Spice C — Restaurant in Philadelphia

The name Spice C rang music to my ear and I was quickly drawn to this noodle joint out of so many restaurants in Philly Chinatown. Of course, high Yelp rating was a major factor as well. The exterior was quite nicely done. This red brick corner building was hard to miss, and the white-on-black signage with red accent looked current and hip. There's also a ramp to the side entrance for wheelchairs and strollers. Commendable, especially in Chinatown.

Seating was quite limited inside the elongated dining area. Tables were small, mostly for seating up to 4 people, but you barely got any elbow space. In general, the restaurant felt quite cramped. Ambiance was so so, nothing worth mentioning.

There were 2 wait staff. Service was mixed. At times they were extremely rude; then all of sudden they'd be ultra-courteous. Very surreal to say the least.

The menu was small so it took very little time to make up our mind. For every noodle dish you can choose between hand-pull or shaved noodle. For us, it was a no-brainer - hand-pulled noodle all the way! We ordered 3 dishes:

House Special (Sliced Beef, Tendon & Brisket) $9.25. The soup was rather bland. I would have been better served had I chose the Szechuan Spicy version for $1.50 more.

House Special Stir Fry Noodle $9.25. The serving size was noticeably small. The taste was un-impressionable. Nothing stood out.

3 Treasure Stir Fry Noodle $9.25. Ditto the above. Not much different except for the proteins.

And, it was annoying that they accept cash only. After walking out of the restaurant, I had buyer's remorse as soon as I saw the next restaurant a few doors down: ShangHai 1 -- my...

4.5 stars. Had a very satisfying meal here. The food seems simple, but it's made well and hit just right. The food came out quickly, and service was friendly and efficient. They charge an extra 4% for card payments, so it's better to bring cash.

They have so many noodle soup and stir fry noodle options. We ordered the dumplings (boiled and fried), wonton soup, Three Treasures noodle soup, and Three Treasures stir fry. The dumplings were good. The skin was just the right thickness, and there was a good amount of filling. There were only 6 pieces, but they were pretty big. The won ton soup was okay. It came with 4 large wontons. The broth was light and refreshing, but the wontons themselves were just okay. I couldn't taste much of the pork filling, and the skin was a bit too thick for my liking. The hand pulled noodles were chewy and not too thick, which I like. The Three Treasures stir fry dish was delicious. My friend who got the noodle soup version of the Three Treasures noodles seemed to have a bit more beef. They charge an extra ~$1.75 for the mala soup base.

Between the hand-pulled noodle soups at Nan Zhou and the ones at Luscious Dumplings, we liked the noodle soup here the best. The broth here was richer than the broth at Nan Zhou, and the noodles were less doughy than the noodles at Luscious Dumplings. I saw some comparisons between this place and Nan Zhou, and I personally would come here over Nan Zhou. I liked the food and ambiance at Spice C a lot more, and I think the prices here are a bit...

I was in town for PAX Unplugged and decided to try out this restaurant as I’m a big noodle soup fan as well as a fan of anything spicy. I surprisingly didn’t have to wait much as they happened to have one small table available all the way in the back, although the food took a little bit of time. It was worth the wait, though. They advertise that their noodles are hand drawn or hand shaved (whichever method you choose) to order, and the noodles definitely seemed hand drawn (pulled). I was actually a little hesitant to choose that method since their description even said it was like spaghetti, but there was definitely a nice uneven texture that made it at least seem like it was hand done and not mass manufactured. I ordered the “dragon and phoenix” (chicken and shrimp) in as spicy a soup as they had. Nice kick to it for sure. A little sparse on the shrimp (tons of big chunks of white meat that was not dry at all but only two small shrimp). Nonetheless delicious. For my appetizer I had the fried pork dumplings which were a nice size and juicy, with just the right amount of dipping sauce so that it wasn’t overpowering. Also quite good. Overall the meal was great, and I even considered returning to try something else tonight. I’d definitely recommend if you like noodle soup and spicy food. :)

Edit: I forgot the word "not" before "dry at all": the white meat chicken was...