TLDR: Excellent Indian food with generous portions. They are in an unassuming strip mall where…read morePookies Thai used to be. I always like to start off the new year on a positive note, so my first review of 2024 is a 5-star review for The Sarangi, Cuisine of India. I was poking around on UberEats looking for new restaurants when I came across a restaurant called The Sarangi. I looked it up and recognized the address as where Pookies Thai used to be. I looked up the restaurant website to find out more about the business and discovered they just opened on November 30, 2023. I also discovered they were having a 50% off everything on their menu, except alcohol, the weekend of their opening. A quick look at their prices also showed that their prices at the restaurant are lower than on UberEats. I always prefer to order directly from restaurants to save them the extra fees, if prices are the same (sometimes UberEats has wicked deals though and I can't resist, lol). So obviously in this case, I called the restaurant directly to place my order for pick up. I got the Non-Vegetarian Dinner for 2 (regularly $57.99, but only $28.99 with the 50% off opening special deal). You get 3 vegetable samosas, an order of basmati rice, a naan, 4 pieces of Gulab Jamun and you get to choose 2 drinks (I got a lychee juice and a mango lassi), and 2 curries (I got the Beef Korma and Chicken Kadhai). You also choose your spice level, I got medium. The portion sizes were amazing. Lots of proteins in the curries. The Chicken Kadhai had bell peppers in it in addition to huge pieces of boneless lean chicken. It was my first time having this dish. While I enjoyed it, it did have some black seeds in it that I wasn't crazy about. The Beef Korma had huge cubes of tender lean beef and the sauce was so rich and creamy. This was my favourite dish. I couldn't get enough of it. So good. The rice was nicely steamed and was soft and fluffy. The naan was blistery and had the right amount of chew and soaked up that delicious Korma sauce so well. The samosas were a bit on the oily/greasy side but they were good. The potatoes were mashed instead of cubed and there were peas inside as well. I was impressed with the lychee juice which had a potent lychee flavour and although it was very sweet, it did not taste artificial at all. The mango lassi was thick, rich, sweet and had a good mango flavour. They were also well packaged and didn't leak in transit. The Gulab Jamun were good for what they are. They were also very sweet. These are not my favourite dessert, but they were well made and I'm sure anyone who likes Gulab Jamun would enjoy these. I spoke with Ukesk (sorry if I got the spelling wrong) who was very nice. He told me they just opened November 30, 2023 and were mostly just doing takeout and UberEats orders at the moment. Their dining room was set up but he said they didn't have their decorations up yet. I also noticed they didn't have their exterior sign yet. They just had a temporary paper sign in the window. He told me this is their second restaurant, their first is Ramakrishna Indian Restaurant on Rideau St. We had a nice chat. I'm thrilled to have a great Indian restaurant nearby. I will be back to try their other items. Their medium was spicy, but I think I'll go one level up next time (which is medium-hot). They are in a strip mall with free parking in the shared lot with other businesses. Note that if you are going westbound on Carling you cannot turn into the strip mall because of the median. I recommend turning south at Woodroffe and then turning west onto Fox and following Fox until it hits Carling. Then take Carling eastbound and you'll be able to turn into the strip mall. This is better than overshooting the restaurant going westbound on Carling until you can do a U-turn. (1)

We were so happy that this place opened in our neighbourhood. We were BIG fans of Ramakrishna on…read moreRideau St which is the sister restaurant. This is BETTER. The food is amazing and the service sublime. I only regret that when it's found out by the foodies that reservations may be required

We asked for masala chai, which was on the menu. We were told that they are very busy and it would…read moretake take 10 minutes. We were willing to wait. 10 minutes later, we were given a takeout beverage container with a lid. Price was very good compared to what we usually pay. It was too hot to drink right away, so we drove for a bit, and waited for it to cool down. The first sip was disappointing. The flavours we were expecting weren't there. After a few more sips, we came to realize that it wasn't masala chai, it was just BLACK TEA with a little milk. Disappointed to the extent that I would not go back to order anything from the food menu.

