Rice and Spice Thai Street Food

Visiting from Texas and so glad we found this gem! My husband is a huge Thai food lover, so I searched for a spot while we were in town—and Rice and Spice Thai did not disappoint. I had the drunken noodles with chicken and he had the fried rice with beef and chicken—both were absolutely delicious. Super flavorful, perfectly cooked, and generously portioned. On top of that, the service was friendly and fast. Highly recommend if you’re in the area!

Everything was fresh and delicious, especially the Tom Yum soup. The servings are large, too. My husband and I could have easily shared a soup and a dish and been plenty full.

We drove all the way to Pineville for some Thai food. In a pretty nondescript strip mall, the Rice and Spice space literally blooms with (painted) flowers! Upon arrival, it was pretty empty, but by the time we left, it was pretty busy! The clientele was friendly and effusive in their praise of the food. We had their spice level medium and it was perfect! (Our tolerance is usually an Indian restaurant 5-6) we had green curry, pad see ew, a noodle dish, a shrimp dish and finished with mango with sticky rice. Everything was delicious, had a good amount of the chosen protein. If anything, there could have been more vegetables. Our server had some great suggestions for next time and we are already planning another trip!

We usually order through DoorDash & have picked up from the restaurant a few times. The Pho Chicken and Green Curry Noodles are our to-go-to favorites…along with a side of Edamame. My 7 1/2 year old daughter and myself truly enjoy the yummy, delicious, comforting, like-Grandma-made-it Pho. It’s like an incredible chicken soup broth that has been simmering for hours with the perfect flavors. We each customize the toppings we want to add to our Pho and level of flavor and spice along with our noodles. It’s always been delivered and packed meticulously, consistently, generously and with particular care & attention. The Edamame has always been fresh and on-point. My other favorite is the Green Curry with Noodles. The broth is again sooo yummy, just the right amount of medium spice and the veggies & tofu always fresh and plenty. The noodles and optional toppings packed on the side are also a great addition to the rest of the dish. I honestly always have a difficult time deciding between the two dishes, especially because my daughter loves the Pho so much that she won’t share with me! The friendliness of the staff inside the restaurant and the cleanliness & coziness, would be reflective of their food. We are eager to try other dishes from the menu, it’s just that the Pho Chicken & Green Curry Noodles have been soooo good that we crave them & don’t want to order anything else! It also satisfies my daughter’s “K-Pop Demon Hunters” ramen, noodles, themed nights…and she loves the Edamame. I sometimes add a little side salad with Ginger Dressing for her :-) There is surely enough Pho left over for me…or for the next day. My only other honest comment would be that the one time I tried the Pad Thai, the cook on the noodles wasn’t to my taste. The dish was all a bit too overcooked and a softer texture than I prefer my Pad Thai to be. It may just have been that particular evening, or that authentic street Pad Thai differs from what I’ve been accustomed to. I appreciate the variety on the menu, the healthy ingredients and care with which their food is prepared!

I tried out Rice and Spice since I had seen many recommendations about it. I ordered the pad see ew and it was SOOOOOOO dang salty!!!! Oh my gosh, I was literally pouring water from my cup onto the noodles to salvage it. And the tofu was really hard and tough to chew… I couldn’t even finish it. Maybe Rice and Spice is good for other thai things but absolutely not pad see ew. Plus they used thin rice noodles (which I am a firm believer noodles shape affects taste) If I’m getting pad see ew, Im gonna go to Thai House instead!!

I will start off by saying that we were very excited about having lunch here. We had heard great things and had many recommendations to eat here. We arrived around 1pm and there were a out 4 other tables already there and eating. We were shown to our seats quickly but then it took quite a while to be seen. The lady who had shown us to our seats ended up coming back and started our order. We started with the Tod Mun Plaa (Thai fish cake) and we did enjoy that. For our entree we chose Kuay Tiew Rua (Thai Boat Noodles) I realized once we had ordered and they brought us our meal, we were never asked about spice level. I didn't think of it, but I overheard the other tables being seated and with another server, always being asked about the spice level. The portion for the entree was great and we knew we would have plenty to take home, even between the two of us. Unfortunately a couple bites in, my husband just couldn't stomach it anymore. It was a bomb of salt and Five Spice. No other flavors could be tasted. We also ordered the child's Pad Thai from the kids menu for our toddler. I'm not sure if it was because it was on the kids menu or not, but there didn't seem to be any flavor to it at all. We were never really checked on and our server never seemed as kind and communicative as she was with other tables or as the other server was with his tables. The visit definitely deflated our expectations. We are hoping that the lack of service to our table and the quality of food was just a one off. We may consider visiting again and trying other dishes.

We had all vegetation dishes, medium spice level. Noodles were spicy. It was great taste overall.

Our favorite Thai place. We love going there. Food is delicious and the service is great too. Shoutout our server. She is always very friendly and helpful. She already knows what we are going to order which makes everything even better. 100% recommend.