Thai Spice — Restaurant in Iowa City

A big shout of thanks to Mark A Capron for suggesting the most excellent Thai Spice in Iowa City, Iowa

I visited during lunch and experienced excellent professional service and truly tasty authentic cuisine.

The restaurant is not large, I would describe it more as intimate, with small tables arranged in an open dining room. It is decorated in a way that patrons of Asian restaurants will know well, that being said, I found the table linens to be quite nice. They are intricately stitched and are comprised of a table covering, placemats, and drink coasters, all very lovely examples of textile art.

The service that day was provided by a tall, quiet young man named Alex. His service was superb, a model for any server wishing to stand out for professionalism and excellence.

I love the chatty diner waitstaff, I appreciate any server or waitstaff who brings a positive attitude and hustle.

But there is something special about that unobtrusive, polished service, the type where the waitstaff always seems to know what one needs, often a tick before one knows oneself.

Alex displayed the level of service I would normally experience in a fine-dining restaurant in a large city.

It was special, and it made a difference.

Not that I needed a special reason to love my visit!

I enjoyed the lunch special, Kang Keow Wan (Green Curry). Dried green curry paste simmered with coconut milk, eggplant, and basil leaves. With a choice of chicken, beef, or tofu (I chose chicken)

The taste was rich and deep, quite honestly hard for me to describe accurately. The curry had the complex spice profile it is known for, and simmering it with the coconut milk gives it a rich body.

I love eggplant in these types of dishes, well, all types really, but in heavily spiced cuisines, the eggplant seems to soak up the flavors wonderfully, providing scrumptious, tender bites full of flavor.

The amount of basil in the dish was perfect, it is a powerful taste and can overpower other flavors with ease. In this dish it mixed in well with the overall flavor profile, creating a herbal high note that balanced well with the curry/coconut milk flavor.

I also had the lunch special side of two eggrolls, they were a good, crunchy, yummy addition to the plate, and well executed, but not overly special.

I am excited to try more of their cuisine, in fact, I simply must try more of their cuisine, it is authentic and memorable🙏 @RickiGoesOut

If you have the chance give Thai Spice a try and let me know what you think.

...and tell 'em...

This tucked away restaurant is so cute inside, it makes the perfect date destination. When you enter the aroma of wonderfully prepared food is amazing. The staff is super friendly and very knowledgeable about the menu. The food would make it worth traveling hours to find. Good doesn't cover it. We had three dishes, a yellow tofu curry, a hot pot and a spicy chicken salad. All of them were in the 15 dollar range. We ate family style which I recommend so everyone can try all of the wonderful distinctive flavors. You will enjoy your experience so much more. The food is fantastic. Each dish was seasoned perfectly. The yellow curry had amazingly flavorful tofu and was spicy without covering all the other flavors. Served with jasmine rice that was so fragrant and fresh it could be a meal on its own. The spicy chopped salad was mostly chicken, so don't confuse this with a rabbit food light weight. Beautifully seasoned and generously proportioned, this is filling with feeling heavy. The hot pot was an impressive variety of vegetables, mushrooms and meat. Thick and rich but not overwhelming. It is the perfect thing for a cold evening or when you crave some comfort food. The summer evening crowd was light but I would expect that once classes start the college kid could keep this place busy. This is one of those restaurants that should be on everyone's ones...

If I could give 0 star for this restaurant. I would give them. I had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant today. We tried to order the hot seafood plate with rice by pointing to the picture on the menu. Although we accidentally said the wrong number (we said 18), we clearly pointed to the correct dish and explained exactly what we wanted. On top of that, we made specific dietary requests — no salt, no sugar, and no oil. Despite all of this, the server insisted that it was our fault for saying the wrong number and tried to charge us for both dishes. That alone was frustrating, but we reluctantly agreed to just take the one we ordered, thinking it would at least be made the way we asked. Unfortunately, when the food came, it was nothing like what we requested. It was full of salt, sugar, and soaked in oil. Completely the opposite of what we asked for. The owner seemed cold and uncaring, showing no interest in correcting the issue or treating us with respect. She stated she was busy, did not have time to talk to us. It felt like they just didn’t care about their customers at all. I rarely leave negative reviews, but this experience was upsetting enough that I felt people should know. Bad service, no accountability, and a complete disregard for...