Ottawa Foodies

1

Tried the Merivale location for the first time this past weekend (early Mar 2013).

Very enjoyable and will return.

Wait time for the order was about 20min. There were two people ahead of me and a steady stream of phone orders.

Had the onion bhajis - excellent version, very tasty with lots of crispy outside but still tender insider. 5 to an order, good size, not the little one-bite ones some places do.

Veggie Samosa - possibly the best i've had in the city, these were two monster-sized samosas. The pastry was tasty, not too thick. The filling was like something i'd expect an Indian grandmother to make and i mean that in the best way possible. Seriously these were a treat.

Mango chutney and tamarind sauce included without having to ask.

For the main event we dared to deviate from our standard butter chicken or a vindaloo and tried the ginger chicken, which was a nice surprise. Just the right level of ginger, tasty sauce, good amount of white meat cubes. As an aside, the menu proudly states they only use white chicken - i appreciate that.

Okra were chopped into smal moresels with a generous mix of onions and some tomato and excellent seasoning. Terrific version of this dish.

A 'mustard leaves/rapini' dish had an interesting buttery/sour taste i wasn't quite sure of initially but enjoyed. Not certain i would order it again but just finding a veg dish i hadn't seen before on an Indian menu, i was pleased to try it.

Rice palau was standard and tasty.
Naan (plain) was HUGE and tasted just out of the oven.

All that was $45. Portions were ample, easily had dinner for two with lunches the next day.

Will be back, will send others.

1

I have had killer food from Karara, but I have also had not so killer food from karara. A note on the saltiness. Indian food is 90% stew. If it is overly salty, it's an indication that it has been sitting and reducing all day.

You got old food that night folks. Indian food without a high turnover is often greasy and salty.

Try coconut Lagoon on St. Laurent for killer, fresh South Indian Food. Karara is north indian.

2

Zegerman - We ordered from the Merivale location a couple of weeks ago and had the exact same issue w/ way too much salt being used and I have a very high tolerance for salt. We ended up consuming less than half the food ordered and actually throwing out the leftovers as we did not feel very well after our initial consumption.

1

I have tried the Barrhaven location twice in the last couple of months.

Online ordering is very easy and convenient.

Saag Beef
Lamb Korma
Baingan Bhartha
Lamb Vindaloo

I found all the dishes I tried a little bit too salty and I do like my salt. I would say their food is decent but I have had much better.

Good lunch - 2 curry lunch for $7.95 includes salad and rice. Get a fresh full sized naan bread for an extra $1. I find their food a bit too salty for my taste, but not big deal.

PS: 2 freshly fried samosas for $1.50 including sauce (didn't have this for lunch, but I hope Shaan will see this)

I ordered from them tonight. The food was phenomenal but the cashier was rude.

6

The oddest thing happened when I ordered some food to be delivered from the Merivale location this afternoon.

The bill for butter chicken with rice, aloo chat papri, garlic naan and a mango lassi came to a very reasonable $32. I gave the driver $40 and asked for $5 back. He said he didn't have $5 in change and would go downstairs (I live in an apt building) and get it from his car.

Well, 40 minutes later, he never came back, so I guess I'm forced to assume he just walked off with an $8 tip. When I called the restaurant to ask about it, they told me I would have to call back later to speak to "the boss." When I asked them to just call the driver for me and ask when he was going to come back, they asked me if he wore a turban and when I said yes, they said the guy WAS the boss! They said they would call me back but never did.

I don't know why a restaurant owner would do such a thing?! It's not about the $5 but about the fact that he just walked away with it so blatantly. The food itself is all right - but I just have such a bad taste from such actions, I won't ever order from them again!

Continued to work my way through the menu at Karara Merivale last night and I have a couple of further recommendations. The tandoori shrimp were amazing, served with chunks of pepper and onion and a spicy green condiment. Vegetable Biryani was complex and flavorful, with lots of fresh veggies none of which were overcooked. Garlic butter Naan was also good, but I still prefer the coconut version. Looking forward to the leftover Butter chicken and samosas for lunch today.

Went to the Marivale location the other day.

I had a butter chicken, chunna masala, rice and naan, and it clocked in at around 14 ish after tax.

The food is very good north indian style. But just a word of caution - the "take out" descriptor is misleading, cause it took like 15 minutes to prepare my food - and I was in a hurry. They assured me it would be quick. No biggy, just a word of caution.

The channa was really good, more pungent then tomato/sweet flavoured - but it was fantastic.

The butter chicken was rich and beautiful. Real Naan too.

If your in a hurry, go to Shaan Curry house, it's way faster. Shaan's food is simpler, and a tad cheeper, but their styles are different and they are both quite good. Shaan doesn't have real naan though...

I will certainly return to Karara.