ottawa foodies

Okay - I don't like to give really bad reviews to restaurants, because it is hard to judge on only one visit. That being said, since this visit will be my only visit to Bombay Garden, here goes -

Four of us went to Bombay Garden on Friday before going to the movies. I ordered the mango juice and veggie samosas, which I shared with my husband. These were good, I have had better samosas, but I enjoyed them. My friends ordered onion bahji, which tasted and I enjoyed it as well. Their mint/coriander and tamarind sauces tasted nice. This is the end of the goodness of the evening.

Now, the awfulness started when our main dishes arrived. As soon as they were set down at our table I knew something was wrong. I ordered Bombay Garden Special, which is supposed to be a hot chicken curry. My husband ordered Lamb Vindaloo, and my friends got Mattar Paneer and Lamb Rogan josh.

All four dishes looked EXACTLY the same, and being four entirely different dishes, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. They looked and tasted EXACTLY like they had used Prego pasta sauce. I tried all four and all of them tasted the exact same. The sad thing is, I am not even kidding. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever experienced. You could clearly see the oregano bits in the sauce. And as a person who used to eat Prego all the time in University, there was no mistaking the taste. It was astounding. I couldn't even eat my chicken curry (which is a joke; there was no curry flavour at ALL. It was literally chicken cacciatore). The chicken bits were so dry that I couldn't even chew them. I sent the dish back. I am not sure how an Indian restaurant can stay open this long when all of their dishes taste exactly the same and taste nothing like Indian food. At best it was the worst Italian food served over rice I’ve ever had. It was surreal.

When I got up to go pay the bill, I wasn't given an itemized bill, she just said the total to me. I asked if it included the cost of the curry dish and she said it did. I said that I didn't want to pay for it since I didn't eat it and had sent it back. She then proceeded to get mad at me, telling me that she didn't know what was wrong with me, everyone loves that dish. That I must had never had chicken before because it was always dry. It went on and on. I wound up paying for half the dish and left, never ever ever ever to return again.

Stay away.

The Bombay Garden is a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant by the Southway Inn, not too far from South Keys. It is family run, and the service is slow sometimes, but friendly. The decor is almost absent, it's sort of tacky, really, but that doesn't bother me. The price is reasonable.

The dosas here are the house specialty, and for good reason. They are huge and great. The crepe is pleasantly crispy and the potato filling is delicious. Not too spicy, just a little bit of heat to the potatoes. More so if you add some of the chutney you get with them. They also come with a bowl of lentil soup.