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Union Square (4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, W)
14th St-6th Aves (F, V, L, 1, 2, 3)
14th Street (PATH)
"How have I not reviewed this place before?? I walk by quite often and always think of their delicious mango sticky rice dessert, which they…" read more »
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I'll admit. I've been incredibly underwhelmed by the quality of Thai food in NYC, save for Isle, which I will absolutely recommend for Thai in NYC. I've heard of Spice as a decent place to order takeout from, and the word is that it's gone downhill over the years.
However, in comparison to New York cheap Thai food, it is not bad. I tend to eat there out of necessity due to my school's vicinity to Union Square, and I usually leave with a full stomach and a decently satisfied palate.
I agree with other reviews that for the quality, it is not worth the price for dinner, unless you have an itch for a Thai food. Still, it really comes down to what most great Thai places are all about: Cheap carbs, with a little bit of spice and sweetness that have come to love about the cuisine of Thailand.
With that in mind, please check out the lunch specials. They are VERY reasonably priced, good portions, and of a decent quality compared to what $8 will get you in Manhattan. I remind you, $8 will get you a brown and unfresh salad from your local deli, a sandwhich at COSI, or a about three incredibly salty hot dogs. Let's keep some perspective folks.
At Spice, you're getting a choice of a collection of staple Thai dishes. My personal favorites are the drunken noodles, basil and rice, or the massaman curry. Also, the shrimp fritters are incredible. Definitely give them a try.
CAVEAT: I do agree that the standard Thai dish Pad Thai is very underseasoned and bland. Avoid this dish here. I normally come from a place of "no matter how bad the Thai restaurant, you can't really mess up Pad Thai." Congratulations Spice. You are the exception.
I recommend this place. It's a good crack at a $10 and under Thai restaurant that at least attempts to give you a sense of decor. Try the take out and save tip and time.
How do you say "disappointment" in Thai? Or here is a better question: How can you possibly like Thai food and enjoy this place?
The food was served luke warm, and although the presentation was definitely there, the flavors were absolutely not.
The steamed dumplings just tasted like dough and I kept dipping them in the sauce in order to get some flavor. The shrimp fritters were good - but everything that's fried is good so ... you can't really judge the quality of food on a fried dish.
I ordered the green curry and although it was spicy (hot) as promised, there was actually no flavor. The Pad Thai my friend ordered was probably one of the worst I have ever had. Luke warm, dry noodles, with only a trace of vegetables and again no flavor.
Lastly, we ordered 2 green teas which were served in these beautiful little pots. When we poured the tea it was just warm water. No problem - we figured the tea needed to steep more so we poured the water back in and waited. And waited. And waited. It was still just warm water. The kicker? Each little tea pot cost 4 dollars!!
Only reason this place got 2 stars instead of one was for the presentation and the service - the staff are extremely pleasant and knowledgeable. Too bad the food sucks.
Spice has a pleasant atmosphere with nice staff. However, service became very spotty as the night went on, even though the restaurant wasn't much more full.
I got the roasted duck with jade noodles. The duck was very fatty - though there was a decent portion of duck in the whole dish. However, the whole dish was basically doused in a sauce, which remained at the bottom of my bowl. I'd say this was a "decent" dish with "decent" flavoring but nothing I'd want to order again.
My friend got the Mongolian sweet and sour dish, which was much larger (same price as the duck, though), with a good quantity of vegetables and, in her case, shrimp.
We split the taro bread pudding, which was very good but more like a slushy than pudding.
The warm duck salad there was a surprise. It's very delicious and the meat was very fresh. However, it's a little bit salty. Actually, tasting too heavy is the major problem stops me going to this restaurant even though I like this place overall.
Don't order the volcano chicken. It tastes bitter, though it's quite fancy to watch other people being served for this dish, hehe~
Maybe it was opposite day when the owners were trying to come up with a name for this joint.
Maybe it's merely someone's idea of a cruel joke.
Maybe in Thailand "spice" translates to "bland boring waste of 45mins and $10."
Wait, no... it can't be that last one because clearly the owners are not from Thailand, nor are they at all knowledgeable about Thai flavors.
Needless to say, Spice was a letdown.
