I've had so many positive experiences at Pure Spice, it's about time I write a review for this amazingly authentic restaurant. My husband's work took him to Shanghai a number of times, and he tells me our visits to Pure Spice remind him of some of his favorite restaurants he'd frequent there. Here's a fun tip! When your favorite Dim Sum places in Portland aren't serving, remember Pure Spice has a permanent Dim Sum menu they serve during all open hours. You'll find a lot of your favorites there. Visitors will find a daily specials board with listings written in Mandarin! This restaurant definitely has the "if you're in the know, you're in the know" kind of vibe. Just ask the servers to translate if you have any questions. And don't be sheepish about asking questions, or flagging someone down if you need anything. This place can get busy with a lot of regulars who may not respect first come, first served conventions. I don't know, I think it just adds to the local flavor - and makes me want to become a regular as well. Give Pure Spice a shot and let me know what you think! read more

We came here last night as a last minute thanksgiving dinner and had an amazing meal. The restaurant was open it's regular hours despite being the holiday and was surprisingly busy. This is your typical Chinese restaurant but they have dim sum all day. The food was great and came out fast, the duck and roasted pork was our favorites. There are quite a few Chinese restaurants in the area but this is one that I frequent pretty often. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Peking Duck - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Came for dim sum on a Saturday about 1:00 PM. Didn't want to deal with the lines and wait times at the other near by dim sum places so we came here since they don't do the whole cart ordeal and it is a smaller place which usually has seating available. The restaurant was somewhat busy but still had plenty of seating available in the back room. We ordered a bunch of dim sum plates such as the pork shiu mai, shrimp and scallion dumplings, BBQ pork buns, radish cakes, pork soup dumplings, etc. It took them a while to take our order and then even longer for our food to arrive (I'd estimate 30 minutes for the first plate to arrive). After our food finally arrived, we had to ask for chili paste and the waitress said she'd get it but then went on to clean up other tables when there was no one waiting to be seated and plenty of other available tables. After a bit longer I got up to approach the front counter to ask for some sauce and they finally acknowledged my request. Also wanted to note even though there were many available tables in the back room they placed us at an awkward spot right next to the bussing bins and at one point they asked us to get up and move during our meal so they could grab the cart. Looked around and everyone else had water glasses and at least Sriracha on their table whereas we had never been offered any. Overall service to non-Asian customers seemed to be an afterthought and they made it seem apparently inconvenient for both parties. Food was overall ok but the experience doesn't really have me itching to come across town for another round of dim sum here. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Shiu Mai, shrimp and scallion dumplings, pork bun, etc - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I came with my uncle's family, which included his wife and two children. The menu is pretty big with a lot of options, but the food just did not even meet okay standards. Most of the food was just terrible. Flavor was lacking or there was just copious amounts of grease. Chinese food can generally be very greasy, but this was next level. My cousins love dumplings and potstickers. They are young and don't have the most discerning tastebuds (not that young people can't have good taste, they just don't), but this was so bad they did not want to eat it. And I support their decision. The skin was so thick and the filling was mush. Their string bean was the best thing we had, but it wasn't great. The ambiance is on par with most whole in the wall Chinese places. Nothing to write home about, but it wasn't dirty. It was clean enough and nothing appeared suspect. The service was overall also on par with Chinese dining establishments. If you are going to a Chinese restaurant looking for good service, you will be deeply disappointed. If you come with the expectation of dismissive service, there will not be any surprise. I can't see myself ever returning. read more

Their American Chinese food basics are solid. I appreciate their consistency, tastiness, and quality. The portion size is great. I've only gotten my food to go. read more

It is a pretty solid hole in the wall style restaurant that serves some good Chinese food. It looks small from the outside, but actually a bit larger inside. The service here is pretty quick, and the food comes out quick. I really enjoyed the braised beef and radish claypot with the garlic pea sprout. The chow fun was decent, and the Chinese styled tender beef was a bit sweet for me. read more

