Thai Spices — Restaurant in Mesa

Probably the best Pad See Ew I've ever had, but let's start from the beginning...

Immediately upon walking in, I was given... bar none... the most hospitable reception in my short history of dining. It was comprised of a greeting (including being called by name) and a hug from the cutest little thing, who I had just met.

We started off with a chicken satay app, which was accompanied by a creamy peanut sauce and cucumber salad. Removing the delicious skewered meat from the wooden spears brought me back to days of yore, when I would covertly poke my little sister in the closest appendage, with the sole purpose of evoking a squeal, all the while under the auspices of my no-nonsense parents.

My go-to Thai dish is Pad See Ew. I've seen it spelled differently, but I'm hip. This dish was one to be savored.... no, to be fawned over and then savored. Using my meticulous chop-stick skills, I pampered each delicate noodle into my quivering mouth... which evoked blissful visions of lazily floating down the Chao Phraya river... and mind you, I've never even been to Thailand.

I'm not saying the dish was laced with opium, but at some point, I do recall fancying a ride atop an Asian Elephant passing through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest.

My lunch companion, Chris, ordered the basil fried rice, which was more akin to an architectural wonder than an entree. Using his meticulous spoon skills, I witnessed him moving mountains... of succulent rice and fixins... never to be seen again, for at least eight hours.

And just when I thought our culinary journey was disembarking, the same vision of loveliness appeared to my right, presenting a showpiece comprised of cake, cream and maraschino cherry.

Knowing my chop-sticks would only make a mess of things, I grabbed a spoon. It had been so long... but it felt good in my hand. A little cold. I raised that utensil to the sky, and with an intense bellow, I cried "By the power of GreySkull, I shall have you as my own". As I started my initial swipe, I noticed Chris had already gotten 2 or 3 bites in during the fanfare.

BAM! The cake was bursting with coconut gusto, or maybe it was the ice cream. I'm embarrassed to think of what I probably looked like as I descended into that dessert feeding frenzy.

I'd like to offer apologies to any staff and/or patron within line of sight. I don't get out much, and unfortunately whenever my taste buds are stirred up like that, its plain and simple mob mentality. I cant get in their way! I wont!

After paying the tab, I bid a fond adieu to the huddled kitchen crew, and noticed their horror stricken faces. The audible syllables "Mujumbo hielan friacah" lilted through the air as I passed... which I believe meant: "Great manly warrior"... no, my bad, wrong dialect... it actually means: "Portly destroyer with awkward shirt cleavage".

I look forward to my return visit, where I will exercise self control... or maybe...

Thai Spices is located in the Mekong Plaza at the corner closest to the grocery store. If you enjoy Thai food, add this location to your next place to try out. The food is served in large portions that will leave you with some leftovers to enjoy the next day.

We ordered the "Crazy Crab Puffs" and one thing I want to say is the dipping sauce stands out to me as it is not your typical sweet and sour sauce. Yes, it tastes similar compared to other Thai restaurants but with its own little kick and I don't mean spicy. You just have to try it.

My main entree is the Pad See Ew and love the wider rice noodles and the veggies thar came with it. You have options for protein but this visit, I went with the tofu option and level 3 spicy. If you love spicy, I would go with level 4 as it did not give me the spicy kick I wanted. It had the perfect amount of sauce and not drowned in it or not enough sauce.

The chicken yellow curry was really good for anybody who is not familiar with curry, I recommend the yellow curry for beginners but my personal favorite is the red curry (will try on my next visit). I love the amount of sauce and I usually just pour my whole bowl of rice into the curry but I know everyone has their preferences. I was able to try a few bites of the chicken and the chicken was not dry at all and was delicious mixed with the curry and rice. I would recommend it to anybody.

The staff was friendly and helpful. They check in on you to see if you need anything or your drinks are refilled, however, the place does get a bit of a dinner rush and I only notice two servers so please be patient during the rush. I notice they try their best and will acknowledge you if you need something. Even during the rush, they still make sure we are happy with our dinning experience.

Love the decor and the atmosphere that will have you feel relaxed and comfortable while eating and socializing. The place is clean and maintained.

The menu have your usual Thai entrees but we notice there are some plates that we never seen in other Thai places that looks interesting. I will definitely return to try my favorite Thai entrees and the new ones I am not...

Edit to add: I have been here many times since my original review and have had really good service and excellent food. Their calamari is really good. I have just learned to insist on ordering my appetizer and then ordering my entree once appetizer comes out. Even if they say they will wait, it never works out that way.... so I just don't tell them what else I want until appetizer arrives.

This time I tried their mango sticky rice, which was tasty and beautifully plated, but honestly not as good as many I've had.

Overall though, they vastly improved since that first experience where I had to give them 3 stars in the review below... it really is my favorite Thai place in the area, so bumping it to 5 now.

(Previous 3 star review) Well gosh. I'm really torn about how many stars to put. The food was exceptionally good, but the service was, well, veeerrryyyy lacking :/

They were not busy at all. 3 other tables, 2 of which had already been served and there were 2 servers. I already knew what I wanted, so ordered immediately upon arrival. I ordered an appetizer and a meal, since I'd not been here before and wanted to gauge them with others I'd had before.

It took 25 minutes for my meal to arrive and they said my appetizer would be out soon. It was hard not to laugh out loud at the irony of it all... And then 10 minutes later, it arrived.

I'll say, both the Pad Thai and the Crab Rangoon were super good. Possibly even best I've had. So that is definitely a point in their favor.

My water ran out and I was literally never checked on until right at the very end, the other server noticed I needed water. No one apologized or even said anything about the late appetizer, almost as if it were normal for it to be after the meal.

The food was good enough, that I might consider trying one more time and hope for better service. It did truly hit the spot and satisfy my craving. If I come back sometime and things go better, I will definitely come back and...