water boiled fish must be the most underrated naming of a dish. Fillets of fish is stewed in a oil/dried red pepper mixture. The fish is still firm, but flakes beautifully. This restaurant takes its name seriously, because a large amount of szechuan peppercorn is used to give a numbing feeling, in addition to the spiciness so common in other restaurant. The pork with tree mushroom is similar in flavoring. Here, pork is julienned and then stir fried with tree mushroom. Again, lots of dried red pepper and szechuan peppercorn is used to give the dish the trademark szechuan numbing spiciness flavor. As if to compensate, the chef seasoned this dish very aggressively as well, and when eaten the next day, the dish is very salty. Overall, I enjoy the food here, but all three dishes were a little too oily for my taste. Also, I love spicy food, but would probably order the dishes milder the next time so I can appreciate other aspects of the dishes more.
(4)
Yvonne L.

Service is really slow. It would be more understandable if it's crowded but there were barely anyone in the place. The food isn't spicy enough. I was expecting a lot more fire based on the pictures. Cost is reasonable. Only positive thing is their complimentary herbal tea. It is really really tasty. Overall, I probably won't return back here.
(2)
Bubba G.

I wish I could give spicy town a better rating, but the service leaves much to be desired. If it were not for the food, I would have given Spicy town 1 star. Yes it was that bad. Wait staff do not need to be clairvoyant to know that you need water and food should be served within 15 minutes of placing your order. Yeah, you could say that I was disappointed. The food was spicy and oksy. However the dishes use alot of oil, and at the bottom of a couple of our dishes, were puddles of cooking oil. Ugh! Unappetizing. These dishes make fried chicken at KFC look healthy. Many of these dishes you would not find at your traditional chinese restaurant, so there is some excitement when ordering food here. I will have to come back again to give them another chance.
(2)
Lucy L.

There arent many sichuan places in general and most are not even similar to what real sichuan food is all about. This place I dont find it that great. I prefer lil sichuan in newark (food is cheaper and portion is bigger.) This place is alright but the price is a bit overpriced for the quality, portion of the food and the service is only alright. The attitude of the people in this restaurant is still like those cheap Chinese restaurants. Overall, this place is just okay.
(3)
Kevin L.

Won't you take me to... Spicy Town. My beef noodle soup looked and tasted like it was simmered in Satan's blood. I.e: amazing.
(4)
Alan A.

I did not realize that I could tolerate and enjoy spicy foods until my fiance took me to this place. My favoite dishes are the fish fillets in hot oil, sweet and sour spare ribs, and the diced chicken with string beans. What I don't like about this place is that they gouge you by charging you for every bowl of rice. Other restaurants give you a large container of rice rather than nickel and diming you for everything. As other fellow Yelpers have said, their service is bad. It sucks when you have to keep on asking for refill on water (spicy food), napkins, and etc. I have been to this restaurant many times. I've found that the taste of the food is very inconsistant. Sometimes the dishes are good, and other times it is not so good. The last couple of times that I have been there, the food was not that great. Maybe there has been a change in the kitchen personnel. I cannot give this place a thumbs up because the food quality is inconsistant. UPDATE: I've changed my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars. I've been to this restaurant several times in the last few months, and the taste of the food is good again. It has also been consistent. LATEST UPDATE (11/24/11): This place really irks me! I went there for lunch today with four other people. The food was good as usual, but the service was sub-standard. The waiters and one waitress hardly came by. We had to flag them down to refill our tea, water, and to ask for extra napkins. Yet, after giving them my credit card to pay for the bill, I find that they automatically wrote in a 15% percent tip for themselves. Their service was so bad today that they did not even deserve a15% tip!!! I knocked their rating down from a four star rating down to two stars for having the gaul to write in their own tip.
(2)
Jeff L.

This place is slow in serving food so I had to take away one star. On the other hand, the food is awesome. The water boiled beef is awesome. I don't know what it's called in English so I directly translated the phrase from Chinese.
(4)
Sean O.

Excellent Chinese! Now I am by no means an expert on the cuisine, afterall, I think PF Changs is the bomb, but this place blew Changs out of the water! I had the Kung Pao Chicken, (imagine that,) and it was great. My friend and I shared some won-tons, and while I drew her attention away from her plate by screaming "Look! It's David Hasselhoff!" and pointing behind her, I grabbed some of her eggplant dish. All of it was remarkable. Very clean restaurant, nice decor and very friendly staff. I am a huge customer service guru. If the wait staff is friendly and smiling, they could serve me wounded yak on a plate with a medley of rabbit droppings and cat puke and I'd still eat it. Ok, maybe that was an exaggeration. But you get the point. Great spot! I'll definitely go back!
(4)
Iris X.

How can people say this is the "best Sichuan restaurant" in the area?! Most likely, these people have never been to the Sichuan area, to Chengdu, to know the difference, or to even understand the extent of saying a statement so completely stupid. This is incredibly subpar. In fact, it's a total wreck. I've never had a worse meal, because not only was it oily beyond what the Sichuan ren could even tolerate, it lacked any sense of spice, delicacy, piquancy, heat, and that familiar tingle from Sichuan peppercorns. You're eating oily, greasy, flavorless, UNSPICY crap. Don't go here. P.S. - The service is rude, even to Chinese people. Again, why do people go here?
(1)
Randi S.

My mom loves mala hot pot so I decided to take her here, even though I was a little wary based on some of the reviews. Glad to say my worries for naught! I have to admit, we only ordered the basic mala hot pot but that was our sole purpose for going. It was a little salty but that's to be expected for this type of cuisine. We were happy to see the amazing amount of peppercorns used in the broth, unlike some places I've been to that rely on oil and only oil to add flavor. For the two of us, the total came to a little over $40, which may sound pricey but that includes the leftovers and broth that are enough for a second meal. We had no problem with any of the wait staff, who were friendly and polite. If you're not afraid of spice and you love mala hot pot, then I highly recommend Spicy Town for you.
(5)
Bigi L.

Pleasantly surprised for a hotpot place. I came here without much expectations (because Little Fat Sheep in Union City was too crowdy). The food was good. We had the hotpot and not the cooked dishes so I guess everything is based upon the soup base and the sauce you get. They were both great. I'll come back again some time, although I don't live near there. Price was reasonable, not expensive for a hotpot.
(4)
Samuel M.

The place really should get 3 stars to 3.5 stars, but I won't hold the service against them. We were seated relatively quickly and the all you can eat hot pot for $20 weekdays and $24 weekends was definately worth it. The mild soup was decently flavored broth and the spicy side lived up to its name. Service after we were seated was mediocore at best, and I didn't appreciate the waiter standing over us when our "90 minutes" was up. There were plenty of open tables, and we were definately finishing up. The last 5 minutes to get divide up the check shouldn't have been a big deal...
(4)
Claire C.

Spicy town is definitely a welcome addition to uber boring Fremont and a good place for spicy-food addicts like my family. My mom is a fan of the kung pao chicken, and my sister and I enjoy sharing this one beef dish - if i remember correctly it had big pieces of gelatinous (in a good way) beef in a dark spicy sauce. It's a good deal for lunch, especially since you end up eating all the rice and soup, and bringing half of your spicy saucy main dish home for lata. For sure the food's on the greasy side, and I have doubts on how fresh everything is, but overall I am a happy customer.
(3)
H C.

Nicely decorated with comfortable seating. Food is average and sometimes too salty. It lost an extra star from me because I once saw a waitress setting up a table, accidentally dropping a clean cup on the floor but putting it back onto the table for the next customer. :(
(2)
Sarita A.

Really good, the food was very delicious and huge portions. I bought a groupon deal and it was totally worth it. I can't wait to go there again....
(5)
David T.

Food is pretty good. Service is very poor next to none.
(3)
Candy T.

-very nice decors; big and clean -the prices are not the cheapest but not expensive either -authentic sichuang food (strong flavored, oliy, spicy)
(4)
Jennifer D.

I will never get conned into going here again. I thoroughly enjoy spicy food, but spicy town was not for me. I came here with my coworkers and we ordered family style, so we got a large variety of dishes. The service was slow and questionable. The food was so greasy that I literally got sick afterwards. Never again.
(1)
Retired B.

I tried the hot pot with lamb/cumin flavored broth, it had way too much MSG... yet the flavor of the soup was weird. It came out to be $55ish for two people. My stomach wasnt too happy after the meal. =(
(2)
Claire Y.

The food was ok.. i have to say thou..the soup base was GREAT!! The place is abit pricey for what you get. It is always cheaper to eat hotpot at home but still.. : ) Spicy Town is a good place to go to on a cold rainy day!
(3)
Joey N.

You know I would love to give this place more however honestly only 3 dishes there I like.. One of them I like more than anything else in the world. Otherwise I have ordered stuff where everybody was like what was that.. eww.. So i love the kung pow chicken.. do i love it. It's awesome I mean one of the best I've ever had. There was this blackbean fish dish that was pretty good. And there was this one dish pork/pickled cabbage and pepers dish.. was great. There are some other ones that were so off that I won't even go there. And ever since Asian Pearl opened getting less busy. so afraid my staple foods will starn being ok
(3)
Joanne H.

spicy......mmmmMMMmm we had.. beef skewer with spicy cumin flavor mushu beef an appetizer platter i dont remember what its called. sorry no help there. pot of Tender fresh fish fillet boiled in some hot special chilli sauce thing ...had a shrimp one too. of these pots have these tiny herbs in there that when u chew on them, ur mouth gets numb. no joke, it's weird. but overall.... it was good. the spiciness wont hit u in the face. it will creep up slowly.
(5)
J S.

Like Christina, i too have to sing the song, "Won't you take me to Spicy TOOOOWN" every time i come here. I love the spicy pork noodles, but last time i went there, i couldn't find it on the menu :( When i'm in the mood for spicy, this is the place to go. Unfortunately their spiciness hasn't been very consistent from visit-to-visit, so it's a good idea to specify how spicy you want it. I usually ask for a big glass of ice water to extinguish the 4-alarm fire in my mouth!
(3)
Judy L.

We had dinner at Spicy Town today. The deco's nice. We ordered four dishes: Cold thin-sliced pork ear for appetizer, Enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef in a hot & sour soup, family style tofu, and dan dan mien. Cold thin-sliced pork ear is great. But, the other 2 dishes are too oily for us. I like dan dan mien sauce.
(3)
Peggy W.

Pleasantly surprised. I wanted Spices 3 today from Oakland but I ended going to Fremont soooooo.....came here for lunch with the bf instead, cuz was near his work. Brand new, nice decor, better than I had expected...bigger too. Very big space, and nice cozy booths. This place is for people who like it hot and spicy. At each table, just in case you don't think the dish is hot *enough* there is extra chili sauce and sacha sauce (but that's prob for the hot pots). They have a big menu of nice lunch selections who are around $6-$7 and comes with rice, veggies, and soup which I think is a great deal. They give a lot of food. It also has noodle dishes as well if you're feeling up to the challenge.... We ordered from the lunch menu and the mini hot pots look interesting too so I will try that next time. We ordered: - dan dan mien (dan dan noodles) : this is a spicy noodle dish with ground pork tossed in a very spicy sauce. bf thought it was a bit dry but since it IS a dry noodle, I don't see what's wrong with that. It was mouth numbingly spicy, and I couldnt really taste any other flavor besides spicy....so 3 stars. I will opt for the beef noodle soup next time around. - guo qiao chou shou: name literally translates to "crossing the bridge" dumplings. these are house special dumplings served with a special spicy sauce. This is different from the hong you chou shou I'm used to getting because that is tossed with the sauce, but this dish is actually a dumpling SOUP....with the sauce served on the side. This is a neat idea bc maybe not everyone likes spicy, or when youre tired of the other spicy stuff you can take a break and eat this soup instead.....you can always dunk it in hot sauce, like me. lunch special shanghai style sweet and sour pork ribs. these were the bf's faves and I must say, were quite tasty. With the rice, veggies, and soup it was def a winner. We had enough food for a HUGE lunch and I also packed some of it to go. Service was okay, not too shabby. Very clean, modern, and the food solid. I will definitely want to try their hot pot next time though, because it looked as if everyone else was ordering it. Plenty of parking in the lots. We paid $21 for lunch....average. Will come back to eat here again if I was in the area. -
(4)
pinky W.

this is the first time i am here for hot pot and the service was really bad, the waiter have attitudes and you have to ask for the same thing at least 4 times before they decide to bring it to you. normally hot pot restaurants brings the pot with soup right after you order, but here we waited about 30 min before the pot came, and we were there for about 3 hours totally due to the slowness of the waiter/waitress. non-spicy soup base does not have any flavor to it.. i will not come back again
(1)
Sisi Z.

There are few things that really bother me at a Chinese restaurant. Lukewarm rice is one of them. Come on, it's a Sichuan restaurant, you have to give your customers plenty of hot fluffy rice to go with the spiciness. But no, lukewarm rice, tiny bowls, and every dish we ordered tasted the same. Go for the hot pot instead.
(2)
Jen R.

My husband's parents are the kind of people who plan their days around where and when they will eat. They also happen to be straight-up snobs when it comes to Chinese food. I love both of these things about them because it means they take us to some of the finest restaurants in the Bay Area, including this excellent Sichuan hot pot place. The good points: **The decor: It's all sleek and modern with a dark wood and red palatte, high ceilings, and a high-tech table with the burner built in. My father-in-law deemed the decor "too American," but as a whitey, that's fine by me. **The servers are super fast and efficient. Every time our pot of chrysanthemum tea started getting low, they'd whisk it away and replace it with a fresh one before I'd hardly noticed. **They bring you a little amuse bouche of pickled cabbages and veggies. Nice touch. **The menu is huge but it's easy to zip through and check off what you want on a sheet (much like in a sushi restaurant). We ordered lamb, beef, fish balls, shrimp, cabbage, spinach, several varieties of mushrooms and tofu. The dishes came out fast. **This is Sichuan hot pot, so the roiling pot is split in two -- one half with regular broth, one half with so-hellishly-spicy-you-burn-your-face-off broth. Both are flavorful and delish, and the meats and veggies were high quality. We stuffed ourselves silly and I could not stop eating even after I was way beyond the point of full capacity. It was that good. The bad points: **It's located all the way in Fremont, which is a bummer if you live up in the city. **The next day, you might be suffering from what I (tactfully) call Spicy Town Stomach
(4)
Pinkaa G.

We just back from this place. and the service is really bad. We had 11 people in our group, It take so long for them to serve all the dishs we ordered. and one of them are smell awful.. they end up take them back..
(1)
Alida L.

I'm a big fan of spicy food so when me and my friend decided to try this place out we were pretty disappointed. We order this spare rib appetizer, the pork was overly dry like it was made the day before and stuff in the fridge to serve the next day. The sauce tasted like those canned sardines you find at the asian market.. meh. We also got the mu shu beef? this was way too salty for my taste buds, and the string beans with minced pork was really bland. Yea I don't think we'll be coming back anytime soon. But over all the service was pretty decent for a chinese restaurant..
(2)
M M.

I love this place! I totally dig their Beef Noodle Soup! I sweat a lot when I eat spicy food so I only go there dinner time when it is not that busy.
(5)
B W.