After witnessing the horrible shock that was Ippudo's wait list, we stopped in the other day, hungry and short on time. After perusing the smallish lunch menu (complete with pictures, always a plus) we each decided to order the special--a choice of two sides and an entrée, all for only $9!
Being the excellent decision maker that I am, I asked the waitress for advice, then proceeded to envision the taste of each dish in my mind, and finally flipped a coin.
Fate told me to get the pork chop over noodles with the house vegetable soup and spring roll. My friend, not a much better decision maker, chose the same, but with dumplings instead of the soup.
So we waited. Said hi to a friend we ran into. Waited. Made small talk with the people sitting next to us. Waited. Speculated what was in the glass of another patron that looked suspiciously like carrot and orange juice mixed together. Waited some more...
And then finally our food came out. It looked so good! Arranged delicately in little bento-type boxes in perfect lunch portions. Then we tried it. And it all went downhill from there. It tasted like nothing. The noodles reminded me of those 20cent ramen noodles sans seasoning packet, and the spring roll was in an oily sauce with sesame seeds, but I can assure you that was not sesame oil.
Oh well, live and learn right. And maybe it's not their fault, maybe fate is to blame. Better luck next time.
So I ended up meeting my friends here as a surprise. We had a small table in the corner that barely fit all of us but that was ok. The service was good, a little slow but it was very busy that night. One thing that did piss me off was the bartender who was chatting up some girls and not making me a drink, probably waited 10 mins before I got my drink...and his drink tickets were piling up too.
I only ordered the crab ragoons for myself and the waiter brought me a cranberry juice, haha. He quickly got the appetizer that I wanted after a laugh so it was all good. The pad thai was amazing and the curry was spicy enough for my Sri Lankan friend so that was a good sign also. Overall, pretty nice place but I wish my plane wasn't delayed so that I could have had dinner there too!!!
The last time I went to Spice i was like wow, its some good thai for at an amazing price. But that time was a year ago and i finally ventured back to the Union Square area and decided to fill my thai food void. I ordered the following:
Tom Kha Chicken - holy crap, it was so thick with the consistancy of a new england clam chowder. There was too much coconut milk and not enough herbs to tone the base down.
Puffy Duck - that was a good choice on my part. Filled with marinated duck meat and in a nice flaky dough.
Drunk Man Noodle - my friend had this dish and she was very dissapointed with it. She could not even finish it even when the portions were realtively small.
Massaman Curry - I had this before at other Thai places and it is one of my favorite curry dishes. It supposed to be this hearty curry with potatoes and onions and other luxirious goodies. However, my dish here tasted like rubbish.
Meh ... I've experience better is the right thing to say.
Prices are cheap
Service was friendly
Food sucked
2 stars.
I'm so glad I finally got a chance to try this place. I went tonight with high expectations. Ran into a coworker on the way there and got good reviews from her.
I've tried a lot of thai places (as thai is one of my favorite foods). This place is loud and fun and quick. Even on a Wednesday, there was a slight wait and the host is very nice to offer a menu to look over while waiting.
I'll admit the food is a bit 'americanized' but in a good way. I really enjoyed the thai iced tea and golden fritters. The prices are reasonable and seems appropriate for the ambience. It's modern thai. If you are looking for a good first date place where you don't have to worry about awkward silence, this is the place.
Good thing I work nearby... I will be back...
First of all, I hate SEA on N 6th. I went to the old location of Spice once for lunch and loved it, so I thought dinner there might be good too. This was a pretty crappy night for all involved.
The hostess would not seat us until our entire party arrived- the third of three people and did not invite us to the bar. Bitchhhh.
After waiting around for awhile, I decided to get a drink with my friend out of boredom. I asked the bartender if they took AmEx (all I have after losing my wallet) and he did not know - he had to ask. n00b.
Can we get a glass of Shiraz?
Yeah, sure guys.
Bartender looks at the drink menu and corrects himself: no, we can't.
0 for 3.
We're finally seated once our third arrives, although there are empty tables abound. Everything is cheap and the specials look good.
There's an insane cold draft coming into the upstairs dining room. Don't know how. My neighbor's volcano chicken looks great.
The music is quieter than SEA but the place feels very similar. You can actually have a conversation without screaming.
