Thai Spices Natural Restaurant — Restaurant in Sedona

The good and the very, very bad! My wife and I tried Thai Spices in Sedona a few weeks ago and we were initially impressed the first two times we were there. The food and service were pretty good those couple of times, but after that, everything went downhill pretty fast! During our third time there, we again had the same server, "Brian" who took our order. I asked for the same meal I had ordered the first two times, as I really enjoyed it. It was a mixed seafood dish. The food finally came, but it immediately look different this time around. It was drowning in a sauce I had not seen before. As soon as I tried it I knew I was in trouble as it was definitely a little spicy. I then remembered that Brian had always asked me in the past if I wanted spice when taking the order, at which point I had always said no. But this time he didn't ask me when taking our order and I forgot to mention it.

So here I am frustrated and starving, with this meal in front of me that I knew I wasn't going to enjoy as I don't like spicy food. I decided to eat it anyway as I felt a little responsible as I didn't notice that he forgot to ask me if I wanted spices this time around and I didn't think of it either. When he came back to check on us, I did mention the spices but he said he remembered that I don't like "spicy" and that he mentioned that to the cook. After the meal when I received the bill, it clearly said mild spice on it. I brought this to his attention, but he just kept blaming the cook. I left there disappointed and frustrated as the server notates the order, not the cook! He never even apologized or offered to adjust the bill.

We took a few weeks off from visiting that restaurant, but decided to go back yesterday and give them one more chance. I thought for sure that we'd have a better experience this time, as I made absolutely sure to tell him "twice" that I didn't want any spices. He clearly understood. Our meals arrived about 15 minutes later, and to my surprise, my meal looked the same as last time…droning in sauce. I called Brian over and asked if this was spicy sauce and he said "no"! I gave him the benefit of the doubt and dug in. OMG, this was just as spicy as the last time! I called him over again and all he could do was to once again blame the cook. He again didn't even apologize, but did offer to re-make the meal. This time however, it only took about 3 minutes to receive the replacement. It looked the same, but only with a little less sauce. When I tasted it, it was exactly the same, and just as spicy! I realized that all the cook did was to just remove some of the sauce…really? I was so hungry that I decided to eat it anyway and swore to myself that we'd never come back to this place.

When we got the bill, it did say "no spice" and yet again there was no apology or an offer to adjust the bill. I decided not to leave a tip and even mentioned this to Brian as we were getting up to leave. He just kept blaming the cook as he walked away from us. I don't know how you can go from having two great meals to two terrible ones. Brian ended up being one of the worst servers I had ever experienced while dining out. Absolutely no accountability, no remorse, just blame on the cook. My advice is to steer clear of this place, especially if you don't like spicy food. It's a crap shoot whether your meal is going to be spicy or not, despite your preference. And please know that it's not lost on me that the place is after all called "Thai Spices". But that's no excuse for how we were treated! Needless to say, I would not recommend this restaurant to...

I have mixed feeling about Thai Spices. As an owner of a restaurant chain in Florida, I have a different view of food & service compared to an average customer. I travel once a year to Sedona and stay here for several weeks. Thai Spices is a favorite place for many locals and over the years I have had mixed experiences eating delicious dishes with good service and disappointing food with mediocre service at this place.

The restaurant is owned by a very nice and respectful family in town. As I hear, the wife is the founder of the restaurant started many years ago. I hope the owner reads my feedback because the restaurant has potential to grow. She has made a smart choice finally hiring a professional manager and servers who know how to communicate with a sense of humor (named Jen and Ed). I think the chef has also changed because the food does not taste the same as before but still tasty.

Last night, this place was very busy and like usual it became a challenge for the employees due to lack of a good process and enough dishes. New employees did a good job handling the rush (did not see Ed though). At least, they know how to communicate and have a good sense of humor, compared with employees in the past. The new manager knew how to control chaos and interact professionally with unhappy customers. While everyone else was in a hurry, the manager created calm and pleasant environment.

For example, one table asked for three orders of sake and the restaurant had only one clean tokkuri to serve the sake in. The manager explained the situation professionally to the customer and served them one sake with three small cups and asked them to let him know when they were ready for more. Few tables down, customers did not like the taste of the food. Next to them, a customer was unhappy with service. One person in the main dining room was actually angry. However, after the manager spoke with them one by one for few minutes, they appeared relaxed and happy.

I also heard that they use microwave that I hope it not true. Using microwave in a restaurant that claims to be serve healthy food is not a good choice. I like this place and hope with the help of right employees it improves and becomes...

Skip it, read on to find out why.

Myself and my wife are all-around Asian food fans (British and Filipino) we eat at a lot of Asian restaurants and have traveled Asia (Thailand one of our favorites) on pure food tourism.

After being in Sedona a few days we started to crave rice and this restaurant was just up the road from our hotel.

Arrived at the restaurant with no booking managed to get a table right away, The lady attending to the guests arriving was pleasant and answered our menu questions. The restaurant is clean And fairly well laid out given the restrictions Covid has imposed on dining in.

At first glance the menu seems to have a good selection of Thai meals, They are lacking things such as mango sticky rice.

The waitress seemed rushed and unhelpful with the drinks. (At this point none of us are wearing masks this includes the waitress)

For the guys reading this taking your partner you may know that your partner always wants to take pictures of your meal and if you like me you probably have a sneaky taste before she does this, am I right?

My wife could immediately see that I was not impressed with the taste hence we did not take any pictures of the meal so I will have to describe them to you. If you like carrots cabbage broccoli squash a dash of parsley and a bit of basil Along with any meat except from Pork Then the majority of the dishes here will be the same because that is what they consist of the only difference is the sauce (mild variation) and the meat.

(Seriously look at the pictures)

I may have had 20 or so spoonfuls of the oversize portion before I decided to call it quits and that is not based on the size that is based on the fact it was all very same same. I understand that this place is meant to be healthy but there is nothing unhealthy about adding a dash of lime which is very common place in Thai food, It is meant to have many layers Thai food is complex where one mouthful of food goes through a few stages of flavor. Needless to say I was disappointed with our meal and I left no more satisfied then when I entered.

Very sad...