Located in the heart of the Thames Street wharf area, this establishment features hot sauces, "from wild to mild". Their exterior display caught our eye and we entered. This was at the height of tourist season, mid-August 2025. The shop is small and the single clerk was very helpful and informative about all their sauces. Their big attraction is not just their vast number of varieties from basic tame to super hot, but their hottest sauce, where they offer a challenge to those who dare. It's a sauce called Purgatory. One has to sign a release to try a free single drop sample. Several of us gave it a shot. Yes, it was incredibly hot, a sinus clearing product if there ever was one. You can keep taking free additional samples if you can handle it. If you can reach 7 sample drops, you enter their hall of fame, which is supposedly online, but I have not checked. None of our party tried more than one. Purgatory comes in an eye-catching gift box and one of our party purchased a box as a birthday gift. Have to wonder if it will be appreciated. It wasn't cheap either. Definitely worth a drop-in when walking through this area. They claim to have nearly 100 varieties (we did not count). read more

Pepper Palace - The hottest hot sauce anywhere! - Specialty Food Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

We started off having a good experience, tons of samples of spices and hot sauces so that as customers we would know what we would want to buy. They have the samples all throughout the middle ring desk in the shop. There is a single product that is UNMARKED, and does NOT have a seal underneath the lid. As a customer, we would not know this. This product was placed right near all the other sample products. My partner and I opened the product, sniffed, and put it back like we did everything else. When we go to pay for something else that we wished to buy, the cashier tells us that the product we opened didn't have a seal, and that because we opened it and it wasn't a sample that we were expected to pay for it. This was two separate $22 products where they told us we did this on. This shop is running a SCAM. The owner even confirmed with the person running the shop that we had to pay for this by reviewing footage of the cameras. NEVER shop here, they don't mark products properly and I bet intentionally placed this product to try to scam people into paying for it, maybe even because it wasn't selling well. Putting something that you "can't sell once opened" with NO protective layer like every other product in the store has, RIGHT NEXT TO THE SAMPLES feels like it to me. We didn't even want this spice, it was one of the hottest spices in the entire store. They threatened to call the police on us over this when we tried to argue that it isn't our fault that they put such a product in such a bad place. NEVER SHOP HERE. We will NEVER go back, being treated like thieves when acting like a NORMAL CUSTOMER would in a shop. Over $44 worth of items that THEY FAILED to properly place, label, and advertise. This experience completely sullied our trip to Newport that WAS going well. We would have stayed and even let the police be called if we didn't have our parking meter running out soon, which would have cost us a hassle to extend further. We paid their extortion fee and left, and will NEVER COME BACK. We advise that nobody gives this shop any time of day, as they'll find a way to scam you too in a new and inventive way! Edit: they tried to reach out to me on Google reviews and said to contact corporate. I did, and no response. Still running a scam. read more

Let's see. Where do i start. If you love cooking, grilling this is the place to go. Well, if you like, run BBQ sauce, and there is a huge selection of hot sauce. Medium all the way to xhot. Kaylee is very knowledgeable on the products and can help you find what you're looking for. Just give her an idea of what you want to put it on, and she will point you in the right direction. The rest is up to your taste bids and what you can handle. They also have taste testing to try, which helps in making those touch decisions. It's a small little place but has a lot to offer. I could not have been more satisfied with the help she gave me finding what I needed. read more

Pepper Palace - the front door of pepper palace - Specialty Food Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

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This place is amazing! So many hot sauces, rubs & salsas all with varying heats. The worker, super helpful & friendly. Such a cute little gem of a place. read more

I have never seen a place that only sells hot sauce and a fairly sizable variety of hot sauces There has to be several types of hot sauces that are produced in the world, and they maybe all sold here at Pepper Palace. The truth is all these hot sauces, spice rubs, and so on are created in New England. We could not avoid wandering through the store and viewing the variety of products. Oh and of course, buying as well. read more

Pepper Palace - chill the kid hot sauce - Specialty Food Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

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My friend Joe got some of the flatline sauce in his eyeball. For those of you who don't know, this sauce is the spiciest one the store owns. It has 7 million Scoville units. The kind man who was working the cashier was very helpful to us. We called him while in excruciating pain and he helped to direct us towards safety. If you ever get sauce in your eye you should definitely contact this place. read more

Pepper Palace - 7 Million - Specialty Food Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

Worker was extremely friendly and talked us through all the sauces. He convinced us to buy the hottest sauce that we tried and helped us when we called back after closing hours for help. Lots of different sauces from all varieties would highly recommend for fellow saucers. read more

