5-Taste Kitchen

The food (hot spice dipping) here tastes really good and authentic. But there are not many guests and it is under rated in Unilocal.I think it’s because that most none-​Chinese do not really understand what is hoot spicy dipping, which can be either a vegetable meat spicy soup or vegetables/​meat cooked in spicy soup and eating with dipping sauce. Sometimes, we just need to be a little adventurous in hunting for good food.
The milk tea here is also very good too.

This place unfortunately didn’t seem to attract many customers aside from those accidentally opening the door. I think part of it is because one can’t easily see if customers are inside and eating, so it’s hard to tell if it’s really open or if enough people thought the food was worth trying.
That said, I admit I was a little confused by the menu until I read the Chinese characters and realized what the place was. This place specializes in 麻辣烫，a spicy hot pot type of dish where you grab your own ingredients, place them in a basket and then have them boiled in a (usually spicy) broth. I loved this type of place when I lived in Shanghai, because you pay by the ingredient and aside from the broth you get only what you put into it.
For my first visit, though, I played it safe and ordered a lunch combo with 肉夹馍， which was translated to «Chinese Hamburger.» It included the Hot Spicy Dip, which is their hot pot type soup using ingredients of the cook’s choosing; in my case it was vermicelli, corn cob pieces, bok choy, whole shrimps, beef slices and fish meat balls. While the «Hamburger» side dish was a little small and the filling was not a flavor I was accustomed to (I ordered them differently in China), it was as greasy as I remembered it and the bread held up like it was supposed to. Overall, I enjoyed the soup’s mild spice level (I asked for this), and will come back again for the 麻辣烫 itself as well as the great service — the server didn’t even blink an eye when I asked for hot water to drink.
Now as to why it was four stars: I was with my brother and sister on this outing, and one of them found a (winged) ingredient in the soup. Why nothing was said to me until after we left is beyond me, but I’m guessing it was probably posted to social media instead because that’s the way some people roll. I’ll definitely go back, though.

Came here after seeing Boiling Point had a wait out the door. There was no one in here, but the menu looked interesting enough to try. Cool concept and many items to choose from. Very hip décor too.
Food came out fast (since we were the only ones there). Ordered the combo lunch. Soup had good flavor, but was a bit greasy. Tons of garlic… I didn’t mind it because I love garlic, but might be too much for others.
Sides we ordered weren’t very good… baby squid and duck wings. If you’ve had Chinese duck wings before, you know the usual flavor… these did not have that.
Might be back if I’m craving this kind of soup. Otherwise, there are better choices in this plaza.

Great service. I was overwhelmed when I found out about this place after complaining that the only thing around here to eat is McDonald’s and jack in the box. The combos are my fave

Went here after hearing there’s a 40 minute wait at Boiling Point. The menu took a bit to figure out but we were excited about the concept. The three of each ordered a combo including the standard soup.
The soup is decent but a bit bland and everything is too oily. The «hamburger» is served with a paper sleeve and ours was completely transparent. The waitress told me that it is supposed to be that greasy but I have my doubts.
For the price ($ 11 pp), this is not quite up to snuff.

People are nice and friendly but the food taste … It took me 30 mins there to get the food, not worth it.

All the other reviews basically sum up the place.
Pros:
Boba is decent, (lollicup is nextdoor though)
cute décor
many options
friendly service
Cons: (here it comes)
oily food
lacking seasoning
overpriced for what it is
combos are usually all you can order
may not appeal to newbie’s
meats were a little dry
food takes a while to come out
boom.

Went here a few months ago when the restaurant was still very new. I realized very quickly that it was a fluffy, more «gourmet» version of a very popular dish in China: Ma La Tang. I decided to give it a try anyway just to see if it was any good. Well, it wasn’t. Especially not for the price.
The soup base lacked serious flavor. It was wayyyy too bland, almost like water and it wasn’t spicy at all. I understand that prices in the states can’t compare to prices in China, but this place is way too expensive. The only affordable items are the combos that force you to make very limited choices.
Real Ma La Tang is no gourmet food. It’s dirt cheap, super delicious, will satisfy any spicy craving that you have and is found in hole in the wall type places (the good ones at least). You select as many things as you want and they are all on skewers– veggies, meats, noodles, etc. Then you bring what you have to the cook and wait to be amazed. Oh, and the average cost of this is 20 RMB, which is less than $ 4.00.
The only nice aspect about this place is the service. The food needs some serious work as do the prices. Customers are being ripped off big time.

