I love the fried rice here. When I was in school at Iowa State I tried it and it was my go to comfort food. Yesterday evening I came in with my husband and son. My son and I had fried rice. I did the The spice beef fried rice and my son did the regular fried rice with shrimp. My husband had the spicy peanut chicken dish. For the fried rice although it was delicious I found that the portion of protein was very small to the amount of rice you get. My husbands dish was really good too but not as spicy as he was thinking it would be. I enjoyed the level of sweet and spicy it had. Our waiter was really friendly and made sure we were taken care of the entire time. He brought some chili paste for my husband so he could make his dish spicier. I really enjoy coming to The Spice when I'm in town and enjoying the fried rice. I recommend anyone who loves Thai food to come here. read more

The Spice - The Spice Beef Fried Rice - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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This place is great! We come here almost every time we are in ames. My M-I-L loves the cashew chicken. I got thr phad see ew and it was also good. read more

This is very good Thai food! The service was prompt and all of the staff were very friendly. We ordered the Pad See Eaw and Pad Pak, and both were fantastic! Food was hot, fresh, and flavorful. We had the green tea ice cream for dessert and it was also delicious. read more

I carried out so can't speak to the table service or ambiance inside the restaurant, but the staff I did deal with was great. The food though, very bland, very thin. I expected more from a restaurant named "The Spice". I won't be going back. read more

Had a terrible experience. I found a steel cleaning brush piece in my food, and they immediately took it to the kitchen before I was able to take a pic. They offered to change for other food, but I have no confidence eating in this place again. The taste of the food is not good, too greasy. read more

arriving we were the only customers here. we got sat immediately. the service here from our waiter was great. he was fast, checked in pretty often, he was great. the ambiance was super cute, fancy, looked like a great place for a date night with my boyfriend. we ordered tung tong for an appetizer and it was delicious. we ordered a jasmine green tea and it wasn't our favorite but that was fine. i ordered yellow curry for my entree and my boyfriend ordered massaman for his. it took a bit to get our food. once it arrived it looked... sad. absolutely no seasoning on the meat. both entrees were served with rice and it was dry. i couldn't eat more than a couple bites of the curry. the chicken had absolutely no color to it, potatoes were the same way. we waited for our waiter to come back so i could ask for the check. in the time we were waiting a lady (i assume the manager) sat a gentleman at another table. she had to walk by our table in doing so and didn't say anything. the next second out waiter was here with the check for us (i didn't ask for it). he didn't ask how the food was just asked if we wanted to go boxes. we denied and checked out. no questions of how the food was or why we didn't eat it. seemed as though this is a common occurrence. unfortunate experience. i would not recommend. i paid $51.90 in total before tip. read more

The Spice - Massaman Beef - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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Prices are a bit higher, but you get what you pay for! Food is delicious and the portion sizes are quite generous! Came here for a birthday dinner and had a large group dine in. Was a wonderful experience read more

The Spice - a plate of noodles with meat and vegetables - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

We had ordered from The Spice for delivery and finally decided to eat at the restaurant. We were definitely not disappointed. The pad Thai and pineapple fried rice were amazing. To top it off, mango sticky rice is available at the restaurant (we could never get it via delivery). It did not disappoint! Service was wonderful also. read more

This is the first time getting take out here and hopefully it was just an off night. The prices are somewhat high but in range for higher quality Thai food. I was expecting a treat and ended up disappointed. The cashew chicken breading was soggy and the dish tasted like it was reheated from another day. I wouldn't have ordered it had I know that it was breaded but that is just my preference. Regardless, it was not good. My spouse had the chicken red curry which was also sub par. The dish had lots of broccoli which was very soggy and appeared past it's prime. We ended up eating a little of each then disposed of them and went to subway. I don't think I'll rush eating here again for quite some time as both dishes were quite bad. Proceed with caution - we find the other Thai restaurant in town much better and also less expensive. read more

The Spice - Red Curry - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Amazing dishes! This cozy little place has excellent, attentive staff. I'm a huge fan of the scallops. My friends always enjoy one or another variety of their curry. There are quality drink choices too! read more

The menu & food is authentic awesome, a don't miss destination in Ames. Best Thai food in Ames area read more

The Spice - Cashew chicken & Veg Pad Kra Tiem Prik Thai - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Great local establishment, quality food at reasonable prices. Plenty of space to spread out, the front is currently blocked by construction, so use the free parking in back and enter by the main entrance. read more

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Excellent service. Very friendly server on Friday afternoon! Four of us ordered fried spring roles and different dishes. Would definitely come here again. read more

