Tags: Buffet · Indian · Restaurant · Vanier
Newly opened December 2011. Owner is also co-owner of Light of India in the Glebe. Dishes from all regions of India, using fresh meat, vegetables and homeground spice,organic dhal and no msg or yeast.

Lunch Buffet at Golden India
Lunch Buffet at Golden India
Lunch Buffet at Golden India
Lunch Buffet at Golden India
Golden India
Golden India
Golden India
Foods from Golden India
Comments

2018 May 27
I have been to this place a few times. I have, in the past, had some issues with oversalting and oiliness. But my last few trips have been exceptional with delicious naan, chicken madras, lamb vindaloo, and prawn on Puri. My go to for take out Indian.

2015 Jul 14
I love the food here, especially the chicken madras. I decide to order some dinner but I met a few hiccups. Firstly, they did not have any madras on their menu. Unusual. Very. Not to be deterred, I switched to a Rogan Josh and ordered two other items. I was then told that I had not ordered enough and that I could switch to pick up. The total at that point was $32 including a $4 delivery fee. I then found out that they had a $30 minimum order. Really?!! Not only is that arbitrarily high considering there is a delivery charge, why not include the delivery charge in the $30? I wouldn't think a lot of restaurants would turn down my paltry $32 but they did.

2014 Jan 13
Tried Golden India last night for the first time with a small takeout order to supplement our dinner with family. Because we were in a rush, I called ahead to make sure that a takeout order wouldn't take too long - the friendly lady on the phone asked me what I would be ordering and told me that it shouldn't take longer than 15-20 mins. That sealed the deal, our drive over to pick it up would take approximately the same time.

When we arrived, the restaurant was empty, which is a shame for a Sunday night, and our food was waiting for us by the cash register. The service was very nice and the gentleman behind the counter told us that they had included a little complimentary dessert!

Now for the food! We ordered the butter chicken, which was very tasty, but a little on the sweeter side. The lamb bhoona was the highlight; the sauce was rich and thick, with just enough spiciness to make you sweat a little. The lamb was tender and plentiful and accented with a few tomatoes. The portions looked small when we unpacked them, but in the end, were perfect and completely satisfactory with our naan. My eyes are always greedier than my stomach :)

All that to say, we'll be thinking about going back and recommending the place to others for sure! It's just that the location is so inconvenient for us; they did mention that they could deliver to our area with an order minimum so we'll definitely be considering that!

2014 Jan 11
We've ordered from here (delivery) about 8 times now, so time for a review.

Firstly, if you like Light of India (LoI) in the Glebe, then you'll like Golden India (GI) since the dishes are almost identical. It's been a while since I've been to LoI, but my recollection is that the dishes at GI are less oily and slightly less spicy. The main reason I order from the latter is that they offer online ordering and delivery.

The food has been very consistent on each order. We've only had the chicken curries but the meat has always been very tender and tasty.

One dish that I always order is the Begun Bhurta. I don't know what they do to make those eggplants so delicious & smokey but it's like crack cocaine to me. I've tried to re-create it myself and tried it at other places, but the recipe at LoI / GI wins me over every time. If I were in a position where I had to make a last meal request, this Begun Bhurta would be on it.

We've never eaten in the restaurant, so can't comment on that. The delivery takes a while, they usually say 60 mins, but it's closer to 80mins on average. So if you are hungry and then think "I fancy some Indian" you'll be climbing the walls by the time it is delivered. Now that I'm calibrated to their timing, it's no biggie, I just order early or before I leave work.

One odd thing about the online ordering, you can do it two different ways, and they aren't identical. You can do it via just-eat.ca (which is what I've always done) or you can order directly on the restaurant website. They have different delivery fees and minimum order $ for delivery. Just-eat seems the better option in my opinion, and they sometimes have an offer on, like tonight, 20% off orders over $50, which is pretty good. Portion sizes are reasonable, I find a $50 order is easily enough for 2 people for 2 nights, sometimes even a bit left over for me to take for lunch to work.

Also, just like LoI, you get a 'free gift' of a side order of poppadums and a rice pudding ;)


2013 Feb 27
I had a chance to try out this wonderful restaurant over the Christmas holidays for dinner due to a Groupon coupon they offered.

Their beef sag ghost was absolutely amazing. The meat was very very tender.

The vindaloo in my opinion was at the edge of being too spicy to enjoy but still very tasty in small amounts :)

Begun Bharta is hard to mess up. They did not disappoint.

A very nice family run restaurant. I would not hesitate to go back.

2012 Apr 23
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present my pick for best Indian food in Ottawa!. Stumbled across this gem yesterday with some buddies! I have mentioned before that good Indian is hard to find in Ottawa, and I stand by that. But wow, Golden India destroyed all my preconceived opinions about Ottawa Indian. Golden India is a small restaurant in Vanier that opened up a few months ago. Admittedly it is in an unfortunate location in a weird strip mall. Despite this handicap, this restaurant does Indian food very well.