Hands down the best Sichuan restaurant in the Bay Area. We've tried 'em all, and nothing comes close! Yes, the service is not always attentive, but the food is always amazing (and leaves a great burn).
(5)
Peter L.

Went back to this place again because I was craving for some spicy hot pot. Unlike the first time, this experience was absolutely abysmal. After about 20 minutes wait we were finally seated, at a rather dirty table I might add. It seemed like someone wiped the table once over and called it clean, I mean there were grease and residual food bits from the previous meal...disgusting. We sat there for another 10 minutes without anyone ever bother bring us tea or take our order. Finally I had to flag the hostess down and had her take our order...ridiculous. Then the wait starts again, 20 minutes later and still no appetizers in sight nor no pot on the table, was getting seriously pissed off. When a waiter finally brought us our appetizers I asked him if he could bring us the hot pot first so we can start boiling it. He looked at me with disdain and said "When the hot pot ready I will bring it out obviously". I couldn't believe my freaking ears. I'd give this place negative stars if I could. This restaurant has no service, the waiters insult the customers, I'm never coming back here again.
(1)
Karan A.

The food here is extremely spicy - and this, coming from someone who grew up on Indian food, should tell you something! Anyway, I can make my peace with spicy food if it's tasty, but all of the 4 dishes we ordered were really super greasy and disgusting. Let's be honest, nobody needs to dig an oil rig to make salt and pepper chicken. After we finished our meal, we decided to go to In n out to get a Milk Shakes - to balance out some of the spices. Again, that should give you a hint about how to order food here if you still decided to go. PS: I asked my neighbor how their food was while we were getting out of the restaurant and they didn't like it either.
(1)
Arthur Z.

It's just ok. I heard that their business fell down since they changed chef last year. Not so recommended.
(3)
Spicy G.

On the look out for real good fish fillets with Sichuan peppers I ordered it. It was way too much batter and too deep fried for my taste. The fried red chilies were ok but there was a terrible salty after taste to the dish.. Too much soy bean paste or something like that as per them. A miss next time. The Dan Dan noodles was all I hoped it would be. It's my new fav for which I would go back.. Ambience was nice.. Customer service was abrupt. Had to ask for water.. I will return to try my other staples to see how this place stands out as far as schezwan food goes..
(3)
Miffy L.

decent food for the price!!! all you can eat for aorund $20. service is okay but they are friendly indeeedd. personally think their meat is better than little hotpot, will come back!
(4)
John D.

FUN PLACE We really like hot food and have managed to come here 3 or 4 times over the recent years. It is always an enjoyable and HOT meal. This time my wife had the noodle soup and I had the triple lunch, including cabbage & Kung Pao Chicken. All was very good. A few years ago we brought home one of our meals and counted the peppers: 265! No kidding.
(4)
Andrea W.

I love spicy food, and my family comes here often when we want to eat Szechuan food. We always order: dan dan mian (spicy dry noodles with bits of pork), broiled fish filet and tofu in spicy sauce, spicy intestines, spicy beef with peppers, and fried shrimp with potato (although the quality and quantity of this has decreased over time so we don't get it as often). We always have leftovers from this place, so my family basically gets two meals out of this one. Great place for spicy food! Their lunch specials are good too; you get a bowl of soup, a bowl of rice, and the dish you order. It's quite tasty.
(4)
Priscilla P.

Best hot pot lunch special ever
(5)
Mary L.

this is for entree dish orders not the hot pot buffet (which i will try eventually). I ordered the chicken organs, pork kidneys, stir fry lamb with onions, boiled fish fillet and dan dan noodles. I found all dishes were a good spice level. Not too spicy or mild. I like all the dishes. All flavorful and a good quantity. Good value. The restaurant space was nice. I did not feel too crowded. The waiter was very informative and attentive. I would def return.
(4)
Tina R.

Love this local gem ! Always fresh and spicy, and u can always find a seat at lunch hours.
(5)
Taoran L.

This was my first time coming to Spicy Town at Pacific Commons. When I first came in, the place was very aromatic with the smell of spicy hot pot and Sichuan spices. The architecture and furnishing made it seem like a very authentic, village-like environment. As an appetizer, we ordered the Cilantro Spicy Beef é¦™èœç‰›è‚‰. It was pleasantly spicy and went well with the cilantro. As our main courses, we ordered the Spicy Boiled Fish æ°´ç…®é±¼ and Dry Cooked String Beans å¹²ç…¸å››å£è±†. The fish dish had a good amount of chili in it which gave it an immense boost in flavor. It also had a good amount of bean sprouts to counter the oil and spicy taste. The string bean dish was slightly too oily and was prepared with ground pork - something not traditionally common with this dish. Typically with Sichuan dishes, there is a lot of oil because much of it comes from the chili oil used, so the authenticity is there. However, they did use a little too much. I have to make a disclaimer that I got slight food poisoning which definitely killed my experience here. Service was good as they were prompt in trying to take our order and bring our dishes out. Tea was also filled at will. Ambience - A- Food - C Service - B
(3)
Irene S.

I am always on the lookout for good beef noodle soup, and I am so glad that I found this place. Not only does the spicy beef noodle soup have a very authentic szechuan flavor, so has everything else I ordered the few times I have come. I came here with my two young children during lunch and I thought the service was decent.
(4)
Jason W.

I have been coming here for years. I work in Sunol, and took a wrong turn trying to get to wingstop one day and my coworker and I decided to try here. I love spicy food and I love Sichuan food, so I had to give it a shot. I will admit, it can sometimes be slow, and some of the servers aren't as fluent in English as they could be... but I wouldn't say it caused me to have a negative experience. My absolute favorite dish is æŒä¹å±±è¾£åé¸¡ (Diced chicken stir fried with dry red chili pepper). I would suggest ordering it boneless, unless you like spitting tiny bones out with each bite (but that IS the more authentic way). It is very spicy - more dried red peppers than chicken. The Sichuan pepper corns in the dish give it an authentic flavor that most places aren't going to give you. If you want something that isn't spicy, try the beef in black bean sauce. It's excellent. I also would like to mention the Kung Pao Chicken. This isn't "Panda Express" or your local delivery place's Kung Pao chicken (which is more American than Chinese it seems). This is authentic (pretty much identical to a recipe you can find at the Chengdu Culinary Institute). No zucchini, or bell peppers, or other watery crap. Chicken, peanuts, onions, and a fairly spicy, tangy, mildly sweet sauce with more of those Sichuan peppercorns. People from my workplace order this weekly at a minimum. There is a lot more here, both spicy and not. Think of this more as a "Sichuan" restaurant, not "Chinese" as that is too generic. Don't bother ordering fried rice, or wonton soup, or General Tso's chicken or other Americanized crap here... they DO serve it, but that's not where their specialty lies. If you just want fried rice and egg rolls, save money and time and go to panda express or the grocery store.
(5)
Christine A.

Loved the bean jelly, great price, but be warned.. Spiccyy!! Also ordered the pork with spicy chilli. As a fellow chinese/ American, I can understand the lack of "authenticity" of the food, although in my opinion, still delicious! A bit pricey for the amount overall.
(4)
QinQing G.

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(1)
Christine S.

Since my co-workers like spicy food, we decided to go to Spicy Town one day for lunch. My favorite Szechuan restaurant is South Legend, so finding out that this was another Szechuan restaurant, I was super excited. Apparently, their dishes are really spicy here, but I wanted to be the judge of that. The four of us all picked a dish (about $7-$9 per dish) from the lunch specials. We got the Mongolian Beef, Sliced lamb stir fried in spicy cumin sauce, and two more dishes. I forgot the names of these two dishes, but it was a chicken dish and an intestines dish. They weren't spicy at all. There was maybe a hint of spicyness, but it definitely doesn't live up to it's name as Spicy Town. All the dishes were just okay.. nothing special that would make me go out of my way to eat there. They do have hot pot options, but if those hot pots are as mediocre as their dishes, I don't know if I'd want to try it.
(2)
Jurann M.

Truly excellent Sz Chuan cuisine, decent service, reasonable prices. Food is usually very fresh and served fast! Hands down this restaurant makes the best Gum Bao Ji Ding on the east side of the bay area! There are also a lot of great noodle dishes and traditional cuisine on their menu. Lunch specials make business bites even faster and more affordable too.
(4)
Erica C.

Not spicy enough!!! bleeeehhhh The food here is.........not what I thought. It's very authentic and the dishes pack a lot of spice. We started with the spicy bamboo appetizer: Very good since I freakin love bamboo. The pork spare ribs: The only reason I would come back. They are bite size portions with most having crunchy cartilage that I love. Some spicy dish with prawns and potato fries.....meh, it was annoying picking out the shell of prawns. Our last dish was non-spicy beef with veggies: too salty. The service lacked (it was a near empty restaurant) they clearly weren't attentive, but they were polite.
(2)
Yee H.

Worst customer service I have ever had in my career of eating. The soup base was "Spicy" but not the good spicy, it just burnt your mouth. I had to ask for water 3 times before receiving it. We only got half the items we order, and the items we got were the cheap ones. We payed $23 each after tax and tip. I do not recommend coming here for hot pot.
(1)
Kane D.

Not actual Szechuan. No Szechuan Peppercorns used, just chilies. Not that compelling.
(1)
Jenny H.

Decent place for Chinese food. I think their menu is not typical Chinese food menu.
(4)
Astra W.

most authentic szhchuan food I've ever have in bay area, I don't understand why it has such low rating.
(5)
Lucy D.

Pros; Interior and layout: The structure of the place is super nice and spacious. At first, I wasn't sure if i was in the right place. The furnishings of the place are lovely, it compliments the theme of the entire restaurant. There is also separate and more secrete sections for large groups. Really great for corporate gatherings and parties. Food: There a pretty good selection of soups, seafoods, poultry, and vegetarian items. Cons; Service: After reading several reviews about the service, I was a bit hesitant to go here. My experience with the service is that they were friendly but really inattentive! At one point, I had to leave my table to get their attention, even though me and my bf were the only patrons in the restaurant during the time. Price: The prices wasn't really worth it. I felt I could have gotten the same quality of food for a better price elsewhere in Fremont. Overall, out of all the other restaurants in the Pacific Commons shopping center, I think Spicy Town would probably be one the last places I would choose to dine at.
(2)
En J.

The first thing to do here is to order a coke and another coke (just in case) for the real mouth on fire kind of Sichuan style food experience. Great for the sinus though. Ordered family style, great portion size but super oily, by the time I was done with lunch I had more red pepper in my plate than maybe is used in my house for a month. Definitely the coke helped to wash down the spices and oil.
(3)
Lawrence L.

Spicy szechuan pork noodles were pretty good, and medium sized portions. Loved the spicy tender strips of pork, which definitely were the highlight of this bowl of noodles. The dish packed some heat, and definitely got the endorphins going. There are other spots in Fremont that I prefer over this place (with regards to spicy food); however, it was worth trying. One thing to note is that they offer individual small hot pots. Might be worth trying on a cold day... Decor is very airy, spacious, and modern. Place was super clean, and service was pretty good.
(3)
Alex L.

I was craving Asian Pearl tonight, but when I pulled up I noticed they had some wedding banquet so it was closed to the public. The next closest restaurant was Spicy Town. This is what I ordered: 1) Silver carp seasoned with spicy cumin sauce 2) Tender fish fillet and tofu boiled in hot and spicy sauce 3) Sliced pork steamed with Szechuan preserved vegetable 4) Green onion pancake. The sliced pork came out within the first 5 minutes of ordering. This made me suspicious but the food was warm. I'm still convinced it was made in advanced and reheated. The tender fish came out shortly after in a clay pot and was actually pretty decent after I skimmed the 5 tablespoons of oil off the top. The green onion pancake came out and it was glistening with oil only the pancakes were hella doughy so I asked the waiter if he could cook it a bit more. Last but not least the fish came out. Ok I had to take a picture of it so you'd believe me when I said how it was so covered in peppers that the fish wasn't even visible. This is going to burn....twice (yes I went there). After removing 2 BOWLS of peppers (see pic) was I able to find a fish buried in there. Again there was a huge oil slick which didn't belong to BP or Exxon this time. I had to flag down the waitress to ask for extra napkins that I saw stacked up nearby. Apparently those are the "good" napkins and we were only allowed 1 so she brought me 4 of the cheap ones that you find in dispensers. Alright is that how it is? So I head to the bathroom to wash my hands and to walk off a bit of the artery-clogging crude in my system. I find the men's room and the door has a handle on it (see pic) which would signal you to pull it to open. Nope. You push to open. WTH? Just another little thing that annoyed me about this place. I ask for some boxes to take the leftovers home and now I have 2 people tag teaming. One made sure she handed me the check before the other girl starts boxing the stuff and actually stood there waiting for me to present my card. I slapped my AmEx down and she immediately said "we don't take Am Ex". Huh? Your freakin' bill came in a billfold that said "We want you to pay by Am Ex, Bitch". (see pic again) Ok, maybe it didn't use the word "bitch", but everything else is paraphrased. Anyways, she rambles on and on about how they don't take Am Ex bc they charge too much and how no other Chinese restaurant takes it and how DMV also don't take it, blah blah blah. Ok already! If you don't take it, don't hand customers the check in the pouch that says you do! She told me that they USED to but no longer. Ok fine. Here's my Visa. The last thing that really really annoys me (and Spicy Town isn't the only establishment that does this is)......Why the HELL does restaurants put the tip guide on the receipt indicating what the 15, 18 and 20% amount is based on the amount AFTER tax? Are we stupid? We all know that tip is based on the bill amount BEFORE tax. Is that your way of trying to make customers overtip? It's a bit of a slimeball maneuver which I don't fall for. If it wasn't for Asian Pearl closing tonight, I think Spicy Town would have been a ghost town. Jigga jigga word!
(2)
Ravo Y.

DECENT food, but POOR service because there is essentially NO service. Walked in, and I guess we were lucky because there was a dude/worker sort of cleaning up and facing the door... noticed us after a good 5 seconds or so. Got seated at a table next to a row of dirty tables so we asked to be seated at a table one away from the mess (not many tables of customers in there anywho). Got our menus and what not and got some free tea. Though complimentary, our tea was definitely reject tea from another table... couldn't even get a fresh batch of hot water for it. Ordering went ok, English was definitely not the waitor's first choice of communication though. The items we ordered: beans, eggplant with chicken and shrimp, tofu stuff, and shredded pork were good. 3 of the 4 were deemed as spicy on the menu and were at medium spice level. We didn't order that one outrageous fish or some other meat dish with the 3 million peppers in it or whatever, but the food was good. After we got our food, we ate and such, but we never heard a peep back from the waitors that were semi-lurking. Had to make extreme eye contact before they'd notice and then timidly stop and take our teapot for more tea or to get our bill. Wouldn't you want to shove the bill down for people to pay for their meal? Noticed that with the other limited parties in the restaurant... others ended up walking up to the front to pay after standing at their table to look out for assistance. I get better service at TK/Luu Noodle, geesh. I never thought I'd be the one to complain about service, but man... at least the worst of places have a minimum standard. Here, not so sure. Sure, food's one thing about a restaurant but if you have incompetent employees to tend to the front of house, what's the point.
(1)
A J.

