ottawa foodies

3 months ago, my coworkers and I would order food from here for delivery and have an Indian food party complete with Bollywood music. The food was so delicious, we would crave it often.

This week was the first time I came back to Basmati

I lunched with a coworker and we ordered chicken tikka masala, the saag paneer and mango lassi. Our lunch came with a small bowl of lentil soup and tomato cucumber salad.

Everything was as I remembered it, it was delicious. The saag paneer was very flavorful and according to my coworker, the best saag paneer she has had. I totally agree with her.

I will come back again for the Chana masala as it is one of my favorite dishes here.

Service was friendly and pretty speedy.

The meal was so filling that it was the only meal I had that day.

I've also had problems with the containers not being full on takeout; or just as bad, being full of sauce with a tiny handful of pieces of meat/veg.

I will say they're a great lunch option though; if you eat in, the Thali are a solid way to have several dishes in manageable portions. For takeaway, the bang for buck on the chicken tikka wrap is excellent. Bonus: it's delicious, don't let the pseudo-Indian French dressing and iceberg lettuce put you off.

I've had really irregular food from here. The naan is usually extremely good but the rest of the food (I usually get vindaloo and chana masala) is either delicious or really, really bad.

Take out from Basmati is spotty. The first time we ordered from them a few months back, it was probably the best Indian we had had in Ottawa. The next two times were not as good. The food was average and the containers were not full. I recommended them to friends and they had the same experience. Reluctant to order from them again.

I've written this place off.

I called to place an order and waited over 2hrs, after calling 3 times after the first hour to make sure they had my address and phone info. The owner kept telling me the food had left, yet that would mean it took an hour to drive 10 minutes!!

So... after the long wait I was hoping for tasty reparation... and the food was only edible. The basmati rice was dry, flaky, and the vindaloo was equally dry (but spicy hot!), and the Sag was so-so, only.

Basmati is off my list for customer service and meh food. Looking forward to other indian cuisine in Ottawa!!

Had the onion bhaji which was very good and the beef curry which was very bland, especially compared to the same dish at Indian express. Service was good and portion size was generous. Would probably not go back.

We got take-out from Basmati tonight. Restaurant was empty at about 5pm when we went. Another couple came in right after us, and seemingly disappeared without ordering.

We got the chicken korma, saag paneer, butter chicken, some naan, pickles, rice and beef samosas.

Saag paneer was quite good and satisfied my craving. The butter chicken was far more sauce than chicken, which was disappointing, as it was fairly tasty. Chicken korma was ok, nothing terribly special or tangy about it as I expected. Naan was large and good. And they threw in some pappadams for free, too. I didn't try the pickles.

I don't understand what it is with us and samosas lately, though. These, were so BLAND! And fried and oily. Only beef for the filling, no potatoes or peas or anything.

Having seen the open kitchen now at Basmati, it does make me nervous to go back. And it really didn't feel like a good value at $50 for everything. There were open cans on the counters, and not everything in the service table seemed to be getting chilled or heated. And their deep fryer needs some love, those samosas were SO oily. We'll be trying a different restaurant for Indian next time.

I was craving Indian food so I went and ordered some butter chicken for take-out.
The waiting time was pretty fast (about 10 min), especially considering that there were 3 people waiting before me.

The curry came with rice and salad. I enjoyed the dressing they used for their salad, and the rice was good too.

For only 10$ I had this huge meal, nothing exceptional but still very good, especially for that price.

The only negative thing would be the cleanliness of the kitchen... Hmm... Not too sure about it...

Overall very good, would love to try their poutine next time.

A friend of mine has mourned that "the good Indian place in Belleville" has lost their chef to this restaurant. Which sounds good for Basmati...

Ordered from Basmati the other night. Delivery was fine -- no issues ordering etc. Had 2 Naan ($2/ea.), Chicken Vindaloo, Lamb Madras, Channa Masala, and rice. Total was about $45 with delivery and tax etc.

The naan was very enjoyable as it was warm, soft, and slightly charred on parts. It was also huge. There were only two of us eating and we ended up just splitting one in half and saving the other one.

I only tasted the Chicken Vindaloo. I've never had it before but it was not as spicy as I was expecting, which isn't to say that it wasn't hot but I expected more. It was good though.

The channa masala was ok, but I didn't think it was particularly flavourful. No real complaint, just not a standout. I thought the lamb madras was the standout dish and I would certainly eat it again if I happened to be here and didn't feel like menu-exploring. It had a decent amount of spiciness and a more well-rounded flavour than the other dishes. Meat was tender and the portion was reasonable (I would've preferred one or two more lamb chunks but beggars can't be choosers).

All said, I was in the mood for Indian and I was happy with my meal. I'm no expert but I'm not prepared to write this place off.