Pepper Palace is a cool store with a huge variety of different kinds of hot sauces, marinades, dry rubs and spice mixes. This review is based purely on the strangest customer service experience my husband and I have ever encountered. We entered the store one evening just before closing and the cashier (young lady who was quite friendly) allowed us to sample a few sauces before I purchased two bottles. I had not bothered to check the prices; my mistake. She rang us up; all was well so far; then 10 minutes later I checked my receipt and noticed I had been over-charged $4.00 on one of the sauces (it was marked $12.99 and rang up at $16.99, or something like that.) No biggie; we were right across the street so I returned for a refund. We had paid with a credit card, and as she did not have the access code to issue a credit, she attempted (unsuccessfully) to contact the manager in order to issue one and offered me $4.00 out of her tip jar. I declined that because it was not her fault and I didn't want her to dip into her tips for a mistake that wasn't hers; but she insisted I "wasn't overcharged" and that the "actual price" was what the sauce had rung up. (Red flags - retail doesn't work that way.) Since I wanted a refund for the purchase (neither bottle was opened and I had the receipt), she asked that I return the next day. Not a problem; we were in Newport all week, so it was no inconvenience. We stopped in the next afternoon, and she apologized that se wasn't able to get the requisite code/password to issue a refund, and asked that we come back Thursday night between 6 - 7 pm when the manager would be there. No problem. We thanked her, and returned around 6 pm Thursday. We were then informed by the manager that she "didn't appreciate the way [her] employee had been treated", implying that we were somehow rude/entitled/abusive...? Because we requested a refund? We understood that it was beyond the cashier's ability at that moment; no one (we or the cashier) was rude or impolite to anyone else; and we came back without incident to have the refund processed. When we did, we were met with unwarranted hostility, which I still can't figure out. Yes, they lost a sale; but it was a transaction - no "mistreatment" occurred from anyone's end, which I tried to explain. Whatever. We received the refund. Generally a good idea in retail to honor the price with which a product is clearly marked, as well as refraining from accusing customers of rude behavior. We were exceptionally patient, and no one blamed the employee for anything. Pepper Palace's product is great; but service is questionable. read more

Love it here! Pepper Palace is a great addition to Downtown Newport. They have so many different sauces, salsas, spices, and more! You can also sample pretty much all of their products, and I have been known to just hang around and take advantage of the free food from time to time :) The Salsa Verde is amazing, and I always have a jar of it in my pantry at all times. For those of you with a more adventurous palate, they carry hot sauces made with ghost peppers - one of the hottest peppers in the world. If you sample some of that and live to tell the tale, you get to go on their Wall of Fame, and brag about it to anyone that will listen! The guys that work here, Ryan and Tanner, are awesome and super friendly and helpful. If you're a foodie geek like me, or you simply want something to spice up your cooking, check out Pepper Palace! read more

Kaylie the manager was so helpful and knowledgeable about all of the products in the store. She gave amazing recommendations and pairings for foods. She was also so personable and the store was so cleanly during my visit. Will definitely return for more sauce recommendations from her for all of my future cooking! She demonstrated true passion of her love for sauces and the knowledge she has. That is a rare find in many retail stores and I can't wait to try more of her personal recommendations! read more

all the sauces contain xanthum gum. An unnecessary additive to thicken, preserve, and cheapen. Only buy hot sauces that use high quality food grade ingredients. Peppers, vinegar, salt. This chain took a great concept & destroyed it. Btw, tobasco has no additives and a long shelf like - there is 0 need for xanthum gum in your food!! read more

Complete tourist trap but very fun. This place sells hot sauces locally made in New England. If you buy 5 items you typically get the 6th free, or at least that was the promotion they were running when I went in. The shop itself is small but they allow you to sample the hot sauces, salsa's, glazes, and other items using small crackers and pretzels or spoons. I ended up getting 6 items and I am enjoying them. I typically don't go for crazy hot items, which they have... I usually go for smoky items. I ended up picking up 3 smoky hot sauces, 2 smoky jalapeno salsa's, and a glaze I'm going to use for chicken... If anything, I would swing by just to try out some sauces, the guys running it were really nice, and its another thing to browse while walking around eating ice cream in Newport during summer... read more

All I can say is that I had some of the hottest barbecue sauces ghost pepper BBQ sauce caution use a lot of blue cheese or ranch dressing or mayonnaise to smother the flames read more

Heaven on earth! For the pepper sauce enthusiastic this is it. They have everything you want or need, it's a beautiful place to even look at. Everything from sauces to shakes, etc. Guys that work there are very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. The atmosphere is great. Love being there. read more

Staff was very accommodating and knowledgeable. We tested samples and found a new version of a mild marinade. Great experience. read more