A little disappointed in this place. Came here on a weekday and it wasn’t busy. They place is really cute so because of the set up so I was expecting really good food.
It’s all about combinations. You order your main entrée which is like some soup and you pick what you want inside the soup, you get a side of rice and another side.
I ordered a combo, so it came with soup, rice, and Chinese hamburger as the side. I was really disappointed. The soup didn’t taste that good, must be the broth flavor I don’t know and the Chinese hamburger was greasy as heck, as if they just dipped the whole burger in grease I couldn’t even finish it…
Two stars because the servers were nice and food presentation is cute but I don’t think i’ll ever come back here again after trying the food.
Moral of the story, never judge a place by its cuteness…

Cute place. It will be helpful to simplify their menu and ordering process. It takes the staff 5 minutes to describe the food and how their combo work. Either make them seafood or pork or beef combo for example.
The price is a bit high but the food overall is tasty. The duck wing is delicious. It’s good to know that they don’t use MSG.

3.5 stars.
I’m glad I looked at the reviews when I arrived (but not before) because I think it lowered my expectations so I wasn’t disappointed! If I had looked before, I may not have wanted to give this place a try, and I’m glad I did!
Their soups are reminiscent of hot pot, but you get your soup in a glass bowl and everything is already cooked for you. The easiest way to order is to get 1 of their combos, which comes with a soup (choose 3 protein, 3 veggies) + bowl of rice + appetizer + iced tea (black/​green). The combos are $ 10 – 11 so it’s pretty worth it if you’re wanting all that! We had 1 person at our table order the combo, and the rest of us ordered the soups alone (pay by ingredient), and we ordered some other appetizers that weren’t included in the combos.
4 stars for the soup– it doesn’t look that big, but it’s surprisingly filling. I got mild and it was pretty spicy! Not the soup, but all the fillings. The soup wasn’t too spicy to drink, weirdly enough. But the spiciness comes from chili oil I think ’cause there’s just like little oil drops everywhere in the soup. The soup itself was very strong in flavor, even though they have a «no MSG» sign… hm. Hehe just kidding, I trust ‘em.
The appetizers were okay– I liked the green onion pancakes the best. The beef roll («niu rou jüan bing) was too sweet and the hamburger was eehhhh. I didn’t like the hamburger. We also got 1lb of wings to go and they are yummy to snack on while watching TV or before dinner.
Overall, not bad. I don’t know if I’ll ever crave it or want to come back, but it’s not a bad option if you’re in the area and craving some soup and don’t want to pay for hot pot. For appetizers, I’d stick with their spicy marinated meats instead of the carby ones.

This place sucks and I’m mad at the 4 stars review. Seriously, this place is expensive and the food taste like ass.
Cons:
1) White pepper stored in cow salt shaker from daiso
2) Food took a long time to come out. For soup with veggies throw in, it shouldn’t take 20 minutes.
3) I had veggies in my soup that I didn’t ask for
4) I ordered cilantro for $ 0.90 and I got two leaves of cilantro
5) my fish cake slice is so thin, it’s transparent
6) the chinese hamburger has a 2 inch diameter for $ 3.95 and the bread tastes like cardboard
7) the soup is extremely salty, I can’t even drink it. Please don’t substitute msg with 5 times the weight in sodium. I rather have msg if that’s the case
8) free tofu pudding came in one of those glass lunch bento containers (with lid on!). Probably bought from daiso.
9) red bean from tofu pudding tastes like canned red bean. Probably purchased at ranch 99
10) check came in one of those wooden boxes you can buy at daiso. Seriously, did they have such a low start up budget that they needed to buy 80% of their equipment and supplies from their neighbor?
Pros:
1) the slow waitress was very nice.
2) nothing else.
Best dish I had there was the white rice with black vinegar.