The restaurant is brand spanking new, very clean, and the staff was very humble and accommodating. Bathrooms were also very clean! The service was friendly and fast and they were more then happy to entertain substitutions. The restaurant was unfortunately empty, with just us and another couple dining that evening. The food we got was very fresh, tasty, nuanced and just damn authentic. Usually I’m weary of Indian places which don’t have a high turnover – mainly because Indian food is mostly based on stews, which need a long time to cook. Passage to India on Rideau – as an example of an Indian restaurant with “no” customers - would rather serve their empty restaurant old food, then prepare stuff fresh. (in my experience at least) This was not the case for Golden India!!!!!!

The table was dressed with papadums when we arrived. They were great! (oh and we didn’t have to pay for them – I always find it insulting when Indian places charge extra for papadums.)

After mulling over the menu for a while, we decided on a combo for 2 and a second combo for 1, to be shared amongst three very hungry people.

The combo for one included: 2 generous curries, 2 samosas, lots of properly cooked basmati rice and chapatti at a modest $16.99. The menu suggested Tarka Dhal and Sag Paneer for the curries. They gladly substituted channa masala instead of the tarka dhal. Similarly, I asked to skip the desert, in favour of some chapatti bread. No problem! But check this; they still brought me desert, which was a modest but appreciated little bowl of fruit – which helped put out the fire in my belly.

2012 Apr 23
The food: Channa Masala: fantastic!!! The sauce was very spicy, yet the delicate tomato flavour came through brilliantly. This is a very good Channa Masala, personally I find it better then Shaan Curry House, Mukut and Little India Café (which all make a decent channa)

The sag paneer: amazing… period. Generous pieces of paneer in a very rich and hearty spinach stew with a beautiful buttery flavour. This restaurant is all about freshness and decent quantity (every spoonful had some cheese on it).

While I enjoyed the samosa, I have certainly had better. It was filled entirely with a curry covered potato mixture. Tasty, yes! But a bit too starchy. I would suggest adding some more spices, some peas, and I think the samosa would improve if they didn’t boil the potatoes for too long. But to be honest, it was still really tasty. Plus they included with our table a wonderful array of sauces and chutneys. They gave us a mint yogurt, a cilantro/tumeric flavoured sauce, and tamarind sauce. Amazing!

The combo for two included: 2 generous curries, tandoor(I think)-lamb platter, kashmiri rice, a generous portion of onion bhaji, lamb kabobs, desert and one fresh, fat and buttery piece of REAL naan @ 36 bucks.

**The Food:** Beef Boona: Absolutely amazing. Very delicate balance of flavours and not too spicy, yet that didn’t take away from the depth of the sauce. Delectable!!!

The lamb kababs were two small disks of mince meat (I think it was lamb) with a side portion of salad and some kind of egg thingy. These were quite tasty, and I would order them again. The kabob was kind of like a breakfast sausage, made with lamb, served at dinner while incorporating eastern flavours. lol

2012 Apr 23
Eggplant Curry: All I can say is that it was very tasty. The generous portion was not oily or ‘old’ looking and it was just bursting with really mature eggplant flavour. My pallet is not developed enough to pick up on the nuanced spices that were dancing on my tongue, but trust me, this dish is a winner.

Lamb Platter: If you like lamb, and you like that quintessential tandorri-esque flavour, then you are in luck. This is some good stuff. The lamb was a tad on the dry side, but that is nothing some amazing mint yoghurt can’t fix.

The bhaji and naan held up the same high standard of quality as the above mentioned dishes.

2012 Apr 23
All in all, this is the best Indian I have yet to experience in Ottawa. Please trek out to vanier and give this place a try. This is a business worth supporting, since the kind, friendly proprietors don’t sacrifice on quality, and yet, the prices have remained modest.

They also have an $11.99 lunch buffet everyday of the week. Upon sharing with the server that our experience was exemplary, she kindly asked me to “tell my friends”. I blame the location for the slow business, but as I said previously, its worth the trip out to Golden India!

I will be returning very often and this will be my new take out spot for all occasions.

5/5 Highly Reccomended!

2012 Jan 9
I recommend the food at Golden India- it certainly has a midas touch!
For dinner I had kashmir chicken - also golden-coloured in its creamy sauce full of sultanas and almonds, and a sag shrimp, which had a nice spicy zing to the fresh spinach sauce. The shrimp were plump and plentiful, and the chicken also was generously portioned. The service was top notch.The free poppadoms before and the mini-fruit slices afterwards were also a nice touch. Reasonable prices and they offer 12% off takeout orders. No liquor licence yet - application is in process.

Older


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2012 May 10
Buffet view 2.

Good variety, typically 'buffet tamed'. Quality around same level as Ahaar.

Two kinds on naan and two rices. More selection, better decor and less crowded than Little India Cafe.

Mango Lassi really good with orange slice and maraschino cherry.

Tandoori chix a bit dry.

Staff are polite and friendly. No up selling like Taj.

I want to return and try a la carte.


2012 May 10
Buffet view 1.

Good variety, typically 'buffet tamed'.

Baiji and samosa good. SHRIMP curry !

Ample vegetarian dishes.


2012 May 10
Desserts (incl Galub Gummin) and salad.

2012 May 10
Pickles, chutney's, raita, sauces, etc.