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Two opposing reviews. Had takeout dinner and was not very good. However just got dim sum and would recommend this place for that. See the other recent review - guy said it was better than NYC HK TW SG - wouldn't go that far but definitely better than the places in this neighborhood. Price very reasonable and good flavor. Rice noodle wrapped fried donut was excellent read more

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Decent spot for Chinese food in SE Portland but there are better places out there. They have a good mix of Cantonese and Sichuanese dishes. My family and I came during Christmas so it was super packed and busy when we came in. We ordered the roast duck, water boiled fish, fish sauce eggplant, cumin lamb, and beef chow fun. I enjoyed the water boiled fish, duck, and lamb the most. The eggplant was a tad too sweet and the beef chow fun could have had more flavor. The service was super slow but I can't blame them since it was Christmas. read more

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When you walk in, you can immediately tell that this is a family-run restaurant in the best way. Sure, it may not look like the fanciest place, but it is very authentic. Service was okay (but I wasn't expecting it to be great ahah, reality of the true Chinese food experience), however, they were really quick in cooking and serving the food! The first dish we got was the salt and pepper squid (which was quickly inhaled by my friends and I, that's why I don't have any picture of it), and it was definitely my favorite. My friends ordered the other dishes, because they know more about Chinese cuisine than I do and their Chinese is also better aha. But, everything was good. Not great, but good. There wasn't anything particularly bad about the experience, but personally, I think that there are restaurants with a better dining environment and friendlier service in the area so I wouldn't come back. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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A guy at my Post Office recommended this place, because Wong's King is gone, and it's right next door. He said the Dim Sum here is good and cheap. We were up for the adventure. The first time we came here, we were seated in from of the fresh saltwater tropical fish tank, quite welcoming. We tried our favorites and compared them to Excellent Cuisine next door. The front of the restaurant is modest, but when you go inside, you can see a large banquet room available for large groups or parties. The Siew Mai are unusually sweeter, but good. The Haw Kow are more flavorful and yummy. The Chicken Bow were rather non descript. The Shanghai Soup dumplings were good. The Naw Mai Gai (sticky rice in lotus leaves) were much better than next door. The Roast Duck and Dan Tat (egg custards) are AMAZING!!! The next time we came here, we decided to try some new items. The waitress remembered us, and struck up a conversation with us. The Cha Siew Bow is almost totally bread. The bread was good, but we were expecting more filling. They have Beef Rolls, which are HUGE! The beef inside is tender, and the outer wrapper is thick and deep fried, totally flavorful inside and out. These are worth getting. We had these are Duck House and were totally disappointed, as they were so very sad and skimpy compared to these Beefy ones at Pure Spice. The Cheese and Shrimp egg rolls are novel, and really good. They we're gone first. Yum Then they served us the Salt Pepper Tofu OMG a MUST HAVE!!! I recommend going out of your way to come to Pure Spice for this dish alone. Wong's King had this dish called Multi-flavored Tofu, but Excellent Cuisine does not carry it. The only other restaurant that I know of that has this is Szechaun Chef in John's Landing (we will try those next) read more

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Whenever I am craving Chinese food or when I need to feed my family when they're coming from out of town, this is where I would go here to order comfort food here read more

Enjoyed a dimsum meal at this casual spot recently. I really enjoyed the homey ambience and the lack of Sunday brunch crowd, made it a lot more relaxing not having to fight for attention and a table. They actually have plenty of seatings that it first seem too, a big banquet hall at the back. Service was fast and nice. You order all the dimsum up front and everything was made fresh. Plenty of options to choose from from their picture menu. I wouldn't say their dimsum were out of this world good but they all met the standard with bit more homey taste so I quite liked it. Their Hand Pulled Noodles may have been the best items for me, fresh and tender noodles in delicious thin sauce. Chicken Feet had good flavor but could have been more stewed. There was a bit of a mishap with the Cheese and Shrimp Spring Rolls. They came out frozen but were quickly remade with no fuss so that was nice. Prices were decent too for the amount of food that you get. Would definitely come back to try their non-dimsum stuffs sometimes! read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf, Shiu Mai, and Chicken Feet - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Parking was tight around lunchtime. But getting a table was a breeze. The dining area is quite large. Menus have pictures of all items. Dim Sum by the order (no carts). Ordered shumai, pork ribs and tofu rolls. What came out of the kitchen was very flavorful and filling. Ordered a noodle dish which ended up in a To Go box. Great spot! read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Beef Chow Fun - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