Wow, it’s my firrrrst time to have such delicious pot-​stewed in CA! So excited! Someone will forget here but never will I XD. Btw, thx for the gud service XOXO

Delicious. Wasn’t what I expected. The ordering process maybe a bit complicated but it’s worth the effort. Let’s say I finished my bowl completely.

If you’re not used to this type of place, don’t be intimidated by the menu. It’s actually pretty simple and I think the food taste great and actually, kind of healthy.
Most people will order the combo, where you can get the soup (or non-​soup) pot and then select 3 meat dishes and 3 vege dishes (or mix and match any combination). I got pig intestines, lamb meat, fish tofu, tofu skin, spinach, and tofu (ok, so I like tofu stuff). You also add a side dish, such as wings, duck neck, or a Chinese bao bao (hamburger). Also, the spiciness level I got was «medium», but next time I will get «spicy». They even have insanely spicy (biantai lah)…which I’m too afraid to try. They say they don’t use any MSG, so don’t expect a ramen-​soup base type of soup… it does taste natural so it’s not as salty and MSG-​y. Because of this, it may taste slightly more bland than you expect, so you may want to get a spicier level if you like that. You can also add vinegar, if you want.
You don’t have to order the combo of you just want the stew… and it will be much cheaper. You just pay per the ingredient/​item you want in the stew. For example, if you just add 6 items to the stew, it could be anywhere from $ 5.40-$ 11…depending on how many meat items vs vege items you add.
The lamb meat was good and so was the pig intestine. The portion was just about right for dinner, IMO. The Chinese hamburger wasn’t too bad, but that wasn’t the best part of my meal. The meat tasted a bit like tunafish to me for some reason… but still not bad.
We also had their tofu pudding, which I wasn’t too crazy about, but then again, it tasted healthy because it wasn’t sweet at all. They put the liquid sugar topping like Almond, Rose, Chocolate, Red Bean, etc… your choice. But I still prefer my tofu pudding to be sweeter. If you like this kind of tofu pudding, I’m sure the quality is very good. Also, their teas are very good. We had their grape green tea and the regular boba milk tea. Both teas were very good. Next time, I want to try their banana milk… it looked good.
Overall, a nice place in a clean shopping center will make me come back again. I look forward to the next visit.

I liked it!!! I do think it’s a little pricey and I’m not sure it’s ever going to survive in this shopping center (people are VERY finicky about their food choices around this part of town), but I did like it.
What I enjoyed:
1. I think it’s just really different. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place that is like this, where they offered things they put into this soup bowl thing.
2. I liked the duck wings! Those were tasty and they came with my lunch «special».
3. I like the fact that you have a variety of choices to put into your soup. So if you’re more of a meat person, you can pick more meats, if you’re more into mushrooms, you can do that, too.
What I thought will kill the business:
4. Honestly, the pricing. You’re asking people to fork out $ 12 for a bowl of soup with stuff inside. Granted, I think it tasted really good and I liked the variety, I think most people are going to opt to go somewhere else where they can share dishes (esp. Chinese) for $ 6-​$ 9 a plate and you can try different plates at the same meal. Here, much like most western meals, you’re stuck with what you’ve got.
The service was great (probably because there was no one else there) though I thought the cashier girl needs to learn some salesmanship (if the business was up to someone like that, it is DEFINITELY doomed to fail) whereas our waitress (whom I suspect to be part owner or manager of the shop) was very helpful and friendly.
I say give it a whirl and make up your mind for yourself.

