Spice 24

I’ve been so, sooo happy that we found this place last year. Historically my wife and I are huge fans of Sichuan ma la stir fry. Prior to Spice 24, the only time we’d get to have it was occasionally during our bi-​monthly trip to Flushing where we’d hit the places down in the New World Mall food court (LaoMa MaLaTang). Actually finding seats down there is always a PitA so eventually we would just bring a big stainless steel pot and tell them to put our (sizable) order in the pot to go. That would last us for a few days. So when I first walked in here and took a look at what was offered, I was SUPER excited. I was even happier to discover that they didn’t disappoint.
When we’re not feeling down w/​the spice though, their classic ginger & scallion stir fry is pretty fantastic too. We like the ma la and ginger & scallion so much that we haven’t bothered trying the other 2 available sauces. My wife has had their individual-​sized hot pots as well which were fine but frankly, if I was in the mood for hot pot, I’d go next door to Little Mongolian. Here, it’s all about the stir fry. And seafood. Almost forgot about the seafood.
There’s a place up in Fort Lee that I’d always been meaning to try called Boiling Pot. Well, with Spice 24, I no longer feel the need so urgently cause they basically have the same thing here. Take a bunch of seafood, throw it in a plastic bag w/​your sauce of choice + corn + sausage + potatoes and have yourself a messy, messy party. Our sauce of choice happens to be garlic butter cause who doesn’t like butter? We usually get a dozen clams to go with our stir fry if we’re feeling extra hungry and they’ve always been good.
And to round things off, I always get their passion fruit green tea w/​tapioca. Their tapioca has been pretty good. Not too tasteless or hard.
Décor-​wise, nothing to complain about. They’ve got a row of booths and tables everywhere else. Tabletop is covered by a sheet of paper to facilitate easy cleanup for their crew. Also useful if you’ve got little ones to entertain while waiting for your order to arrive. Just whip out a pen/​crayon/​marker and let them doodle. Service can be hit or miss. They’re not understaffed but sometimes they’re not the most attentive.
Price-​wise, if you go full blast obviously it’ll add up. The first few times we visited my wife and I were like kids in a candy store: 2 hefty stir fry orders + hot pot + clams. The last time we went, our family of 4 filled up just fine w/​just one ginger & scallion stir fry order. We ordered large portions of a ton of stuff though but even then I think it only came out to ~$ 40. Obviously you’ll get better bang for your buck in Flushing but having to not deal w/​the drive and traffic is a fair trade off to me.
So yeah, if you’re a fan of this type of stir fry, Spice 24 is definitely worth a visit. For me, it’s like killing 2, sometimes 3 birds w/​one stone. You get your stir fry, seafood boil, and hot pot fix all in one place. My only complaint is that it’s still a tad too far from where we live to make it a regular visit. Although even at this distance at one point we were going so much that my kids would groan whenever I pulled into the H-​Mart lot. =p So I guess it’s probably for the best that they’re not closer. =)

Spice 24 — what a TREASURE in one of New Jersey’s most diverse towns (Edison) — changing the way people view Chinese cuisine with amazing flavors, unique style, and superb service.
As a recent transplant from New York City, one of the hardest parts about living here across the Hudson was finding a decent Chinese restaurant. I pretty much gave up on the hopes of ever finding one and almost resorted to just doing the occasional «rice plus three sides» at Kam Man Food Inc for under $ 7.00 or the now not-​so-​novel and mundane hot pot, until I discovered this trendy, do-​it-​yourself kinda style restaurant, which has taken the «hot pot» and stir fry to another level.
The concept puts customers in charge: build your own stir fry and what I call the «Amazing Soup Pot», and there’s so much to choose from. For the soup pot, you can choose your taste of soup base (seafood, beef, pork, or chicken) and mix and match what ingredients you want to go in your pot from the meats, greens, and spices. This new take on the old hot pot and with Spice 24’s version of the not so quintessential stir fry, yet tongue-​numbing and refreshingly bold mixed with familiar rustic colors and flavors like cajun, lemon pepper, and or garlic butter seafood boil in a bag make this restaurant one of New Jersey’s go-​to places for amazing flavors, fun and personalized style, and excellent service.
I used to think, only the big cities have the best Asian restaurants, but as a self-​proclaimed foodie and Chinese cuisine aficionado, I am thrilled and so excited about this place, that within the ever growing market of chain restaurants and under-​whelming Chinese take-​outs and the same ol’ hot pot shops, lies a treasure here right in our own backyards.