The warm duck lettuce wrap had many bones, much to gf's dismay. My papaya salad was great, but the fried salmon rolls were kinda lame- like leftover salmon made into mini eggroll. Avoid them. My curry was fine, just like SEA but my friend's fried rice was downright weak.
All in all... the service sucked that night, but wouldn't get much better. If you know the good things on the menu, this place could be pretty great, but there are pitfalls.
Hypermodern decor? Check.
Cheap but interesting menu items? Check.
Blaring techno music? Thank…
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I give this place 3 stars; however, by comparison of the low prices, the food is actually pretty good.
I came here for a group dinner. Upon entering, I was flooded with a crowd of people waiting in line to get a table. There is a bar to get started early on drinks while waiting for the table to sit down and order. Woot!
Our table was a tight squeeze. It didn't bother me too much, but I can see how it would bother others.
Ordered the following:
1) Spice Crispy Calamari with Sriracha honey-chili sauce - Good but nothing special
2) Jade Seafood Dumplings (mixed shrimp crab meat with Massaman sauce) - Meh because I was expecting something more authentic
3) Drunk Man Noodle (with chicken, shrimp, & squid) - spicy broad rice noodle, eggs, sweet basil, and chili - recommended by a fellow customer that was eating at the bar. The sauce had a sweet tomato based flavor. Tasted like on of the ingredients was ketchup.
4) Bangkok Curry Fish - curry red snapper with red curry sauce, tomato, bell pepper, bamboo shoots, and basil - The fish was fried and deboned (woot!). The red curry sauce was good, as expected. The sauce itself is bit less creamier than other Thai restaurants that I've been to with red curry.
All in all, the food is good (compared to the cheap prices). The food has pretty good flavor and feels to me as more "Thai American" if there is such a term... "Fusion". If you're looking for original and authentic Thai food, this is not the place for it.
You disappoint me Spice. I tried your East Village location and loved it. But at the Union location, it was a downfall.
Lemongrass chicken? More like dried rotisserie chicken, I didn't even TASTE the lemon.
I ordered brown rice, not white rice...
The Tom Yum Soup should be the Tom YUCK soup.
I had the lime leaf tea, which tasted like hot water to me. 3 bucks for water.. and no it did not soothe my cough.
Horrible seating, I was pushed to a corner with my friend and boy were we claustrophobic. Barely able to get out of my seat without bumping into someone.
DISAPPOINTED.
Love the Rama Dish. Love the atmosphere. Great drinks as well!
The fried rice and the chicken pad Thai here are to die for. The dishes are big enough to share with a friend, which is exactly what I did. The pad Thai had just about the right amount of chicken, veggies and noodles. Nothing in the dish was too overwhelming or spicy. My fried rice wasn't the grease bucket that you usually get at your local takeout place. It was delicious and generous enough to leave you full. Not to mention the prices, for a place like this, were super cheap!
The bar at this place is a total nightmare though. We waited for about 15 minutes for three drinks while we waited for our table to be ready. I ordered a strawberry mojito which tasted nothing like strawberry but still carried quite the punch. It was delicious nonetheless.
The decor is really modern and warm. The service here, food wise, was quick and friendly.
Good food. Well priced. Unappealing service.
The wait was too long (30 mins on a rainy day). By the time we got to our table, they rushed through the order, barely listened to what I asked for (Which part of "Do you have various flavors of Thai Iced Tea?" translates into silence and bringing the more expensive Lychee Thai Iced Tea?). Also, it's generally a good idea to let the customer ask for the check before bringing it.
Chicken Pad Thai was tasty, nothing extraordinary. Lemongrass Chicken was definitely worth the $12. Try the duck.
All in all, don't expect fancy, $20-$25 should cover a decent meal.
Note about the crowd: mixture of loud NYU students, young professionals and cheap corner-table dating.
"Japonica" around the corner remains my favorite University Place venue.
This place is really close to NYU so I hear it's popular amongst the college students. The ambiance is really hip and trendy. When I go to Thai restaurants, I usually order the Pad Thai noodle and I ordered this dish with beef. The beef was very dry and chewy so if you were order pad thai, don't order it with beef!!! Otherwise, the noodle was very flavorful and the portions were decent.
GAH! What is the fuss about this place? Why are they doing so well?? I've figured it out - it's the Ikea-modern-trendy decor and atmosphere and DIRT CHEAP ass food.