We ordered take out but it took 30min before it wasready; however, they were also very busy today but 30min is a little overboard. One very positive thing was the food was still warm if not hot when we got back home! We ordered a lot of dim sum. The dim sum was mediocre, nothing stood out. The chern fun was probably the best as that's what they're known for. I was afraid the texture would be mushy but it was still dry and fine! It was very much tasteless so please use the sauce that comes with it! The loctus leaf sticky rice was... interesting. It came with two which is normal but they each had different flavors. I hope one didn't turn bad but one tasted fresher and better than the other. PDX has been hot so please be careful, wherever you eat. Chicken feet and shin roll should be tender and soft but it was hard. We also ordered the ho fun and chow mein and both were okay, nothing outstanding. I guess this place was average but I think some of the siu mai and ha gao at other restaurants are better. read more

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To Go Roast Duck and crispy Roast Pork on Mother's Day made for an easy family lunch with minimal clean up for the guys' day in the pit. Duck was moist and flavorful and the crunchy crisp of the pork was intact surviving the 20 min drive south and quick micro zap to warm through. Made my Mother's Day for sure ! Normally dine in on Dim Sum minus the trolley train and lines of larger restaurants, ordering freely off the menu saves time too for those without a couple hrs to sit and wait to be enticed by the drive bys. Also love to stop by late night for a bowl of hot n sour soup and if I am lucky the salt pork jook if any rice porridge is left, typically a breakfast dish. The hubby's go to is a catfish clay pot with its addictive crispy rice crusted treat where it bakes against the surface of the clay on the inside of the pot, yum. Still need to try that salt fish duck fried rice a few newspapers have raved on too. Stay tuned! read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Roast Duck and Roast Pork take out on Mother's Day, such a treat! - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

My favorite Dim Sum restaurant in the area. You order off the menu and the food is hot and fresh. The service is always good

Love the food at Pure Spice! We had the scallop dumpling, shrimp and chive dumpling , sticky rice in lotus leaf, siu mai, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, the rice noodle with spare ribs, and took home some salted fish and chicken friend rice as well as the beef chow fun. Everything was excellent. Will definitely be returning! read more

Located on Division Street, the parking lot is just down the road to Wong's King. We discovered Pure Spice after being told at Wong's King they had a really long wait for Saturday dim sum. The narrow parking lot is shared with other businesses but we've never had an issue with parking. We love the prices and the food. We typically go there for dim sum on the weekends but have also gone there for dinner. Dim sum is served until 330 pm on the weekends. We like that dim sum is cooked to order and not pushed around on a cart. I know that's traditional dim sum, but nothing beats made to order. We've had the har gow, shumai, bbq pork rice noodle, bean curd roll, steamed pork buns, shanghai noodles, soy chow mein, walnut shrimp, and fried rice. Prices are so reasonable, we usually over order dim sum so we can take them home. Our favorites are the bbq pork rice noodle, bean curd, and shumai from the dim sum menu. You can also get barbecued meats such as duck, goose, and pork. Pure Spice offers a full menu and wine, liquor, and sake. They have large banquet tables in the back of the restaurant. This is a great place for a quick bite and big parties. Definitely worth a try! read more

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Not very good at having orders ready on time. I do enjoy the taro and radish cakes. Sweaty cooks seemed to be left to run the night shift which made for uncommunicative pickup. Standing for 25 min to have it dropped on a table without notice... Laughing. read more

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Waited for 50 minutes for a takeout order, I was completely ignored along with everyone else picking up unless we got in their way and forced the issue. I asked four times for an estimate or update and three times I was told they'd check on it and then the person went right back to treating me like I didn't exist. The fourth time I threatened to cancel the order and after checking they told me they never even got the order. I have rarely been treated with worse unprofessionalism and poorer customer service. There were no seats while we waited, not even attempt at social distancing and another customer when finally getting his food said he'd been there for 80 minutes. If you can't handle the volume of orders stop taking takeout orders until you catch up. This was an incredibly frustrating waste of time and I will never return to this shit show of a restaurant. read more

