Spicy Moon West Village — Restaurant in New York

Restaurant Review: Spicy Moon

Spicy Moon offers surprisingly authentic Chinese cuisine in a modern, club-like atmosphere. Located in the upper SoHo area, this restaurant delivers on flavor while catering to a younger, trendy crowd.

Food Quality: ★★★★☆

The Dan Dan noodles were exceptional - perfectly balanced with excellent pickled mustard, scallions, and just the right amount of peanut flavor and spice. Not greasy at all, with clean flavors that would satisfy even the most discerning Chinese food enthusiast.

The Mapo Tofu was impressively authentic with strong doubanjiang (black fermented bean paste) notes that highlighted its traditional preparation. Both dishes featured generous portions and well-calibrated spice levels that provided heat without overwhelming the other flavors.

The only critique would be that the dishes were slightly over-salted, particularly the Mapo Tofu. Additionally, the Mapo Tofu doesn't automatically come with rice (which needs to be ordered separately), and the rice-to-tofu ratio provided was insufficient for the saucy dish.

Ambiance: ★★☆☆☆

The restaurant features a modern, "clubby" atmosphere with loud music and extremely dim lighting. Most of the illumination comes from windows, creating inconsistent lighting throughout the space. The colorful dining accessories (green chopsticks and pink napkins) add a playful touch, but the overall darkness makes navigation challenging.

The environment clearly targets a younger crowd seeking a trendier dining experience, which creates an interesting juxtaposition with the authenticity of the cuisine.

Value: ★★★★☆

At a price point of $$, Spicy Moon offers excellent value. The portions are generous, and the quality of the food exceeds expectations for the cost. Two main dishes were sufficient to leave two diners feeling completely satisfied.

Final Thoughts

Spicy Moon presents an interesting dichotomy - extraordinarily authentic Chinese cuisine served in a modern, club-like setting. The quality of the food is the standout feature here, making it worth visiting despite the ambiance potentially not appealing to all diners.

For those seeking authentic flavors without the traditional restaurant setting, Spicy Moon is an excellent choice. Considering the excellent food quality, take-out might be the ideal option for those who prefer a quieter dining experience.

Recommended for: Young diners, date nights, and authentic Chinese food enthusiasts who don't mind the...

Look, I LOVE meat just like many others, so to give a vegan restaurant 5 stars means this place absolutely blew me away.

I was told this was one of the best vegan spots in NYC so I was coerced into trying it with some friends.

This is insane. Food is unbelievable, drinks are good, and for New York, prices are fair. The food is also quite filling and you will leave here satisfied and pay about $25 if you share different items.

We started off with some general tso’s mushrooms. This was my favorite dish of the night. The mushrooms are perfectly breaded and fried and then covered with a sweet and savory sauce. The fried mushrooms keep their texture and crunch even with the sauce which is unbelievable. This dish is a must and you may want to order multiple (one order is good for 2 people).

We then had the sour cream and onion potato dumplings. These dumplings were super tender, and the inside hits you with extremely soft potatoes and a huge sour cream and onion flavor. It’s almost like someone converted the well known flavor of chip into a dumpling. Incredible. 5 pieces to an order.

Now the cumin fries. I was hesitant as I expect fries to be very bland and boring. These were anything but that. The fries were coated with a tasteful amount of cumin powder and served with a sweet aioli-like sauce. They were crispy, crinkle cut fries. One order is pretty massive and could be good for up to 4 people when sharing.

Now for the Dan Dan noodles. Wow. This flavor is unreal - umami, sweet, savory, salty…everything you could ever want. The noodles themselves are cooked perfectly Al dente. They were still bouncy and chewy while also being able to grasp the sauce.

Finally, mapo tofu. One of the dishes I was unsure of the quality without the usual pork addition. I was stunned. This tofu was so soft and fresh, and it was served in a beautiful sauce with mouth numbing Szechuan peppercorns. The sensation is wonderful and the tingling mouth and lips provides an enjoyable and unique experience while eating it.

Plain white rice is not included. It is $1.95 per bowl and definitely worth it if you are eating the mushroom or tofu dish.

For drinks, get either the New Moon mojito or the Spicy Moon.

Overall, even if this place wasn’t vegan, it would easily be one of my favorite restaurants here in the city. Being vegan just elevates this to...

The food was good, served with lightning speed and the server was good. However, we did not have a good experience today (6/15) overall because of the rude host/greeter upfront. We had tried food from here before as take out and decided eat in today. Upon arrival (table for 2 walk-in) we were ushered to the very very back of the restaurant right next to the kitchen only separated by a curtain. Now if this was the only option available for walk-ins that would be totally understandable. However, there were multiple tables open in the front, outside and also in the back area (and continued to stay open since the time we arrived and we left). We asked the host if we could instead move a table over which was empty so that we didn't have to listen to kitchen noise or be disturbed by constant movement of severs (if possible since we saw multiple tables open) and he immediately rudly told us “no”. That's it. No reason provided, not because it was reserved or someone was assigned. Just no. He couldn't even bother to offer an alternate seating to be polite. Then a few mins later when our server arrived we asked again, we had been on our table for few mins and still didn't think it was going to work for us. She was happy to move us over at the table that was empty that we had identified earlier until someone stopped her and asked to check with the host. Ofourse upon consulting, the host blocked her from moving us over. She then offered us a different table but now it was against the bathroom (directed by the host upfront from earlier). So of all the open tables available, they moved us from right outside kitchen to one against bathroom - with plastic flimsy chairs. At this point we were like, fine whatever. We ordered food and until we paid the bills, the table we initially requested to move to was still empty. No one was seated in the spot, that table stayed empty all along. And by now the entire back area was fully empty. The host should have been able to predict reservations, table utilization and able to try to consider our request. He could have also offered us outside seating. I hope the manager reads this and discusses so other patrons are not...