Don't mean to be rude, but it's where those with lower budgets who generally live outside the city and don't know better go to impress dates. If price is dictating choice, it's a grave transgression to not just go to Cosi up the block for exponentially better food? Or asian food? What about Settagaya? I understand it's a different cuisine, but if you've got a hankering for Thai, go to Boyd's Thai on Thompson - it's low key and cheesy decor, but the food is so much unbelievably better. Don't argue with me here. People are just going here to feel like they're eating at a trendy place.
And about the food- All of the food is LOAAAADED WITH MSG. Plus they don't know how to combine flavors and ingredients so they throw extra sodium in there so you can't complain that it's boring and bland. Rather, it's boring and salty.
But I shouldn't hate because I always believe, you get what you pay for. It's dirt cheap, and dirt food. Yum.
Not good. Not comfortable. Not worth going to Spice no matter how many LES tell you it's all the rage.
The chairs and tables are so uncomfortable, Ash C. they must really go to ikea to decorate! It is all plastic and cheap looking.
Now for the food. Yuck. Not good I told them I am allergic to MSG and two hours later I had a terrible migraine to top off the great experience I had here.
Meeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh.
The highlight of my meal was the little crunchy bits that came in my salad. Other than that, they forgot my entree, which was a bland and too-moist pad see ew with almost no broccoli. The wait, however, did afford me the opportunity to eavesdrop on my neighbors, two overeducated theater nerds who were trying so hard to outdo each other with their non-wit it was almost tragic. Or comic. It was tragicomic. Here are some of the gems I remember; what you need to do is imagine each line being delivered with the smugness of, well, two overeducated theater nerds.
OTN 1: "I'm trying to deal with the ceaseless influx of menus, here." (thoughtful pause) "how often do you think you have an opportunity to say 'ceaseless influx'?"
***Translation*** even though the state of the menus could be described as neither ceaseless nor an influx, the expression "ceaseless influx" sounds cool. How can I find a way to say it again? I know! I'll talk about how I just said it!
OTN 2: 2-7 times per month.
***Translation*** OH SNAP!! You totally thought you were asking a fake rhetorical question after which I'd chuckle and be all "I don't know, man, but it's a truly great expression" and instead I KILLED it by giving you a fake real answer!
OTN 2: I have to go to Modell's to buy some bases for our softball game. And also because "you gotta go to Mo's."
***Translation*** you see?? I really DO have to go to Mo's, and that's also their slogan!! It's funny because it's true!!!
This place sucked.
The ambience is ok, the food is ok and the service is terrible.
I took a friend here for her birthday and given the modern decor and decent reviews, I was unfortunately very disappointed.
We were seated at the tiny table right next to the door and when asked to move (since the restaurant was still pretty empty) they said no!
Therefore a bottle of wine was ordered in an effort to forget the fact that we were now being face slapped constantly by the cheap, plastic white rings they have hanging as a space divider between the front door and the main restaurant area.
Not only that, when we finished our mediocre food and were trying to finish our wine, they rudely asked if we could hurry because they wanted other customers to fill up the tables.
UnSPICE me please. Never again.
I've ordered takeout from here several times and the first several I thought the pad thai with chicken, tom kha soup and spring rolls were all good. However in my most recent order, the pad thai was REALLY salty and overly sauced. Maybe it was just the cook that night. the soup and the spring rolls have been consistently good.
I ate lunch solo here earlier this week and they OWNED my ass! One might take their quirky name as just that, but let me be the first to attest to the fact that the menu items they denote as spicy are SPICY! Now I recently moved to Brooklyn from the West Coast and while I shipped most of my stuff UPS I made sure to stick bottles of my favorite hot sauce in my checked baggage for fear NY stores don't carry my favorite brand (they don't...). But even I, the empress of picante, couldn't finish the spicy lemon-grass noodles. Kudos to you Spice!
Aside from earning my unwavering respect for the heat of their dishes, the food is damn good and at an extremely reasonable price. I ordered the lunch special and for $8 I got a hearty bowl of tom yum seafood with octopus and shrimp and the lemongrass chicken noodles. The service was quick as can be and the food was on point. I didn't finish all of my food, but still left stuffed and happy (aside from the burning mouth). The portions are on par with the chicness of the decor (read: smallish portions) but you definitely don't feel jipped and won't feel like a heathen for finishing it all. The also have an interesting drinks menu that I look forward to trying as I couldn't muster the courage to drink at noon alone (in public at least).
