Thalia Spice: User Reviews

Wonderful yet aggravating
By Customer8507 from River North, August 30, 2009

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We are fairly regular at Thalia and love the food. The service can be spotty with servers who often seem fairly disinterested. The other staff can be incredibly inconsiderate by carrying on conversations among themselves in various parts of the restaurant where they thereby disrupt the ambience for the customers. There are two dining areas (front and back). The back has more character and is more pleasant though as others have noted many of the tables are right on top of each other. The front is set up to be more of a bar area though diners are regularly seated here and it is pretty unpleasant - all kinds of noise from the kitchen as delivery order personnel come and go, clanging of dishes from the dishwashing area, owners/staff loudly discussing various issues behind the counter, and a range of advertising noise (large flat panel screen with continuous advertisements, move of the week posters, etc.) posted around the perimeter, and other staff very noisly and obtrusively cleaning the place. Thalia has the potential to be a 10-15 year Chicago instutution but more likely the service shortcomings and the economic environment will ensure that this location is empty again soon. Too bad as it has such potential.

Geat find!
By Leo from west loop, July 18, 2009

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It had everything I was looking for. Great food, ambience, service, and incredible prices. Will definetely go back.

Some dishes ok others terrible
By steffi from Gold Coast, June 7, 2009

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We had a mixture of fusion, Japanese and Thai dishes and it was on balance ok but the Thai rice dishes were well below the standard of the other dishes they served. In particular the price was very very wet and the food generally tasteless.

Birthday Dinner
By shoegal1841 from Portage park, January 13, 2009

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I had a party of 8 for a birthday celebration. We were a lil late for our 8pm reservation. However our table was waiting. We had some tasty dishes and sushi. I had a a couple who doesn't normally venture out with Thai or fusion type food. Yet they were very pleased. Great atmosphere for dinner and drinks. A bit cramped as it is a bit of a small space. Price within reason and great deserts too.

Better than expected
By Chris from West Loop, September 27, 2008

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Went on 9/25, great spce, very good food and staff was very attentive and nice. Will definitely go back.

One of our favorite spots
By EMC from Wicker Park, July 24, 2008

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We visited Thalia Spice for the second time last night and we were not disappointed. The appetizers and entrees were fabulous and the service was much better than last time. We were happy that we made a reservation because it was pretty busy for a Wednesday night. I definitely recommend this place. It's a great value for the money.

Definitely A Great Dining Experience
By vidamax from sauganash, July 22, 2008

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I organized a dinner for 17 for a Saturday night and everything turned out perfect! The food was delicious and the service was great! This was for a Highschool reunion with people coming from all over the States and abroad. They were really impressed with the variety of choices (not your typical pad thai,satay...), the service, the music and ambiance! I definitely recommend this place for a great and reasonably priced Asian dining experience.

Great food, but beware the slow service
By GeeDee from Old Town, July 14, 2008

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I have been to Thalia numerous times now, and while I have thorougly enjoyed the food each time, the service proves to be consistently abysmal. On my last visit, we were seated for at least 15 minutes before we ever saw a waitress. On my previous visits, when it was still BYOB, we had to sit there for 10 to 15 minutes each time before anyone came over to open the wine that we brought. I tried to cut them some slack since they were still a newer restaurant, but now they have been open 8 months and still cannot get it together. Our waitress got our sushi order wrong by omitting an item, and then when we tried to have it corrected, she brought over the wrong dish. The tables are teeny, and they timing of how the food comes out always seems to be such that all the courses come out at once, with no room on the table for the food you have been waiting so long for. Knowing this, we outwitted them on this visit by ordering in courses, and only ordering the next course once we had received the last one. Overall, the food is very good. I especially love the sushi, which is fresh and includes lots of good rolls. The place is cute and well decorated. If they could only fix the service problem, it would be a great dining experience.

The corkage fee is out of control
By cp from bucktown, July 1, 2008

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I really liked this place the first time I was here a couple of weeks ago-even though there was a corkage fee of $5 per bottle-2 weeks later it's $9...for each bottle that adds up. If you're going to be a full service bar restaurant just do that then and not say byob, but we'll charge you the cost of the bottle!

Wonderful little gem in River west
By raj from chicago, June 8, 2008

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We had a wonderful time at this cozy little place. The decor is modern and menu has a lot of variety - Thai, malaysian, Phillipine and even one Indian dish. Service was outstanding and we liked the Pappaya salad , soups and Tilapia. The restaurant is a little too cozy with tables very close to each other. Other than that we had a very good time. We will be back to try out the many entrees we did not get to try.