Spice Kit

Fatty blobs of pork in my salad. Not the meaty part, just gross fat. Ick. Wish it was better. The rest of the salad was ok.

I was in the area, looking for lunch, and I was super excited when I came across this spot on Unilocal because I’m a huge fan of Asian fusion. At first glance, the concept of this place reminded me of Chipotle, where you have options for wraps, bowls, salads, etc etc, and the list of ingredients in each made it seem like you were getting a ton of different flavors in each item. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted because everything sounded so good!
I went with a Korean bowl with chicken as well as a pork bun for some variety, but upon opening up my to-​go box, I was pretty disappointed. It was nothing more than a big scoop of rice mixed with kimchi, some chicken, lettuce, cucumbers, and bean sprouts with some sauce drizzled over the chicken and rice. The food wasn’t necessarily lacking in flavor, but it was boring. And the pork bun was even more disappointing. Upon unwrapping the foil, the bread was covered in oil, and the pork was probably 90% fat. The sauce wasn’t well distributed, and it was all gathered at the crease of the bread, so when I got to the end of the bun, I just got mouthfuls of sauce. For $ 2.95, it was smaller than expected, and just was not good.
Well, at least the guy behind the counter was nice!

great quick and tasty eats, healthy, made with fresh ingredients and reasonable prices + friendly service makes this place five stars. i love that you can customize your order. for example, instead of ordering the five spice chicken wrap (which is good), it’s great than i can request a half five spice chicken half tofu wrap, with extra veggies and less rice, and i can even specify if i just want extra kimchi, or just extra cucumber, or all around extra veggies.
the fried chicken specials are a favorite of my coworkers. the steamed pork buns are delicious!

ahh now that i see the category description it makes sense…
I ordered the wrap with kalbi and a vietnamese ice coffee.
The rice paper was surprisingly sturdy, the wrap itself is kinda huge.
The rice paper is thicker than traditional spring rolls, but then again it’s holding probably a lb or two of goodness inside. The inside is pretty much what you would get in a bibambap. The wrap itself was okay, it’s definitely fusion. Maybe it’s because I eat a lot of spring rolls, but i wasn’t used to biting into it and having warm stuff inside. I like spring rolls, and I like bibambap, together it was good but wasn’t great.
Prices are great, I may have to swing by another time to try something else on the menu.
Staff is super friendly, and if you’re curious about a vietnamese korean fusion… go for it, give it a try.

Had lunch here on Monday and it was yummy!
I got the Vietnamese rice bowl with beef and a side of pork belly baos. The bowl was very filling and had a good variety of textures. I prefer vermicelli over rice and wish they had it as an option. The pork belly baos were good. It had a big chunk of meat and the perfect amount of sauce.
Skip the lotus chips. They were bland, greasy and not that crispy.
I’m a fan and would come back for sure. The dining room isn’t that big so come early or after the lunch rush to grab a seat.
P. S. A huge thank you goes out to the PA police officer who gave up his table to allow my friend and I to sit since she had her newborn with her in his stroller. He said he had two little ones and understood. How kind!

I’ve been wanting to try Spice Kit since it opened a few years ago, but rarely find myself on California Ave. Fortunately I was in the area recently and boy am I glad I stopped in.
Preface: Spice Kit follows the Chipotle /​Asian Box style that’s been exploding in popularity recently. You choose your base (bahn mi, rice bowl, salad or wrap), choose a protein, toppings, sides, etc.
I opted for the salad base with tofu as my protein, then added on a vegetarian shiitake steamed bun. The steamed bun was easily the highlight of my meal. Given that I don’t eat pork, I’ve never had the opportunity to enjoy a traditional Chinese steamed bun… until now. The shiitake buns are packed with marinated delicious mushrooms, topped with herbs and peanuts. They’re sold for $ 3 ea or 2 for $ 5. I just want to re-​iterate how incredibly delicious these are. I will definitely be coming back for more…
The salad was surprisingly large and the tofu was plentiful and seasoned well. It was very filling and I would definitely order it again. The dressing included was just ok — you probably don’t need it with so much flavor on the tofu.
Great prices, big portions, fast service.

