A better word for 'hot' (spicy)?

I never know how to order food correctly but succinctly the first time. :(

Basically: I can't eat hot stuff (i.e. most pepper, similar spices, ...).

On the one hand, I don't want to say "Please don't make it spicy", because I really don't mind spice (heck, a lot of them are great!) -- I just don't want it to be hot spice.

On the other hand "Please don't make it hot" would seem to imply I'd like my food cold!

Possibilities I've considered:

• "Please don't add hot spice" just sounds weird

• "Please don't add pepper" is the best I've thought of so far, but I'm pretty sure I've come across foods without pepper (or apparently so) which nevertheless tasted pretty hot.
  And not just that, but it would also exclude bell peppers, etc. which I don't mind much.

Any ideas for how to communicate this clearly? The fewer words the better, haha.

Solution 1:

Personally, I've had no problems with being understood, when I've said "spicy hot". If you want to be perfectly clear and straight to the point, saying spicy hot is fine.

Solution 2:

I can't speak for other nationalities, but if you are speaking to an American English speaker, they will very likely understand "hot" to mean "spicy", and "spicy" to mean "with hot spice".

I have never actually considered "spicy" to mean anything other than "with hot spice". If you are talking about something that everyone knows has hot spice on it, they will assume that you want it to not have hot spice 999 times out of 1000 if you say:

• "I don't want it too hot" - or - "not too hot"
• "not too spicy"

They will probably get it if you are ordering food that comes with hot spice.