Spices 3!
Chinese · Oakland
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About Spices 3!
En Spices 3! te invitamos a descubrir la auténtica cocina china picante en un ambiente sencillo y acogedor. Desde nuestro discreto local en Oakland, te ofrecemos sabores intensos y variados niveles de picante, perfectos para los amantes de las emociones culinarias. Con una valoración de 4.3/5, nuest...
En Spices 3! te invitamos a descubrir la auténtica cocina china picante en un ambiente sencillo y acogedor. Desde nuestro discreto local en Oakland, te ofrecemos sabores intensos y variados niveles de picante, perfectos para los amantes de las emociones culinarias. Con una valoración de 4.3/5, nuestra comida habla por sí sola: ¡ven a probarla y déjate sorprender!
What Customers Say About Spices 3!
Spices 3! is known for its flavorful and spicy Chinese food, particularly Sichuan cuisine. Many reviewers praise the large portions, fast service, and affordable prices. Some find the food too oily or salty, and note inconsistent quality.
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Tip: Dine in is cash only. Be sure to bring enough cash to cover your meal.
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Spices 3! is located in Oakland, surrounded by cultural and historical points of interest. Here are some of the most notable places nearby.
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Spices 3! Oakland Reviews
Have been coming here for over 7 years now. Some of the best Chinese food I've ever had. Tons of spices and flavors, hot 🥵 options are actually hot, I have to come here every time I visit Oakland, its mandatory. We will experiment with 1-2 new dishes each visit, but every time we get the same 3 items: Eggplant in Garlic (茄子), Chinese Black mushroom (冬菇才), and Beef Tendon Stew (独牛筋). I know, beef tendon stew sounds crazy, I said the same thing, but the flavor is incredible. If you appreciate authentic Chinese food bursting with flavors, this will be your new spot!
Came here on a Monday around 6pm (2 people total) and got a seat right away. The eggplant with chili (different than the eggplant with garlic) is so delicious! Highly recommend getting that and the mapo tofu. Plenty of indoor seating. Service is quick (got our food within 10min). Cash only.
If you are around china town, you must go here!! The food is delicious and the service very fast! They serve hot tea for everyone while you wait. My favorite dish is the fish in garlic paste and chilli oil. It is sooo delicious and savory. The fish is enough for 2 people if you get some rice! Highly suggest getting the garlic sauteed eggplant as well.
Food was hot and fresh. We ordered food to go and everything was ready in 20min. I'd definitely come here again..my only complaint was that there was some inedible gristle in the Mapo Tofu. Otherwise, tasty dinner
it seems prudent to address this off the bat since it comes up on other reviews, but i will openly admit that i don't necessarily have the best handle on what constitutes authenticity for sichuan cuisine, because i have never been to sichuan or chongqing. i can, however, tell you when food is good. this food is good. the cold sesame noodle is a particular favorite, and the tofu and string bean dishes are also great, which all contributes to this place being a hit with vegan friends. i basically always eat takeout or delivery from here, but it is worth noting that the vibes of the dining room itself are... weird, and it kind of makes me feel for some reason like i'm in an elementary school from a bygone decade. i am not withholding any stars for this, though. i think the main issue holding this spot back is a lack of consistency. you definitely have to know what you want to get here and stick to the winners, because sometimes you'll get a thing that is seriously underwhelming, with much less in the way of complexity of flavor or enjoyable texture. still, when you find the thing that hits for you, it really hits. if this doesn't speak to you the first time, i do (rather unusually) recommend trying again with something else, because the best dishes here are worth coming back for.
I tried this place for the first time as my first meal of 2026, craving something spicy to recover from a post NYE hangover, and it was exactly what I needed. The complimentary tea was hot and nourishing, a perfect start. I ordered the spicy fish filet in flaming red oil, which was delicious and deeply satisfying, along with perfectly seasoned salt and pepper calamari and a side of rice. A cold Tsing Tao rounded everything out. Every bite hit. It genuinely chased the hangover away. Worth noting it is cash or Venmo only. I will definitely be back.
This is one of my most visited restaurants ever, where I have brought all my friends and family at least once. The reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 is that their food quality and taste has dipped quite a bit recently. Their price is still reasonable, but I feel like maybe their chef changed or something. But dishes are not that amazing quality anymore.
Spicy and delicious! I came here a bit tipsy and ended up ordering like a starving savage. The portions are insanely huge—one dish could serve two—but the two of us ordered 3 (spices 3!) and got mega bloated on this spice grub. The chicken with red oil, beef noodle soup and fried rice are all very, very tasty. All reasonably priced, too!
Overall decent. It’s just very hit or miss with the dishes. But very well priced. We loved the salt and pepper chicken and cumin lamb, and enjoyed the green beans. But we were really underwhelmed by the spicy mung bean noodles and bacon stir fry with bean curd. Also, the food was very oily, but to be expected I suppose.
The Sichuanese food here seems to be extremely catered towards Westerners' palette. It's either too salty, too sour, or too bland, there is no "just right" seasoning. The fish sour soup was extremely unpleasant unlike other sour soups I've had. The spice is quite mild for the usual Sichuan spice-numbing I've had at other place, it was more salty than spicy. I would not recommend for authentic Sichuan food.
Will not be returning and regret wasting my calories on the food here. $60 for 1 soup, 2 meat dishes, and 1 veggie dish -- all of it was a waste of money. Mongolian beef was sweet, not spicy at all. Food was overly oily and not flavorful or spicy at all. Wonton soup had sliced carrots and baby bella mushrooms in it, which made the already bland broth taste strange. I came here expecting the spice to bring me to tears but it was my frustration at this whole dining experience that nearly did. I could feel the cornstarch slurry on my tongue that they clearly used to tenderize their meat. Service was impatient and curt, which is to be expected of this type of restaurant but if the food sucks, at least have decent service. Plus, it's never a good sign when there's no Chinese people eating inside a Chinese restaurant... I was the only one and should've listened to my instincts when they told me to go elsewhere. Came here from a recommendation and I will never be trusting that person's recs again.
Haven't even had the food yet but no matter how good it is cannot make up for how poor the service was. I ordered online and the order was confirmed with a pickup time in 25 minutes. I showed up at pickup time and waited another HOUR. The man and woman behind the counter were dismissive of pickup customers and snapped at quite a few "not ready, we're busy!" or they ignored people's attempts to catch their attention.
This isn’t real Sichuan cuisine, and the staff were quite rude. I ordered two portions of rice but they only provided one. I asked for medium spice, but they gave me a sweet dish.
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About Spices 3!
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370-372 12th St, Oakland, CA 94607
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370-372 12th St, Oakland, CA 94607
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