Spice Kit is one of those interesting «fusion» restaurants that reminds you of the types of food that you get at a really good food truck. The menu is truly «fusion» — with elements of Korean and Vietnamese — and there is always something unique and interesting to try.
This is sort of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it location on California Avenue. As everyone knows, the parking situation on California Avenue usually means that you don’t park on California Avenue. Sometimes, you luck out and have a space available. However, there is always parking along the adjoining streets and in the public lots just a block north and south of California Ave.
Thankfully, we live nearby. We can walk to the restaurant and eat outside. We’ve even stopped here for a quick bite while walking or riding our bikes to the Stanford football games. In fact, if you’re taking CalTrain, this is a great stop for a quick bite!

This four star review is mainly for the good service. We accidentally dropped our organic tofu wrap on the way to our table. The cashier saw it and instantly offered us a new one– very kind of him.
The food here probably deserves only 3.5 but we had a super kind cashier that made up for the other 0.5 star.

Good Asian fusion restaurant that provides additional diversity to the culinary choices on California Street.
Ordering is pretty straightforward: pick a meat (or the tofu) and the style — banh mi, rice paper wrap, Vietnamese or Korean-​style bowl, or salad. They have specials — don’t know if these are available every day, but they’ve been available every time I’ve been there. Today I had their fried chicken option for the first time — quite good. In my opinion, the rice that is served with the Korean style options is way overseasoned. I’d cut back on the sauce by at least half, which would still give it a good flavor without being overbearing. The pâté that you can add on to your dish is pretty meh. A little short on flavor and too pasty of a texture. Their steamed pork bun — really a mantou with pork belly and cucumber — very similar to Peking duck — is probably the best thing on the menu.
I’d give this place 4 stars for their food alone, but I have to dock it a star because I’m not keen on the bare-​hands preparation of the food, which can be seen by anyone standing near the counter. Food preparers continually wipe their hands on a towel hanging at their waist, which can’t be too clean by the end of the lunch rush.

Promising, could be a reliable, fast local meal spot given a few tweaks.
I liked the simple and customizable menu. You pick the style — bowl, salad, wrap, etc and then the protein and sides. You can swap out or add ingredients from the preset menu.
I got the Roast Pork Salad. This came with dressing on the side automatically and no pre-​mixing. Given the relative lightness of the ingredients, the salad was pretty bland. After I added in the dressing and vigorously mixed, the salad became much better. They definitely skimped on the meat, but overall it was a relatively healthy and enjoyable meal.
A tried the Five Spice Chicken Vietnamese Bowl with the 64 degree egg. This had much more flavor and great heat since he asked for extra jalapenos. They did charge an extra $ 2.25 for a different dressing with the Vietnamese Bowl. Interesting. But tasty.
They ran out of Lotus Chips so they had Taro Chips instead. Taro chips had potential, but they were soggy from too much grease.
Service was very friendly. The cashier went through the menu and ordering process for us. He delivered the food to our table as well and checked in with us.

Barely a two. Southeast Asian street food has to be some the tastiest food on the planet, redolent with unique flavors and tastes. Spice Kit was not even as adventurous as Chipolte.
If boring is your desire, Spice Kit is perfect for you. Otherwise, walk on by.

It’s nice to have a restaurant with something unique to offer. Friendly staff, quick service.
Pork buns were like a small taco of thick bacon folded in a soft bun with cucumber. Very tasty. Vietnamese bowl with chicken had a delicious vinegar dressing and crisp carrots and zucchini strips. In the rice paper wrap with pork, I substituted kimchi rice for white rice, but I still did not like the sauce they put on it.
$ 25 for 2 entrees, 2 pork buns, and 1 thai iced tea.

Dang this place gets busy during the lunch hour! I definitely suggest trying to avoid 12−1pm. They’re fairly quick regardless though.
I chose the five spice chicken Korean bowl. It was alright. It was spicier than I expected which surprised me in a good way. However the flavors overall didn’t impress me greatly.
I’ll probably go back and try the Vietnamese bowl or wrap.

It’s a 3.5, but my dish (Kalbi Beef Salad) was better than the GF’s (Kalbi Beef Bowl), so I’ll knock it up to a 4. Plus they put sliced mango in their salad! That’s the not-​so-​secret way to my heart – I’m a mango addict. The peanut sauce dressing is also really nice.
Spice Kit continues the recent CYO trend, allowing you to choose your meat (or main veggie, if that’s your thing) and meal form (bowl, salad, wrap) from a few different options. It’s pretty straightforward. Nothing fancy but the ingredients all tasted fresh and of high quality. I appreciate that. The only thing missing in both of our meals was a spicy factor… maybe I just didn’t notice any hot sauce options or anything like that, but I would’ve liked a little heat to get me going.
Add a Thai Iced Tea to your meal and you won’t regret it. That stuff is crack. So are mangos. Mmm mangos.