Pretty bad experience. I went to this place on Sunday and ordered a spicy fish ..... it was not fresh at all apart from that they asked me to choose from frozen or fresh fish..... but it was not worth at all going to this place and I didn't liked the quality of food .....
(1)
Tony A.

Oily, spicy and can be better tasted! Can be cleaner! Even the glass is oily.
(3)
Tiffany T.

Came here with my cousins for hot pot and everything was delicious. The spicy broth tastes so good and I didn't need dipping sauce because it had enough flavor. We ordered a lot of ingredients but I don't recommend the meatballs because they took a long time to cook. I definitely loved the beef, squid, spinach, baby corn, shrimp, and beef tripe though. Oh yeah, when we were done ordering, it was 2:12pm and the waiter told us that the place closes at 2:30 but the workers let us take our time and eat while the place was closed. I thought that was nice of them but I wonder why the hostess didn't say anything when we came in.
(4)
Julie W.

The service was a little slow. Hot green tea was free. The green beans were a delicious appetizer although it came after our entrees. The szechuan chicken was delicious and came with rice and a ton of sides that I didn't really want. Some kind of pickled veggie, a salad, and something else. The chicken was very good though.
(5)
R T.

Pretty bad experience. We were walking by the restaurant and saw that they had mini hot pots for around 12 dollars per person. Decided to try it out, bad choice! The soup base was basically hot water with red peppers in it. The hot pot items that were brought out did not seem fresh. The fish had a nice jello like coating of what i assume was corn starch and water. The tofu was frozen solid, vegetables not fresh (honestly, 10 spinach leaves and some cabbage), just over all a bad plate of items. On top of that... you have to pay extra for hot pot dipping sauce otherwise you get no sauce. Overall.... very bad experience with the food. I would NOT go back for the hot pot.
(1)
Joji V.

The food was great and the super spicy base was the greatest I've had in a while. Sadly the costumer service was not all that great. It lacked some attentiveness. It was not very busy but it felt like it took forever and a day just to ask for a new clean spoon. I will probably stop by again if I'm in there area but I may need to flip a coin to see if I want to deal with the slow service.
(4)
Lyn Y.

If you're into Szechuan cuisine, this is one of the better places to go. The decor is nice, with high ceilings and appears to be well-ventilated, which is great since they offer hot pot. Service is polite, and the food seems pretty authentic and SPICY, which its name indicates it would be. There was a table of rude mainland Chinese women next to us, telling the waiter to hurry up because they were hungry and why wasn't this dish ready yet, but even they seemed to enjoy the food. I felt sorry for the waiters, who kept their cool with these totally rude mainlanders. I enjoyed their diced chicken dish with chilli peppers, and their fish & tofu boiled in chilli oil. They had a beef shank and stomach in chilli oil dish that was ok, but not something I'd order again. Overall, if the wait at Asian Pearl's getting to be too much for you, try this place out!
(4)
Karen L.

Came here with some friends for hot pot. It's what you'd typically expect from any hot pot place, I suppose. It was all-you-can-eat for about $18 a person, during dinner hours. And apparently they give you a time limit--I thought that was pretty ridiculous. It said so on the hot pot menu, so we asked the waitress to confirm it, and she said yes, you have a time limit. Obviously, they don't want you to relax too much and eat too much of their food--after all, it's a business. But I still didn't like the idea of a time limit. Anyway, we ordered all the stuff we wanted (beef, lamb, pork, dumplings, fish cake, vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, etc.), and they actually had a pretty good variety. We chose to have our hot pot half spicy, and the other half non-spicy, and it was pretty good, though not exceptional. I'm not a big fan of hot pot in restaurants, in general, because I typically have hot pot in my own house, but for what it's worth, it was good hot pot. No complaints about the service--they brought out everything relatively fast, and it probably helped that we speak Chinese (Mandarin, though they probably can speak Cantonese as well). However, this place is a bit out of the way for me, and I don't think I'd be willing to trek over here again for some "okay" hot pot.
(3)
Viet N.

The food here reminded me of my former roommate's cooking. He just slabbed on some chili sauce and Bam! It was pretty damn good! Anyway, I came here with a good buddy of mine who happened to have the Groupon deal for this place. $10 for $20, I believe, so we ended up just paying tax for 2 lunch specials ($7.95 each), which was $1.39. Not too bad. I got the tilapia in black bean sauce. It came with sides of bok choy, some cubed radishes that made me semi-crave Korean food, and sour soup along with a bowl of dry, day old rice (not a bad thing btw, I happen to love rice unconditionally) Anyway, my initial fears of medium spicy being TOO spicy were quelled...it wasn't even tingling my mouth at all! I must say, though, that the overall quality of the food was A-OK, which is why rationale for my three star rating. It would've helped their rating more if they didn't have a minimum of $20 for credit/debit transactions though! Good thing there's Groupon and cash...
(3)
James S.

This place is OK for the south Bay but nothing special. The atmosphere of the place is a bit weird... bunch of crap piled up in the corner by the door. Feels like a cafeteria. Even the 'new' strip mall windows were not cleaned. Service was OK but not very attentive... its staffed by mostly mainlanders, so don't expect too much in terms of top quality service. The meat and veggies were not that fresh. Overall, 45 bucks for mediocre food for two people is not really worth. it.
(2)
Jack R.

Worst customer service. Rude and rush me to order. When they give u the wrong food, they refuse to change to the one u wanted but offer u a dolor off. Wtf
(1)
Xiao-Yen W.

I ordered two dishes: mixed grains with vegetable soup and steamed pork ribs with sweet rice. The soup came has no grains but some corn, has nothing resembling the picture in their menu; the steamed pork rib came not even warm.... It cost $12.95 each dish! That would be the only time we eat there. Really bad!
(1)
Jenny J.

The regular food tastes okay, nothing outstanding but everything else about this place is horrible. The servers ignored me because I have an Asian face and did not speak Chinese. They were attentive to all of the tables who spoke Chinese around me but, not mine. IT WASN'T EVEN BUSY. We ordered a hot pot and when the server gave us the pot, she put it next to our table and walked away and didn't put it on the hot plate, okay sure, BUT WITH NO SOUP SPOONS or utensils! We waited for her to come back for a minute or two but she didn't come back. The hot pot we ordered was super SALTY!!! Not just any type of salty, but me and my companion went home afterwards wanting to throw up because it was SO SALTY! They also use MSG because my mouth was dry when I left too. Don't go to this place, patron your money on a better place.
(1)
Brandy A.

The dishes can be made spicy, but if you're weak in the stomach you can request the spice to be reduced to mild. I love love LOVE spicy food, so I enjoyed the fish that was swimming in chilies. Water-cooked fish? Shui zhu yu. I don't understand the nomenclature, as it is not swimming in water, but spicy oil. Beware, that dish is quite oily though. The fish was surprisingly mild, but became spicier at the end--makes sense, since it's been soaking. Hot pot is also an option here--spicy, of course =) I didn't try it so I can't attest to the quality. All in all, I wouldn't come here for "healthy" Chinese food, but if you're feeling spicy and up for some grease in your stomach, this place will satisfy both.
(4)
Awin V.

WAIT!WAIT!WAIT! READ THIS FIRST. We went here last night with my wife and at first I have check the rating on yelp and its bad. But still went here because maybe the rating is not accurate so here whats happen. 1) We stand on the door like were begging for a table. 2) They just keep passing by and not even interested talking to us if we ready to order or even offer us water or drinks NADA. 3) We order 3 item. Squid, fried fish and fried rice. The fried rice came after we finish the other 2 dish. I have to follow up the Fried rice first before they give it to us. 4) Food is so bad I wish I just went to panda express. 5) $40 just for that and they asking for %5 tip are you kidding me!!. If at least their nice to me I wouldn't give them this review. THIS PLACE SUCKS!! BEWARE.
(1)
Niu N.

greasy
(2)
Simon A.

This place looks good from the outside, and the interior decor is interesting, but they must have forgotten to pay the heating bill because it was freezing in there! The food was OK, not great, just OK. But I agree with the other reviewers that the service is terrible! The were almost rude talking to you and look out for that cart because he will run you over if you aren't careful!! Will not be going back.
(2)
Joe N.

Not much to say about this place. Pros: The food was good and the proportions were perfect. Nice environment. Cons: The waiters were not so nice, they seemed to not be happy with their jobs. I had this one waitress that was just snappy with us and had this negative attitude towards my friends and I.
(3)
Drew P.

My Chinese friend from school took me here. I have been to fondue places before, but "hot pot" was new to me. I usually don't eat meat, but my friend ordered some. You get a lot of food for your money, but honestly nothing was that great. It was a lot of decent food. After the meal I was definitely full, but not impressed at all. I bet it was not cheap either (I did not pay). I would not go back, but I still had a good time and I am glad I got to check it out.
(3)
Way L.

recommendations: water boiled soft tofu and fish .
(4)
Chrissy M.

Came here for dinner, but we did not have the hot pot. This restaurant is like Spices in Foster City/San Francisco, but if you had a choice, I'd go to Spices in Foster City. The food here is taiwanese style. Fortunately, they had pictures on the menu, so I knew what I was getting into. We ordered the kung pao chicken, combo chow mein, pancakes filled with beef, beef stir fried with onions, and dry fried green beans. Overall, the food had the similar taiwanese "spicy" taste as Spices, but it was way too greasy. As other people have mentioned, the interior is nicely decorated. Most of the other people eating at the restaurant were having hot pot, so maybe I should've had that instead.
(3)
Justin L.

The food was pretty gross and didn't look very appetizing. I also got food poisoning from this restaurant. I wouldn't suggest eating here
(1)
Mindy B.

We went on Christmas Eve, it wasn't that busy but service was not great. The price is high.The food is only ok, everything is super salty. I ordered 5 dishes and all of them were too salty. I will not come back.
(2)
Lien T.

Bleh...the reviews for Spicy Town are all over the place. I actually ended giving them a try because of their delicious looking food and not because of their reviews. I would have been too confused to give them a try based on their reviews alone. I think it's just one of those places you have to experience for yourself to determine whether you like them or not. My friend and I ordered one appetizer and two entrees. For the appetizer, we ordered the boiled chicken in hot and spicy sauce ( yelp.com/biz_photos/G45Fâ€¦ ). It was basically what it sounds like--boiled chicken with hot and spicy sauce. The chicken was served cold. I have had similar dishes before, but my friend had not. He said it was different, but very good (once he got used to the cold chicken). Our entrees were more typical, we ordered green beans sauteed with ground pork ( yelp.com/biz_photos/G45Fâ€¦ ) and beef stir fried with onions ( yelp.com/biz_photos/G45Fâ€¦ ). Overall, the food was very good. The green beans were tender, with a bite. The beef was marinated well and flavorful. The servings were big and prices were quite inexpensive. As a matter of fact, the food was really cheap. I know they are known for their hot pots, but it was too hot outside to have hot pot that day. I will more than likely be back to give those a try. Customer service was average. It did not seem like our waiter understood much English--thank goodness the menu was filled with pictures!
(3)
Cherry L.

------------The review is for HOT POT--------------- 1. Very bad service! $17.99 for all you can eat. They charged 18% tips on the final bill directly. So the ladies were not really care about you as service fee is gonna be charged anyway. You ordered two
(1)
C T.

I think all the bad reviews overlook the authentic food here. Perhaps they are used to chain restaurants or American style service? I've always had fresh and great tasting food here. My mom is from Sichuan, and I've been there myself, so I appreciate the sophistication and flavor of the food served here. My favorite dishes are fuqifeipian and qingjiaobanpidan. I also like koushuiji but don't get it here because it has very little meat. There are tons of other interesting dishes here, althoughmy parents do the ordering. Generally the dishes are well done with a conservative amount of grease and MSG. They have cold and hot dishes. I loved the all you can eat hot pot. The sauces were great though you had to pay for them. The veggies and meat were fresh. It's also clean and not crowded so you can have conversations. I don't smell strongly after eating here because the place is also airy and large. The tea is the kind with flowers and goji berries. Not caffeinated and tastes great! I actually prefer this to the "red tea" served at other places. They have nice takeout tupperware, the plastic kind you can reuse.
(5)
Kaspar J.

This restaurant has decent Chinese food. Lunch is typically $8 including tax and tip. The restaurant is nice looking, quiet but always very cold. However, their service is abysmal. They have been on our rotation for lunch places for years, and we have been going there less and less as they have been getting slower and slower and slower... The place is never packed, so no problem getting a table. After that though, we had to call the waiter multiple times to get our order. Then we had to call him again to bring us tea, and later on again to get water. That would be acceptable, but there was a good 45 minutes between the time the first member of our group was served and the last! That is incredibly awkward for those that have food, and annoying for those that don't! Fix the service or we won't be back!
(2)
Qingchun H.

Very disappointed. We ordered hotpot, the food are not fresh, and my friend had a stomachache after eating. Waiters never ask us if we need anything. The price is ok, but food is not good.
(1)
Christine K.

2 stars for food/service. Another star for the different kind of tea that they serve. I don't care much for the restaurant. It's one of those places I can just overlook and it'll be okay if I never go back. The food is decent, but some are too salty. However, I am definitely a person that likes her food lighter on the salt so the restaurant's use may be considered normal. I went for the lunch special and each person gets two side dishes, a huge bowl of rice, and a highly starchy egg-white with tomato soup. I had the Mongolian Beef. They said it would be a little bit spicy. All I saw was the peppers and no spiciness... The portion is pretty good. I tried not to touch the soup; however, the saltiness of the food had to be washed down by the soup. The whole meal, including my family members' dishes were all a bit too oily, but we were satisfied customers. Their tea has goji, tea leaves, and other yummy herbs. From previous visits, I did like their tomato-based soup for the hotpot! Oily, but definitely different from other restaurants.
(2)
Anne W.

I am not blessed to live in a city with tons of choices for Asian food... Boston has choices but not as many as Silicon Valley. I was happy to see they had the standard Szechwan dishes. We got a beef tendon dish which was basically sliced tendon in spicy oil. Not super spicy but okay. I am a fan of the mini hot pots. My sister and I shared this and it was good.. we had fish, veggies, and noodles. We could have just gotten this and it would be enough. It's not awesome but good for the price. The service is a bit lacking here.. but they give you a tea pot that you won't need to flag them down for service.
(4)
Eve C.

Definitely not for the faint of stomach. The mao po tofu is good, not the best but a good deal. The skewers of meat were a little too tough for my liking.
(3)
Dreamer L.

They're not joking when they said the hot pot soup will be spicy!! But it wasn't all that great.
(2)
Irene C.

I've been coming here ever since Spicy Town first opened. I always get the hot pot. The owner always custom makes this milk flavored broth for my family and I. I go everywhere for hot pot but I still come back here which means I really love this place.
(4)
Allister D.

I enjoyed this place a lot! I went here with my gf to eat dinner and it went well. We ordered their beef stew, egg fried rice, and kung pao chicken. The plates were family style which was good. The egg fried rice was legit. You can tell by the texture that it was real egg yolks that stirred within the rice to give it that thick rich taste. The Kung Pao was sooo good!! There were plenty of peanuts inside and the a great amount of diced chicken. The spice level was just right. The beef stew was soo tender. The cubed meat had buttery tendons on the side that slide down the mouth. The service was decent. They didn't serve our white rice on time without me asking for it. They barely checked on us but when I did call them to come, they were happy and ready to serve whatever. I will def come back here!
(4)
Shirley H.

