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    Daawat Authentic Indian Restaurant

    3.4 (105 reviews)
    ModerateIndian, Buffets
    Open 11:00 am - 11:00 pm

    Order Daawat Authentic Indian Restaurant Takeout or Delivery

    Daawat Authentic Indian Restaurant Photos

    DAAWAT AUTHENTIC INDIAN RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Classy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Daawat Authentic Indian Restaurant

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    Paneer Palak and Lamb Korma at home for take-out, on brown basmati rice with garlic fried green beans.
    Gord G.

    We ordered a couple of take-out dishes from Dawat to supplement brown basmati rice and some vegetables that I made at home for the evening's meal. A call in by my wife was answered by a pleasant woman who identified herself as Pravina. Asking for an order each of Paneer Palak, and Lamb Korma, she was quite helpful, asking our preference for spice/heat levels. Pravina stated the restaurant was open for dining with full COVID Pandemic protocols, but if we wished to pick up, we could place the order now with any specified time for pick-up. She even thanked my wife by name, and we realized that when we provided her with our phone number, a previous order under Nancy's name must be in their system! We were quite impressed with Pravina's manner and attention to detail. Our order was hot and ready for pick-up at the appointed time which unfortunately not always the case at other establishments. Upon arrival at home, we were pleasantly surprised with the inclusion of a container of Kheer (Indian Rice pudding) which was apparently provided free of charge. The paneer and lamb were both well prepared with ample amounts of very tasty sauce. The Korma had a few nice chunks of meat, one or two on the bone, but also contained 4 quite large pieces of bone only. I believe this is fairly typical of authentic Indian lamb dishes, however one or two more pieces with meat attached would have been ideal. I would suggest that if you would prefer more meat, you would be more satisfied ordering Chicken or Beef. But as it was, we both enjoyed both dishes and had no regrets with our choices.

    Butter Chicken (14.95)
    Erika G.

    Edmonton is a city that really loves Indian food and there's a lot of it to be eaten - there's certainly no shortage. Everyone seems to have their favourite place and most people are way into the buffet method of getting that sweet, sweet curry into their mouths. Daawat has been around for many years and occupies a bit of a monopoly when it comes to Indian food in Old Strathcona. Voted #1 Best Curry 2018 and #1 Best East Indian/Tandoori 2018 by VUE Weekly, this restaurant is often spoken of highly by most. I visited on a Saturday evening and was ready to crush an Indian feast! You'll find Daawat in Ritchie on Whyte Ave, which is a great location. When you enter the restaurant you are met with a nice atmosphere with a lot of ornate decor. There's a fountain in the middle of the room (which wasn't working) and a lot of interesting art and vibrant colours that celebrate the liveliness of Indian culture. At first the restaurant was dead-silent but eventually some traditional Indian music began to play, which was nice. We were seated immediately and began to pour over the extensive menu. I was quite surprised to see that chai tea isn't served at all - an early disappointment. Because of this, I didn't order anything to drink at all. Our server left a lot to be desired. She barely said anything, rarely checked in on us, and generally seemed to forget that we were even there. However, we were asked how spicy we wanted all of our dishes to be made, to which we responded "medium." I'm not "new" when it comes to dining in an Indian restaurant and I usually have a fairly good idea of the dishes that I enjoy. This makes ordering off of a large menu like Daawat's somewhat easy and I decided to go straight to my standbys. Once ordered, our food didn't take too long to arrive. From the Chicken Specialties section of the menu, we had to grab some Butter Chicken (Original recipe from India, chicken tikka cooked in our famous makhni sauce - $14.95). I also ordered some Plain Yogurt (Homemade yogurt - $2.95) on the side, which I like to drizzle over my various curries for a bit of a play on cool heat. I feel a bit guilty beginning on this note, but this butter chicken was one of the worst dishes of the night. I've had quite a lot of butter chicken in my day and this one was very clearly made by using a can of Campbell's tomato soup... Because that's exactly what it tasted like. I have a hard time believing that this dish is anywhere close to "authentic" or an "original recipe from India" and I'm pretty sure that their "famous makhni sauce" has gone astray and didn't originally involve canned soup. This is like when you go to a bad Thai restaurant and they make the pad thai with ketchup. Aside from this, the chicken itself was acceptable. The pieces were a nice size and had a good tikka flavour, albeit slightly dry. The yogurt was very good and did a great job of serving its purpose as a tart and creamy flavour addition. Next, from the Vegetarian Specialties section of the menu I had to try the Jeera Aloo (Potatoes cooked with cumin seeds and herbs - $10.95), a new dish to me that I've never tried before. This item is marked as the "Chef's Special" which absolutely meant that I had to try it. This was the best dish of the night and I loved it! Chef's Special indeed! These ultra-tender potatoes were cooked perfectly and were coated in a beautiful, aromatic mix of spices. The flavour was intricate and bold, a true celebration of Indian cuisine. Relatively simple, this dish offered so much in such an unassuming package. This plate is a definite must and I highly recommend giving it a try! (These basically saved the meal for me.) Staying in the same section of the menu, I also ordered the Vegetable Korma (Mixed vegetables cooked in a creamy sauce with butter, raisins, almonds, herbs and mild spices - $12.95), another old favourite. This dish was fine but I've certainly had better. First of all, there were absolutely no raisins or almonds in the sauce whatsoever, as the description implies. On the other hand, I did enjoy the addition of paneer (an Indian cheese) to the plate. I find that in many cases of this dish the vegetables always seem like they came from a frozen bag (the crinkle-cut carrots gives it away) - and I was surprised to see that in this case, the vegetables seemed less so. They were bright and it was nice to have an element like this on the table. Let's talk about rice for one second. As is common with all Asian cuisines, rice is life. Rice is the base for everything. Indian food is no different and you've gotta lay down some rice on your plate and then throw your curry on top. The rice helps to collect all of the delicious sauce and I also find that it helps to prevent the different types of curry on the plate from mixing together too much. From the Rice Specialties section of the menu, I was excited to find Coconut Rice ($4.95). Not all Indian restaurants do coconut rice and it probably isn't very authentic.