Been coming here for years. A huge hit with my kiddos. Dim sum is fantastic, pork dumplings and rice noodles... so good. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - BBQ Pork - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I love this tiny place buzzing with Chinese customers. The food is authentic and scrumptious. I had the Singapore noodles and beef satay, both were excellent. The staff is friendly and e noy running their restaurant. read more

Pretty dang impressive! I was in the neighborhood, and when I'm around 82nd I always make sure to try a new place that's been on my radar since I don't frequently make it out there. I was in the mood for dim sum, and Pure Spice did not disappoint. Their menu is fairly extensive, and I couldn't make up my mind so I waited to order until I got in. Even when I walked in, I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the options and ended up panicking and overordering a bit - never an issue when the result is more tasty Chinese food! I got: Wonton noodle soup - clear light broth, thin curly egg noodles, tasty wontons and a few pieces of tender bok choy for good measure. Green beans with eggplant - just a little spicy, with black bean sauce, the beans are just a little crunchy and the eggplant is silky-soft. I personally thought it could have used a little more black bean/heat but I'm not mad at it. Red oil wontons - so much Szechuan peppercorn! It's one of my favorite condiments/spices and I love it when they don't skimp on the flavor. Very happy with this one. Pork soup dumplings - not quite as juicy as others I've tried, but very flavorful, I thought they were quite tasty. Ha gow - plump and full of succulent shrimp, delicate flavor. Shu mai - also plump and full of succulent pork, flavorful and tender. The food came out quickly, and stayed hot for the drive home across town. Two dishes and four dim sum items ran me $45 - super reasonable when I was eating leftovers for days! I was happy with every single dish I ordered - not a dud in the bunch. I'm really looking forward to sampling even more of that extensive menu. read more

I ordered 7 different items on the menu and was disappointed at 5 already. The scallop dumpling and shrimp dumpling were big in size and good. I would come back for those! Pork shrimp dumpling didn't have enough shrimp and missing fish eggs on top. Tofu bean curd wrapped was over cooked, dry and burnt. Chinese donut noodle came out cold. Hand pulled shrimp noodle was very thin and fragile. The sauce that comes with it was lacking flavor. Last and worst was the ribs in black bean sauce, took one bite and left the whole dish back. Didn't even take it for Togo. There was still a stank smell that seemed like not cleaned appropriately. Staffs were great at making sure to keep socially distant though. They wore both masks and gloves to serve. Overall, the price of this place is pretty decent and reasonable. There's a need for food quality improvement though. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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I enjoy this restaurant a whole lot and find it has a cozy setting. The food is made fresh so it is not the spot for fast food. Come ready to sip tea and enjoy a largely uninterrupted meal. I love bringing people here and can't wait to go back, even having just been there this week. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - An excellent lunch for 2 - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

My husband and I tried Pure Spice during our roadtrip to Portland over the summer, and were able to make five meals out of two entrees because the portion sizes are massive. It was delicious and the most authentic Chinese food I've found in a very long time, and I tend to be sort of a snob about good Chinese. It was also very cheap for how much food we received. read more

Hey folks, this Restuarant is great at first glance it's a hole in the wall but once you go in it's larger than you think it is, and the food is incredible! I used to to go to this spot in Houston where they made the most incredible salt & pepper crab ( a soft shell crab deep fried to golden delight) guess what its on Pure Spice's menu they do a pretty good job though a little heavy handed on salt on a couple of pieces I had. read more

Food is authentic, very tasty and good portions. Value is there, six audits-8 dishes for less than $170.00. Wow! The service was excellent, and it's New Year's Day. The new owners did very well, they just need more parking! We will be back. read more