We got delivery through Uber Eats, and I can say confidently that it was a tasty meal that came in…read morea time of need! My food was delicious--I got the vegetarian meal for 1 and garlic naan, my husband got a lamb vindaloo and tandoori naan, and we split an order of samosas. The meals managed to stay in their containers (which may be a first for me on Indian food delivery), so that itself is noteworthy. But the food was delicious, too! I was especially impressed by how creamy my paneer saag was. The samosas were each a generous size, crispy and flavourful. I ordered my entree with a Mild spiciness level, which was perfect for me. However, the vindaloo did not have an option for spiciness, and it ended up too hot even for my husband.

I came here to try the $9.99 Dosa special which I found out had been discontinued in April and…read moretheir new patio mini dosa promotion wasn't running due to the rain. Nonetheless, I was determined to try some dosa! I went for the Masala Dosa ($12.99) which came with a thick potato masala filling alongside three sauces (coriander, yogurt and tomato) and a sambar (small lentil stew). When I first got the dish, I assumed the sambar was the potato masala and thought it remarkably light and soupy for one. However once I got to the middle of the dosa, I realized that was the sambar and not the filling . Having the filling definitely made it extra hearty, so for next time, I would opt for a plain dosa without any filling since they all come with sauces + sambar. The dosa was thin and crispy and I loved dipping it into the sauces provided. Out of the three, my favourite was the coriander which had an earthy herby feel. The yogurt sauce was a bit on the thinner side for my liking though I liked the cardamom seeds. The tomato one oddly tasted somewhat like a smokey bbq sauce which didn't stand out to me. Overall, being quite close to Tunney's Pasture and having very reasonable portion sizes with good flavours, I would recommend this spot especially as a place that specializes in dosa. I also appreciated how the chai ($3.99) came unsweetened so I could sweeten it to my own liking. Pro tip: bring cash for 15% off!

TLDR: Delicious and huge dosa. Biryani had good flavouring but was served room temperature :/ We…read moredidn't get sick though, but would have preferred piping hot rice. Dosa King just opened up (end of September 2023) in the space that was the Soca Kitchen. They have so many types of dosa!! My husband and I had dinner there. We got a Chicken Masal Dosa ($12.49) and a Chicken 65 Biryani ($11.99) to share. The dosa was huge, although it's only filled at the centre, the ends are empty, lol. It was delicious! As was the spiced potatoes and curry chicken filling. It came with "Chutneys and Sambar." I would describe them as a vegetable soup, a coconut puree and a vegetable lentil puree. These were interesting, especially the coconut chutney, as it's not a flavour I'm used to. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the dosa and would order it again. As for the Chicken 65 Biryani, the Chicken 65 was delicious. It was seasoned tender pieces of chicken. They were hot (exothermic hot, not spicy hot). The rice though was room temperature! Were we given leftovers? I don't know. The flavour was delicious though. Well spiced and seasoned. It even had bonus chunks of chicken in it (not Chicken 65, but chicken biryani chicken, haha). We were super hungry so we ate it, but then afterwards I was nervous that we'd get sick, but fortunately we didn't. Hurray! I have mixed feelings about the Biryani because I enjoyed the taste, but I'm hesitant to order it again because I want fresh food and not food that's been sitting around at room temperature. The Biryani came with Raita, a hard boiled egg (which was also room temperature) and raw red onions. We ate outside at the tables in front of the restaurant, but we did go inside briefly to be seated outside when we arrived, and we saw that they have lots of indoor seating and it looked nice. The outside tables are covered by a wooden awning. Service was very polite and courteous. Although we were only given forks and spoons. No knives, so we had to "cut" the dosa with the side of a spoon, haha. We could have asked for a knife, but since we were the only people on the patio, the server did not come out often and we decided to be resourceful with the spoon instead of going inside to ask for a knife, lol. I will definitely return for more dosa. The place is called Dosa King, afterall, haha. This place would have been 5 stars if the Biryani was served hot. Minus one star for the room temperature rice. The dosa was a solid 5 stars. Prices are amazing! Like 2019 prices, which while only 4 years ago, we know how prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. Street parking only.

