Spice Thai — Restaurant in New York

I am a long time patron of SPICE from way back in the day when there were two locations practically across the street from each other on 8th Avenue in Chelsea. While the decorum of the wait staff has always been a toss-up kind of experience, the food has always been on point. Until earlier tonight. I've ordered the panang curry so much over the years that it has been the high standard measure when I've tried the same dish at other Thai restaurants. SPICE has ALWAYS had the best panang curry but tonight, I don't know wtf was going on in the kitchen .

Someone had the nerve to send out a luke-warm bowl of what had to be tomato soup mixed with a teaspoon of dollar-store curry and a full cup of chili pepper and salt with hopes of covering up the fact that it was NOT panang curry. No kefir lime. No traditional Thai curry paste. No ginger. No bay leaf. No garlic.

The hell?

Panang curry is a deep, rich, warm and bright dish with nuanced layers of flavor. Not an easy dish to get right but one who calls themselves any version of a "cook", certainly a "chef" should at least try. The waiter barely let me finish telling him that it tasted like tomato soup in reply to his asking about the dish, before he whisked it away promising to debit it from the bill - which did not happen. Whatever. I hope someone in charge at SPICE takes note of this and the over-breaded walnut shrimp with under spiced mayonnaise dumped on top. And the drink - underwhelming version of a Moscow mule. Is there a ginger shortage happening in the world? I will give SPICE another go, out of a sense of loyalty, grace and my love of Thai food. Meantime, get it together people. This is NYC. We...

Terrible Experience at Spice – Avoid This Place!**

I recently dined at Spice on 13th and Union Square with a party of four, and I deeply regret recommending this restaurant to my coworkers. Our experience was nothing short of a nightmare.

From the moment we arrived, it was clear that the restaurant was understaffed. It took 15-20 minutes for anyone to acknowledge our table and bring us menus. After finally ordering our drinks, we were left waiting an excruciatingly long time. The waiter served our drinks one by one, which made my party and me feel awkward and left out. We expected our drinks to arrive all at once or at least in a timely manner, but instead, we waited 10-15 minutes between each drink.

Feeling embarrassed, I ordered an appetizer, which took another 20 minutes to arrive. Then, we were rushed to order our entrees. After placing our orders, we waited 30 more minutes, only to have our food brought out separately and at a snail’s pace. It honestly felt like there was only one chef and one waiter for the entire restaurant.

This experience was frustrating, as we wanted to toast our drinks and enjoy our meal together after spending $300. Instead, we felt awkward and upset throughout the entire dinner.

To top it all off, when it came time to pay, we split the bill with half cash and half card. Unfortunately, I was given the wrong credit card back, and now my card is lost or potentially stolen.

I will never recommend Spice to anyone again. Save yourself the trouble and choose a restaurant where you’ll actually be...

Probably one of the worst service experiences I've ever had in New York. We had a reservation for our group of 8 people for 7:00 PM on a Thursday and were not seated until 7:20. My dish came out 15 minutes after everyone else's at my table and our server either didn't notice and chose not to apologize when I said something or did notice and just didn't care enough to let me know. I honestly don't know which is worse. Having worked in customer service in the past I am extremely patient when it comes to mistakes but the way this was handled, or more appropriately, not handled at all, was entirely unacceptable. Before I even notice that my food is going to take longer than expected, it is your responsibility to give me a heads up and apologize to me. I asked to speak with the chef or manager and was ignored. When our bill came the restaurant had already added 18% gratuity but had not indicated that anywhere on the check so we ended up over-paying. The mistake was fixed but adding 18% was a pretty ballsy move on your part, Spice, since the service you provided was honestly worth about a 5% tip. Oh, and the food itself was good but nowhere near as good as other places that charge half the price elsewhere in the city. I'm really looking forward to never...