Oh, spicy town, you had me on fire!! Should've known not to come here, not because their food is not good but I am not a big fan for spicy food! Of the 4 dishes ordered, I like the pig's ears the most because the dipping sauce comes on the side and I can control how spicy I want. Really, how the food taste? hmmm, one word, spicy! spicy was all I can tasted. Would like to give them more business but just not my type of restaurant. Others who are into spicyness probably will enjoy more.
(3)
Sarah J.

We tried Spicy Town because we had a Groupon and, unfortunately, we probably will not be back. My mom, my son and I shared potstickers, won ton soup, kung pao chicken, sweet n sour chicken and veggie chow mein. The only thing worth taking left overs home was the chow mein, but there weren't any left overs. The soup and potstickers, things I view as appetizers, were served last. The soup had no taste. The kung pao chicken, my all-time favorite Chinese dish, had a totally different flavor and it wasn't all that good. The sweet n sour chicken needed more sauce as it was very dry. The chow mein, on the other hand, was very good and I might go back just to get an order of it to go.
(2)
Michelle C.

The service I had on Sunday night was the worst possible. I don't understand how they were not able to provide decent service since there were only two other occupied tables in the entire restaurant. Everyone working there was either in the kitchen or in the front near the cash register, and they didn't care if you needed something. I came here for hot pot, and I ended up going to the front to hand in my order. Even then, the person in the front never bothered to turn that paper into the kitchen, and five minutes later someone came out from the kitchen and asked if he can take our order. RIDICULOUS! I'm glad they give you a huge pot of tea or else I would have to keep hunting someone down for tea. All you can eat hot pot here is $24 per person on weekends. I didn't like how all the tofu and mushrooms were frozen. Frozen mushrooms and tofu = old mushrooms and tofu. The meat was decent. I tried the fatty beef and the fatty lamb. I also ordered shrimp, and I reminded them once after putting in the order, but they never bothered to bring that out. I ordered half a pot of spicy broth and the other half was an herbal broth. There were so many hot peppers in the spicy broth! It was extremely spicy! I stayed away from that, but my boo ate a lot of it, and he ended up getting heartburn afterwards. I came here once before, and I didn't have the same crappy experience with service, but after this time, I will never come back. $24 for all you can eat hot pot is not that cheap anyway. I'd rather enjoy Little Sheep Hot Pot if I have to pay that much.
(1)
Martha T.

I'll cut to the chase- they should rename this place to OIL TOWN instead of SPICY TOWN. 1. The waiter did not speak ANY English. 2. The soup had a top layer of oil that I had to dig under just to get to the soup broth. 3. They do NOT offer brown rice. 4. We ordered beef noodles, fish soup, and beef stew. NOTHING was SPICY and EVERYTHING was oily. It was disappointing.
(2)
Jhuanne M.

ive come here twice with friends on both occasions. Good thing about going the two times i have is that we always had a very experienced Chinese foodie/connoisseur and i've practically tasted about 15 things from they're menu. The food is a bit oily, but i understand bc most times that goes hand in hand with spicy foods. All i can say is all you need a lil bit of white rice so that you can taste all the diff. spicy sauces. The fish is delish, the shrimp on top of fries, hmmm there was way too much food to remember. But i can understand the service, they were only attentive to us bc we had our friend kinda taking command of everything, and i think the server appreciated that. After that, we have desserts next door at Cafe Zen... best Berry Parfait there too... mhhmm...
(4)
Aaron B.

Was hoping that this place would be better than your typical Mongolian Hot Pot chain, but it was actually worse. The two things going for it in its favor is that it has an all you can eat hot pot buffet that runs every day (including weekends) for only $17 per person and the decor is fairly nice for a Chinese restaurant. The service was horrible as you might expect.
(2)
Elena H.

This place is pretty good and really doesn't the 3 stars earned on yelp. We came here on a whim and ordered 5 dishes. They were all excellent and priced reasonably. My favorites are Kungpao Tofu and Taro rolls. Service was good. Definitely a restaurant that we will come back to.
(4)
Tee K.

Went there for the ayce hot pot. Service is horrible. They told us there was no more water cups so we can't get water. I don't know if it is their way of making us not refill on food because we are dying of thirst or something but that is not acceptable. We saw several groups went out to buy drinks from nearby and that was just no very cool that they had to do that. I myself had to do the same thing and left to buy drinks nearby (sigh) If you order things remember that they will give you like double on the cheap items like tofu and imitation crab but small plate on the meat so be careful when you order because they charge 5.00 extra for left over food. I am very disappointed in how they try to loop hole everything to gain money and I can see right through it all. I am not coming back to this place ever lets just say. Don't recommend it.
(2)
D J.

The service is not the best but the food is legit! I ordered the spicy chicken basil which was awesome! I will definitely be visiting here again!
(4)
Dijon Y.

At one point I thought this was a pretty good restaurant. But not anymore. Dont get the duck with yam cake. Its not very good. Bits of broken bone and little dry pieces of meat to sort througjh. The last few times I've been here it wasnt so great. In fact I think most of the other chinese restaurants in this mall are way overrated for the quality of food. I prefer to get chinese food in Union City, there's a critical mass of excellent ones near the UC bart station.
(3)
Judy P.

The Verdict: "Good value, mammoth proportions and fast service" Contrary to its name, not all items are spicy. Which was a relief to me since I'm not spicy food loving girl. I recommend the mu-shu beef, beef friend rice and the kung pao chicken (mild spice). I do not recommend the vegetarian egg rolls - they are small, skinny, tasteless and super dry (I know it's deep fried, what did I expect?) Anyway, let's not dwell on the negative. Service is really quick here. When I went in for a takeout order, the hostess was literally running towards me to greet me (albeit she was on the far end of the restaurant and she has a lot of distance to cover to get to me). She was very accommodating and told me that while there was a lot on the menu, if I had any special requests or deviations from the menu, they could make it for me as well. Fortunately for her, all I felt like was beef fried rice and some egg rolls. I noticed that they have a sign requiring a min. purchase of $20 to use debit or credit cards, but when asked about it, the hostess said it would not be a problem for me. I was pleased, since I don't ever carry cash with me. I've been here once before and also found very prompt service. My only complaint is that some of the dishes seem a little too oily. Next time I will ask them to tone down the oil. Overall, I have been happy with this place! Would I Recommend It? Yes, Spicy Town gives you good value for your buck.
(4)
Elaine L.

I LOVE spicy food, so I was happy to come here and see a menu filled with red. we ordered some appetizers - beef tendon and jellyfish. They were average. Spicy beef tendon has the potential to be extremely delicious, spicy and elastic in texture. This however was not what I expected in terms of texture (it was sliced very thin) and taste (there was a funky flavor in there...). For main dishes, we got lamb, green beans and fish (shui zhu yu - literally water cooked fish). I love this fish dish - if made well. This was okay - fish was tender, but could have been spicier with more intense flavor. Overall, flavors are okay, albeit oily. I would love the spiciness turned up a notch!
(3)
Sean M.

4.875 stars Stuff White People Like: #71 Being the only white person around. (%) Yes, on this Saturday night I was the only one! We had 10 people, and we didn't make a reservation which seemed to rub the host the wrong way. He grudgingly gave us one of the semi-private rooms near the fish tanks. We had several dishes mostly spicy, see the pics I posted. I forgot to take a picture of the whole Bass before we ate it. We had five kids with us and they made non-spicy noodles and fried rice that the kids liked. I wish we had ordered more vegetables as those dishes were quite good. Nothing took me out of my comfort zone spicy-heat-wise but I did avoid eating the peppers and pepper corns themselves. The service was ok, not great, and being in one of the semi-private rooms can be a double edged sword. We had to flag random waiters and the manager to get extra plates etc. * I'd be careful about asking them to "bring it" on the spicy heat. * Authenticity is not lacking, execution is slightly. * Reserve a room for hot pot! * Pictures on the menu are a great idea, very helpful. * We all liked the Chrysanthemum tea alot. % tinyurl.com/3uyq9f
(5)
Sophia L.

I love their lamb hot pot! They give a good amount of meat, veggies, tofu, fish, etc and when you ask for spicy, it sure as hell is spicy so you better be prepared!!
(4)
Tiffany W.

I've only been here for their hotpot and haven't tried any of their other dishes. I love their soup base and the produce was fresh. The only downside and why they didn't 4 stars is the service. One, they didn't explain how the hotpot works, such as where the knob is to turn the heat lower and second they kept picking up our check even though we had not paid yet because we were still eating. I understand we were there until they closed, but they could have been more courteous about it (happened 3x even after I moved the check away from the edge of the table).
(3)
Elizabeth D.

I have to disagree with others regarding the reviews. The price is not amazing great for a Chinese restaurant (it's definitely not a buffet price or anything) but I got a Groupon so I was pretty happy with my meals. I ordered the chow mein combo, kung pao prawns, and the taro rolls. I came early so there were not other customers around, had my order as take-out, and the two servers were friendly and nice. I definitely go back, and perhaps will have a sit down meal instead.
(4)
Cindy B.

It's not that I don't like the place... the food is still pretty good but for my last visit, the service was definitely subpar. I made a reservation for a group of 8 on Chinese New Year's eve. I knew it'd be busy but was happy that they accepted my reservation so readily. We got there, most of us on time and were told the wait would be 10-15 minutes. There was a large group before us and they got seated relatively quickly and there went all the big tables/booths. The reservation was meaningless... We waited patiently and just catching up with each other, occasionally peeking over to see if a table was freed up. Nope, people were taking their time. There was no maÃ®tre d in a typical Chinese place and the servers who came to the front to ring up the cheques never acknowledged us again or reassurance on when a table would be ready. Finally after 45 minutes, a bus guy suggest that they could put 2 smaller tables together for us. Those tables had always been empty... But thanks to him, we got seated at long last. I didn't realize they were serving hot pot buffet and at $20 a person, it was definitely a good deal. We ordered the first round and food came out relatively quickly, relative to how fast everything else we experience that night. Like I said, I still very much enjoyed their food. The fish had always been my favourite, flaky and fresh. Lamb and beef both very decent. The napa cabbage had a few beginning-to-rot browned leaves, guessing they didn't both checking when they chopped it. After the first round, we marked additional dishes and found our pots needed refill. My friend raised her arm and here came the wait. She had to drop it because it was beginning to hurt. After finally a lady took our order card and were told we need the broth refilled, nobody came back for another while while the pot was boiling away to give a slight smoky smell. I have to say, none of them looked lazy or anything but I counted 4-5 people for the entire restaurant. Sure the management expected more people on Chinese New Year but in short, they were way understaffed and they were not particularly on the ball.
(2)
Evelyn T.

Will update later if I get the chance but this is for the service yesterday. We walked in at 920ish and there were still people seated. I asked if we could still be seated and was told "if you want.." WTH is that? "If I want or if YOU want?" "Oh be cuss we close at nine thirty...". NUH UHHHH, Yelp told me 10. The conversation didn't even make any sense, but I got the message that we weren't welcome.But I didn't want any extra seasonings in my food so I flipped my hair, turned on my heel and took our business somewhere else. Tch!
(1)
Ying X.

The Shui Zhu Yu ( fish fillet in oil) looks same as those in China, but doesn't taste same way. The fried rice is even worse than those with lower price. I might come again to try hot pot, but no Sui Zhu Yu!
(3)
Kelly E.

Overpriced for mediocre food. If you're really looking for spicy, you need to make sure you ask for it otherwise you'll be dissappointed. The semi-private rooms were a nice touch and the overall atmosphere was pleasant, but everyone knows if the food isn't that good then it's no dice. Maybe I'm not giving it a fair shot, but this restaurant seemed like a more expensive, slightly more authentic PF Changs. I'd rather go to a good 'ol mom and pop Chinese restaurant any day.
(2)
Tiffany K.

I've been wanting to try this place for awhile now since I love spicy food and it's just about 10 minutes from my house. So, last night the boyfriend and I finally had time to have dinner together so we decided to give this place a try. When we got into the restaurant, I was actually surprised that the decor was pretty nice. I was expecting like a regular looking Chinese restaurant. Anyhow.. After dining here, I can see why people are upset with the service. After we were brought to our table , it took about 10 minutes for anyone to even come to our table. Then, when the waiter took our order, he seemed like he didn't know what was on the restaurant's menu at all. He was clueless about what we were ordering and we had to point at each item's picture for him to understand what we wanted. Then while we were eating, it took forever to flag down someone to get the check. And, we had to ask about 5 times for to-go boxes and the check before someone finally brought it to us. Basically, to sum it up.. It's not necessarily that the service is bad here, I think they are just extremeley under staffed for the amount of people eating at the restaurant. On to the food... My boyfriend and I ordered the Beef Tendons, Beef Skewers, Spicy Jelly Tofu, and Eggplant Tofu. I don't eat meat, so I didn't try out the Beef Items but the Spicy Jelly Tofu was kind of weird tasting. It wasn't that great. But, the Eggplant Tofu was soooo good. There's one great thing that made my meal very pleasant. The eggplant dish here is supposed to come with three pieces of Eggplant (like whole eggplant). However, I asked if they could add Tofu to it, and they did. When the dish came, they had sliced up the eggplant into small pieces with lots of Fried Tofu added on. I was sooooo happy. haha, cause I LOVE eggplant and tofu. and i didn't want to order a separate tofu dish cause that would have added another 10 bucks to our bill. Ooooh another thing, the tea is soooo damn good here. it was chrysanthemum tea, which was soo nice because it's different than other Chinese restaurants that just give you straight Jasmine or Oolong Tea. Anyhow, overall, I actually liked Spicy Town. I would give the service a 2, the food a 3.75 (haha, not quite a 4!). Maybe I'll come back if I'm really craving Sichuan style food and I don't feel like driving far. However, I'm still missing the Sichuan food in SF... mmMmMm. and one last thing, i swear.. the food here is not spicy enough in my opinion. I went to a sichuan restaurant in SF and my mouth was ON FIRE throughout the whole meal. The food here is spicy, but it's more like a tease.. but that's just my opinion. i can handle spicy food and love it.
(3)
Sara W.

While this place has a great location and cute interior, I felt their food lacked a special flavor. Their kung pao chicken was good, but their orange chicken was tasteless and nothing to brag about. The search for a GOOD chinese food place continues.
(2)
Heather Y.

All you can eat spicy hot pot ~~ soup is very good !! unfortunately, they charge extra money for source !! and the shrimp is not fresh !!
(3)
Betty T.

Spicy Town lives up to its super hot name. Almost all the food ordered by the boyfriend's family was super spicy or spicy -- I was slightly sick, and I thought it was a good thing, since I was losing my sense of taste. Anyway, yes, the food was good and there was plenty to go around. However, everything started to taste the same after a while, since everything was spicy. The "saving grace" (if you will) was the decor and the private room. When you hear a name like "Spicy Town", you don't really associate this type of name with a good-looking restaurant. An even more unexpected thing was the private rooms on the left with open doors. I liked that I was able to hear the conversations between people at our table. The bad was (as others have mentioned) the customer service. No water refills, no friendly service with a smile. We had to flag them down if we wanted attention. They practically just dumped the food at the table and left hurriedly to continue their more important conversations -- perhaps about which one of them deserved the worst customer service award.
(3)
Rosie C.