I tried the Karara chain for the first time in 2011 (it was the Barrhaven location) and I was not…read moreimpressed. Everything was too salty and the portions were stingy so I avoided the chain. Twelve years later, in 2023, I saw that they were on UberEats under 2 names, Karara, and "Biryani by Box." The latter listed some buy one get one free (BOGO) specials. Y'all know I love the BOGOs, lol. They had Chicken 65 Biryani. I love Chicken 65 so decided to give them another chance. Besides, they opened a location in Westboro, not far from my house, so I could easily walk there for the pick up. Thankfully, the food wasn't too salty this time, but the taste was only satisfactory, in my opinion, and I found the advertising a bit misleading. The Chicken 65 Biryani ($23.98) was listed as coming with a salad, raita and dessert. Well, the dessert was half a piece of Gulab Jamun. Really?!? Not even one full piece? And the salad was a sprinkling of lettuce and cucumbers on the Biryani, look at my pictures. The raita was runny, like water and didn't have any vegetables in it. It was just watered-down spiced yogurt. I did like that you can select what type of Biryani you want and they had several types (among them Hyderabadi, which is what I got, Lucknowi, and Thalassery). You can also choose the spice level. I got medium and I would say it was on the milder side of medium, but that's ok, once you know a restaurant's spice scale you can order accordingly. The Biryani itself had good flavour and the rice was soft and fluffy. The Chicken 65 was a bit disappointing though. The batter was rather mushy. It kind of tasted like warmed up leftovers to me. Each portion came with a hard boiled egg. With the BOGO special the price was acceptable to me, but had I paid $23.98 for only one portion, I would have been unhappy. The time from order to ready for pickup was quick, and service was efficient. It's kind of slim pickings for Indian food in Westboro. And maybe some of their other items are better. Your mileage may vary. As for me, maybe I'll try them again in another 12 years.

Disappointed. Made a reservation online, but didn't receive…read morea confirmation. Called an hour before the reserved time, and was told "no problem, we got it, please come". We arrived on time, and were met with a confused look as we were told that there was no reservation for us. We got seated anyway, with food and drink menus. Wanted a mocktail to start, but then we were told that they aren't offering drinks tonight because they're too busy. What?!? Then WHY give me a drink menu? Placed our food order. Onion baji, lamb kabob, tandoori chicken, okra curry, and naan. Everything came out very quickly, and was luke warm. It all tasted watered down, which makes me think it wasn't fresh, and made the night before, and reheated for the rush. The naan was good. Ambiance was nice, but not nice enough to make us want to return.

Delicious ! We went for dinner at this restaurant which was a new experience for us. We took a…read moreserving of butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, lamb saag and the Masakali grand platter. Do note that we were 3 good eaters but we ended up with a lot of leftovers. The portions are quite generous as well. Everything was to our taste although the lamb dish was too spicy for us and the grand platter was not grand enough to justify its price. The dishes do not come with rice or naan so you need to place an order for those if you want them as accompaniment. The service was pretty good and so was the ambiance. The restaurant was also surprisingly big and very originally decorated. Overall very good experience and I would gladly come by again.

TL;DR/The Short Version: Cute little Indian restaurant in a…read moreconverted house. Sells Pan Indian food including Indo-Chinese fusion. The Chilli Chicken is delicious and has a serious spicy kick to it. The Long Version: Taara opened up in October 2024 in the space that used to be Ahaar. They've redone the space and it has this unusual outer space vibe to it, lol. One wall is painted to look like outer space the other wall has neon lights. I got takeout for my husband and I. They had a buy one get one free special on UberEats $16.99 for a Chili Chicken bowl. I later found out that the in-restaurant price is $9.99 each. So I only saved $3, lol. I ordered for pickup and staff were pleasant. The Chilli Chicken was flavourful but a bit oily and there was more breading/batter than chicken. The chicken had a good amount of fire to it. I would say not for those who can't handle spice, lol. There were a few pieces of onions and bell peppers mixed in with the chicken. I chose Biryani rice (the options were white rice, jeera rice or several naan options) and the rice was good. Soft and fluffy and also full of flavour. It looked like they have a small buffet of about 4 dishes, 2 soups, some papadam, raita, chutney and Gulab jamun. Not sure what the cost of the buffet is. They have a small patio out front, which I imagine will be open during warmer months. Not the best view at Churchill and Carling though, lol. They have a few parking spots out front and to the side of the restaurant, but it looked to me like you'd have to back out onto Churchill, a fairly busy street around dinnertime, near an intersection (Carling), so I just parked on a side street instead. (213)

Great place to dine-in. They cover items from all around India. Weekend breakfast buffet is must tryread more

