ottawa foodies

I stopped in for lunch last week and really enjoyed the buffet offerings. Twice. The butter chicken was tasty with a deeper more savoury than sweet taste. The lamb was deep, dark, and delicious goodness. The channa masala had a nice bite and is one of the best that I've had. I also tried a fish curry that was very good, creamy and rich. I sopped it all up with some freshly baked naan that was very good as well. The naan is my only quibble because it is not included in the price of the buffet. It' $2 extra which is fine if you are sharing but too much for one if your colleagues are all enjoying free rice. All in all I really enjoy this buffet.

Ate lunch here a few weeks ago and was very impressed with the lunch buffet. I sampled the following:

-Tandoori chicken (excellent!!)
-Butter chicken (very good)
-Saag paneer (one of the best I've had)
-Vegetable Korma (delicious)
-Pulao rice (very good)
-Chana masala (excellent)
-Beef curry (can't remember what type - very good)
-Veggie samosas and pakoras (fair, dry)

I tend to skip the salads and desserts in these situations, so I can fill up on the good stuff. Everything was fresh, service was excellent, and given the quality, I didn't mind paying an extra $1.50 for naan.

I am a little perplexed by the negative reviews i am reading about this restaurant. I have been here several times over the years and it has never disappointed. It has a great variety of meats and vegetables dishes to choose from in the buffet or à la carte.

The dessert and salad tables have a vast and innovative selection compared to most of the other indian buffet i have been to, in Ottawa or in Montreal.

Really, you should give it a try!

Had dinner here Friday. The decor is absolutely gorgeous and by itself it's ALMOST worth the price of the food... because the *food* sure as hell isn't worth it. Granted, I ate at the buffet - maybe the à la carte selection is better. The buffet food was just so bland that it was almost insulting. The butter chicken had absolutely no flavour whatsoever. I'll give EIC this - the bite-sized samosas were very nice. But they weren't nearly enough to make up for the rest of the selection. I should have gone further down Somerset to Ceylonta.

I have been living nearby for years and last week while on holiday I decided to make a long overdue visit to East India Co. to pick up take-out for dinner. The take-out menu has quite a few choices listed so I decided to order the non-veg dinner for one. I like ordering the combination dinners since they seem to include the restaurant's most popular dishes. I was sad to see butter chicken as the meat option on the dinner for one since my experience with it at other restaurants has been good but not flavourful so was contemplating picking something else from the menu. But I decided to go with it this time and I'm glad I did. The chicken was nicely cooked and there was lots of it. At other restos I get lots of sauce and a little chicken but at East India it was the other way around and it had a slight curry flavour. The mixed veg came in a sauce more akin to a Thai curry sauce - not what I would expect from an Indian dish - but it had a lovely flavour to it. And the basmati rice was cooked perfectly and very tasty. The only complaint I have is that the dish wasn't hot enough in temperature but a few seconds in the microwave did the trick. I look forward to many more trips there to sample the other menu items.

Made a reservation for 7 pm friday evening - we were happy to have made a reservation since the place was packed. But after 10 minutes of every server ignoring us, making eye contact but nothing more, we started to get impatient. We had to initiate conversation with the person preparing take out orders... another 10 minutes later a table opened up and were seated. The server was polite but very rushed.. understood only 2 of 4 beers on tap because he was speaking too fast. We ordered naan bread, and went off to the buffet. There is a good variety of dishes available, as well as condiments and pickles. Overall, the food was OK, but I would say under par compared to other buffets. Compared to à la carte, not even close. Frozen pre-cut vegetables in the korma was a turn off. The shrimp in the shrimp curry were obviously over done. Imitation crab curry? why bother. The fish curry was the best in my opinion. The mini samosas were also good. The drinks took a long time to make it to our table and the naan bread only made it after we were finished eating our first plate. We weren't impressed with the naan either - too thick and underdone because of that. For dessert, the rice pudding was good. The gulab jamons were good but mealy.

Overall, the service wasn't good. The food sub par, the decor great. The reason we'll probably be back is because there aren't many indian restaurants that offer evening buffet.

We joined friends here for cooking class and wine tasting this week. My first time at this restaurant. What a great experience. Charming, enthusiastic, engaged staff. Food was excellent and the seriousness of wine pairings added to experience.

We got a book of recipes demonstrated to take home and also buffet dinner. Great night out.

We'll be back!

I had lunch at East India Company on Friday for the fourth time. Both the food and service have been consistently excellent and I love the decor, which features impressive wooden carvings separating the front and back sections. I've never had trouble getting a table a lunch hour to boot.
The buffet selection is quite nice -- ample but not huge. It includes a salad and dressing section, soup stand, main courses with all the standard favourites and a row of desserts. In the midst of all this are two tandoori ovens where a chef cooks up fresh naan bread, which strangely costs extra (above the buffet price) but is absolutely delicious.
I'm not incredibly knowledgeable regarding Indian cuisine, I just eat what tastes good. However, I can tell you a few of my favourites here: The spinach and cheese dish (sloppy green stuff) is awesome, as are the tandoori and butter chickens -- and I love the curries, especially the lamb. Of course, the onion pekoras are good. But how can you go wrong? I usually load my plate up with a little scoop of everything, and I haven't needed to go for seconds yet. In fact, I've never finished my first plate. It's very filling!
Summary:
Score - B+
It's the only Indian restaurant within a short walking distance from work from which I always leave happy and stuffed. The food and the service is great, but why pay more for naan? That stuff is not optional!

This place is far above any other Indian restaurant in the city. Who are you people that are bashing it!? I have had the opportunity to eat here on many occasions, in fact I ate here with my family just last week. I have always found the food to be consistently flavourful. It is a great selection of top quality items.

Who are you people who think because it's a buffet it should be CHEAPER? You get MORE items, therefore it should be more expensive, which at $18.99 is very reasonable.

The service was good too. And they have a well stocked wine list.

Delicious, you wont be disappointed!

This place seems to continue its steady decline. I have been going to this place probably once or twice a year for the past 5 years. For the last 3 years, I was never keening to go back but somehow always got seduced by the decor into giving it another try. My last visit was two weeks ago and I can tell you that no amount of attractive Ganesha statuaries will get me to go back.

This was by far the worst Indian food I have had in my life (and I was someone that believed that even bad Indian food is better than no Indian food). All the curries tasted bland as if half the allotted spices had been omitted. If the name of the dish had not been announced, I would not have known what I was eating--they all mostly tasted the same. The naan, which is extra and cooked to order, was so undercooked that it could have passed for charred play dough. The staff was well-intentioned and polite but absolutely inept spilling a full glass of water on the table.

The place was near empty and was showing some significant wear and tear which makes me think that they have eroded their customers’ good will. The only consistent plus for this place was the deserts buffet which remians varied and tasty.

Bland, and very toned down in terms of flavor. Shame since I know food from the menu is fairly decent. There is a decent amount of variety but really what is the point if it all tastes like mush. - Ravi Shanghavi, Ottawa

Cooking them in the real tandoor ovens they have on site makes them authentically good.

Used to be good, but tastes watered down now -- not rich and thick like it should be.

I love these samosas because they are small and can be eaten in two bites.