Rice & Spice — Restaurant in Oxford

I am a law professor who has been frequenting Rice and Spice for years. At one time the food was great. The management and wait staff were remarkable. In recent weeks, however, the food has not lived up to its legacy. Moreover, in a recent experience, I personally witnessed a severe lack of accountability from one of the staff members. I called in an order for fried brown rice. I asked for the fried rice without "sauce, sugar, eggs or dairy products." "Oil only!" I repeated several times because it was such a particularized order. I was concerned that the waiter and/or the chef would not get the order correct. When I came to pick the order up, I looked in the box to make sure the order was correct. My immediate reaction was that it was not. The fried rice looked as if it had been fried in soy sauce are the equivalent. However, when I questioned the waiter about it, he insisted over and over and over again that the order was correct. The waitress who accompanied him also claimed that the order was correct. The waiter then claimed that the order looked the way it did because it came from the bottom of the pot. However, when I brought the dish home, I determined conclusively that the order was incorrect. It clearly contained both sugar and some form of sauce. By this time, I had already disrobed. So when I returned to the restaurant to get the correct order, I was dressed only in jogging pants and a t-shirt. When I got to the counter, I advised the waiter who had insisted that the order was correct, that it was, in fact, incorrect. The waiter became confrontational so I asked to speak with the manager. The manager apologized and tried to claim fault. However, the waiter dug in even more and refused to apologize--in front of the chef-manager (owner?)!!!! When the manager went to the kitchen to repair my order, the waiter attempted to turn the situation around by insulting my intelligence. He proclaimed with a condescending air that "for the record, eggs are not diary products." Huh? I assume this comment was loosely based on my original order. In that order I requested that the dish be prepared "without eggs or diary products." However, this aspect of the order was not at issue. The original order had neither eggs nor diary products in it. My hypothesis is that this was a statement born out of defensiveness and self-righteousness. I really can't stand it when people refuse to accept accountability. This particular waiter seemed to me to be the poster boy for failed accountability. What's worse is that when I expressed these concerns to the manager, he completely failed to hold the waiter...

I'm here on a business trip for the week. Someone recommended Rice and Spice to me so I went yesterday fir dinner and placed a To Go order for Stir Fry Vegetables with shrimp and a side of Crab Rangoons. The staff was very friendly and my wait time was very minimal. The food was absolutely delicious! Soooo, I went again this evening for dinner and ordered Stir Fry Vegetables with chicken and a side of Shrimp in a Blanket. Even though the chicken wasn't as good to me as the shrimp, everything else tasted really good as it did the day before. Service was good too. I might eat lunch there tomorrow before I...

I am genuinely in love with this place. I beg my husband to eat here every couple of days and most of the times I win! They have an amazing staff and welcoming environment. But the food THE FOOD is uh-mazing. Authentic, tasty, and bursting with flavor! I could live in a bowl of their Tom kha soup for life. Yellow curry is the tastiest I've ever had. Thai custard and sticky rice? Never loved a dessert this much. Spice levels are consistent and easy to gauge. Do yourself a favor and give them a try, you won't be disappointed! SN: curbside service is bomb and they've literally never gotten our orders wrong...