I definitely have to agree with the other reviews. Spice Kit isn’t a new concept, but it is one that works (it seems that CYO isn’t going anywhere). We certainly love to personalize our meals and you’ll get to do just that when you eat here.
I ordered a Kalbi Beef Bowl which was solid, but definitely not the best bibimbap (inspired or otherwise) I’ve ever eaten. The kimchee fried rice was really flavorful, and I found the kalbi to be tender and flavorful as well.
If you’re looking for something quick, fusion, and not super duper authentic, Spice Kit its your stop.

Decent Asian inspired fast food! They have a variety of meats (kalbi, pork, chicken, and tofu) served several ways (Banh Mi style, wrap, and rice bowls). The flavors are good and you can kick it up a bit with Sriracha!
Pricing is fair for fast food. But they can’t compete with the typical San Jose Vietnamese sandwich joints in price ($ 5 vs $ 8), portion, or variety.

Disappointed today! I go here a lot for my salad fix. Today as I was eating about ¹⁄₃ into my salad I noticed a paper towel tossed in my salad mixture… I don’t even wanted to know if it was clean or not…
Sorry won’t be coming back after this incident…
But they did apologize and refunded my salad and would comp me… but lost my appetite… too bad.

Yet another brick in the ‘Chipotlization’ of America. This time it’s Vietnamese. Or is it Korean?
Multiple food configurations are available at Spice Kit. On my first visit I chose the Korean bowl style with the kalbi style beef. ($ 8). It was tasty but smallish. The bottom of the bowl was filled w a massive lettuce leaf that was difficult to eat without a knife. It also seemed more like a cheap filler, to reduce overall meal volume.
I ordered «Lotus chips» on the side, but these were flavorless and dull. Definitely not a repeat order.
On my next trip I had the Vietnamese style bowl with pork. This was pretty tasty, and no lettuce leaf filler this time. But the pork had a slight funk to it that put me off a bit. If I ever eat here again, I would probably go for this bowl again, but with the beef.
I also ordered a limeade, and i was surprised to see the server pour it directly out of a store-​bought carton from the fridge; not exactly a special mix or house recipe. And the drink itself was a little too sweet for me. Another non-​repeat order.
After two visits here, the message I have received from Spice Kit is: «We will give you the absolute bare-​bones Asian food experience for less than $ 10 and it will be adequate» So I can’t say I will visit often, unless I am in a hurry. (The food is certainly quick).
As for rating, it’s somewhere between 2 and 3 stars. But I’ll make it three, based on all the attention they give to composting and recycling. I love to see that, and wish more places would do the same.

Ordered: 12:34
Got my food at: 1:07
The food at this place is ok but most of what makes it good is that it’s fast. When your order takes 33 minutes for a simple sandwich, it’s not good anymore. No warning of a long wait. No apology for the order taking a long time. This place is just not that good to treat their customers that way.
The problem today seemed to be lots of large orders from DoorDash. SpiceKit just needs to decide whether they want to take orders from DoorDash or customers because they can’t do both. Simple.

«Asian street food» with Korean and Vietnamese flavors. Ordering is made simple, and the service is fast and efficient. There is limited seating inside of the restaurant, as well as a few scattered benches along California Ave.
* Steps for Ordering at Spice Kit
1.) What’s Your Style? — Ssam, Banh Mi, Salad, or Bowl (Korean or Vietnamese-​Style)
2.) What’s In It? — Five Spice Chicken, Roasted Pork, Beef Short Ribs, or Organic Tofu
3.) Sides? — Optional extras for an additional price, including Ginger-​Peanut Slaw, Pork Buns, and Lotus Chips
Parking:
Street parking along California Ave. or one of the public parking lots located on both sides of the street behind the row of businesses.
Food:
— Korean Ssam with Five Spice Chicken — Wraps come with red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, seasoned rice, marinated bean sprouts, kimchi, and signature ssam sauce wrapped in rice paper. The ssam is HUGE! Chicken is tasty, and the vegetables are fresh. For the most part, the rice paper holds up pretty well, but towards the end it may start to fall apart/​spring a leak, so pick up a fork if you’re taking it to-​go!