Mantra was a great find as we cycled past it on the protected bike lane and could smell the spices…read more When we arrived, the nicest server ever greeted us and we enjoyed a laugh when a robot brought our naan on its tray! We ordered Rogan Josh lamb in a perfect med hot spiced sauce and my hubby had the tandoori chicken, expertly done! Everywhere in Victoria is serving mint chutney as a yogurt now? (it's ok,.. but I miss regular mint chutney of the past.) Naan is really good here too. I liked the decor/ambiance and really nice waitress! A great stop on the way back from the art gallery!

We ordered delivery for dinner and it did not disappoint! We ordered a lot of vegan food - all…read moresuper yummy Kachumber Salad Gobhi Garlic Garlic Naan Onion Bhajia Papdi Chaat Navratan Korma Vegetable Coconut Curry Everything was the perfect spice level! Now we are very full with some leftovers too.

We wanted to try some Indian food while in Victoria. We love the spices and found Sizzling Tandoor…read moreon Yelp. Mostly five star reviews so we decided to give it a go. We had a high bar because we had just gone to an Indian restaurant in Chicago that was over the top good. Sizzling Tandoor met that bar. It was just as good as Chicago. Many reviews mentioned the Rogan Josh Lamb so we ordered that and balanced it off with Chicken Tikka Masala. We each ate half of each entree. A side of plain Naan completed the meal. We like hot food and we're going to order hot, but our server, Muskan, convinced us to get medium hot. It was perfect. Muskan was attentive but didn't hover. She engaged us in a nice convo after our meal and was very pleasant. The most difficult part was deciding which we liked better. The lamb won, but only by a small margin. Both were excellent.

We really liked this place. Our food was wonderful and servings were generous. It's a very good…read morelooking restaurant. Service was slow and that probably is a kitchen problem. They weren't very busy on Sunday evening but only one server was working and she had to bus the tables also. Apparently they don't answer the phone. We had butter sauce with chicken, navratan korma and naan. The charge was C $46 plus tax and tip. That's about US $33.54. Street parking only.

What an absolutely wonderful and delicious adventure…read more My wife and I were visiting Victoria on Holiday and we were looking for somewhere to have lunch. We love Indian cuisine so we decided to try Indian Aroma. First of all the restaurant itself is clean and very well decorated with genuine Indian decor, it's beautiful. We were seated immediately and our waiter was so helpful. I wish I caught his name to thank him here as well...if you are reading this, thank you! Okay, on to what you're waiting for, the food! My wife ordered chicken biryani and I order the chicken vindaloo extra hot! They were both so so so dang good. I finished my entire dish and have no regrets. Lol! If we come back to Victoria we will make it a point to eat here again. If you're on the fence, just give it a try.

Chole bhatura was very good. Rest of the food was also decent and tasty. Above average food and can…read morecome back.

Mother's Day's dinner 2026. Amazing service from Miquela. Ask for her…read more Amazingly good food. So many flavors!! Our local friends adore this place. I can see why. Right by the harbor. Reservations recommended. Next level Indian food. Truly magical!! You must try it.

It was the highlight of our BC Bites & Sights tour. I wish we could have stayed longer to try more…read moreof their Malabar coastal cuisine. Our group arrived some time after 9pm on a Friday evening. I knew we were in for a treat as soon as we opened the door. There was an amazing aroma of spices that was waiting for us inside. The service was great! We were immediately sat at a large table near the entrance. We had a great view of the entire restaurant. Every table was taken, and I'm assuming it was their last dinner seating since it was past closing time. We were given samples of a pilsner from the local Hoyne Brewing Company as our guide was telling us about this unique restaurant with Kerala cuisine. It was so smooth and light. It actually pairs well with spicy food. The experience became magical after receiving this beautifully plated fish/rice ball. I love the presentation with the curry leaf on top. It's like a cross between an arancini and a fish curry. This was a flavor bomb. Absolutely delicious! It was crispy on the outside, and packed with a yummy filling of minced fish and curry spices on the inside. I've never had anything like it. I would go back to Victoria just to eat at this restaurant. It was that wonderful! I wish we had more time here. We were only in port for 3.5 hours. Fortunately, it was enough time to take this tour. I'm not sure we would have found it otherwise. I feel so fortunate that Cafe Malabar was one of the stops. The restaurant location is new to Mermaid Wharf. It was previously located in Victoria Public Market. I predict lots of good things happening for them in the future. The hype is real!

