10/04/09

Good food, horrible service

by YRB

My husband and I went to Cafe Spice for my birthday on a Saturday night. We found it by accident after the place we intended to go to was closed. When we sat down at the bar, we were not acknowledged by the bartender who was sending and receiving text messages for about 4 minutes before looking in our direction. We almost left but decided to try somem food since we showed up during their second happy hour of the night (9:30-10:30) and had 1/2 priced martinis and appetizers. Their lamb was excellent! Wanting more we asked if we could sit at a table and order entrees. The bartender gave us a menu and we were able to seat ourselves. We waited and waited, but no server came. By the time I finished my horrible martini, they were moving the tables and we asked again for a server and no one came. After we gave up on the idea of food, we went back to the bar and ordered more drinks. They played old skool R&B after 11 which was cool. and by the end of the night found that we were charged for drinks we didn't have. The bartender tried, and gave us 2 drinks, but still not making up the extra charges. I will only ever go back for lunch just to taste the lamb again.

• Pros: Tasty food, drink and appetizer specials
• Cons: Slow service

03/09/09

Not good indian food . How can people say this is good?

by CSMobileUser2

I didn't see one indian eating there. The food was expensive and there was loud nyc techno/house music playing all night. The place is trying to be a posh old city place. My dish the lamb for 18 bucks was worse then eating at 5 dollar buffet. For a place named spice , it lacked the flavor of normal spices from india. Only noobs wouldn't be able to tell the difference,

09/20/08

Worst service in Philadelphia

by ahw2429

A group of friends (8 people total) and I were anxious to try Cafe Spice for restaurant week 9/19/08. We were more than disappointed with our experience. First, when we got there, they had lost our reservation (which had been confirmed via email) and we had to wait for at least 30 minutes for a table. From there, it just went downhill. We waited endlessly for a waiter, and when we finally did place our order, half of the group would get a course, and it would be at least 15 minutes before the rest of the group got theirs. We asked for some baskets of Naan at least 8 times before we finally got them (after our appetizers). The food itself was not bad, but it was not enjoyable to watch half the group eat their entrees, while some of us waited for ours. Our waiter never apologized, nor did the manager. The best service of the night came from the man who refilled our water glasses, which was all we had on the table for a good bit. At the end of the meal, we complained to the manager, who ended up taking 50% off the bill, though had he or the waiter apologized earlier, we may not have demanded compensation. Multiple other people in the restaurant were experiencing the same frustrations. Had I not been with a group, I certainly would have walked out. There was no reason our meal should have taken 3.5 hours and while they did compensate us, it won't be enough for me to come back, or to recommend Cafe Spice to anyone.

• Cons: Service