You heed my word Spice...I shall return
Really I'd give this more of a 2.5, but Yelp doesn't allow half-star reviews.
I got the vegetable red curry, my friend got the chicken pad thai. I like how they give you the option of customizing your meal (I guess all dishes are vegetarian by default, and you order them with either vegetables, chicken, beef, or shrimp). The price is pretty decent (most things on the menu are $10). The food isn't great. My friend didn't enjoy his pad thai. The red curry was easily the spiciest thing I've eaten in a very long time, such that my throat started to tingle. Definitely not a very pleasant experience. I did like the flavor of the curry, though, so if I come back I'll definitely try a milder one. I was there at dinnertime on a Friday night and I only had to wait like five minutes for a table, so it's not too bad. I guess it's worse with larger parties.
One word, two syllables: TRICK-STERS.
My friend and I went for din-din last night. Do I want to start by ordering a drink? my waiter asked. Of COURSE I want to order a drink.* I'll have a mojito. The prices for drinks are suspiciously left off the menu, but I figure $8, $9 at best. This is Thai and everything is super cheap, so the cocktails should be too, right?
Wrong. TWELVE DOLLARS. This mojito that barely gave me a buzz is $12, which is actually more expensive than my meal. What kind of sick world am I living in?
The food was good, but the service was not. Our waiter was extremely attentive at the beginning of our meal, but cleverly avoided us as the night progressed and we were ready for our check. He also put on his best smile to convince us to buy a second round, but luckily we said no (even before we knew the final price).
The set-up was kind of cool, a little cozy. I think it's funny that they have the same chairs as Room Service, just in white instead of purple.
I don't know. I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?**
__________
* It's Monday Funday!
** I think you can in Europe.
The food isn't bad. But it's just okay...nothing special. You'll eat, enjoy, leave... then forget where you went for dinner.
The decor is ultra funky modern... kind of annoying, but whatever. The price is right and the food is good 'nough.
Spice is that quickie Tuesday night hookup you'd never date.
I wouldn't recommend eating in, it gets too crowded and hectic. However, it is a spectacular delivery option, and since it's really cheap and the delivery is lightning fast, I can't ask for much more.
definitely my favorite Thai place hands down, in nyc
I don't think I've ever had a bad Thai food experience in general, but for the price, atmosphere, and food that you get from Spice, it's really unbeatable.
The food is great and so is the decor. Prices are more than reasonable so it gets really crowded. Be prepared to wait and be rushed to leave as soon as your done with your entree. It seemed like the busboys were watching for people to take the last bite to take plates away immediately.
The server was lost for a while, she seemed to have more tables than she could handle without sacrificing service. However, the staff was nice - it seemed like they just need more waiters.
Not a place to sit down and relax after or during your meal. Go, enjoy (quickly) and leave.
Interesting decor, but I felt too cramped in this restaurant. The waiter had to move our table so that my bf could get to his seat along the wall. But I guess I feel better when I know that at least there's enough room for the bartender to roam behind the bar counter.
Their menu had lunch set specials for least than $10, so we thought we were going to get a great deal at a Thai restaurant. For appetizers, we went with the green salad and the Tom Yum soup. There's nothing to say about the salad, and the soup was average. I thought the soup would be packed with more spices and flavor, but for the price I was content. For entrees, the bf ordered the green curry which came out (for lack of a better word) in a boogary brownish green color. The beef looked overcooked and looked to be ripped apart by hand since they weren't in proper bite sized pieces. They really went skimpy on the rice too, which is lame because how else are we supposed to eat the curry?
For myself, I ordered the Phad Thai and I wish I didn't because that was just a bad pile of oily noodles. 3 bites and I was done. Plus it made the apartment smell when we took it to go. At least they didn't screw up the Thai Iced Tea, I was able to wash away the 5 layer grease lining my inner mouth. Get some real Thai food elsewhere.