Chai Talks recently (in the first half of 2023) opened up where 911 Pizza used to be. It's on the…read moremain floor of the Parkdale Medical Tower. TLDR: Good Indian street food and chai. Environmentally friendly packaging. Service is good. Butter Chicken Poutine has no actual chicken pieces though. The first time I was there, I was getting some fasting blood work done in the building and after 14 hours of not eating, I was ready for some food, lol. I was thrilled to see that they were having a BOGO special on UberEats. I had to take advantage of it, haha. They had a small pick your own flavour chai for $3.75 BOGO and Cheese Bread Pakora for $5.45 BOGO, so this is what I got. For the chai, you can select up to 3 flavours. I chose ginger, cinnamon and "Karak Chai." I didn't really know what the last option was, but it was described as "a strong tea" and I like my tea flavours potent, lol. Overall, the chai was very good. The tea flavour was pronounced, and it was creamy. I did request "less sugar than usual" and specified "half the usual amount or less" in the comments, and the sweetness level was perfect for me. I appreciated that they paid attention to my request. The small size is rather small though. I had never had Cheese Bread Pakora before. The version I got at Chai Talks I would describe as a Panko-like-crusted deep-fried grilled cheese sandwich. Not sure how this compares to other versions. I was actually expecting a chickpea flour batter. Nonetheless, it was tasty. Very crunchy, with subtle Indian spices. I liked it. It was a great deal with the Buy One Get One Free special. I guess the Cheese Bread Pakora usually comes with some sort of dipping sauce, because they wrote me a note that they didn't have any sauce, so they were giving me ketchup instead, and I got 4 ketchup packets. I ended up not using the ketchup as it was fine on its own, although I'm interested to see what sauce they normally provide with the Cheese Bread Pakora. On my second visit, I got a Cutlet Chaat ($9.95) and a Butter Chicken Poutine ($7.95) for my husband and I to share as a snack. I requested no cilantro toppings since my husband hates cilantro. I'm not a huge fan, but I can tolerate it. I was happy to see that my order did not have cilantro sprinkled on top :) The Cutlet Chaat had several pieces of vegetable cutlets and chickpeas in it. It had a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds, and tiny sev pieces. It was also topped with yogurt, a green sauce and a brown tamarind sauce. There were these red strips in it too, which I'm not sure what they were (beets?) but they tasted good, lol. The entire dish was good, actually. Very flavourful. It did lack the crunchiness, I usually associate with chaat though. The Butter Chicken Poutine was ok, but it didn't have any chicken in it. It was just fries, cheese curds and the sauce you typically find in butter chicken dishes. There weren't any pieces of chicken in it :( The flavour was good, but I was disappointed that there was no chicken. Also the portion was a bit small, in my opinion. I would have liked a bit more fries. I do love that they use compostable wooden cutlery and paper boxes. There are several tables to eat in and the ambiance is casual. The decor is a bit more fun than I would expect from a medical building eatery. The printing on the tables is very cute. Service was courteous. Chai bars and Indian Street food restaurants have been popping up a lot in Ottawa in recent months. I love options so I welcome them all. I saw that they have muffins and cookies too, if you're looking for more North American snacks. There's a paid parking lot behind the medical building, or you can park on the street for free. Street parking nearby is hard to find though. On my first visit, I parked several blocks away, got exercise and saved money, win-win, lol. On my second visit, my husband and I walked there. It was a bit of a hike, but we love going for long walks, getting takeout and then eating it in a park, which is exactly what we did.

Cute little business at the bottom of office buildings, great place to stop by if you are at a…read moredoctors appointment, doing bloodwork, or work in this building. Its more of a pick up and go spot although there are some tables to eat food The item people love are right in the name of the store, CHAI. They have lovely chai tea that you can choose your own spices and type of milk and they warm it up and make it custom for you.

Great food. Nice service. Atmosphere is ok. Fancy tableware but in other ways interior seems…read morekind of basic. I think their food is better than Thali across the street, but the atmosphere at Thali is more inviting. Really good variety of dishes. We started with the soups; we had three different ones, all were delicious. Really good curries, biryani, and veg thali as well. One small note of caution is we came here one evening and they were out of thalis and out of some other dishes. Came back for lunch and no problems.

Amazing Indian food. Real Indian dishes, flavourful, pure and fairly priced. Thanksread more