Meh… very average food and quite expensive considering the amount given. I came during the grand opening period too, which is when food is usually the best.
I came with my family of 6 for lunch. There were more than enough servers but it took about 5 whole minutes of confusion and too many workers conversing among themselves to figure out how to seat us. In the end my family had to push 2 tables together by ourselves. It was weirdly dark inside. Bad first impression.
We ordered 2 large pots and a small preset pot to split among us. I thought it would be enough… such high prices (by Chinese-​food-​in-​Edison standards) warrant generous potions, right? You would think so.
We ticked off our ingredients and handed the sheet off to a rather clueless server (said she didn’t know to every question… okay then). It took a while considering all they do is throw everything in a pot and stir fry for a few minutes.
When the food came we were disappointed by how little it was. We each got about 2 – 3 scoops from each pot in total. The individual pots are especially tiny. I can’t believe they charge $ 10 for that tiny bowl!
As for the flavor… also disappointing. I love spicy and flavorfully rich Chinese food, but Spice 24 just tasted bland and greasy. It was like they tried to put in too many flavors that the flavors canceled out? I remember eating robotically and not really tasting any spice or herbs or ingredients.
There are plenty of Asian, in particular Chinese, restaurants in the Edison area. I recommend you pass up Spice 24 for some not only yummier but also cheaper and more authentic food.

Ordered spicy beef soup and stir fry MA LA Guo. Really good but I might be biased since I was hungry. Since all the peppers Numb my thumb, all the food started tasting the same after a while. Bubble tea was a bit too sweet.

This was the perfect late night spot after a long flight and a whole day of on-​the-​go airplane/​airport food. We came here around 10:30 PM on a Sunday (we were shocked it was open so late, considering it’s in central Jersey). Atmosphere is casual and fun — they were playing K-​pop music videos on the TVs the whole night. Could be distracting on a date, but would definitely be a great late night hang out spot with friends!
Don’t come here expecting cheap, authentic Chinese food — it’s more a novel, trendy kind of place where you can customize sauce and ingredients (they have A LOT of options, almost too many for my indecisiveness). There’s some complicated system where you can get 5 large ingredients, 8 small ingredients, or a mix of 4 large and 2 small… something like that. The waitress was very patient and nice about explaining this to us noobs.
We got the Miso pre-​made hot pot and garlic/​ginger (?) stir fry of 5 large ingredients (mushroom, tofu, oysters, lamb, bamboo). Miso hot pot was not memorable and lacked inspiration for me. The meat was slightly overcooked, but stir fry was solid. If you’re into spicy food, they have a Mala sauce that looked very promising. Overall, for a Jersey Asian restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised with the food and atmosphere.
Pretty pumped about coming back to try more of their spicy hot pot options. Also, another plus — there’s a Kung Fu Tea opening up next door!

Delicious Sichuan food in a nice, clean ambiance. If you’re looking for that legitimately strong, fiery «mala» (麻辣) flavor, this is the place to go! It’s best to have a group of at least 3 – 4 people so you can share and try a little of everything.
They offer four categories of food:
* Soup pot — pick some ingredients to go into a soup, which has sort of a fishy base. I liked it; my friend thought it was just okay.
* Seafood boil — served in a plastic bag, with potatoes and corn. The «Whole Sha-​Bang» sauce is great.
* Hot pot stir-​fry — like eating hot pot, but without having to boil the ingredients in the pot yourself. This is where you get the mala sauce, and in my opinion, the main reason for coming here! You can add as many ingredients as you want, and the size of your portion will scale accordingly.
* Assorted fried things — didn’t try these myself. My friend said the fried chicken was pretty good.
They don’t take reservations on Fridays or Saturdays, but I showed up with a group of 16 last Friday and they were able to accommodate us within about 30 minutes. The staff was very attentive and efficient considering our group size! It was my birthday so I was very appreciative. :)

Came here with a group of 6 yesterday and split 3 large pots, 2 fried chicken (it’s like the salt and pepper popcorn chicken you can get in Taiwan) and a signature seafood in a bag. The portions are really small for what you pay for. We got one spicy pot which wasn’t too hot and left my tongue a little tingly. The lemon pepper pot was a little too salty for my taste. The ginger pepper was just right for me but others thought that it was a little bland. The best part of the meal was the fried chicken. It was juicy, flavorful, and crispy to perfection.
I also got the honeydew drink with coconut sago with half sugar, which was pretty good! There wasn’t much honeydew flavor but the drink was a nice and milky. My husband got the mango with coconut sago and the drink itself tasted pretty much the same with the exception that his had a chunk of real mango on the bottom.
They helped store a cake for a friend’s birthday which was really nice of them. Service was relatively quick, but they were not overly accommodating.
I would come back for the drinks and fried chicken but would pass on the pots.

Great experience. Excellent food. Fresh and delicious. Especially great for vegans. Absolutely delicious tofu and potato noodles. You can completely customize your bowl of food. Reasonable prices. Consider sitting in the back instead of in the front (since when we went it was very cold outside.)

