5ive Spice Tacos & Banh Mi — Restaurant in New York

Came here for the Yelp Elite Event. This context is necessary for the following review: First of all, Katey, our Community Manager, is a GOD amongst men. I get really nervous around her so sorry if I was a little off last night (shy monkey emoji). Thank you as always for setting this up! I'm sure you're sick of me yapping your ear off about the Yelpies, but I have never been more ready for anything in my entire life. Inject the Yelpies into my veins. I need them more than I need Oxygen. More than I need aspirin and spicy Szechuan food to fend off an EGREGIOUS hangover. I can't help but feel the Good Lord put me on this planet to receive a Yelpie... based off merit though. I want to earn it. Nancy Novo didn't raise nobody to accept NO handouts..... That was like a triple negative there ahahahaha....But I digress.

I walked up to 5ive Spice post-workout (oh yeah I workout, haha) hungrier than a hungry-hungry hippo. Sorry for that low effort metaphor but this cold brew has really yet to kick in haahaha. But I was STARVING, almost got a slice on the way but knew Katey would have my head on a platter if I was late.

As I pulled up with my chorded apple headphones in spinning Drake's "Tried Our Best" on repeat, I see a long line of Yelp Eliters outside 5ive Spice. "Damn, I'm going to actually have to talk to people..." the hero said to himself... Which is usually fine, but being a traditional introvert and shy I usually need ample prep time. But all good, Nancy Novo didn't raise no coward.

I was sat a table with 3 other Yelp Eliters. You, my dear reader, couldn't walk one mile in our shoes I promise you that. Well you probably could actually cuz everyone reading this is Yelp Elite lmao.

Anyways, we sat and ordered some drinks and chopped it up for a cool minute. We were talking about each other's hobbies and Brigette began talking about how she does Trapeze and MetalWorking in her free time.. HOW SICK IS THAT! I was like damn Im not telling you any of my hobbies now my hobbies mf suck lol.

My one issue, and the reason for knocking off a star, was we didn't actually get any food until around 9:10ish and I came in here STARVING at 8. But whatever, sh*t happens it's all good.

Okay another reason I knocked off a star was because the music was SO loud, and that DJ thought he was headlining Electric Forest lmao. Rachel, one of the elites at our table, actually got a notification on her apple watch saying that the decibels are too loud and she should put in earplugs ahahaha.

Our appetizers consisted of Asian Ceviche, Spring Rolls, and Summer Rolls. Everything was great, but the ceviche was ODE! I needed more. I feel like taking the PJ, fly to DR on the weekday, eatin ceviche........F, this cold brew really starting to hit.....

For mains, the braised short rib with rice and a salad was an absolute PLATE. Well worth the wait. The short rib quite literally fell off the bone and was delicious. It was the portion size I had been so hopefully anticipating, I BODIED that thing. Like Nancy Novo always told me "Johnny, if they serve you up a big plate you hand them back a clean plate!"I GOT U MOMMA!

Nancy Novo also always told me "Closed mouth don't get fed..." KATEY I CANT WAIT TO EARN A YELPIE! YOU'D BE THE BEST YELPIE MC EVER!

IG...

The 5ive special pho was an interesting experience. Overall the pho was fairly standard. The interesting part was the braised short rib. When I first took a bite, it was quite fabulous: so tender, so good. I was thinking, "5ive ⭐" at this point!

Later on, maybe half way through the bowl of pho, on subsequent bites, I started to notice the flavor of the short rib was very similar to another Vietnamese dish, "thịt kho." I thought hmm, maybe they just grabbed it from the same pot 😄 true or not, at this point I lowered my rating to 4 ⭐. And that's the overall food rating.

The vegetarian spring roll was to my surprise fried. At first I ate one roll by itself and it was underwhelming, maybe a 3. Then for the remaining ones, I wrapped them in the lettuce and herb, and these were better, so upgraded to 4 ⭐.

One final comment about the food: at first I wanted Asian vegetables stew, but they were out of it, as in, they clarified, they no longer make that dish, i.e., not just for that evening 😄 Should update your menu! 😄

In terms of service, the young woman asked me probably 4 times how things were during the dinner while I had my earbuds on, and each time I had to take them off to hear her. I understand she was trying to be a good host, but probably don't need to keep asking if it was "good" response the first 1-2 times, and guest was wearing earbuds 😄 I am not docking any points for that -- 4 ⭐ regardless -- but I was amused by it 😆

Btw, a mocktail, a starter, and the 5ive special pho were a little too much in the end -- I was stuffed. Probably should have skipped...

I’ve eaten at the Park Slope 5Spice 3 times because the flavors exploded into my mouth and made me want to eat there again and again. Some girlfriends wanted to meet in the city and we decided on the Murray Hill location because some lived in the city and they had booths. The service was fine to good. When we asked our server for mint and chili sauce, he said they only had Siracha, which would have been fine, but, he forgot about it, as he was busy with other tables. It happens. We hailed another server down to ask again and she hooked us up with the mint and a small bowl full of chili and garlic that blew our mind. I had to not let it get dumped and brought it home. It was WAY better than siracha, which I like.

As far as the food, some dishes were tasty. The wings were yum. The tuna carpaccio was good. The mango salad need more zing, tang, heat. My lemongrass chicken was a bit bland, our girlfriend’s beef tasted ‘liver-y’, and everyone else was content. The $16 aperol spritz cocktails were small.

Overall, it was fine, but would I trek back? Unlikely. I’ll stick to my Park...