    Dawaat khazana - you need to order this!
    Jacqueline H.

    I am sad to be downgrading Daawat, but after repeated incidents of what we have termed "food racism", enough is enough, time for an updated review. Food racism in my experience as a Caucasian is when you go to non-western food restaurant and they serve you food they think you will like because you're white, versus what you have ordered. The last 3 times we have been to Dawaat, twice with an older Caucasian friend, we have ordered our food spice level hot, or 'desi hot' to get the point across that yes, we really like spicy food and have lots of experience with it. There are some newer staff versus the ones we know well. If these newer staff are working, no matter what heat level we order, it comes out mild. Then when we tell the server it's not hot, we get this incredulous look like we don't know what we're talking about. Yes he takes it back to the kitchen, they chop up some extra chillies, mix it in, reheat the dish, and then maybe it comes out medium spice. But seriously, like that is acceptable or even appetizing! It has now gotten to the point that if these staff are working, we just order the buffet instead of going through the food racism song and dance again. We did that today, but our companion took a leap of good faith and ordered off the menu, hot spice. What he got back had barely any spice and a whole lot of oil. I know Punjabi style cooking can be heavy on the ghee but this was ridiculous. He sent it back, per usual, and got the usual result. Not impressed. I haven't done Indian buffet in a long time, with good reason. No spice! Green chilli chutney will only go so far and I am not a fan of achar. Sweet runny chana masala, over cooked dry curry beef, terrible veg pakora with potatoes so over cooked they were like red pucks, fish pakora transformed into fish curry making a soggy mess - really not great. The Mulligitawny soup was good as was the Punjabi Dal, but other than that nothing to recommend. So disappointing. Time to move on from Daawat - and just after they finally did renos! Oh yeah and they have no more bar service - used to have a great drink selection, made a mean Side Car. It's a real shame, the owners are really nice. They bought a steak restaurant in Nisku (?!) not long ago so maybe that's where the attention is going, because Daawat's quality has really slipped.

    All those lovely beers.  Gluten  free choices as well.
    Shawnna P.

    I order from Dawaat by phone. They have free delivery if you order is over $30.00. The prices are lower than both The Spice Grill and Naanolicious. My husband also likes their palik paneer better than the others. The butter chicken rocks, but my favorite is the lamb vindaloo. I have eaten their buffet once. It was ok. Cheaper than Narayanni's around the corner. Maybe not as extensive, but pretty good. They have a beautiful beer selection!! Kind staff. Parking in the back ally.

    Dessert options at the buffet

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    Glad you enjoyed the food, Jonny. Hope to see you soon again!

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    7 years ago

    I used to really love this place. Last year it changed management and the quality has gone down like a lead balloon.

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    Glad you enjoyed the food,Dana. Hope to see you soon again!

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    14 years ago

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    Glad you enjoyed the food, Pennylane. Hope to see you soon again!

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    Glad you enjoyed the food, Matthew L. Hope to see you soon again!

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    Daawat Authentic Indian Restaurant - indpak - Updated June 2026

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