I went to this restaurant today for a late lunch at around 3pm. The restaurant was not crowded at all. It was just me and another table of customers. I ordered a spicy beef pot. The food looked okay… but it’s way too salty. I have to keep adding water into my pot because it’s VERY SALTY!!! And the service wasn’t good either. I have been waving to the waiters for five minutes and still no one came over. One waitress saw me waving but pretended she didn’t see me and another waiter was talking in the back. And I finished my food for 15 minutes and no one came to clean up. The service was unacceptable, unprofessional and intolerable considering the fact that the restaurant was not busy at all. I understand that it’s already past the lunch hour but that doesn’t mean that you can give out a service like this. Last but not least, after the waiter gave me the bill, he stood next to me and watched me pay, this made me feel very uncomfortable. I wouldn’t come back to this restaurant again.

I could see this is a great spot for college students to hang out, have some bubble tea along with mix bowl dishes. During Friday night or weekend will be a long wait as they do not take any reservation. We waited about 30 minutes for a table of 2 people and another 20 minutes for a dish to arrive. The dish was absolutely so salty that we could not even swallow the food, however, the waiters were all very accommodating and friendly, they apologized and switched a brand new dish for us.
The restaurant need more employees for rush hours such as a Friday night and weekend, so they don’t leave customers outside hanging looking for the host and long wait for the food to come.
Food-​wise, what they offer at the restaurant is unique, no one makes their food/​such dishes around this area. Just the food itselves is too greasy and salty.

I didn’t have high expectations for this place because I figured this is jersey! There can’t be real good Chinese food compare to new york but I was wrong.
We ordered the make your own stir fried pot. Pretty much they have a bunch of ingredients for you to pick from, from chicken to beef to pork to even frog legs and a bunch of vegetables that you can pick as well and you pick the sauce you want. We picked ours with beef, fish, and some other vegetables and tofu. And we chose the spicy Mala sauce. The flavor was very good. Very oily and numbing and intense. Just how I like it.
We also tried their shrimps with lemon pepper sauce. And I guess they try to copy the boil from new York. The food was served in a plastic bag with some corn, potatoes. And that was good as well.
Food came out to be cheaper than expected. $ 52 dollars for 4 person. A great deal for sure.
Service was just OK. They were very busy and we had to flag them down for service
I’ll be back again for more spicy stir fried pot! So glad this place opened in jersey

Great place for anyone that loves authentic Chinese food. Service is on point.
There’s a KTV set near the cashier where you can pick songs to listen.
karaōke from 10pm to closing if you come for a night snack according to the boss.
My favorite food is their whole sha bang seafood combo amazing for the price you pay
Salt and pepper squid and the fried chicken are tasty.
Finally, Asian Fusion Stir Fry is my favorite because Mala is too spicy and numbly for me to have. Make sure you select meats and veggies so that the sauce blend well with the whole stir pot.
Trust me, after the first bite, you won’t stop.

So damn good. Ma La until your freaking mouth falls off. I’ve had plenty of mala spiced food in my life, but this easily falls into top 3 most mala food that I’ve ever had. My mouth was numb by the 3^rd or 4^th bite and I’m usually accustomed to eating spicy food. We showed up as a group of 6 and split one large spicy pot and one small non-​spicy pot. This was more than enough and we still had leftovers at the end. You essentially check off the food items that you want thrown into the pot and they bring it out to you steaming and decadent, inundated with spices and sauces. Everything is delicious. Truly.
Oh and you can also order some seafood by the pound and they’ll bring it out clam bake style. Crawfish, mussels, shrimp and other types of seafood are all offered, but I wouldn’t actually recommend this as it’s pretty pricey for what it is. The potatoes and corn that they toss in along with the seafood is delicious though!