I'm going to be honest. Moving from Las Vegas to Ames Iowa I did not have high hopes to begin with of finding a Thai place that could compare. That being said, we ordered the pad Thai and Tom Kha soup. We are used to ordering from a spice level 1-10.... No such thing here. You have regular, hot, or Thai hot. We got hot for both and left a lot to be desired for the spice level, which is on us. The pad Thai did not have much flavor and the noodles were overall dry. No sauce at all. The Tom kha soup had chicken that was very dry. Overall the place is more $$ also, which is not a problem if you're paying for quality. So the quest to find a Thai place we like continues. read more

I had dinner at The Spice with a large group of family members. The restaurant is very accommodating and modern. They are a good selection of entrée (small and regular size). The food was excellent and the staff was very friendly. read more

Terrible service. Placed an online order and they just didn't make it. Also didn't tell me until I went to pick it up 45 minutes later then waited 15 minutes in the waiting area. Then they told me. read more

I like the place. Nice upscale place in town. But I feel the curries are fresh one day & other days its not even worth paying $2. So this is what happened, I went on a dinner date & food was finger licking good. & the girl got impressed & I got lucky but next time I got watery yellow curry hardly any flavor meat under cooked it was thick & I had to chew chew & chew. Its always mixed feeling. I have tried their yellow curry (Only once it was good) Pananag curry Too thick portion is 8-12 pieces of chicken and that too not huge. The only best part is their desert GREEN TEA ice cream. Awesome read more

Ames, IA. I'll giving this place a 2 rating and that's being generous. If I give something below a three star, I think it's appropriate to explain why. So please excuse the lengthy post. Walking into this place through the backside by the parking lot, we entered to face a specials board and overcrowded bar. By overcrowded I don't mean full of patrons; it was just a cluster of THINGS. We stood there for a good two minutes while a lady (the owner?) sat in a booth by the bar saying "someone will be with you". Okkkkkkk. We stand awkwardly until someone finally does. Walking around and down the hallway, we enter the dining room. Ambience is good from this point on. We're seated in a booth by the host, start looking at the menus and about five minutes later we are given eaters. I greet the gal who promptly says "oh I'm not your server..." okkkkkkk. Our server FINALLY appears after about 15 minutes to get a drink order. By this point, we know what we want for drinks, apps, entrees, desserts and the partridge in the pear tree. Partner asks her the difference between their Chai and Thai tea. She said "Chai tea is Chai tea and our Thai tea is hard to explain"...okkkkkkk. He gets the Thai tea and a Singha, Thai beer. I opt for water. Our dining couple gets another Singha and water. As she tries to leave we tell her we'd like to go ahead and order. She looks surprised. We ask her for some recommendations and she said she doesn't know, she's a vegetarian. We ask for a fan favorite, she seems to suddenly be mute. Okkkkkk. Partner and I get: wings in a spicy sweet chili sauce appetizer, a Tom Yum shrimp soup, a beef Pad See Ew (wide rice noodle) and a Pad Cha Talay (seafood mix). After we order 3, their menu's hottest spice level, we find out there's then Thai spicy not even on the menu. I guess I'm confused, aren't we in a Thai restaurant? We order regular 3 spicy and get the Thai spicy on the side because now we're curious. Okkkkkkkkkkkkkk. I thought the sign said THE SPICE. Other couple gets an order of fried egg rolls, chicken fried rice no spice and a chicken yellow curry 2 regular spicy, not Thai... The drinks take 20 minutes, easy. I'm very patient with food. Take your time, make me some quality food. But drinks? A little aggravating. Then comes the appetizers of Tom Tum soup, egg rolls (very good) and wings w/ sweet chili sauce which is 5 mediocre wings with a side of Franks sweet chili sauce. it was "just ok". Nothing spicy about it, so naming them "Spicy Wings" is bs. Tom Yum shrimp soup: I have no idea what they brought but that is no Tom Yum have ever had. It was creamy and MAJORLY fishy; I like fish sauce but this was overkill. My friend tried it and said "that tastes like straight up bile." My partner, a Tom Yum connoisseur, refused to eat more than his initial few tastes. I braved it. It wasn't good. Food arrives. We ask her about the soup and she confirms that is there Tom Yum. Beef Pad See Ew is warm to cool, not temperature hot at all. Bland. Also very dry (noodles all curled up on the sides like it had been sitting for awhile) and the beef was cheap and chewy. I flag her down for some soy sauce, I can't eat this without some flavor. I also added some of the Thai spicy she brought, still disappointing. Eventually added 1/2 the bottle of soy sauce. Still no. Pad Cha Talay was meh. Did NOT like or see the point of the young peppercorns (green, mini grape like bunches in the entree). I tried one and let me tell you, it's like licking a pepper shaker. No spicy even though we ordered 3 and the menu already says medium spicy. Disappointing. Chicken fried rice with NO spicy was by far the best entrée on the table. It was mediocre at best. We also had to ask for some salt. I felt worse for my friend that wanted chicken curry. She has been craving yellow chicken curry for weeks. I don't know what we were served but there was no yellow curry to speak of. This was water broth, boiled chicken, onions and potatoes. So awful that she could barely eat it and she will eat virtually any kind of curry. STRIKE 9! Because none of us were satisfied, all of us were extremely disappointed, we decided to get two desserts. The mango sticky rice was just ok, and the prepackaged piece of chocolate cake was fabulous. I guess the key here is to get something that is made by Sysco if you want decent food. It takes quite a bit for me not to like something. If I don't love it, just bring me some hot sauce. But you can't make chicken water broth taste good and you can't make old rice noodles edible. Our ticket with gratuity (yes we still left her 20%) was $90 Other couples was $55 Not good read more