Had to take this place off my favorites not because of the flavor but the lack thereof and some cooking that was done wrong and not under cooked. Let me explain. I ordered salt and pepper. First of all, it was bland, probably not enough of the salt and pepper mix. Then I ran into some "raw" batter on the chicken, but the chicken was cooked, and most of it was crispy my assumption is too much in the pot or not waiting for temperature to come back up. This is likely due to being in a rush. All in all, it wasn't inedible, but I have had better and expect better from my previous favorite Chinese restaurant. read more

Very elegant inside; nice Asian decor. I like the wide variety of Chinese dishes available on the menu, though prices are high (average price may be $20 per entree). Portions are large though. My food arrived hot and fast and tasted good. Service was fine. I appreciate that they offer duck and dim sum, and don't use MSG in any of their foods. read more

So sad to do this, but I have to update my original review. Pure Spice has gone straight downhill since the ownership change several years ago. The quality of the ingredients is atrocious and the cooks must have changed as nothing tastes the same as it used to. Today's meal has convinced me that I'll have to stop eating here. Paid $20 for garlic pea sprouts that were old, wilted and tough. All of the seafood in the dim sum (shrimp & chive dumplings, scallop dumplings, etc) were rubbery and tasted very "off". An hour after eating them, my daughter threw up several times and my stomach was not feeling well. Pure Spice was my favorite Chinese restaurant in Portland; heartbroken that I'll never be able enjoy those original flavors and dishes again! read more

The chinese food here is delicious!!! So worth the price and flavor! The food is family style so the portions/pricing is so worth it! The place is very humble, inviting and warm. Service is great and food came out fast!! The honey walnut shrimp is to die for so it's a must try if you're a fan! Definitely will be coming back :) read more

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Delicious! We were the first table in for dinner on a Friday and they let us order from the dim sum menu. Dim sum made fresh to order! Amazing. We also got the soy sauce noodles, it was a mountain of deliciousness! Saying it was a generous serving size is an understatement. Exactly what I was looking for. The fish tank provided much entertainment. Highly recommend. read more

Good food good service cheap dim sum. Kind of a hole in the wall, but I go there all the time.

I've eaten at Pure Spice Restaurant twice. This is the best authentic Chinese food I've had in the Portland, Oregon area! They also give a lot of food for your money! When I saw my lunch plate, right away, I knew I would be taking some home to eat for dinner. The problem is, it was so good that I ate the entire plate, which was way bigger than my stomach. It was worth it though, and I did the same thing the second time I ate there too! If you're looking for great authentic Chinese food, this is the place to go! read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

It's been awhile since I checked it out...went back last week and had my first din sum choice (Har Gow) . Previously o thought it was ok, this time, I thought it was pretty good a 4 out of 5 compared to my all time favorite in Vegas. For now, Pure Spice has replaced my previous Portland favorite at HK cafe. They have definitely slipped over the past year. Their BBQ pork is still by far the best I have ever had.... Anywhere!! read more

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This food is awesome. Full of flavor in everything that was ordered. Well worth the price. read more

Pure Spice Restaurant - Bbq pork rice noodles, pork shiu mai, - Dim Sum Near Me - Portland, Oregon

After reviewing the receipt again, the restaurant also seemed to overcharge us for the lobster dish. We came in to get this issue resolved and the worker told us that the lobster is supposed to cost that much? Even though the menu price is different? Seems like they're just trying to find victims to overcharge. read more

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Myself and our group of 11 people were there last night on August 15, 2019, and all the food we ordered was excellent. I had heard that the restaurant is now under the management of a new owner. However, I have never been really disappointed with any of the dishes that I've had there and I'm ethnically Chinese and have lived in the Portland area my whole life. People may complain that the service is poor or bad but that's only because they are understaffed. I have always found the food to be well prepared authentic and delicious. I think sometimes people misunderstand the attitude of Chinese people. I have to say mostly they are not overly friendly in the service industry only because it's understood that they have a job to do and they want to do it well and they want to do it as efficiently as possible they're not there to be paid to be overly nice and in servitude to their customers. read more

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Great food especially Cantonese and Southern Service very helpful. The soups are great