Thai Spice Noodle House — Restaurant in Iowa City

No idea how this place has such great reviews. 5 of us went out for an early dinner. We were the only people there at 6pm on a Saturday night. The waiter acted as if it was an imposition to have to bother with us. I had to literally go get him off his phone to order some apps while we were waiting for 2 of our party. He brought water for the table, but never asked if we would like anything to drink. He did come and refill the waters twice. Took our food orders promptly and the food did come quickly. Now the food. 2 of us had the pho. It was quite literally the worst I've ever had. I've had instant soup with more flavor. Also every place I've ever had pho it came with a plate of garnishes. Nope. They did put some cilantro in the bowl and maybe 4 bean sprouts. The spring rolls again, worst I've had. Basically a large pile of lettuce in a rice wrapper. 1/2 a flavorless shrimp, 1 carrot stick and if you got lucky 1 slice of bell pepper, maybe 5 noodles in each. These were served stuck together so once you unstuck one from another it was torn and you were basically left with a pile of lettuce. The thai duck with basil Chile sauce had decent flavor, but was "bone in". Ok so some picking to be expected, but in reality it must have been the back or something and after eating 1/3 of the plate was nothing but bones. We also had the duck fried rice. Flavorless. The one person whose meal was edible had the duck soup. Large chunks of meaty duck. Nice baby bok choy. To top off our less than stellar meal. On a party of 5 they added on an automatic 18% tip. Now this may have been stated somewhere on the menu. I honestly don't know. We didn't get irate over it. I don't know when 5 people became considered a large party and needed to have a tip added on. Would not recommend this place bad food and poor service. Others have mentioned poor service, but the quality of the food...

The food was tasty but the waiter (owner?) was INCREDIBLY RUDE. We just left the restaurant and had given the waiter a tip a bit more than 10%. He followed us outside and challenged us about the size of the tip. I explained the service wasn't very good and that he rushed us. He continued to challenge and berate us, and I said, "This is precisely the kind of bad service that got you the small tip." He didn't let up but continued to shout at us, and I shouted back.

DETAILS This rather low tip was because when we entered at 1:45 (with a closing time of 2:00) he greeted us in a bored way and wanted to know if this was for take-out. We said we were dining in, and he clearly didn't like that and wanted us to order right away.

My 92-year-old father was with us, and he eats a bit slowly. The waiter gave us the bill early in the meal as a way to rush us. I didn't complain, but I was unwilling to tip more than 10%. That the waiter insulted us--and my elderly father--is extraordinarily rude and unacceptable.

Generally I am a big tipper. It takes especially awful service for me to give just 10%. In retrospect, this guy...

We have visited both Thai Spice locations in Iowa City - the Gilbert St and the Mormon Trek locations. Both serve delicious dishes at sensible prices, though I'd say the Gilbert St location has more eccentric decor. We prefer Thai Spice over the other Thai food locations in Iowa City as their dishes are significantly less greasy but still just as tasty. Obviously standard dishes such as the pad thai will always be good bets, but if you come back for a second visit hopefully you try their curries, which I think are the best available...