Excellent! Both food and service. (Do wish yelp would allow separate rating categories). Traditional Thai dishes are here along with some inspired chef originals. Not a tremendously long menu but more than adequate. Lengthy tea and dessert menus are a very nice touch. Portion size leans towards generous and an appetizer would have been too much food for me. I did have a half serving of vanilla ice cream (off menu) at the suggestion of my server Friendly service from all servers and rather prompt as well. Definitely recommended if visiting Ames. read more

The Spice - Worth a visit just for the tea service and menu! $3.75, but worth it for the presentation. - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Omg. Did the owners change since the last time I visited about a year ago? My brother and SIL was in town and wanted Pad Thai--they went to school in Ames and moved away--it was their favorite. My SIL called ahead to order a pick up. She was told 2 dishes of Pad Thai and Green Curry would be ready at 5:20. The food was not ready. Due to this, my SIL was late to her 5:30 appointment which also made other people at that appointment late for their next appointment. Seriously frustrating! The food came out 45 mins since ordering. She came with the food and we all experienced extremely salty noodles that did not taste or look anything like Pad Thai. Green curry was watery and the vegetables were mushy. We barely could eat the Pad Thai even with the white rice they provided for the curry! read more

The Spice - Thai Near Me - Ames, Iowa

It's a bit expensive but you get what you pay for. The food is delicious and high quality. Portions are also very large for the price. I've eaten a number of dishes here but my absolute favorite is the chicken pad see ew which I always order Thai hot. The dish is sweet and savory with thick rice noodles and loads of vegetables. I often order it for take out and have enough for a second meal the next day. The Thai basil and salmon curry are also fantastic as are their red, Panang and green curries. Spring rolls are wonderful too. Honestly, I've never had a bad meal here so try whatever piques your interest. You can't go wrong. My only quibble with The Spice is that they don't serve eggplant, which I know is a weird request but I love eggplant in my Thai basil. However, the restaurant will customize your dish for you if they can. Want a different noodle? No peppers? They make it happen. The Spice is one of Ames' best restaurants and certainly one of the best on Main Street. I recommend taking a date here the next time you're in the area! read more

I absolutely love this place. My go to is the coconut curry with tofu. The prices are a little steep, but I'll still buy the curry in a heartbeat. read more

The fresh spring rolls, when you can get them because they always sell out, are amazing! The best soups and appetizer plates around. If you want a fabulous dinner date and a memorable anniversary place this is one of the finest in all of Ames, and the surrounding area. The establishment is clean and welcoming. Servers are always a delight and owners are incredibly giving to the community. read more

I suspect the relatively low review average for The Spice is only because half the population of Ames is cheap college students who will settle for lesser places in the city at half the cost and quality. The Spice is good thai food. High quality ingredients, great flavors, nice atmosphere, friendly staff. I've lived in Chicago for 3 years now, and my favorite dishes at The Spice are as good as any Thai food I've had in Chicago. Top picks (in order of preference): Cashew Chicken, Pad ka prow w/beef, Spice Pasta. read more

This is a really good restaurant. I wish there were more like this in Ames. The people are super-friendly and it has a nice atmosphere. But the food is really why it's worth a return trip. Everything we've tried has been great off the menu, and they're willing to modify your order to suit your tastes...spicier, different noodles, etc., they'll do what it takes to make you happy. read more

I don't know what all the fuss is about with the Spice. I have gone here about 5 times and there are reasons why it is just not as good as Cool Basil or Thai Kitchen. 1. This place is so overpriced. While I grant you the fact that the curry is better here than Thai Kitchen, I think it is terribly overpriced for what you are getting. Go to any other thai place, and you can find the same damn thing for 5 bucks cheaper. 2. It's really not that good. This place does cater to the american food lover. Give me more flavor, more lemon grass. Stat. 3. Thai iced tea? Is that a shot glass? Seriously. 2.75 for a shot glass full of tea? This place is decent. I say decent, my friends. With a capital D, that rhymes with $ and that stands for overrated! read more

excellent thai food! the pad sea ew is some of the best! they're so quick and reasonably priced!