Some of the best Indian food we have ever had! Butter chicken medium spicy was the perfect choice…read more It was a creamy tomato base with huge chucks of chicken! You get your money's worth at this place. Also, I appreciated that our food came out piping hot and continued to stay hot throughout the course of our meal. My husband got the same dish but "Indian spicy" and he was dripping beads of sweat, just how he likes it! Lol. 10/10 would come back if we were in the area again. *Hard to see off the main street but follow the signs by the stairs and you should find your way.

A James Bay neighborhood place tucked in a building housing a number of different businesses, this…read morewas Indian food a bit different than we usually find in U.S. The mint chutney served alongside the tamarind one, for your pakora and samosa appetizers, was creamy - coconut milk, maybe? But still gave a welcome zing to the food we put it on. Vegetarian spouse was intrigues and charmed by the soy protein option, don't remember what it was called, but he adored it in the tikka masala sauce, which was like a spicy, chunky marinara. The fish in the dish I had was tender and lovely, but the breaded coating was a bit too salty for my taste. This was a nice respite from the moure touristy vive of downtown Victoria.

Our server Balk (?) was very helpful, we are new to Indian cuisine, with how things would taste and…read morespiciness of the curries. The service was attentive without being a bother. Our food was delicious and the portions were generous. The atmosphere is lively and comfortable. I should have looked through the menu more thoroughly there were several items I would have tried if I had looked longer like coconut chicken wings, etc. I highly recommend this restaurant. Great location too!

Great food and service. We had the tandoori fish which I was skeptical of, but it was cooked to…read moreperfection, not overcooked, but soft and velvety and so flavorful! My sister had the house curry with chicken and it was excellent. I would highly recommend this place. The garlic naan and pampadoms were the best!

This was our first time to Namaste Indian Cuisine during our visit from Sagle, Idaho. I am a…read moreprivate chef so I'm pretty picky when it comes to good Indian food. We dined on a Friday night. Service was excellent and the food was superior. We had Butter chicken, Lamb Vindaloo, Vegetable Korma and Garlic cilantro Naan. Everything was so tasty! Cooked properly, served hot and fast service! We will definitely be back on our next visit to Victoria, B.C.

Good and Service are great! I love the Indian flag of Chicken Tikka Masala, Rice, Naan and saag…read morePaneer! Every thing is fresh

This place is lovely!! My local friend took me to Dosa Paragon where he and his wife love the dosa…read more I had not had southern Indian cuisine very much and only one dosa before. The food here is great! The dosas were lovely. Dosas are like thick crepes made from chickpea flour so it's great for gluten free people. We had the South India combo and the butter chicken dosa. Both were very nice. We also ordered the beef madras which was my favorite. I like a good curry and the ladder was very nice and not too hot at a medium spice level. We also had sukka coffee with a nice ginger flavor and tasted like a wee bit of sugar in it. My friend, fancies it and it was delicious. We had asked for that to come out before dinner and it came out about halfway through. But that takes a while to make and better ill-timed coffee than cold food. The food as it was was delicious and piping hot. The staff here is very sweet and helpful. Very kind with explanations of the meals and Indian geography and history. We got a little lesson, which we both loved. I would absolutely return to Dosa Paragon!

