Today, after geocaching around Shakopee with Dave, we decided to head in to Savage to try Spice (a Thai restaurant) which has come highly recommended by several people on this site — especially those that know I enjoy my food on the hot side.
Being a holiday where most people are grilling outside, we did that yesterday instead, the restaurant was empty for lunch on Memorial Day but they had two waitresses and obviously some people in the back cooking as well. We were immediately seated right in the middle of the restaurant and began to look over the extensive menu. Dave had his choices picked almost immediately but I took my time as I hadn’t prepped my visit like I normally do. The waitress came around as I was noting Dave’s choices and menu captions and I asked for a few more minutes to choose. After 5 or more minutes I had my choice and we were ready to order.
Dave went with the Fresh Spring Rolls for an appetizer which are listed as Thai style rolls with pork, silver thread noodle, carrot, onion, cabbage and mushroom served with a tamarind sauce. There are two (cut in half) for $5.50. He also ordered their Pork Pad Thai which they say is the famous Thai national noodle dish with rice noodle, egg, scallions, and tofu flavored by secret seasoning topped with crushed peanut with a slice of lime for $10.50. Right at the end he asked for a side of sticky rice as well. Having eaten a little for breakfast and not being starved like Dave, I went with their Pork Noodle Soup which they say is just like in Thailand! Thai noodle seasoned with garlic oil and Thai spice pork, pork meat balls, sprouts and onions. I chose my with rice noodles (they have two other options that I didn’t pay any attention to) and it was a total of $7.80. They have varying levels of spice going from nothing to “challenging”. Dave went with “hot” (which is dead center of their scale) and I, of course, took “challenging”. As the waitress was about to leave the table she said, “are you sure,” and then said, “this is your last chance to change your mind,” as if she was warning me about the potential of heat…
Dave and I sat and chatted for a bit while they go our food ready. The spring rolls were out first and were presented quite nicely. They were also nice and fresh but Dave said, “too much lettuce and not enough good stuff.” I couldn’t have agreed with him more — nothing spectacular there. I snagged an extraneous piece of pork and found it tasted fine but inside the roll it was lost among the lettuce. The sauce was definitely tasty and was the sole reason I rated this appetizer acceptable. We both agreed that it was certainly decent but nothing we’d go out of our way to have again.
My soup came out seconds before Dave’s Pad Thai and it looked and smelled great. The meatballs and pork pieces were abundant and of a nice size. For $7.50 this soup portion was excellent and was quite reminiscent of what I’ve sampled at Saigon in St Paul. After taking several unsuccessful photos because steam was fogging the camera lens, I finally resorted to blowing on my food from behind the camera to disperse the steam some so that I could nab something decent. While I ordered my meal as “challenging” spice, I can’t say that this was anything more than perhaps a 6.5 or 7 on a 10 scale. I really need to start making it very clear when I order something “hot” that I am not kidding and I want it as hot as it’ll come. It wasn’t as hot as the food that I ordered at Ban Thai in White Bear Lake and I didn’t even order it as hot as it would come there… Aside from the issues I was having getting the noodles out of the bowl and the fact that it just wasn’t nearly spicy enough for me, I loved my soup. It was very tasty and with the abundance of pork I can definitely say that I would return for this dish.
Dave’s dish was also very good. He ordered his “hot” and while I didn’t taste any spice in the two small fork fulls I took, I thought the dish was excellent. Dave said that while he was not at all impressed with the spring rolls, he did really like the Pad Thai but he said that any Thai restaurant worth its salt needs a great Pad Thai.
Our total bill was just under $28 and Dave was nice enough to treat me for lunch today, probably because I’m such an awesome guy! Thanks for lunch buddy, great seeing you again. While what I had at Ban Thai in White Bear Lake was better, I really enjoyed Spice and will definitely return, hopefully again soon, when I am sans Kim as she’s not a spicy or Thai food fan. If you have eaten at Spice please let us know what you thought!
Address:
Spice
3898 County Rd 42
Savage, MN 55378
Phone:
952-882-9272
Hours:
Monday through Thursday 11 AM to 9 PM
Friday 11 AM to 10 PM
Saturday 12 PM to 10 PM
Sunday 12 PM to 9 PM
See all the pictures from today on Flickr here (camera).
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