I've been around the world a few times and some of the reviews are not accurate. Spice is awesome. If you don't like heat, get the pad Thai. I have friends from Thailand and they will tell you it's just like home. If you like heat and want one of the most awesome things your palate will ever experience, get the Panang chicken, with extra sauce, extra heat and ground peanuts on the side. I personally have to have it once a week or I will go into withdrawals. The owners are awesome and I would have to have the Panang for the last meal if I were on death row. Brad read more

Ordered delivery tonight and it was fast, hot, and delicious! I will definitely be ordering again!

This is my favorite Thai place in Iowa. Great food, good atmosphere, excellent presentation. I think several of the other reviews are lowering their review based on the price. Ames is a college town, and I think some people aren't considering factors like the nice silverware/dishes, excellent wait staff (they're well-trained, not just a bunch of students who walked in off the street), and the food that's plated to look good - not just tossed onto a plate. The Spice has gone the extra mile to preserve the ideals of what a restaurant *should* be in a college town where most restaurants cut corners to keep the prices low. read more

I have been to The Spice several times so you know I enjoy eating there. However my last visit was not so good. I got the Red Curry dish with shrimp. It was very hot/spicey and temperature wise. This may be me but normally I like spicey dishes. My main problem was the shrimp. They were hard and rubbery... definitely over cooked. An easy mistake if cooking at home but should never happen at a quality restaurant. I ate maybe a third of the dish until I gave up. My apologies for the poor review. read more

The food here is fine, but nothing special, and definitely overpriced. This is the most expensive Thai place I've found in central Iowa, but you don't get anything better for the money. My pad thai was nothing better than okay - awfully bland for Thai food, but edible. Also, many of the dishes are apparently cooked in advance (or partially made) so many of the items can't be made vegetarian and doesn't have a choice of meat, such as some of the curries. The service is the same: average, neither horrible nor memorable. I much prefer Thai Kitchen, which offers better Thai at a cheaper rate. Spice's ambience is great, and it's slightly more formal, but be aware that you're paying a premium for the experience. read more

Great food at a great price! I got the pad see ew with pork and it was delicious. My friend got the duck and loved it. The service was fast and helpful and I can't wait to go back read more

Ugg where to start First I feel bad every time I do this kind of review. But if I am not honest, I hurting both the customer and the restaurant. The trusting customers who walks in expecting a wonderful meal for the high price they pay for it. But instead go home and end up in the bathroom for hours. The next the restaurant, for not understanding why they are not having as many customers as they use to. They will then continue serving sub-par food, and make some literally sick. Again I truly feel bad about this review. I hope that I will be able to change it for the better in the future. read more

We had a very nice dinner there got the bill at the end, I tipped the waitress generously. Probably my fault that I didn't read all the fine print, but when got home saw that they had already added 18% gratuity to the total. Not sure why they fell the need to do this food was good, service was great. If you go be aware they already figured the tip in the total. read more

One of my favorite restaurants in Ames. I crave their Thom Ka soup especially in the wintertime. My "go to" is the Pad See Ew with chicken and it never disappoints. Great curries too. The service is always attentive but not too intrusive. read more

Returned to The Spice after not coming here for about a year for a nice evening out with my boyfriend. Previously, we were impressed with the quality and authenticity of the food (both of us coming from Chicago, we have been thoroughly exposed to good Thai food, and TRUST ME, this is nowhere near the quality you should receive for the price). It is clear that The Spice has lowered their standards; the salmon I received was clearly frozen and dry, and the duck that my SO ordered was reheated and so not-fresh that it spoiled the flavor of the entire curry and ended up in the toilet later that night Count me unimpressed with the changes in their food. Neither of us will be coming back. read more

Would give it 3 1/2 stars if it was possible only due to the dessert. For an entire I had a Thai curry that was just OK. Nothing amazing, the chicken in it was like Chinese buffet pieces of meat with little texture and less flavor. Also, just an OK sized portion. What put this dinner near the 4 mark was the dessert. We had the mango sticky rice. Perfect balance of warm, sweet sticky rice and the acidity of good quality mango. I could live off that stuff!!! read more

The Spice serves pretty solid Thai food that I would also characterize as fine but not out of this world. The Pad Ka Prow lunch special I had was flavorful (I chose the beef -- it also comes with chicken or pork). The lunch specials also come with an appetizer of the day. This day it was pot stickers (2). The service was prompt and our waitperson was attentive. Expect to pay about $10 for a lunch special (not including a beverage). Dinner entrees run $13-$20. The decor is modern and upscale. While the lounge area is small, it is very modern and relaxing. On an occasion where I might have other dinner plans, I could see meeting a friend there for a glass of wine before hand. read more

My wife and I went here for dinner tonight and could not have been more pleased. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable, the food was timely and tasty, and the price was spot-on. read more