Spice Cove

Delicious food, great service. Definitely coming back.

I am pretty sad spice cove closed as I have been a loyal customer thru all of the changes over the years. Some meals have been better then others but mostly I got exactly what I was expecting each visit!

I am beyond sorry to have to write this update to my last review. As I’d said previously, I have been a loyal customer of Spice Cove since about 2010, when they were at their original location. The only thing I can say is that while the food quality has stayed somewhat afloat, everything else about this place has slowly gone downhill.
I used to know most of the servers and staff here, and while there seemed to have been various changes in management over the years, the super friendly service and DELICIOUS food always stayed consistent.
However, since the move to their new location next door, I can’t say the same. My mom and I, who regularly dine at S.C. together, now recognize few to none of the staff members from one visit to the next, and have found the service to be increasingly terrible — slow and not at all friendly. Also, it seems like old Spice Cove fans (the place used to be packed), as well as any potential new customers, are deterred by the gross interior of the new spot — it is poorly lit, dingy and on our most recent trip a few weeks ago smelled to the high heavens of a mop and cheap floor cleaner — definitely a certain way to ruin a meal. That said, the cheap, run down interior of the place wouldn’t matter if the service and food quality were what they used to be.
My opinion is that Spice Cove must be staying afloat from the money they make off delivery and have given up on their staff and customer service, given that every time I’ve visited in the last year or so, the restaurant has been nearly to completely empty.
With all of that said, my most recent visit may have been the straw to break the camels back — my mom and I walked out before we’d even had the chance to put in our usual order, and not only because of the horrific cleaner smell, but because the waiter simply walked away even though we told him we already knew what we wanted when we sat down. I should note, there was only one other table seated in the ENTIRE restaurant. So, while I’ve tried time and time again to have hope that Spice Cove would return to it’s glory days, I think that time has passed, and so I’ll be solemnly looking for a new favorite Indian restaurant on 6^th Street :(

This place is in need of a revamping big time. Maybe should start with the staff… We were oddly welcomed in the restaurant, not like it was busy and were seated promptly. We tried out a groupon, which makes the food weirdly out of stock, like we could only order chicken and vegetables, because the rest ran out haha. Ok.
We started off with the soups. They were great and pretty filling. We tried the carrot one and the chicken and lentil one. Liked them a lot. We shared an appetizer that consisted on 3 tiny shrimps sautéed in onions and peppers with a chapati bread. 3 shrimps folks! They were delicious –makes you conscious of savoring every bite.
Then we had the chicken tikka masala that was average and the grilled tandoori chicken that was great.
They were also terribly «lacking» in the dessert department and all that was available was ice cream and rice pudding. We settled on pistachio –it was fluorescent green and needless to say didn’t give the nut any justice. The rice pudding was nothing extraordinary.
Not a place I would go back too, the food is descent nothing to rave about. There are much better Indian places out there to get your curry, masala and naan fix!

Went here with a groupon and has a wonderful meal. Service was great and refreshingly honest with recommendations. Definitely need a décor upgrade but the naan was great!

Quite possibly the most disgusting Indian food I have ever had. Not sure who’s making the food because any real Indian would be ashamed to serve what we had delivered last night. We ordered 2 prix fixe «deals» for $ 12.95 each which sounded like an inexpensive, appealing option since it came with an appetizer, entrée, rice, and dessert.
For our appetizer, we got vegetable samosas — first bite and all I tasted was the pastry shell. Why? Because their ONE spoonful of potato filling had sunk to the bottom! Not only that, the filling was gross, as if they defrosted mixed frozen vegetables and mixed it with some potatoes.
Our entrees consisted of an extremely small half-​size container portion of what was supposed to be chicken madras and chicken bhuna. The dishes were indistinguishable from each other and consisted of dry chicken pieces with watery sauce.
Dessert? Hah! They gave us one measly gulab jamun in a small to-​go ketchup container.
We had also ordered a cheese paratha and I could not even believe it when I took a bite and saw that they had stuffed an effing KRAFT SINGLE inside the bread.
I nearly cried spending $ 34 bucks after tax and tip on this piece of $hit delivery. And that too, we waited close to an hour!
A big, fat, AVOID!

I’d love to write a review, but after ordering on Seamless at 7:41pm with anticipated confirmed delivery from 8:30 — 8:40pm, it’s now 9:38pm and my food isn’t here. I’ve tried calling twice, it goes to voicemail, and the voicemail is full. This place sucks

The waiter is very slow and inattentive even when you’re the only table there. Ordered an appetizer, two entrees and two breads. Being the only table the wait time was 20 minutes to get the appetizer.
To start off I believe everything is made before hand, chilled and this heated up when an order is placed.
I got my appetizer and it was cold in the center of the food by the chicken bone. I asked the waiter to take it back to change it after I bought it to his attention. I am 100% sure it’s the same plate of food and the same chicken I sent back simply because the chicken leg was poked with a fork in that area. Only difference was the amount of sauce was less.
Then moved on to entrée. ordered the lamb kebab and the chicken vindaloo. Kebab was burnt on one side and chef tried to hide this by putting it on the bottom then the chicken vindaloo was bland. Not to mention with one piece of potato on the whole dish. Bread was extremely doughy! Completely not like the Indian bread I’m into.
Wouldn’t return even if you paid me. So if you can avoid it please do! Do yourself a favor and go down the block on the right or left for more choices!!!
***ONE MORE THING — WAITER DROPPED A KNIFE ON THE FLOOR AND PICKED IT BACK UP LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED AND THEN PLACED IT BACK IN THE UNUSED PILE… so someone is probably eating from the floor!!***