The amazingly large window with a view of the water is so nice, but you have to try hard to ignore…read morethe large streaks of bird poop that covers the whole thing. That should have been a warning, but we didn't take heed. First we got a dosa which was REALLY good! A spicy chutney with potatoes. We were off to great start. Wooohooo! Then came a curry with a delicious cashew sauce trying its very best to save the awful rubbery vegetables floating in it. Though the sauce made a valient effort, I am, in the end, absolutely convinced that those were frozen carrots and green beans...either that or they were actually rubber. Then, we hit rock bottom with the "green salad". Some badly chopped tasteless vegetables lined up like they are ready to be stir-fried and no dressing. I guess you were supposed to squeeze a lemon on them. Yum, yes please, I would love thick slices of raw onion with some lemon squeezed on it, who wouldn't? So take a dosa to go is my advice. Or go somewhere else. Fake flowers on the table, so maybe those carrots and green beans were made of rubber.

Nice little Indian eatery in the heart of downtown Victoria. The restaurant serves both vegetarian…read moreand non-vegetarian dishes. There is street parking available. The restaurant is tastefully decorated. Excellent design and comfortable sitting. We ordered the vegetable samosa. It was amazing as was the chutney. We also had some Amritsari Kulcha. The Kulcha was not quite as tender as expected, but it had been overcooked, and the Chana (chickpeas) had not been properly cooked, since they nevertheless remained tough. We would, however, give this restaurant another shot. The service could also be improved. There was only one waitress that were looking after three other tables. Great ambiance as they played some Indian Bollywood songs on tv, which was enjoyable. If I had to select one drawback, it would be that the restrooms require some attention, and that they be kept clean because they were unclean!

Stopped here for lunch with some friends after a Saturday morning rehearsal. The server steered us…read moreto the buffet rather than the menu and there was a variety of options available. They even had hot chai at the buffet, and the server made sure to get us some fresh rice and naan. There were 4 in our party. I was seated in the corner next to the wall, making it harder to get out and to the buffet so I don't think I ate enough for the price, but the food was very tasty and everyone else in our group was quite satisfied with the experience.

There's a certain romance people expect when they step into a French brasserie--the low hum of…read moreconversation, the clink of glasses, a dimly lit room that whispers rather than shouts. Brasserie L'Ecole leans hard into that mood. Maybe a little too hard. Look, I get it. Lighting can be seductive. It can soften edges, blur imperfections, make everyone feel like they're in on something intimate and vaguely cinematic. But there's a fine line between ambiance and obscurity, and this place crosses it with confidence. When the room is dark enough that you're squinting to make out what's on your plate--when you can't even appreciate the color of the food you're about to eat--you start to wonder who this is really for. Diners? Or vampires? And then the food arrives. Let's talk about the French onion soup gratinée--the kind of dish that should feel like a warm, savory embrace. Deep, rich broth. Sweet, slow-cooked onions. That molten cap of cheese pulling apart in long, indulgent strands. Instead, what lands in front of you is a salt delivery system disguised as comfort food. A few spoonfuls in and your palate is already waving the white flag. It's not nuanced, not layered--just aggressively, relentlessly salty. A blunt instrument where a scalpel should be. You start thinking about wine. You *want* wine. But then reality kicks in: what's the point? Pairing anything with this level of salinity feels like pouring a decent bottle straight into the ocean. Whatever subtlety, whatever character the wine might have had--it doesn't stand a chance. Then comes the brasserie burger. In theory, a reliable fallback. In practice? More of the same. Heavy-handed seasoning that bulldozes everything else on the plate. After the soup, it's not just overkill--it's a slog. Each bite feels like work. Finishing it becomes less about enjoyment and more about stubbornness. By the end of the meal, you're not lingering over dessert or debating another glass. You're reaching for water. Lots of it. The kind of deep, desperate hydration that feels less like refreshment and more like recovery. Like you've just spent an afternoon face down on the shores of the Dead Sea. There's a good restaurant hiding in here somewhere; since the service is spot on, buried beneath the darkness, buried beneath the salt. But as it stands, the experience feels less like a Parisian escape and more like a test of endurance. Cheers or Jeers.. .up to you.

The service was very good, helpful, and friendly. The oysters were very fresh, and the sauces…read moreserved with it were super yummy. Nice decor and comfortable seating.