At first I thought this place is more of a hot pot place like boiling point but my friend referred to it as «Malatang». I never knew what on earth Malatang was until my friend from China tried this out with me. He said in China this is a very popular street food!
You can get a combo meal and add any ingredients you want. My favorites are putting the spam, sausage, fish tofu (a must), enoki mushrooms, and instant noodles! My favorite combo would be the veggie one! I generally like no spicy but you won’t get the real taste of a traditional sichuan malatang if you opt for none. Customer service is really nice cause the service is always friendly! The server knows us too well since we have have came back countless times because I can rarely get this anywhere else around the area.
You can tell this has no MSG just by the taste of it, which I approve if you want to eat something a little more on the healthier side. They also offer tea drinks and desserts (which I have not tried)!

5 Taste Kitchen is a new concept (at least it’s new to me, lol)
I was going to one of my favorite restaurant in this plaza only to find out it had gone out of business and was already replaced by 5 Taste Kitchen.
I was curious and I was looking at the menu they had posted outside. To be honest, I could not figure out what they were selling. The lady inside must have seen my confused looked and she came out and explained it to me.
The place was remodeled completely. More modern and they have a communal table in the middle. Nice décor, better than before that’s for sure.
To the food.
They offer 5 Taste Combos
Combo #1 — Pot Stew and ¹⁄₃ lb Duck Neck
Combo #2 — Pot Stew and ¹⁄₃ lb Duck Wing
Combo #3 — Pot Stew and ¹⁄₃ lb Baby Squid
Combo #4 — Pot Stew and ¹⁄₃ lb Vegetable Mix (Potato, Lotus Roots, Tofu Skin & Soy Bean)
Combo #5 — Chinese Hamburger
Each combo comes with Soup (or no soup with sauce). You can opt for 3 different «Heat» levels, Original Mild, Sweet Mild & Hot Spicy.
Hot Spicy Dip comes with your choice of (3 kinds of meat & 3 kinds of vegetable)
I went with Combo #5 (the least threatening of the my 5 choices)
I chose for my meat — Beef, Pork Belly & Lamb
I chose for my vegetable — Cabbage, Coriander & Spinach
I went with Original Mild for my heat level
The broth was very good. It was on the mild side. I did add some chili oil to the broth to kick the heat level up. I’m trying the Hot Spicy next time. lol
The meats were very good as well. I specially liked the pork belly (surprise, surprise, for Mr Pork guy, lol) The lamb was also good.
Vegetables were fresh and the cabbage was the right choice for this dish. Yum!
The Chinese Hamburger to my surprise was shredded stewed pork. It was greasy to hold, but boy was that GOOD! My mom cooks this pork stew and it was a perfect match to her cooking. Delicious.
Service was super friendly and informative.
Pricing is on the higher side. The 5 combos were all over $ 10
The plus side, you get a free iced green or black tea during lunch time (11 am — 3 pm) I got the green tea and that was very refreshing.
They also sell boba and shaved ice. I’ll have to try that next time.
5 main choices and a slew of other different meat and vegetable choices to make this meal your own. I like this concept. I will be a little braver in my choice next time (duck neck or wing, or should I go with baby squid) lol.
But I will definitely be back =)
Solid 4 Stars
Try them out for yourself and decide!
2015 Review #2

5 taste refers to the 5-​spices used often in tea eggs. The star of anise gives it a very distinct taste. The side dish is cooked in the 5-​spices. The side dish comes out in a small pan so I expected it to be hot but its something that has been cooked and refrigerated. I got the squid — it was okay, nothing special.
For the hot pot you can choose I think 2 meats and 3 veggie dishes. It is very bland, I wanted more salt, soy sauce, or dip.
Overall, I wasn’t impressed.

Went to try this new place next to Lollicup. First of all, the ambience and remodeling is really nice. Love the hanging lamps. The waitress was really friendly and gave us great service. She explained everything and refilled our glasses of water right away.
Now for the food… I have to be honest, it wasn’t to my taste. We chose a spicy broth which was really oily and the soup lacked meat. The duck wings were lukewarm and didn’t taste very fresh. The boba milk tea is buy one get one 50% off but I have to say, I would rather have gotten a Lollicup milk tea.
When we left, we got a 10% off for our next visit.
Overall, the food wasn’t anything special but the service was nice.