Penzeys Spices — Attraction in Menlo Park

Rude and arrogant service - I ordered spices from their online store. Unfortunately the quantities I received were not what I had ordered (3 bottles of Chili Spices when I ordered only one). I called this store which is 25 miles away to ask about their return policy and explained politely the situation. Surprisingly the shop person did not know the policy and had to call corporate headquarters. 10 minutes later, I received a call back and was told that if I returned the items to a store, all I could expect was a store credit or exchange. I said fine and told her that it would take me 30 minutes to get to the location but that I expected to arrive before their 3pm closing time. On the way, I experienced a thunderstorm. Realizing that I may not make the 3pm time, I called to alert them of the situation. The shop person responded in a haughty manner reminiscent of a 19th century schoolmarm indicating that if I did not arrive by 3pm, they would not let me in. I was surprised by this doctrinarian response considering that I was trying to solve an error caused by the company, that I had to drive 50 miles round-trip in the pouring rain, and that I was delayed by 10 minutes in my departure because the shop person did not know the return policy. Adding insult to injury, she added with all the arrogance she could muster that I could come back the following day when they opened at 10am. I arrived exactly at 3:03pm and the door was closed. The shop persons could see me outside as they tended to other customers but they refused to open the door. This sort of rigidity in a customer service person is the death knell for any business. It will a long time before I go back to...

Awesome place. This is the only store I know of in the peninsula area that sells single-origin spices. They have 4 different kinds of cinnamon (Chinese Tung Hing, Indonesian Korintje, Ceylon, and the ultra-potent Vietnamese), 2 kinds of nutmeg (East Indian and West Indian), and I lost count of how many different varieties of pepper they had. I really liked browsing their selection because everything was displayed neatly with descriptions of the spice origins and the qualities of each variety. I also liked that I was able to smell the spices in sample jars before buying, and I had the option of buying in small quantities so that the spices won't go bad before I can use them up. I came here looking for ingredients for homemade chai and ended up purchasing cinnamon chunks (which were a blend of Indonesian and Chinese cinnamon), whole West Indian (Granada) nutmeg, and powdered Chinese ginger. The rest of the ingredients I already had at home, but when I run out I will probably come back...

Just picked up some Penney’s Spices. You can order direct as I did. Located in Menlo Park California. They are made from top notch, all organic herbs and spices. The have an array of salt free spices as well. I purchased Air dried Shallots, California seasoned pepper which has black pepper, red and green bell pepper, granulated garlic and onion, Pasta sprinkle. “Which has sweet basil, Turkish oregano, thyme and garlic”Pico Fruta “ which has chili pepper, sugar, lemon peel, citric acid, salt and cilantro. Mural of flavor “ which has spices, shallots, onion, garlic, lemon peel, citric acid, chives and orange peel”. Pure Almond Extract. and last but not least Sicilian salad seasoning “which has dehydrated Romano cheese, sheep’s and cows milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, salt, toasted onion, red bell pepper, tomato, white onion, paprika, Tellicherry, black pepper, Time, rosemary, cayenne and basil. Man I can’t wait to...