The service is kinda eh. The guy that served us was nice but really quiet so it was difficult to understand him even though the place was so quiet. It took him awhile to get things going. It was an overall length of an hour and half and not because it took us forever to eat.
The place was small. It smelled like heavy incense so my sinuses was inflaming. I wish they had air flowing. It got a little warm after being there for so long.
As an appetizer, we got the Jhinga Bhaji. The bread was really nice and warm. It was soft and doughy. I loved the bread. The shrimp I did not like at all. It was tough and rubbery. It tasted weird. The rest was ok.
The chicken makhni was good. The chicken was cooked right. The sauce was a bit pasty. It was good overall.
The lamb tikka masala was good. The sauce was a bit sweeter than the makhni. The lamb was tender.
I liked their naan. It was the right size. It was doughy, warm, and soft on the inside.
The mango ice cream tastes like mango. It didn’t melt fast. The gulab jamun tasted delicious. They only gave us one. It was soft and warm.
Would eat the food here again but as take out.

The food was great along with excellent service. The waitress/​host made a variety selection rather easy. My husband and I had a groupon for this location. We had an appetizer, soup (chicken base) [very good] and for entrée the lamb curry and mixed tandoori. Very good.
My only recommendation would be the overall feel of the place could have been much more elevated along with a better wine selection.
Overall, great experience and great food!

five star to defend this place– They have been working out some kinks, and try very hard.
The food issues mentioned in other reviews have been fixed– — The food is now excellent. (they made some big changes– and oh yeah– cruising in the right direction)
The dining room– meh
the service — meh
but give them a shot — The best restaurants are the ones trying to build a reputation, not resting on one.
(my review is way to high by my standards, but likely just a response to Hailey s– who doesn’t seem to understand how food poisoning works, and just blamed the last place she ate)

The food was really amazing, it was my first time going to a Indian restaurant and I tried it out because of the Groupon deal and it was a great experience.

No no no no no.
I got terrible food poisoning from this place. Boyfriend and I both got chicken curries, which were ok. Nan was good-​ish. Hot at least. I indulged in the vegetable samosas. My boyfriend doesn’t really eat fried food, so he didn’t have any and there the culprit lies. Ate around midnight, and 4:30am I woke up with the most violent stomach illness I have ever experienced. For 24 hours I was like a vomit machine. Had to miss work. Never again.

There was a red hair in my bland food. Either the chef is a redhead or the delivery boy was riding Clifford to get to my apartment.
5 stars if I saw a magical 2-​story dog.

I ordered a chicken curry lunch special that came with banana pakora and basmati rice for my boyfriend and a chicken biryani for myself.
Biryani was pretty good and it came out to be nearly two people’s portions. I was full off of half the plate (mind you, I always finish my food).
Chicken curry was also pretty good except it did not come with basmati rice like the menu claimed it would. It came with plain white rice (so one star off).
Another star off for the banana pakora, the banana inside was liquified and gross, I had to spit it out.
The whole thing came with extra nan and that was nice.

We’ve been looking for a reliable Indian restaurant, found Spice Cove through a Groupon deal, and thought we’d give it a try. We ordered the assorted pakora appetizers, mulligatawny soup, sag paneer, and lamb shree mangal. The service is excellent and very attentive: they took our orders quickly and the wait was brief before our appetizers came out. The sag paneer (spinach and cheese) dish was quite tasty, if not a little too creamy. The lamb sauce was flavorful; however, the meat was not edible — way too tough. The pakora was equally tasty but cold. Clearly it was prepared in advance, but a quick reheat in the microwave would have been nice. Not sure we’ll be returning. We’ll keep looking.

To all the non-​Indians eating here: THIS IS NOT WHAT INDIAN FOOD SHOULD TASTE LIKE!
So I really wanted to like this restaurants but the food was just so poorly made, every chance of redemption the restaurant had was met with flavorless, tasteless Indian food.
We started with the mulligatawny soup and murgh soup which looked identical. The soup was very watery for mulligatawny soup. The murgh soup, being a different soup, should have tasted different but it didn’t. Same broth with chicken.
For the appetizer we got the tangy shrimp which didn’t taste tangy at all. Just a tasteless, flavorless, bland sauce with shrimps.
We asked for the coconut paratha and instead got the coconut poori which had chunks of sweet coconut, didn’t compliment our meal well at all.
The chicken tikka masala and shrimp curry were the same. No taste, no flavor, not enough spices, not enough salt.