Why my friend took me here when he knew that I couldn't handle spicy food is beyond me..... but I came here anyways & it wasn't too bad. Being out of my element, I can't comment too much on their food except --- the crab claypot dish looked good, but too hot for my tastebuds. As for the 2 non-spicy dishes we ordered, the veggie was fresh & chicken dish was super flavorful (although heavy on the oily on both dishes) Also I liked the large pot of fresh brewed tea you served us. I just wished you could treat your customers a bit better. You sat us down no problem, but once the food started coming out, it just seemed like you wanted us to leave immediately. We got our checks and within seconds, you came & grabbed it before we could pay. Then when we got our food packaged to-go, you were already cleaning up our table.... what's the rush?
(3)
Christopher L.

TLDR: - Awful service. - Boringly toned-down Szechuan food.
(1)
Jessica W.

This place is totally overpriced and they have horrible service. The waiters walked past our table multiple times before finally coming over to take our orders. It probably took 15 minutes even though the place wasn't crowded at all. I was really disappointed in the yangchow fried rice that was made with hot dogs. If a fried rice is is almost priced at 9 dollars, then they shouldn't be using hotdogs in it. The potstickers were also really oily. For the quality of food, the service, and the prices I definitely would not return to Spicy Town.
(2)
Chrys U.

I'm definitely a fan of this restaurant....the Szechuan food here is some of the tastiest I've had, at least for this area. We ordered the diced chicken stir-fried with dry red chili and Szechuan wild pepper, the tender fresh fish filet boiled in Szechuan pickled mustard broth with tofu, and the stir fried egg plant. All three items were delicious....the chicken was flavorful, the fish filet broth had a nice little tang to it, and the egg plant came with generous amounts of chicken and shrimp. Pair all that up with some steamed rice and you've got yourself a delicous hearty meal. The downsides of this place: food's a bit too oily, but I guess that is something you should expect from a Chinese place. Service is whatever, not bad but not great either. Prices are a bit high, but portions are relatively generous so I suppose it's reasonable. Decor is really nice....clean and modern with a Chinese touch. There were many other tasty-sounding items on the menu that I have yet to try, so I will be returning in the near future for that =)
(4)
Ken N.

Came in for lunch last week and it's quite disappointing. This is my second times here and so far, they're not doing so good in my book. Upon arrival, we were directed by a server from a distant to our tables. Minutes went by where we had to waive down the server to take our order. I ordered YangChou Fried Rice (YCFR) while my co-worker had ChowFun. I took a look around while we were waiting for our food and noticed there were about 2 servers running the whole restaurant. Our food finally came out and I took the first bite out of my dish. Something just didn't taste right. I can't comment on the authenticity because I'm not Chinese but I do know for a fact that YangChou Fried Rice has Chinese sausage. My fried rice was substitute with hot dog sausage. When our server stopped by to filled up our waters, I kindly asked her if it was YCFR that I ordered and she said, "yes!" I then asked her shouldn't YCFR suppose to have Chinese Sausage? She also said, "yes." I finally made a statement that this has hot dog sausage and not Chinese sausage. She admitted that this is how they made the dish and they don't have Chinese sausage. This is like going to McDonald's without the fries or chicken nuggets. As for my co-worker's dish, it tasted like someone had accidentally poured half of the soyce sauce bottle inside. He could not finished the dish because it was too salty. Service is similar to the food. Server will toss you the bills or whatever you're asking for on the table. Mind as well throw it since it will save a few feet of walking. This type of service is unacceptable for such a nice place. I now understand why they have 30 tables with only 7 occupied during busy lunch hours. Never will I go here again and I hope neither will you.
(1)
Ann L.

I went here on Sun 2/24/08 because of some of the yelp reviews here. I thought this place is good, though pricey. FREE Chrysanthemum tea is given in a huge container. We couldn't finish it all. You also get a FREE small dish of pickled veggies. The menu is HUGE and had lots of colored pics and in English & Chinese. We got: An appetizer of beef tripe $6.95-it's Really spicy. Hubby liked it. Sichuan style beef rice noodle $6.75-it's on the outside window menu, but couldn't find it on the menu inside. Just ask and they'll make it. It's pretty good. It's enough for 2 big eaters so share! Nice silky noodles and pretty tender beef with maybe 2 small bok choy plus the red soup. steam rice $1 - hubby wanted it for his beef tripe. Our bill before tip: $15.99. We wanted sliced lamb coated w/ five spice rice powder steamed w/ yam $8.95 but they ran out of lamb. maybe next time. They have hot pots w/ the famous Sichuan Mala Hotpot and many other authentic Sichuan dishes (said the take out menu). The restaurant can seat up to 200 guest and can accommodate large parties w/ private rooms. You can get ice water if you ask. Refilled often. Separate bathrooms in the back. Women's had 2 toilets & 2 sinks. Credit cards taken over $20, we just ignored it since w/ tip & tax our bill was $17.99. Hrs: Sun-Th 11-2:30; 5-9:30p F & Sat 11-2:30; 5-10p website: spicytownfremont.com
(3)
Thomas C.

Ethnic Chinese hot pot. 2.5-3 stars. Little Lamb is still the place to get hot pots.
(2)
janey t.

Ehhh... Came here 45 mins before Closing time on a friday nite. 5 mins after our food came out we were asked to pay already coz the cashier is closing. Twas 20 mins til closing time! Didnt expect much since not familiar with the food. Twas spicy alright! Service is Mediocre.
(2)
Shannon L.

I know this place is called "Spicy Town" but BOY IS THE FOOD HERE SPICY! The bf & I went on a Wednesday night and it was packed. The waiters and hostesses talk to everyone in Mandarin first so you know it's authentic! FOOD - Lamb marinated in five spice rice powder over sweet yam - Reading this description, you probably have no idea what this is. And after looking at the picture of this dish, I still wasn't sure what to expect. The rice powder reminds me of glutinous rice but smaller rice grains & less sticky. The yam is tasty & tender. The meat was good but what ruined this dish for me were the MANY peppercorns. I kept biting into them and they were just too strong. This dish is the perfect amount for 2-3 people. Enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef in a hot & sour soup (all in a mini hot pot) - Our burner wasn't actually working when we got to the table so our waiter had to switch it out. I think this lost our dish precious cooking time so we had to wait a little while to actually start eating. This dish was sooooooo delicious though!!! It's so simple but the broth is so flavorful that it seeps into the meat. At the very bottom there are vermicelli noodles so this makes for a great soup dish. Dan dan noodles with hot & spicy sauce - This was the SPICIEST dish we got. It's so deceiving because there's no hue of red at all. It was so spicy that we only ate a couple bites of it. Surprisingly though, it's not all hotness... there's plenty of flavor too. Mango pudding - Nothing special. I've had way better. It was very bland and didn't have any mango chunks in it. Total bill: $30 (excluding tip) SERVICE - I have very mixed feelings about service because it was very good but also very mediocre. Our dan dan noodles & mango pudding took a very long time to come out. We actually had to ask another waiter for our mango pudding but then we eventually got it from our original waiter. So the other waiter gave us the additional mango pudding he brought out on the house. Funny that the waiter serving the tables near ours was so much friendlier to us than our own! AMBIANCE - Red hot. The walls are all red which seriously makes your food taste even spicier. I love the setup of the restaurant because even though it's big, you get a good amount of privacy. There were tons of other tasty looking dishes on the menu that I want to try in the future. My experience here completely exceeded my expectations (thought it'd be very Americanized). I will definitely come back for lunch because I want to try the spicy beef noodle soup which is only on the lunch menu! **UPDATED 2/23/08: TOO MUCH PEPPERCORN!!! It was a rainy day and a couple friends and I decided to have hot pot here for dinner. It's $3 per person for the soup. We decided on the half mild/half spicy soup. What a bad idea because all you can taste in the spicy section is peppercorn, peppercorn and more peppercorn. We used the ladle/strainer to get them out and we literally had a whole bowl full. Some things we ordered: -oyster mushroom -baby corn -winter melon -beef -lamb -fish -shrimp -napa cabbage -frozen tofu All great choices! The meats were all of great quality. But please do not get the spicy soup base. YUCK!
(4)
Ying X.

I have mixed feelings about this place. The food itself isn't too bad, but the service is incredibly slow and inattentive, and all the servers look like they're incredibly unhappy to be there! I'm not saying I need happy, bubbly waiters bouncing around everywhere, but it's a bit of a downer when the person bringing out the food is also frowning at you the entire time. Plus, for a place that calls itself "spicy town," the dishes really aren't that spicy either. We ordered the å¤§è’œé»„ç“œ (garlic and cucumber)ï¼Œè¾£æ¤’çš®è›‹ (preserved duck egg in chili sauce)ï¼Œand the è±†èŠ±é±¼ç‰‡(tofu and fish fillet stew). The first two dishes, which are more appetizers than anything else, came out pretty solid, exactly as you'd expect. However, the è±†èŠ±é±¼ç‰‡, despite looking very red and heavily doused in chili flakes and oil, was actually not that spicy. Make no mistake, it was still very enjoyable (I absolutely love tofu and fish fillet, both individually and together), but my tastebuds were itching for a bigger kick.
(3)
Aj C.

I LOVE spicy food so I was excited to go here and see what they had to offer. I noticed that their rating wasn't the best but I love experiencing it myself and write a review about it so others could read about my visit here. Parking wasn't hard to find; there's ample parking around the area. We walked in and waited for a couple minutes to be seated. There was no one in the front to greet us nor to seat us so we had to flag someone down. ATMOSPHERE: After being seated, I noticed that there were tape on the wall to cover holes which I thought was an eyesore. I would suggest making a budget to renovate the walls. Other than that, everything was an average Asian restaurant. FOOD: I ordered the crispy chicken with spicy sweet and sour sauce with a side of rice combo which comprised of chicken, beef, and shrimp. Crispy chicken: 3/5 - It was average. There was too much sauce on the chicken so I tasted more sauce than the meat. It was crispy, but something about it tasted weird - especially the after taste. Rice combo: 4/5 - The rice was great, especially the shrimp with it. The beef tasted okay and the chicken in the rice was really bland. I decided to put the rest of the chicken on the side because I couldn't eat it anymore. CUSTOMER SERVICE: This is something they definitely need to work on. Communication here was bad. You constantly have to be the one initiating everything. Upon our arrival to our departure, we were constantly flagging down the waiter. It seemed that they tended more to their Chinese customers just because I feel like our waiter had a hard time speaking English. I also didn't appreciate the fact that when I ordered rice, they gave me the huge order of rice... Not only did I not appreciate that, but their minimum charge for a credit card was $25? WTF? Would I come back here? NO. Would I recommend this to a friend? Definitely not.
(2)
Alfred Y.

Imagine this: you're visiting a farmer that's raising gigantic livestock. I mean, like big fucking cows, godzilla chickens, and even the biggest, baddest, fucking donkey exists at this ranch. The kind that doesn't take shit from anyone, and does whatever it fucking wants to do. Imagine that the farmer's giving you this fat ass donkey, thinking he's doing you a giant favor. Instead, imagine that the donkey's going into heat all of a sudden, and now force feeding you his giant donkey dick to be sucked slowly. This is the dining experience at Spicy Town. - 4 out of 5 servers don't speak English. I had to use my broken mandarin. - They forgot half of our order. I had to ask (in Mandarin) where the rest of order was. Conveniently the portion that was forgotten was our meat. - The meat was closer to the lower grade of "select," disappearing as soon as you put it in the soup. - Traditional Szechuan is oily and extremely peppery bordering on extreme spicy. This place goes well beyond oily, giving you the impression that they're drilling for oil in the back. - An incredible lack of napkins for such a messy and oily place.
(1)
Maude T.

This restaurant provides very good food, but poor service. No waiter or waitress came to table to add water.
(4)
Theo T.

I have heard mixed reviews about this place and I can honestly only speak for the All You Can Eat hot pot portion of this. I haven't had any of the plated dishes yet. I thought the hot pot was great! There were a total of 11 of us and they were able to seat us right away. The large table had 2 burners on there so we weren't fighting for a closer spot. Both sides got half spicy and half mild. The spicy was perfect! I loved it. The mild was ok, but I only eat spicy so I could have done without it. They had a large variety of meats and vegetables to choose from which was awesome. The service here is very slow. Don't be afraid to flag them down and ask them for something. Honestly, to me, that is really rude, but here they prefer that. Also, they have a dipping sauce making station, that doesn't seem like an actual dipping sauce station. They have a table with bowls and tubs of soy sauce, chili oil, sugar, salt, MSG, etc that you can make your own sauce, but at first I thought it was just a random table where they left or stored their sauces. Overall pretty good experience, definitely coming back. Great all you can eat hot pot and great price!
(4)
Eric H.

We came in for lunch after watching movie from the nearby Cinema. We ordered one spicy hot pot set meal, one green onion beef and spicy pork. The hot pot meal was good, except no rice. The lamb was overcooked, and the pork was OK. The waiter service was not so quick, but all the three dishes came ready to serve within 5 minutes upon our order was taken. It was unbelievable fast service. For new customers, I will recommend you to order the Spicy hot pot.
(3)
Yixing J.

I got a Bell's Palsy(facial paralysis) after eating here. I feel their food is unclean. And there were flies around the sauces. Please avoid.
(1)
Sandi C.

Just ordered couple simple dishes from the lunch menu. Lets start by saying the dishes were extremely saltly to our likely. We've eaten spicy dishes before, but this place is just too salty for us. Lunch comes with a bowl of rice and soup. We didn't eat the soup, corn egg drop soup ... too sweet. I forgot the pork dish name - some kind of non-spicy pork dish. The dish itself its good if they can tone down on the sodium. Ok portion for lunch. Diced chicken stir fried with dry red chili pepper - chicken was crispy fried, and little spicy, but missing peppercorn for the numbness :/
(3)
Bob H.

i removed my original good review for this place and added this one instead after yesterday's visit to this place. Since our first visit in early April, we've been visiting this place every other week. Every time we went we order 3 - 4 dishes and leave large tip. But yesterday after we finished dinner, this morning I woke up to a stomachache and had bad diarrhea that made me spent nearly 2 hours in the bathroom on a Saturday morning! Not a good way to start a weekend! This place ruined trust I had in them and our family will not go back again! And it lost business from us for a life time! And we will tell people about our experience too!!! Spread the words!
(1)
Songhua X.

The place is great for all you can eat hot pot. For 19.99, I don't think you can find another place in Bay Area that can beat this place. It offers Sichuan side dishes included in the price. The meat is fresh, the base soup tastes good, especially the chicken one. The waiters are friendly.
(5)
Chefs Daughter D.