As a college student, you can imagine how I am CONSTANTLY on the hunt for some quality food with quality portions, and having been disappointed by underwhelming sizes of entrees time after time... (God forbid those $15 dollar lasagnas which turn out to be the size of a microwave meal! I could've just gotten it at CVS for half the price!)
...Spice was definitely one of the most pleasant surprises I've had yet!
Ordering the Maekong Pork Chop, I discovered that they did not give me 1 pork chop...not 2..pork chops but 3 pork chops! 3!!! I couldn't wait to dig in and it was a plus that it was well cooked, and marinated with an exotic flavour!
Thank you Spice! I'll probably be a very frequent customer from now on!
Horrible service. First of all, they took forever to come and take our drink orders. Then, they took forever to come back and take our food orders. Then, when the food was brought to us, it took some time for them to bring our silverware. Each time we asked for something we were greeted with a surly demeanor & the hostess and server did not apologize for the bad service either.
That aside, the food was quite tasty and the price was reasonable. The ambiance is generic - what you come here for is the food.
I ordered the Bangkok Curry fish and my friend ordered the Drunken Noodles. She said hers was pretty good. I found mine very tasty, although I wish it was a bit spicier.
For dessert we had the molten chocolate cake with green tea ice cream, which tasted good but was nothing special.
Although I enjoyed my food, Thai restaurants are ubiquitous and I don't see any reason to put up with the horrible service here again. I'm sure I'll find a place with as good or better food but that has better service.
We wanted a cheap dinner before the This American Life live broadcast at the Regal Cinema, so we went here because it is cheap and just down the block from the theater.
This Spice used to be in a smaller space further south on University, but cheap food in a trendy space that plays loud music is just what every hungry and poor college student in New York City is looking for. So they out grew their space. Now they're in a two-level space on 13th street, decorated in bright colors and a gold ceiling and which blares dance music at higher-than-my-old-fuddy-duddy-ears-would-like levels.
B. ordered the Asian Ginger Shrimp salad ($5) which was tasty and had a nice gingery dressing and a Tom Yum soup ($3) which was served in a bigger bowl than most places. I ordered the Drunk Man Noodles which were broad rice noodles with chili sauce, sweet basil, egg, and chicken, shrimp and squid ($10) which was good.
We also got a bottle of unfiltered sake for about $17 and a Sapporo and the whole bill came to $45.
Not bad at all...though I do wish those kids would turn down that blasted music.
How do you say mediocre in Thai?
It isn't bad. In fact, everything I've had there is tasty: pad thai, black noodles, red curry. The drinks are aiiight. The service was pretty good, especially because there was a summer where a friend and I became a fixture. The manager would check in on us, the wait staff even remembered our orders! So why three stars?
Frankly, the space is just bizarre. The tables are thisclose to each other, so you can hear the conversation of the parties next to you. There is techno blasting and you can't swing a dead cat in there without hitting a whiny NYU student. You have to practically scream over the table to be heard over the music, the loud chatter and general cacauphony coming from the kitchen. It feels like a grade school cafeteria. With pretty people.
When your not screaming to the person across from your, you'll likely overhear an awkward date unfolding on one side of you, and chatty/anxious students on the other. Your best bet is to bellow continuously with your dining mate until your pleasantly emaciated bill arrives. Your ear probably wont be ringing, per se, but the "serenity" of nyc will feel like a relief upon exit.
I love their pad thai here. It is so flavorful. The wait staff is pretty nice. I had to wait about 30 minutes for a table on a Thursday night. While I was waiting I saw about 5 take out orders. Other people must be a fan of this place too. I was seated upstairs and it was very dark and only candlelight was used. The tables are awkwardly seated around the stairs, but other than that it was good space.
Awful and very salty food. I couldn't drink enough water after having the warm duck salad and drunk man noodles. Everything was just a combo of salt and peppers, no subtle flavors whatsoever. Can't understand the hype! The only good things: the shrimp and squid in the noodles were tender.
Me: I'm the party of three. How much longer?
Bitchy hostess: Are you all here?
Me: Yes.
Bitchy hostess: Are you all here?
Me: Yes.
Btichy hostess: Um, your table's ready. *pause* *silence*
Me: Uh, okay...?
Bitchy hostess: Are you all here?
Me: YES.
Bitchy hostess: Go upstairs.
