The Spice Suite — Local services in Washington

Love the store/ atmosphere and how it features other black female small businesses which is a plus in my book. The day my sister and I went (as we were excited to finally get together and go) the overall experience/ customer service was underwhelming. No one asked or offered help and even when we asked questions one lady could only provide so much information. There was alot of back and forth at the register as some of the ladies on the floor selling their own products were helping ring up customers buying spices too. It's possible that we were apart of a rush of ladies coming in exactly as they opened that caused this? I don't know. I wanted to sample the balsamic vinegars but couldn't (samples are not allowed), no ingredients on the labels, some spices had cards some didn't. It would've been nice to have a dedicated rep on the floor to address how best to use some of the salts/spices and or what foods they work best on. I scaled back my purchase significantly because of this; I didn't want to guess - more importantly I went in there with specific uses in mind and left unsure I achieved that. I also didn't understand how the spices were priced. There's a sign that says $12-14 and that's it but you won't know what the cost of each spice is until you're at the register. One of my spices was $13.50 and the other was $14... same size bottle with a different spice blend - I thought that was strange but ok. Beware, none of the spices I bought had a sifter fitment on them so be sure to shake your spices real gingerly to avoid dumping it all over your food like I did - they cost too much to be spilling/wasting everywhere. I will go back again. Hopefully the next experience...

I am a Black woman-owned business so I’m not offering this review to be harmful but to let another BWOB know when her proverbial slip is showing and a chat with team members might be needed. First, the products here are excellent. However, I had an abhorrent experience with customer service inside the store that caused me to drop a couple of stars from an otherwise perfect review. I visited their lovely suite to purchase a gift— having met the owner at the tea shoppe located in an upstairs suite. There was only other customer inside while I was shopping. But the store associates were sitting in a group eating and no one bothered to get up to greet me until I was ready to check out. The team member who did check me out — well, I was clearly keeping her from something more important. I even asked for business cards to share with the gift recipient and my extensive network of professionals. “Nope, no business cards.” I plan to still support this business via online but I hope that no one else has this type of experience. It is truly a beautiful store. Peace...

This is a very cute spice shop! They have almost every spice combination that one can dream of, as well as different types of balsamic vinegar combinations that you can add to different recipes! The staff was very friendly and the shop is very neat! It's been a few months since I have been to the Spice Suite, so perhaps they no longer practice what I'm going to mention, but the only thing that was lacking when I went there was a way to taste the spices that was "up to par". It was suggested by the employee that I shake some of the seasoning in my hand and then lick my hand in order to taste the sample. Eventhough that might be "common" practice in some countries to taste spices, I think that maybe they should have tiny paper containers, (like the kind that hold tarter sauce), and disposable wooden sticks, (like popsicle sticks), that after the spice is poured into the paper container, a patron can lick the stick and dip it into the spice inside of the paper container. Regardless, I will...