PEOPLE BEWARE.........WE FOUND A MYSTERIOS TINSEL PLASTIC LIKE OBJECT IN THE TOFU VEGGIE DISH, TO OUR SURPRISE BUT AFTER READING OTHER YELP REVIEWS, IT SEEMS TO BE A COMMAN THEME. ITS A SIGN OF CARELESSNESS AND NEGLECT IN FOOD PREPARATION. PEOPLE BEWARE. !!!!!!! the dining experience were cold and unfriendly on a Sunday, early dinner. The food was below average but came one at a time hot and steamy. But 2/4 were above average and the other two were bland and we suspect gave us tummy aches. The two decent ones were fried shrimp/prawns with sweet/sour sauce and the pork chow mein. The two awful tasting ones were (sizzling) short ribs with a (black) pepper seasonings and the fried tofu (thin patties) and mixed veggies. What irritadated our party the most was the staff that cleared the nearby tables. They cleared the tables by crashing the dishes in the cart bins. It was very disturbing loud. It echoes through the rooms. The ladies were slamming the plates, glasses and silverware. To top it off, when we were done, she rolls up in her cart and removes our stuff while we were conversing. Now I can see if there was a bunch of folks standing to sit down, but our section was empty. We were the only ones in the middle section. And no one in lobby. I thought it was rude to grab and clank the eating and serving utensils. She then rakes out her cleaning bottle and rag and places on table across and wheels away. It felt like she was rushing us. For me, anytime I see a cleaning bottle left around, it's unsanitary. It like leaving a chemical out in the open. That's just me though (see my review for "Lillie mays- house of soul" in Santa Clara) The wait staff was a bit attentive if you consider some one walking up and down the aisle with his hands behind his back. But at first he was asking us every minute if we are ready to order. That was bothersome as well. But sometimes the food makes up for this, but today's food items, did not do it. Food gave all of us a tummy ache, the service was rude. There are much better Chinese restaurants in the area. I'm not a fan of those point point type of Chinese restaurants but I'd go there first before this place, at least I know not to expect a sit down experience, but food is replenished and better tasting. But this place ruined our experience from tasteless food to inconsiderate service. It was a painfull $49 lesson to learn. No future plans here ever.
(1)
R A.

METAL RING IN MAPO TOFU! I got MAPO tofu for take out and look what I found in it - a metal ring! We ordered around 9:00 PM and by the time we found this, they were closed. I am going to take this tomorrow and show them. ...and I also found a small plastic piece. Never going here again..
(1)
Peter n.

Everything I've had here has been good for the price. Actually, I've only been here for lunch. The dinner menu is a lot more expensive but I can't really comment beyond it. I've tried eggplant, fish in black bean sauce, crispy fish in spices, and the stuff that goes with the lunch. Nice decor. Clean. Decent service.
(4)
Catherine Y.

Great Service. But be aware of certain dishes that may be cooked differently than what your used to. Mapo tofu had no pork. Waitress didn't ask if we wanted to add meat. Boiled beef didn't look like the picture. Beef tasted weird and too hard.
(1)
My P.

Won't you take me to...Spicy Town! Sorry. It just kept playing in our minds. Super yummy: Chong Qing chicken with bones (aka Chicken with chili peppers) - so numbingly good. My friend ate the peppers too. I stuck with chicken only and was very happy with the spice level. You can order with or without bones. With bones is supposedly more tender. I have had without bones in other places and it has tasted more fried. Super Delish: Fish in chili oil. I don't know what this dish is actually called but the fish was so tender, the sprouts and cabbage was tasty, and the peppercorns made the dish. We could have split the smallest order ($13) between 2 people with rice. For the kids, they gobbled up the Orange chicken. I tasted it and it was definitely better made than any I have had before. It didn't taste like fried sugary dough - it actually tasted fresh. We also ordered them chicken chow mein - it looked ok. They liked it fine. $53 for 4 entrees for 2 adults, 2 kids. Prices seemed very reasonable. Next time we may go for hot pot but those dishes were so good - we may end up with that same thing...
(4)
Charlie C.

I came here for a joint family dinner gathering, and we ordered at least 10 dishes for dinner. Definitely was not a good place -- according to Yelp, it seems as if they have a new chef. Some of the dishes were good, like the pork soup, and fried taro dessert. Most were very mediocre, and some were just BAD. Like really bad. I'm not a picky eater but some of the stuff here was just awful. The walnut shrimp still had undissolved sugar over it. The walnuts were incredibly stale. This beef dish we got was drenched in sticky sauce and was inedible in my opinion. The real Chinese dishes we got were okay, but they could have done a lot better. I wanted to like this place but it didn't meet my expectations. Do not come here if you want a good authentic chinese place. TRUST ME. There are many other places around that offer much better food. PEACE!
(2)
Angie H.

I liked their vaggie noddle, you can order it with noodle or with rice noodle. They have both ayce and personal pot, I like the personal hot pot, the soup base taste authentic, complementary hot tea is also the traditional type in most Sichuan restaurants.
(4)
Crystal H.

Ordered spicy fried pork intestines and chicken to go. Really good! They looked spicy with all that red pepper in the container, but wasn't that spicy.
(4)
Wayne H.

Spicy Town lives up to its name, as its hotpot is definitely very spicy, to the point where the spicy soup is pretty much undrinkable, which is fine. The hotpot comes with meat and vegetables already in the broth, and you can order all the vegetables and meat you want, including fish. The biggest downfall of this place is the service, which is incredibly slow. It is glacially slow, slower than tortoises, sloths, slower than a stoned guy trying to place an order at a drive-thru. Even though there could be only two or three groups eating there at dinner, the waiters come by so infrequently to check up on you it's as if there was no one working there. While the food is pretty good, the service is so poor that if you don't get here right at opening time, it's probably not worth coming here with so many other good hotpot places popping up all around.
(3)
Leslie T.

1. Spareribs with sticky rice $12 2. mapo tofu $9 -gingery, spicy flavor -found a piece of sharp plastic... Not cool, should not happen 3. dou miao (pea shoots) $12 4. sliced lamb with green onion and jalapeÃ±o $12 -had an interesting smoky flavor -second favorite dish 5. spicy sliced beef tendon appetizer $6 -very thin tendon slices - sauce was delicious -crunchy ground salt was a nice touch/ texture 6. Sichuan spicy water boiled fish $13-$30 depending on the type of fish you ordered and if you wanted fillet or not. When asked, the waiter highly recommended the priciest option, the monchong for $30 - ensuring us it was "very fresh" monchong "fillet". It definitely was not fillet - tail, fins, head all thrown in. In fact there was hardly any actual fish meat. It was fish skin and bones galore, like they just threw in a bunch of leftover fish scraps that they were going to throw away. It was seriously awful! We were definitely upsold on the monchong. There was hardly any actual fish in this dish which I find unacceptable considering the dish is called "water-boiled fish" and what little there was all shriveled up and did not taste fresh at all. Have had this dish at many other Sichuan restaurants and this was the worst. $110 without tax (charge for rice and probably their chrysanthemum tea) Food was average. The only memorable dish was the spicy tendon appetizer. Service was poor. We were the last table there and it was almost time for them to close, so they just started turning off all the lights. We packed up our leftovers in the darkness. When we walked up to the front to leave, the couple at the cash register was too busy counting their money that they didn't bother to look up or say bye as our group left their restaurant. That's no way to treat customers. Falsely advertising the monchong fins and bones as "fresh monchong fillet" was also straight up dishonest and shady. I will never return and will certainly not recommend this place to anyone.
(1)
Maryann S.

I've only been here for the AYCE hot pot and no complaints so far! They have a good selection for soups and will let you pick whichever for the 50/50. I tend to eat from the chicken broth side since the soup is pretty flavorful and all the side dishes are already spicy so it's a good balance. The AYCE menu includes a lot of different meats and veggies so you have a lot of options. They now have a "sauce bar" where you can mix your own sauces. Not sure if that was a one time thing or a new feature that they added since the sauces used to cost extra. They also have a good selection of their side dishes on that menu which is favorite part. I feel like I get the AYCE just for the unlimited side dishes. Their cold noodle, dan noodle, spicy wonton, pig ear, and cold chicken are dishes that I always order. Everything is spicy but the flavor varies a little between the dishes which is nice because then everything doesn't just taste like one heap of spicy food. The service hasn't been too slow the last time I dined here. It probably helps if you can speak Chinese though. The price is pretty reasonable for AYCE, it turned out to be around $24 per person after tax and tip. There never seems to be too big of a crowd here and the restaurant has a lot of space. This would be a good option when you're in Pacific Commons for lunch/dinner and the other restaurants are too crowded.
(4)
Levina M.

The boyfriend and I were craving spicy do what better place to go than to spicy town right? This place has by far the best Dan Dan noodles I've had around the area. Also, the spicy fish soup? (I actually don't know what it's called) but it was amazing none the less. The ambiance is nice and quiet. Definitely will return.
(4)
Stella Y.

We waited for a long time while there was an empty table next to us and that ended up to be the table were we were seated! The food came super slowly and cold (wonder how long did it stay on the counter...). Food was nothing special. Not worth coming back! My husband told me the place was really dirty on the way to the restrooms, which really makes you wonder how clean is the areas that we don't see, like the kitchen!
(1)
George F.

It's been at least a year since we have been to Spicy Town. When this place first opened I used to come often for good Szechuan food. But with the all of the new places opening up Spicy Town has a lot of competition now. We arrived late last night about 9:10 pm and were the last table to be served. Most of the other tables were having Hot Pot. The staff was sparse and the waitress to us to seat ourselves. So we grabbed a menu and booth. The menu has changed with some of the more popular items still there but added some new items. We ordered the following: Pork rib winter melon soup 4/5 stars the soup came out in a clay pot and had plenty of ribs and melon the soup was flavorful. Dan Dan Noodles 5/5 stars this is the go to item on the menu. One of the best dan dan noodles in the Bay Area but if can not take the spice ask for the sauce on the side. Cumin Beef 4/5 stars Nice portions spicy cumin flavor. Cabbage and smoked pork 4/5 stars comes in a heated dish very little pork lots of cabbage the chaffing dish keeps the dish HOT Parking in the center is good. Service is the same as before not so good, but you come here for the food. The food comes out fast but the restaurant is always under staffed. The best thing is to order and all of your needs once because it's hard to get a hold of anyone after all your food comes.
(4)
Sam S.

A friend from out of town came and he wanted to treat me and my kids to a nice dinner. We originally planned on a different hot pot place but we wanted to try a new place... Spicy Town. Oh my!!! Poor service. Poor food. Poor staff... Poor in general... Worst of all too expensive for way the way they treat you. Don't go. Save your money.
(1)
Sean C.

My kind of town. Fire & Brimstone Chinese food, especially if you like Chili Chicken -- the best. Black Bean Chicken a great focal safe dish to start with. Many other rare menu items as well like congee, but I like the Udon Noodle Soup with Prawns even better. Service is a tad clumsy, made up of clumsy all-thumbs male waiters, but they strive to please -- they'll nearly run for you. Comfortable, family-style venue for families with sophisticated palettes. But if "Spicy Town" lacks popularity, perhaps it's because the Cantonese population of the area doesn't hunger for the spicier Szechuan style dishes. The Cantonese like their food safe and bland. #questforpeace
(4)
Christine C.

Awesome Sichuan food!! One of the best in the bay area! We came here with a big group and ordered a lot of stuff. Almost all of them are decent. Their service is pretty poor but with such food who still cares about service ;)
(5)
Nick T.

I LOVE this place. It's a real treat for me to go here and have hot-pot. But I have to say, this isn't for everyone. 1) If you're not Chinese, expect people to look at you funny the first couple times 2) If you're not good at spicy stuff, be careful. 3) Get hot pot if you're there with friends. You may experience a little animosity if you're not Chinese, but stick with it. I'm a white guy myself, and most of my friends are white too. We go pretty often, and all the employees know us. If you love this place as much as I do, you won't need encouragement, but I can say a couple things about my experience. There were times when they would make it really spicy, trying to make it less fun (we just liked it more). There were other times when
(4)
Fiona X.

The food here reminded me of my hometown food. They are really good.
(5)
Jovi C.

** REVIEW EDITED 10.9.09 ** After last night's visit to Spicy Town, I had to edit my review and change my rating to one star. If I could, i would give this place no stars. Like I said previously, the service here is lackluster. But last night was literally a shining example of how NOT to treat your customers. The place is called Spicy Town -- so why is it that I had to ask for water FIVE times before it was brought out? There were three tables and three waiters -- so it wasn't a customer to wait staff issue. Second, the food quality has gone way, way, way down. The food was extremely oily and not as good as it used to be. What ended up being the kicker is that I had to get up three times to hunt down our waitress, who decided that keeping her back to her customers so she could continue to chat it up with the other wait staff was more important. When I asked for things, like, a bottle of soy sauce, she gave me a dirty look, pointed down at a dipping sauce and then said, 'you already have.' Okayyyy, thank you, but that's not what I want. There's extra stuff in there, and I just want some damn soy sauce. I am really disgusted with their service and food. They've lost customers for life. I highly suggest you not patronize this place. There's much better restaurants where you can spend your money.
(1)
Eric W.

Come on, everyone. Sing along with me! "Gotta make a move to the town that's right for me!" Dun dun dun DUN DUN, dun dun DUN DUN DUN! So, it was my day off, and I anxiously rolled down here with my mom after a shopping session at Costco next door, skipping and humming in glee to see that the highly anticipated Spicy Town had finally opened its doors to the paying public. Once seated, we were impressed by the industrialized pseudo Ming Dynasty fusion decor, as well as with the high tech hot pot tables. However, the fact that the place was 1/7 capacity at prime lunch hour should have told us the story. From that point on, we were both singing a different tune. Spicy Town serves up a variety of "Szechaun" (very loosely defined) dishes, with the option for the aforementioned hot pot, but we were just looking for something quick and simple... or so we thought. Mom ordered a mixed seafood and meat "mien sien" ($6.50), which is like a sukiyaki type concoction served in a hot bowl. I chose something off the lunch menu that sounded interesting, a lamb and yam riceplate ($8.95). So, we just sat and mingled, chit chatted for a bit and then we realized... literally 30 minutes had passed us by... and nothing to show for! At long last, my lamb and yam dish finally arrived. The combo consists of the entree, a bowl of rice, a cup of soup, and some complementary spicy ground meat with vegetables. The first thing I sampled was the ground meat. Not bad! Then, I went for the soup. Although it was indeed quite tasty, it was ICE COLD. The lamb and yam was decent, but not spectacular, and suffered from a serious case of "the pieces on top are always bigger than the bottom-itis." By the time I got halfway down the steamer (it's served in a dim sum-esque bamboo steamer), the bits were literally 1/4 the size of the initial ones. Speaking of which, you are probably wondering by now how my mom's mien sien was like, right? Well, by this time, still NO SIGHT OF IT. After a few more minutes, the waitress finally dropped by to mention that they actually did serve our dish... to the wrong table! Seriously though. There were only three parties in the house. How hard is that to screw up?! So, another ten minutes pass for them to cook up a new bowl, and when it finally came, thank the lucky stars that it actually tasted pretty darn good. That being said, it could have been the best meal of our lives, and it still would not have made up for the horrendous wait time (I am led to believe that there is only one chef in the entire kitchen). With so few patrons in attendance, and still such a delay, I'd hate to see what it would be like with a full house! Worst of all, and this is something I have never witnessed before in a restaurant on United States soil - NO NAPKINS. We had to flag down a waitress, and she looked shocked at the notion that we would even ask. When she finally did bring some over, unlike the stack fatter than the Benjamins in my wallet most restaurants would give, we only received a grand total of TWO. I know that in China, many establishments do not give paper napkins, but welcome to the United States. That type of nonsense won't fly here. In short, despite the low rating, I am a forgiving soul, so I'm still not ready to say that I'm totally not down with Spicy Town just yet. I realize that this is only the THIRD day of operation, and the management is still ironing out the kinks. Heck, there was even some construction still going on in some spots. The staff was very apologetic, and I could tell they genuinely felt bad for the screw up. Perhaps I shall return again for some hot pot action to better gauge what Spicy Town is all about. Hopefully, they can get their act together, and bump the score up to at least a four. The small crowd was a bit disappointing, but I shouldn't hold it against them, since I assume most people don't even realize the place is even open. So, everyone, let's help spread the word, and "Talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it!!!"
(2)
Deanne M.