Me: And...? (*note: this is a reasonable question...the place is fricking huge, and she wasn't making any effort to direct me to the table)
Bitchy hostess: Go upstairs.
Me: Uh, okay....
Btichy hostess: Are you all here?
Sweet Jesus. At this point, a friend of one of my friends walk in, and they start talking. Repeat the last part of the above conversation about ten times, with the bitchy hostess telling me to go upstairs and me trying to wait for my friend, and her trying to force me upstairs.
Anyway, we eventually make our way to our table, which is wedged on this narrow mezzanine encircling the lower dining area. This meant that everyone walking by us would kick our chairs trying to squeeze past.
The food was acceptable---people at our table had the curry fried rice (kind of oily), drunken noodles, and vegetarian duck (mostly onion and bell peppers, came with the tiniest portion of rice I've ever seen); each was $10. Oh, did I mention that the price has gone up since they moved locations?
Service, aside from the rudeness of the bitchy hostess, was also acceptable. Definitely slower than they used to be though. The decor is crazy spazzy clubby, as is the music and the pulsating aural chaos--all of us were shouting at each other the whole time.
This place has sadly gone downhill since their move, and I'm going to move on as well.
Tip: I mean...Thai places are a dime a dozen in this town. If you can't find a better place to go than Spice, then by all means, say hi to the bitchy hostess for me.
"Spice" surprised me. It wasn't the best Thai food, but it also wasn't too bad. My expectation were lower considering some of the negative reviews. I would definitely give it 3 1/2, but ya know the deal. The appz dish like the calamari wasn't too bad (I could do without the sweet dipping sauce), but the dumplings were so so. My main dish was the drunken man's noodle (chicken); it's really their take on Chinese "chow fun" with Thai ingredient --- it bit on the sweet side, but I love the spicy kick to it. I would definitely go back and try some of other dishes next time. My only real problem was the upstairs seating; not very spacious.
* Considering the location, ambiance, and portion --- this place is the best bang for your buck.
For the price, this place is great...given location and amount of options.
Only real complaint is that they don't give a lot of rice. Their triple dessert sampler is delicious. Shared it amongst 4 people.
I would like to give Spice 2.5 stars. It was OK, but I probably wouldn't come back. Nothing was bad, but it just wasn't that great either.
We stopped in for a quick lunch and were seated promptly. The atmosphere was nice, but the high ceilings make all the noise from the kitchen echo. I was actually surprised at how loud it was considering there were only 4 other parties in the restaurant. The waitstaff was nice, although our waiter knocked over a glass of water on our table (my friend claimed it was not the first time she's had this happen here). But everyone was nice and attentive.
The lunch special was great. For $7 ($8 if you want a shrimp entree) you get an appetizer and an decent sized entree. All of our appetizers (shrimp and chicken dumplings, shrimp fritters, and spring rolls) were tasty. I had the spicy bamboo with chicken and it was pretty good. The spice was perfect, but the sauce was a little too salty. My friend had the black noodles, and she really didn't expect the sauce to be so sweet. No one at the table really cared for that dish. My boyfriend had the fried rice and thought it was just a good, typical fried rice. No complaints.
The service was very quick, and we were able to eat in under 30 minutes. For the price, you really couldn't beat it.
This place reminds me of Seinfeld because of the wait and having to stand outside while waiting not really knowing what is going on. I think if they could only make these chairs a little more comfortable for all sizes. The pad thai/ drunken noodles and chicken dumplings with the sweet chili sauce are my favorite. I enjoyed eating here and it's clean and fun. I've tried the other location and actually found it boring in comparison.
I almost feel guilty giving this place two stars, but it just wasn't anywhere near what I was hoping for.
To be fair, the place was PACKED. I guess they've recently expanded, and the friend I was with used to love the old place. She also said this location lost some of the service as it got bigger.
That said, we waited 25min for a seat- and were stuck at the table RIGHT by the door where we spent the night freezing and getting knocked into by the hoards of people staring at us menacingly to stuff our food down our faces so that the (terrible) table would open up. Anyway...
Our waitress left us sitting there for 10 minutes, they messed up my friend's order, and the Pad Thai (pretty basic order) was nothing to rave about- and sorta had this dirt-type crunch to it.
I wouldn't go back.
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