This place is pretty good. It was my first time having Szechuan stir-​fry and I have to say I’m a fan. I went on a Saturday around 5p and this place was jumping. It was pretty packed (I think there were only 2 tables open), but I was seated quickly, which was a plus. Soon the waiter brought over water and handed me a menu. My friend took a while to decide what he wanted to put in his stir fry, but once he did the waiter came back over and checked to make sure we filled out the menu appropriately and brought our order back. In about 15 minutes both of us had our stir fry.
I ordered stir fry with clams, sausage, frog legs, chicken, bok choy, brocolli, black mushrooms and glass noodles in Asian Fusion sauce. I also ordered the chicken wings and red been milkshake too. The latter was the better part of my meal, but that doesn’t mean the stir fry wasn’t good. The red bean milkshake was amazing as was the sweet dipping sauce they paired with the wings (if this came as a stir fry sauce I would order it). The stir fry was good as well, but I ordered black mushrooms and found them to be gritty, which kind of brought me down from the initial high I was on when I first ate my stir fry. I’m not sure they soaked the mushrooms, or rinsed them, well enough because on numerous occasions I bit into sandy mushrooms, which isn’t the business. Even though I had sandy mushrooms, I still really enjoyed this place and think the food is great.
The service was quick and very good. I didn’t get my waiter’s name, but he was one of the best waiters I’ve had in a while (look for the waiter with black plug earrings). He took his time to explain the menu and give recommendations on what we should try because he noticed me and my friend were Szechuan virgins. I’m sure we stuck out like a fly in milk there, but I felt very comfortable. hahaha.
Things that would improve the rating:
1. A/​C — it could have been because it was hot outside, but it seemed like the restaurant didn’t have the air one which made it slightly uncomfortable.
2. Ice in water glasses — umm, this one is pretty basic
3. Mushrooms — mushrooms should never be gritty.
I’ll definitely be back to try more stir-​fry (sans the mushrooms)! Or maybe I’ll take the hint from all of the other customers and order boiled seafood in a bag, put on plastic gloves and work for my meal (lol)! In all seriousness a lot of people ordered seafood in a bag and it looked really good.
And when I go back I’ll update my review…

Fresh, varied, authentic ingredients for a Szechuan dry hot pot in Central Jersey – what’s not to love? Plenty of choices on their two-​sided menu may prove Intimidating to the uninitiated.
Bruce is the best.

Think of this as an Asian Joe’s Crab Shack. Seafood items boiled in bags with corn and potatoes, with your choice of seasoning. I made the mistake thinking you pick and choose the seafood items and it’s all made together, but it turns out each seafood is in its own bag. We got mussels, snow crab legs, and clams, all with «the whole shabang» seasoning, and they were very tasty! They also have the szechuan stir-​fry pot where you pick and choose the items you want stir-​fried together, we tried the ma-​la flavor and ginger+scallion. We liked the ma-​la one a lot, well-​seasoned, balanced spice level, and ordered a second one, but that was about 3 times as numbingly spicy as the first one. Maybe the cook spilled some extra peppercorn or spice that second time.
Also, the drinks and smoothies were refreshing. We tried the milk tea that tasted aromatic, and the coconut sago/​tapioca with mango. Even though it was a little expensive at almost $ 5, it was perfect for summer time.
Restaurant itself was nicely decorated, we especially liked the lights they used in the dining area. It’s a hit or miss on reservations: We did make a reservation for 7pm for our party of 9, but they mistakenly gave our table away to a different party of 9 who walked in before us, and we ended up having to wait almost an hour for our table.

Ate lunch here with my dad today (Saturday), it was pretty busy but the service was pretty good and our food came out fast
We ordered the stir fry and picked a bunch of different stuff, came out to around $ 37 (we ordered too much for two people)
We got the mala and the spice level was fine but I found it to be extremely salty. We let the server know; he was very apologetic and brought me a bowl of hot water in case I wanted to rinse off my food a little lol, and it was better after

Been craving for 麻辣香鍋 since I moved to nj from NYC.. Super excited when I saw this place open!!! The food is good, because someone doesn’t eat as spicy as I do so we did mild mala spicy which is still good but I wish it’s spicier. They ask have a almost «boiling crab» version of seafood in a bag. It’s more asianize than Americanized but it’s still pretty good consider there isn’t something similar in the area… definitely coming back again!!!
A star off because they made a small mistake on our order, we ordered clam but they put in mussel instead. However they did correct it right away. I did see and hear mistakes at other table. But they are very good with correcting and also admitting their mistake
The service is the best I got for Chinese restaurants in the area.

Pretty cool place! I’ve never been to a place like this before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Essentially, you can choose your own ingredients for stir-​fry, and you have a pretty good selection of things from meat to seafood, to noodles and veggies, with a few spice/​sauce selections to choose from. One order is definitely enough to share between 2 – 4 people, which is a great deal.
I got the 24 spices mala sauce with my stir fry to see about their namesake. I’ve never had mala spice before and didn’t know it would have a numbing effect on your palate. Although it was good and interesting, it wasn’t entirely my cup of tea because of the strange feeling. So for people who don’t know what mala is and what it does to your mouth, just know it’s different.
On top of that, they have soup pots (which I definitely want to try), seafood-​centric combos, and a pretty big selection of beverages. I definitely would go back just to try everything.
The service was pretty average, specifically, my server was a little less attentive than I wanted but everyone else was great and I believe the owner or manager came by to say hi at some point. The décor was contemporary and pleasant. The ingredients were fresh. It’s a new place so definitely check it out; I know I want to go back to try their other selections.

Pick what you want and have them mix it up. Great alternative to hot pot.
I would hit this spot again.
Service was awesome too.