Alluring because of the name. Spicy beef soup proved spicy but disappointing overall. If you can overlook a bowl of grease then you might like this. Was recommended to me by the waiter who understood only that wanted ,"spicy". Wish I could rewind.
(1)
Stephanie J.

I like this place for these follow reasons: 1) I love how they accompany every food with a picture, easy to order. 2) for the most part I like the taste of their food... in my opinion... very yummy! but I dislike this place because 1) bad service 2) food is more expensive compare to a normal chinese restaurant 3) food is very oily!! VERYYYYYYYYYY! yummy but oily!
(3)
Nikki C.

I love spicy food so I was very anxious to try Spicy Town. My BF and I dined here for lunch and they weren't busy. We were seated right away and they took our order w/in minutes of being seated. So far a good experience... We ordered Tofu & Vegetable Soup, Shrimp Fried Rice, Pot Stickers (appetizer), and Szechuan Beef Stew (main dish). The main dish came out first, then the appetizer... over 1/2 an hour later and after complaining to a waiter, waitress and hostess our soup arrived. 10-15 mins later, the fried rice arrived. I also asked to have the main dish heated twice before a waitress finally took it to the kitchen to heat it. We were not impressed w/the food and definitely disappointed with the customer service, or lack thereof. Overall a bad experience and we don't plan on dining here again. There were also other customers who had trouble flagging down a waiter. The only time they were quick on serving anything was when the bill came. Spicy Town is an upscale Chinese restaurant with very poor service and mediocre food.
(1)
S. C.

FOOD: 3 stars Service: -2 stars Let's start off real - you don't go to Chinese restaurants for their service. You go to fulfill a craving. A very specific craving of flavor, and what better way than to add spice to the usual salty/sweet/sour, yes? Unfortunately, the food here is incredibly oily and overpriced. O-squared. The SERVICE is the WORST part of it by far :[ I am definitely not picky when it comes to service. As aforementioned, I don't go expecting 5-star service. I went to meet up 2 gfs who'd already been there for 30 minutes. They warned me that service was slow. True to their words, I had to flag someone down after 15 minutes of absolutely NOBODY coming by. Granted, it was 9pm, post-dinner rush. If service is going to stop, then shut the whole place down. Our waitress (if you can call her that, she only came by to drop off the bill) was incredibly rude. She told us the cash register was closing so we needed to pay. That's reasonable. As we tried to get our cash/cards out, she stood there, arms crossed. I coolly asked her to give us one minute. She left. For 20 seconds (if that). Ok, we give her cash and then one CC. Not bad for a group of 20-year olds, yes? She is confused... I explain what to do and she leaves. She comes back, my friend tips her with $10 cash despite the "waitress'" cold attitude. The lady comes back with a sneer and snidely asks, " You know we didn't charge you for tip, right?" My friend replies that she did in fact put $10 cash. As the "waitress" walks away, my friend checks again only to realize the $10 bill dropped to the floor. Our mistake. We call her back to the table to give it to her and she grabs the check and does a "scoff-thing." Really? This place has such bad service that regardless of how good the food MAY have been (it wasn't), I would never go back. *BTW: this is one of those places where it MAY be hit or miss depending on what server you get, but I definitely have a sneaking suspicion that had I gone with my parents... she would have acted different entirely.
(1)
Victor C.

Lunch Review Contrary to what a number of people stated, we had no problem with the service when we went. Perhaps it was because we went on Dec 31, and it wasn't as busy as a typical workday, but the service was good for us. The waiter was quite pleasant and helped us picking out dishes - he even told us not to order anymore (party of 4) because he knew we'd ordered enough food. We got: A mini hot pot Beef noodle soup (mild) Kung Pao Chicken (mild) forgot what the 4th dish was SPICY was the word of the day... the beef noodle soup is a solid extra spicy at any other restaurant -- but a mild here. The kung pao chicken was good -- a little greasier than I'd prefer. The hot pot was quite filling. A similar sized hot pot down the freeway at Cafe Ophelia costs about twice as much as it does here, and seeing how I'm not all that into Cafe Ophelia, I'd much rather get it here. The next time I feel like destroying my GI tract, I'll be back.
(4)
May T.

HORRIBLE SERVICE. I'm assuming the waitress who works there is the owner's daughter because no employees will be THIS RUDE to their customers.
(1)
Serena H.

Ok, last week, I went to this place again, for a birthday party. This was my second time. The first time I was here was long time ago when the business just opened. Without anyone's recommendation I decided to give this new place a try, besides, I kind like spicy food. Instead hotpot, we ordered dishes. So, the impression: average food, ok service, and a very over priced check. So for myself, I wouldn't come to this place again, coz I can easily find a much better substitute with a check that I'm willing to pay. Last week, we went as a party of 11 for hotpot buffet. For 11 of us, we had one table with 2 pots, that's crowded already. Imagine how hungry we were when we need to wait 30 minutes for the pots to boil, and 10 to 15 min every time we put food in the there, besides the food we ordered came very slowly. Since we had so many people we need to constantly order food, and turned out the service was really bad. Every time we order 5 beef or lamb, there were only 2 came, and they said they combined the orders...@_@ but I assume should be much more than that. When it's time for the cake, we asked if they have lighter we can borrow, they said "no", and one of my friends had to go into the kitchen to ask for it himself! @_@ Anyway, it took us 3 hrs to finish the dinner. I would never come here again, and can't imagine who would!
(1)
Matthias K.

Good Chongqing Hotpot in modern decor. Will definitely do it again.
(4)
Wendy T.

What I hate: SERVICE is slooow! I have to ask them 3 times to get rice. What I like: Their mu shu beef loaded with g onion and cilantro rolled in a wrapper (appetizer), non spicy fish with tofu and preserved veg, Fry shrimp with salted egg yolk (Da BOMB!). Next time, I would like to try their 5 spice lamb (big portion), and someting that have the upside down glass of oil in the middle dish, and Dan dan mien.
(4)
Cynthia C.

First things first, who the heck named this place SPICY TOWN?!?! Terrible name. I guess it's to the point and easy to remember. Interior was espresso colored wood and reds. I liked the wall barrier between the restaurant filtering out stares and loud conversation. Service is pretty polite and gracious seeing as it still is a Chinese establishment. Prices are a little high for a lunch place, about $10 a person including tax and tip. But they do claim they are an upscale restaurant. LOVED the tea, dried mums and herbs float in a huge clear coffee pot. There are three levels of spiciness. We picked the second. Ordered: A14: Black & white woodear, light vinegar taste, good. C4: Enoki mushroom beef roll in hot & sour broth, very good, I normally do not like h&s, but this one was mild. F5: Fish filet boiled in house special spicy sauce w/bean sprout, spicy, not to oily, loads of fish. Chicken in a spicy sauce and black beans w/rice noodles. Very good. The hiccups: No serving spoon for one of the dishes. No soup bowl for the hot pot. Lunch for TWO on the dinner menu totaled $52, we pretty much finished everything, but we weren't grotesquely full. The presentation and the food were very good. The decor impressive. I would definitely come back here to enjoy a leisurely meal, maybe not a lunch break.
(4)
Eric S.

This gets 2 stars from me: 1 star for nice decor, 1 star for unique and OK food. No star for terrible service (with an attitude). In fact I take two stars off. No star for food that is somewhat over priced. Since my main gripe is service, I should perhaps elaborate. First of all, waiters are hard to come by. It was not busy and 3-4 tables and about 3 waiters. Most of the time, I don't see them. People in the neighboring table kept looking for people to get some thing. Eventually they gave up. I asked for two extra spoons because the stuff we ordered was so damn slippery even for a native Chinese eater. I was "challenged" - "was there a spoon there already?" By that he meant the serving spoon. I said I needed extra and he bought one. That is attitude, capital A. The other table complained that the soup was sour (meaning it tasted something was bad). Another waiter entered into a brief debate and said all the soup base was the same (after he tasted and took what looked to me essentially untouched dish). He eventually took the charge off. There are choices out there. I don't need go here to endure their attitude and dealt with their absence. Not going there any more and I will recommend the same to all my friends.
(2)
Mandy L.

Best Spicy food in bay area. No other place can compete! Super delicious
(5)
Christine A.

The food was decent. Can't go wrong with their fried rice. My friend ordered the lamb which was rather greasy. It came in a slatted-wooden container so the grease would flow out. It wasn't bad, but I kept mistaking these big flat bones for pieces of meat as they looked more appetizing than the lamb itself. My friend really liked it, so maybe it just wasn't for me. I ordered this shrimp dish which was excellent. My friend practically polished it off in under 5 minutes. We had more than enough to eat and plenty of leftovers which was mostly fried rice and my friend's lamb. Not a bad place at all.
(3)
Tim L.

Price - 3 Food - 2 Service - 1 Their Schezuan dishes were more numbing than flavor which is always a negative. Price of food does not go into ingredients based on our shrimp dish that had tiny shrimp. All was bearable until we ordered a veggie dish to offset the spicy food. The ong choy dish was flavorless with a pool of oil at the bottom of the dish. Many reviews knock this place on service and I would have to agree with their observation. Case in point was when I had to make way for a waiter while on my way to the restroom. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Really wish the money was spent at Food Talk Cafe a couple shops down afterwards.
(2)
Chloe K.

I went here with a group of people last week for lunch. They have good selections of food. They even have a lunch special where you choose three items in the menu and it comes with a cup of soup and rice for only $7.95. In my case, i chose the fish with black bean sauce. It was a very taste dish and i finished the fish fillet and left all the extra onions and bell peppers on the place. The soup was also tasty. Although, i felt that it has too much msg. I immediately had a migraine after eating. I guess, i cant have too much of it. I have to drink a lot of tea and water after eating. I am giving it 3 stars because of the msg and too much onions and bell peppers; and not to mention the unfriendly service of the waitress (please smile the next time). I will still go to this place next time because i want to try their hot pot during dinner time.
(3)
Gabe A.

I have eaten here a few times with the family. The food has always been good. My wife orders in Chinese and tells them how spicey we would like things. Ok so why only 2 stars? The service here is just BAD. They have made mistakes on our order even when orderd in Chinese. You will also find it hard to get your water reffiled or even to order a second beer, I dont understand this because the mark up on beer is a real money maker for the resturant. Some folks have said the food was oily, having been to china I think it is traditional for this type of food. If only Management could work on service this place would be top notch.
(2)
Tania N.

One extra star than my last post back in 2010. I gave it 4 stars before for their service being not that great. but i got immuned to their bad service because of their awesome food. I have been to this place many times since then and i Lovee this place!! Spicy red chilli chicken(w/o bones) is a must try. Spicy beef skewers are delicious. Everything we tried here are Ah-mazing! We took several of our friends back to this place, they all loved the food. If you love spicy food you will Love love love Spicy town!
(5)
Hari D.

Last time we ordered, things tasted OK, but had a lot of oil; so this time when I placed order, I told at least 3 times to put less oil and then we got oil enough for oil bath, here you go: We got TO GO: braised chicken with bamboo shoots, chow men and tarro roll from here. I told her at least 3 times to put less oil; still the dish had 1/2 inch of oil layer. We spooned out a lot of top layer, still couldn't take out all. Then tried to eat the dish, it was so oily that we had to throw it. Never going there again. I told her 3 times while placing the order to put less oil and still so much of oil? Anyone should go there only if they want to take an oil bath. Also, a note, they had charged me more than the TO GO menu in every dish at least 1 or 2 dollars more. Please check prices.
(1)
Lana N.

If you like spicy food this place is for you. The dishes are good its not bad, but why the 2 stars???? The SERVICE is HORRIBLE!!! We waited 15 min to get someone to help us with the menu. The hotpot came out but the food didnt come out the right times, so we were filled on meat before the noodles and veggies came! The waitress kept on looking at us, thinking we were sharing the hot pot with those who didnt order it I felt very uncomfortable and the soup was not that good. I rather go to hotpot city and get anything I want when I wanted rather than order by a menu and get charged if we dont finish all of it!! how much do you know is enough when its not listed on the menu???!!! never again
(2)
Wendy M.

For those who can't handle spicy food. BEWARE! I had dinner here one night with my sisters and we were in for a surprise. Me, being the weakest spicy intake link of my siblings couldn't quite handle the spicyness, while my other sister who usually eats the spicyest foods out of the three of us, was also having a bit of trouble. The food was good and our waiter was very nice. He refilled my tea a lot (since I needed to save my burning tongue), and checked in on us often. One point, we decided to pick out most of the chili peppers and noticed that it filled an entire plate! I'll definetely be coming back here. Once I've raised my tolerance for spicy food :)
(3)
Mike S.

I read thru all the reviews for Spicy Town and the rating seems to be mixed. Overall, as it has been my experience as well is that their service is not good, but their food for someone who like spicy food is great. I did see a couple people mention the numbing effect from some of their dishes, which is caused by the Sichuan peppercorns also known as pickling ash. Also to note is that their dishes are very greasy, which is why when I was in Cali I only limited myself to eat there once a week :-) Bottom line, their service = 2 stars, food=5 stars. For someone who is new to the spicy Sichuan cusine, there are 2 dishes I would recommand that is not too spicy or use crazy ingredients like pig ears. Consider the following an introduction into this fine cusine: 1. Pork A La Sichuan: tender pork slivers in a sweet, salty and spicy sauce 2. Kung Pao chicken: pretty similar to our standard Chinese Kung Pao Chicken take out, chicken breast stir fried in a sweet and spicy sauce. I do think it is one of the best Kung Pao chicken I've had anywhere in terms of flavor and texture I hope you will like the two dishes above and start to explore other dishes and enjoy one of the most flavorful cuisine in China: Sichuan.
(4)
Jessie H.

Well, on a good note, they have an extensive menu. And I'm sure they definitely cook authentic szechuan food. So why just 2 stars? Let's just say I learned the hard way from ordering just about everything hot. And by hot, I mean, ridiculously fire in my mouth please give me some milk hot. (they really live up to their name of spicy town). I mean, "ma-la" is good, but really, it's on everything. And when it's on everything, it's not pretty leaving the body.
(2)
Dopysumo H.