Spice Cove sits on Curry Row alongside many other brethren of the Indian Restaurant Brotherhood (aka 6^th Street). It’s pretty similar to all the other restaurants on the same street, serving a large menu of standard Indian dishes: curry, saag, malai, korma, dhansak, tandoori, and more.
The food here is decent but not out of this world. I wish the menu would stand out a little more, as many of the curries seem very similar to one another. In other words, the restaurant suffers from «Chinese restaurant menu syndrome,» except it’s the Indian restaurant version.
Some other good things and bad things: a meat samosa appetizer was barely edible, the crust as hard as a sheet of cardboard. A mulligatawny soup was perfectly spiced and transported me to a time when my Pakistani coworker would bring in homemade lunch for me. The spice levels are pretty standard, but err on the side of caution (since you can always add more, but you can never take away). They kindly offer to bring hot sauce on the side if you desire more of a kick.

I’ve been to a decent number of Indian restaurants on 6^th St. («Little India»), and I think Spice Cove offers one of the best prices for the tasty food it offers. I came here on a rainy day with three other friends. The restaurant is pretty small and they tried to pack as many tables as possible, so be prepared for a cozy and intimate dining experience.
We decided to skip the appetizers and went straight for the entrees. Most of the chicken curries are priced at ~$ 10, which is unbeatable for NYC. I got the Chicken Okra Masala ($ 9.95) with a side of Garlic Naan ($ 3.75). The food came out in about 20 minutes. The curry was basically chicken tikka masala with sautéed okra on top. I thought the curry had the right balance of creamy and savory flavors. The garlic naan had pretty strong garlic flavor, which I liked. The portions were slightly smaller than at other Indian places, but it was fine because I usually have left overs that I don’t finish anyways.
I heard Spice Cove offers a lot of Groupon, LivingSocia, and Amazon Local deals, but the full price is already a bargain!

I was a fan of Spice Cove until they moved to a new local. I tried the new location with a Living Social voucher consistent of dinner for two: 1 app, 2 soups, 2 entrees, 2 desserts and two glasses of wine.
So here we go! My husband and I entered the new restaurant, we were the only diners there & upon entering the first thing to greet us was a swarm of summer flies and a funky stench of old carpet. No, the place does not have carpeting just a 1980’s décor vibe with wall to wall mirrors as opposed to the warm & comforting ambiance of their old establishment. The waiter in deed was welcoming and accommodating. I was unable to order wine with my meal because the restaurant currently does not have a liquor license so the waiter provided mango lassies as an alternative.
Here is what killed it for me. Wait for it, it’s coming! Seeing my waiter nuke in a microwave the soups that he was going to bring to my table then biting into my appetizer of samosas and having my palette confused with a taste of car oil. No, I have never drank car oil, but my samosas surely tasted like they were fried in some. My entrée the shrimp curry was good, but just a warning if you order the mix tandoori extra spicy as the dish comes out the kitchen sizzling it has potential to suffocate the small dining room; that’s how spicy it is.
Here comes the second half that did it for me. As you walk to get to the bathroom you get a glimpse of the fridge were beverages and foods are kept and the kitchen. My glimpse: shriveled slices of lemons on a plate and improper stored foods with aluminum foil. The kitchen: Oh dear, I wish I never put that food in my tummy! The kitchen floor & sink area were grimy looking. So I finally get to the bathroom, lol! it was a complete hot mess the size of a closet? No, smaller!
Back at my table check please!!! Overall, you get what you pay for, but I would avoid this place via living social, or groupon vouchers. I miss the old Spice Cove and would of hoped the new local would have had a fresh new inviting vibe. Total bummer!

I’ve noticed that while walking down East 6^th street, there’s many Indian restaurants. I gave them my first Indian experience while walking into this one. It’s small yet cozy, limited lights. It suits the romantic date setting.
There was only two other people here at 5pm Saturday afternoon.
There was a huge glass bottle of water on place on the small table.
We were started off with the complimentary chips and three sauces to dip. The green was cool spice, the brown was sweet spice and there was the «chili» vegetables– I liked that one best.
The waiter took out orders and our wine came — sparkling white wine and pinot grigio.
He had the coconut soup and I had the Murg Shorba My soup had tomato and bits of chicken making the texture quite thick and yummy. In my perspective, the coconut looked milky with coconut flakes.
Next, Mixed Tandoori Appetizers — Chicken, pork, lamb. It is pretty big for an appetizer. It’s decorated with onions and peppers. I liked the pork best, didn’t eat the lamb portion, but verbally heard that it was great from my other half.
We both ordered from the Seafood Specialties served with Basmati Rice And Relish. I had the Machli Curry — My salmon entrée was so worth the money. It included three huge chunks of salmon with no bones! He had the jhinga tikka masala, there was about six shrimp was decent portioned; he was jealous of my dish. The rice is dry, but it fits well with the curry. Next is dessert. Pistachio ice cream!!!
If you are on the budget, they have the prix dinner meal for $ 10. The guy next to us ordered the vegetarian Platter and there was a lot included for $ 10.
Total $ 50, outta here in a hour.