Spice (Upper West Side) — Restaurant in New York

I've been dining at the Spice Thai restaurant chain for many years now but I have never been to this Upper West Side location. After today's experience I can honestly say this is my least favorite location. The customer service is subpar, the location is small, it has a weird damp smell when you walk in and there is lots of construction going on in front. You can't even see that it's a Spice restaurant until you walk up to it.

The servers are rude and will stand around conversing instead of seeing if patrons need anything (we clearly needed napkins and one of the servers got an attitude because I took one from an empty table next to us). My friend is pregnant so she couldn't drink but I took advantage of happy hour (ends at 6:30 pm). The Thai Breeze drink ($7) was weak. It had Mekhong Thai rum and Thai Punch (lime, pineapple, cranberry, orange) in it. The next (and last) round I got the Lychee Martini and it was pretty good. Not the best I had, but decent. The main problem was the virgin cocktail for my friend who cannot drink because she's pregnant. It was super sweet (she added lots of water to it and it was still sweet), the glass was a little more half full and we didn't know it was $8 until the bill came. Had we known that virgin cocktail would be more than a happy hour cocktail she would have just ordered a lemonade or iced tea. The food was delicious though. We started with two appetizers: Crab Rangoon and Chicken Basil Egg Rolls. Both were delicious. The Crab Rangoon wasn't greasy like the kind you'd get from a neighborhood Chinese restaurant. The chicken basil egg rolls were flavorful and came with two dipping sauces. For our entrees my friend said she always get chicken Pad Thai when she dines at Thai restaurants so I encouraged her to try the Pad See-Ew because it's so good. She went with that and really enjoyed it. I wanted to try a new dish so I opted for the Bangkok Garlic and Vegetables (with chicken). I asked if they were able to add carrots to it and I was told "yes for $3 extra." Too steep for some carrots so I declined.

Overall it was a decent dining experience but I wont be back to...

I heard so, many great things about this place . However, today was the first day I actually went to have lunch with my sisters here. As we ordered the food it was good and enjoyable we finished up and asked for the bill we paid the total and attempt to pay a tip however, they gave back our changes for the bill and we didnt notify them that they can have the rest. They place the changes on the table and we got bad sheers with evil looks , we waited a few minutes before leaving and as we got up the waiter stopped us and asked us "what did he do wrong" we said you didnt do everything wrong and he goes to say SO WHY YOU DIDNT TIP ME ! We informed him that the bill say Suggested and we didnt have it. At this point it was because of the dirty looks !! We didnt tip at the point because the looks they gave us from assuming we weren't going to give them a tip in the first place in which we was . As we started to leave he chased us and told us not to return in which we had no plans to do so!! I am completely upset how the waiter felt we had to give a tip rather his services was good or bad. The consumer have every right to decide rather they have extra fund or not to give. Why make someone give a tip! Not a place a would go back to. Good luck for...

I had a horrible experience at this location. Having been an avid customer of the 13th street location, I brought my God mother and her husband who were from out of town for dinner here. Had a splendid time until we paid the bill and left a 15% tip. As we left the waiter chased us out and asked us if we were upset and did he not do a great job... all of this while having an attitude. Confused, we answered him yes you did. He then proceeded to tell us we didn't leave a large enough tip. Upset at this treatment, I went to speak to the manager, and asked her if she knew her waiter chased us out for a larger tip. She said she agrees with him and we should have given him 20%. My God mother then lets her know that we will be writing a review and once we get outside we take pictures of the location to post on our social media. The manager and the waiter proceed to run out side and take pictures of us and the manager puts the phone in my God monther's face. Another waiter comes out and draggers her back into the restaurant. Pure embarrassment. I have help parties at the 13th street as well as the brooklyn location and loved the atmosphere, but after that experience I will never go back to...