Weak!!! Service is horrible, some of the food we order doesn't have any flavor the only flavor you'll taste is the oil spice.
(1)
Patricia N.

Seriously, RUDE service! The food was alright, I've had better, but they only get 2 stars because of their appalling service. First off, my friends and I did not get a warm greeting from the hostess. Second, when my friends and I were ordering, our waitress flat out said "NO" when my friend ordered her dish. Something about how it'll take too long to make and that my friend should get another dish (which was more expensive and did not look as appetizing). Overall, the food was mediocre and the service was horrible.
(2)
Kiam C.

I lived in Sichuan for a few years. Not many people in N. America know it, but the Sichuan food you normally get here is a pale shadow of what the real stuff is. What you get here is Cantonese food with a few chilli peppers thrown in. It is akin to making macaroni and cheese, adding some soy sauce to it, and claiming that makes it Chinese food. I am happy to say that, based on my first visit, Spicy Town is authentic Sichuan food. This would be an acquired taste for most, as real Sichuan food uses a LOT of oil, chilli peppers and a sort of numbing peppercorn called huajiao. The amount of oil used can sometimes seem scary, but when I was in Sichuan, I found that there were very few overweight people, and Sichuanese love to eat. And the amount of chilli peppers used is such that you often have to go digging among a mound of peppers to look for meat or vegetables. This sounds scarily spicy, and it *is* quite spicy, but not as bad you might think. Overall, if you get used to real Sichuan food, you get addicted to it. It is totally unlike any other cuisine, and is a really original invention in the culinary arts. I've read a lot of reviewers complaining about bad service. I didn't find any problems, but maybe I was lucky. The fact that the waiter was chatting loudly in the back suggests that service is a probably lax. For this, and the fact that the paper towels had gotten wrinkled from having wet cups put over them, I give them 4 stars.
(4)
Uland L.

Came here with some of my co-workers for lunch on a weekday. The restaurant is large and has a well decorated interior. We ordered several of the cold spicy sides and several of the main dishes. We had a party of five. The cold sides were definitely more refreshing while the main dishes were slightly oily and very heavy. The reason for the 1-star? Service is extremely slow, and the food took at least 40 minutes before being served. Sadly, there was only 2 or 3 other tables. After the first 30 minutes I had to get out of my seat and walk into the kitchen and tell the waiter to check the food. Twice. And even once the first dish arrived I had to remind the waiter twice to give us rice, once at the table then 5-minutes later get up and walk into the kitchen to find the waiter (I don't know if the lone chef is also the lone waiter or what). The food deserves 2 to 3 stars, and although the wait staff were nice about their forgetfulness, they were just not very 'efficient'. What should have been an about 1-hour lunch, turned into a 2.5-hour fiasco of teaching the wait staff how to properly serve their customers. Unfortunately, myself and my co-workers don't have the time to go back.
(1)
sherry x.

We came here because the neighboring restaurant, Asian Pearl is too crowded, but I had to admit, it's a nice surprise. I like spicy food, but cannot handle too spicy stuff. This place matches what I like. The food quantity and quality are both pretty decent. We had 3 people, we ordered 3 dishes plus a appetizer, way too much for us, we ended up packing 1/3 back home. I really like the tea-tree mushroom pot, very tasty! It's like a vegetarian dish to me at first, but later I found some small chunk of smoked pork in it. That's maybe one reason the dish come out with such great flavor. Definitely not too spicy, just a hint of spicy flavor. I also liked the water boiled fish, as long as you don't eat the pepper, it's not too spicy :). But highly recommend you order enough rice, these dishes just go great with the rice. The bill came up to $50 without tip, not too bad. we will definitely come visit again.
(4)
Lyn C.

Should have gotten the hot pot. Walked in unaware of the option of even having a hot pot and ordered some dishes. I looked through the menu and found it interesting that they had adventurous food such as pig intestine and frog. Then I saw that they served pigeon and I was repulsed. Rice was $1 per person for a little tiny bowl and no free refills. Everyone around us had hot pots and I was envious.
(2)
Bel L.

I"ve been here many many times and I actually like their food a lot, especially the beef noodle soup, their appetizers, and the steamed rice on pork with green peas. But the reason why I only put 2 stars is because their service really sucks! The manager had a bad attitude the last time we went and I even brought my family and friends with me (party of 12). I had told them so many great things about this, but after the interactions with the servers and manager, their perception of this restaurant was tainted. Anyway, if you want good food but bad service, this is a place to go.
(2)
Melody Y.

Sichuan style food. We ordered two dishes, which came out to be around $20. Okay price. They gave a lot of food, but the service was extremely slow. We ordered it to take out, and we had to wait 20-30mins at least. 4.5 star for food 1 star for service
(3)
phoenix f.

After not going to this place for almost a year. I finally decided to give this place another try to see if they have changed the staff yet. And yes, finally they did. The food is good as before. The new staff is much faster and friendier too. Since there staff change, I been there couple times already. I also tried their hotpot. Monday thru Thurs they have $18.99 all you can order hotpot. For hotpot they are still pretty slow with the items coming out. But the quality of their soup base and fish balls are very good. Someof their shrimp balls, meat balls are even hand made. Lamb are top quality lamb too.
(4)
Wilson C.

This review is from someone who doesn't eat at a lot of hot pot places and honestly besides hot pot city, this is probably the only other hot pot place I've been to in a long time. The food was pretty fresh so that's definitely a plus. We got a mixture of spicy and non spicy broth and the non spicy was pretty bland but the spicy came out looking like chili paste. They filtered the spicy side with more broth for us because I don't like it that spicy and it was decent . I didn't find the broth particularly good but I don't have anything to compare it to. I've read that other places also charge you 3 dollars a person for the broth so I guess that's standard. I believe it was 3, but I'm not 100% sure. Don't hold me to that. The place itself is nicely decorated and they have some rooms you can have some privacy in. The tea was actually quite good but I'm not sure what type it is. I've read that some people didn't like the service, but I felt the manager was fine. Overall the place is more of a 3.5 stars, but because I haven't gone back, nor do I feel the desire to go back, I'll give it a 3 instead of 4.
(3)
Allan H.

I would give this place a higher rating if the price was more reasonable and if the food was less oily. If I were you I would just skip the hot pot which is less than mediocre and go directly to try the other dishes. The Spicy beef, the spare ribs, the beef tendons, the fried rice are all pretty decent. The spicy beef noodle soup is pretty good though. I do not think I would make specific plans to come here again.
(3)
Michelle P.

I'm not that familiar with Sichuan cuisine so bear with me.. I came here with my boss and I ordered the green beans with minced pork over rice. I thought this was pretty tasty. They are generous with the salt. It was just a notch under being overwhelming. She got the spicy noodles. I thought my dish was pretty good but I'm not prepared to give this place 4 stars because I haven't eaten anything else. I will have to write an update when/if I return. Otherwise, try this place out!
(3)
Charlie C.

After a bad review (2 - 3 star, I think ..), we went back to Spicy Town last night. Menu has changed, and the food was incredibly good. Because it wasn't crowded (Sat night??), the service was great as well (for Chinese restaurants). I love the authenticity of the food (Spicy!!), and the variety of authenticity. My son (very Americanized) had a very limited selection, so it's a bit of a problem for him. But if you like spicy, authentic Sichuan food, it's hard to find another one equal in the Bay Area
(5)
Shanna W.

food is overpriced, taste is just OK, the service is horrendous, and the worst part is that they automatically add 15% tip on top of your bill despite your discontent with the service. The server we had was cold, ignorant, and "promoted" us to order the most expensive and more amount than we could handle. He kept on saying what your ordered are small dishes and it's not enough for the 5 of us. When the dishes arrived they were certainly not small dishes. Everything was salty and greasy, we all felt sick afterwards and had problems with our stomach. I would never go back there again nor recommend this place to anyone.
(1)
John A.

Out of the six dishes we ordered, four were so drenched in oil to be barely edible.
(2)
F' the Polic E.

Head on 880, exit on Auto Mall and it's by the Costco...well, one street over... Or 680 exit Durham and head to 880 side when it becomes AutoMall. It's better than the hotpot place at the Asian side of McCarthy Ranch...I hate that place. Why do you cook on aluminum foil? Aluminum foil is used to freebase crack......idiots. We went on Saturday, not bad, the 2 appetizers we got was the Spicy chicken and beef. i don't know what they put in the spicy chicken thing, but my tongue lost all ability to taste within a minute of eating it. Water, the tea they provide, and some soup base brought it back. i will say NO TO THAT PLATE from now on. I tried it later in the night again (to clean up the plate) and it happened again. Why have you forsaken me my short-term memory? We got the hot and spicy (hot and oily - Jo Ma and Win, suck it) and the regular soup base (excellent choice Dave). The different selections of crap to throw into the pot was awesome. For the record, they have a split pot so you can have 2 separate bases in one...pretty cool IMO. they are able to add hot water, but not more soup base since you pay for the pot. Watch out when dropping crap into the pots, it splashes. TIP OF THE DAY: Drop in crap AWAY from yourself, preferably towards someone to splash them in hot oily soup base,. I BURN YOU JUDY!!!!! That's what you get for making my car smell like beer. Stupid hand lotion. The table hot plates have dials in the corners to control the heat, we had a 2 hotplate table. Pricing wasn't too bad, but the sauce dish they provided had way too much damn oil, hot and spicy base, too much damn oil, and they spoke mandarin. i speak the dying language Cantonese and to me, Mandarin just sounds like F-ed up Cantonese. Homie-G there didn't even understand English when we asked him about crap on the checkoff menu. i think he thought we were retarded. THE FEELING IS MUTUAL BUDDY, just bring me my food....I'm starving. Anyways, overall it is a pretty nice place to hotpot...they come over and ask if we need anything. We even asked for extra sets of chopsticks to handle the raw meat which they graciously provided. It was fun, go to hotpot...just remember my warning about the spicy chicken plate...and they have other dishes too, but it's all about boiling crap in the pot. EDIT: (12/05/08) Just went back, girl waitress was a...well...not nice. I think we ate too much again. Still gotta try a hot Pot place in milpitas were, NOT HOT POT CITY HATE THAT PLACE!
(3)
Michael C.

This is without a doubt some of the worst food that I have ever attempted to consume. You might look at the menu and think, "Hey! What about that braised pork, delicately placed atop a bed of peas? It looks so delectable!" Do NOT order this, especially; this mushy, salty, and gelatinous bacon will make you sick. And if not, you may have a future as a guest host on Bizarre Foods because you can probably eat damn near anything. With all the positive reviews of this place, I really don't know what to say. I would be willing to return here if and only if I were either a) triple-dog dared, or b) accompanied by someone with knowledge of the secret winks and handshakes required to be served an acceptable meal here. But until then, even the very thought of Spicy Town will continue to make me sick to my stomach.
(1)
jeniffer Y.

I dont have a very high tolerance for spicy food, but this restaurant on the strip being the only one not on the verge of closing at 9p, spicy town it is! We had two plates- 1) the spicy scallop stir fry and 2) tender beef boiled in their hot and spicy sauce I loved the spicy scallop stir fry because it was full of garlic and wasn't that spicy. The tender beef soup was good but so spicy! It was the spicy that made me cry and wonder how my ass would feel like later! My friend really loved it, and i was only able to take a couple bited with lots and lots of rice and ice water! I know, i know, why eat at spicy town if you dont like spicy food? It's not that i dont, i just have a low tolerance for it. I can handle spicy food but at a level where its bearable. As good as it already was, if the tender beef soup was a TAD, a TAD bit less spicier i would have been swimming in it and would have been able to eat a lot more. The serving was very large, good enough to feed 4 people rather than just my friend and I. The service was good, always someone walking around checking on everyone's ice water, which is needed at this place!
(4)
Jean Z.

Chinese immigrants in the US all know that when it comes to Chinese cuisine, Mainland China is about at least one decade ahead of the US. Chinese restaurant in the US usually means minimum interior design, harsh lighting, dirty floors, the same menu that look roughly the same going from restaurant to restaurant. (i'm not talking about shanghai1930 or P. F. Chang, cuz they are made for the non-chinese, or at least people who don't know what's good and real Chinese food) Occasionally you can find a restaurant that's good at doing certain dish that resembles the authentic fare you used to have in the motherland. Those occasions are rare and far apart. While in China, the restaurants are glamorous, and new dishes come out all the time, they have good presentation, and there are constantly new trend emerges, and new restaurants open to replace the old. Nothing stays still, everything is exciting. When i stepped into Spicy Town and looked at their menu for the first time while waiting in the mob of hungry customers ahead of me, I suddenly realized that we are finally catching up with the motherland, at least in terms of Chinese restaurant. This place is GOOD. and the food is SPICY. Okay i hear the complaint from other reviewers about the slowness when they serve dishes. But come on, it is in Fremont, ;) We drove close to 50 miles to eat real Chinese food, that is on par with those eaten by Chinese in mainland. I will forgive their service shortcomings and concentrating on enjoying the food. Cuz if i want the same thing elsewhere, it means a 2k airfare. I know the gas is expensive, but i do plan to drive down here often to remind myself how good SiChuan food really is! YUM Update (11/24/2008): We went back to Spicy Town a couple of more times during the summer and found some of the dishes not always consistent. After we found the newly changed hand Z&Y in the city, we haven't been back. Take one star down cuz Z&Y is much better, so the 5-star standard in the bay area has just gone up!
(4)

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Address : 43683 Boscell Rd
Fremont, CA, 94538
Phone (510) 687-9998
Click To Get Directions

Opening Hours

Mon :11:00 am - 2:00pm

Specialities

Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Dinner
Parking : Private Lot
Bike Parking : Yes
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Average
Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : No
Has TV : No
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : No

Claim Restaurant

Chinese Cuisine

The popularity of Chinese food in America can be adjudicated by the appearance of China Town in many major cities in the United State of America. The popular trend of ordering or opting for Chinese take away food isn't unknown in America. Chinese take away food comes to rescue when you're too tired from work or too exhausted to cook. No one can resist the temptation of eating spicy noodles, shrimp, chicken, beef or pork cooked in the sweet and spicy sauce. The cooking method of authentic Chinese food is a lot different compared to what is served in America.

Generally, Chinese use dark meat small bones and organs to cook dishes but this changes when you are eating American-Chinese fusion food prepared using white boneless meat cooked with broccoli, carrots and onions. Back in China, the food is less spicy and oily as they favor steaming and braising method for cooking the most popular dishes. So, if you have a taste for authentic Chinese food, then try finding a real Chinese restaurant in the city. You can also try the most popular fusion Chinese food like Pecking Duck, Chicken Feet, Hot Pot, Shrimp Dumpling Soup, Mapo Tofu, Wontons, Chop Suey, Egg Rolls and not to forget Fortune Cookies.

There are not many restaurants in America serving authentic Chinese food. A little research on Restaurant Listings directory can help you locate the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Chinese cuisine is continuously evolving, and you can find a variety of dishes categorized as the food for lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, vegan, vegetarian, and diabetic friendly. So, if you have a group of friends with different taste patterns, save the hassle and visit the nearest Chinese restaurant in your city.

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Spicy Town

43683 Boscell Rd, Fremont, CA, 94538

Spicy Town Menu

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