Spice Kitchen — Restaurant in Abbotsford

I used to come here all the time, because they had the best butter chicken in town! This particular experience was the absolute WORST!!!! I called to place my order over the phone, as I used to always do…. it took me almost 15 minutes to try and explain what I wanted! So after talking to 2 or 3 different people I had to talk to a couple different people, I was FINALLY able to get my order communicated! (I kept getting different answers to my questions, and got really frustrated, because they didn't understand what I was saying. I had explained that I could NOT have gluten or sugar, and they said "no problem." I had ordered a butter chicken and got a gluten free roti with it for an dditional $0.99. When I was asked for my name over the phone, I said, "Charlotte, like Charlotte's Web." (Which I thought was obvious) "Can you spell that please?" she replied, so I spelled it out nice and slow for her..... When I was given my "receipt", which was just a note with what I ordered, it had my name on the bottom that read, "Charloppe". "What does that say?" I asked. And she said, "Oh she wrote your name down." The gluten free roti was hard as a rock, and didn't taste like roti AT ALL! Also, the butter chicken was unusually sweet. I had called back the restaurant to ask if there was any sugar in this dish, and she said no. So I asked what sweetener was used, and once again, had to talk to 2 different people, before the chef finally came to the phone. After pratically arguing with me that there was "no sugar", I asked him to read me the ingredients of the tomatoes and tomato paste they use; I had to repeat myself MULTIPLE times, before he finally read me the ingredients on BOTH. "Contains sugar," he said. Um..... if a customer tells you they CAN NOT have sugar, don't you think maybe you should know the ingredients before you make it? Thank God I'm not anaphalactic, or I'd be in the ER right now, and filing a lawsuit!!! I don't know if people are just getting lazier and more careless, or if they are truly that ignorant?! I did end up eating the [sweet] butter chicken I ordered, because it was my dinner. Unfortunately, I am getting quite ill! (Maybe from the sugar that I said I couldnt have? 🤷🏽‍♀️) I was also given a FORK to eat butter chicken. (Which was more like sauce with a few chicken pieces-can I please have some chicken with my sauce???) If you ate soup, would you use a fork for it? 🤔😡🙄

This place went from the best in town, to the worst! I'll order elsewhere...

Response to Owner: The video camera that you are referencing in your reply below and saying that the tea was brought to our table in 12 minutes, obviously you have the wrong table/customers. No tea was brought to our table, we had to go to the buffet to get the tea when it was finally put out after asking the "server" a number of times.

As an avid foodie who makes Indian food at home and someone who has had many positive experiences at Indian restaurants in the past,( including yours, prior to Covid) I would not consider my palate delicate 🙂

Also, if you read my comment correctly, it says there was 26 items including the condiments, not 30 + as advertised on FB! My point being there are lots of condiments and not the 30+ items you advertised!!!

Thank you for the clarification on the items you put in the buffet.

A suggestion, if I may, instead of getting defensive, pointing fingers and "labelling" your customers, it's a better business practice to validate your customers concerns, take ownership/accountability and try to rectify the situation. With this approach, you have a higher chance of a customer coming back and giving your restaurant another chance. As we all know, anyone can make a mistake, as we are only human. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou

Original Review: Went to the lunch buffet on Friday and it was horrible. We use to go to it prior to Covid and it was fabulous. First, the number of items advertised on their Facebook page is 30+ but actually there were only 26 items of which 1/2 were condiments such as chutneys, ketchup, pickled achar. The butter chicken was really sweet, and tasted like Campbell's tomato soup with strong Cardamom taste. The shahi paneer also had a strong cardamom taste too. The chana masala was way too salty. The veggie pakora were rock hard. The kheera was really sweet. Chai tea, even though it's a part of the buffet, was only available 40 minutes after we were seated and already done our meal. There was no tandoori chicken, or gulab jamun as they promote in their Facebook buffet video. Overall the buffet was a huge disappointment. Please don't waste your...

This was a first time for me and my boyfriend. We've never ordered at an Indian restaurant before (always someone else with us who knew what they wanted) and so it was a little intimidating. The staff was so understanding! Our waitress walked us through the different dishes and made suggestions (and while we were thinking our options over, we had the BEST beef samosas ever). What I love is that the staff supported each other. When our original waitress was tied up with something, the other girl came over to take our order (and made her own suggestions too). So we had lots of help deciding what to order. And that's just ordering. Did I mention the samosas? Because they were SO GOOD. In the end, we ordered a big appetizer plates (with Tendoori prawns!) and two main dishes, rice, and naan bread. Everything was so delicious. The ambiance was serene: traditional music with a few TVs around for a more current touch. The boyfriend appreciated the water fountains, I liked the scroll handles by the washrooms (it's the little things). The whole place was very clean, thoughtfully put together, and welcoming. Admittedly, the food took a little longer than expected to arrive, but I'm hardly going to dock points considering how tasty it was. If the chef is going to take a few minutes more to serve something that good? I'll wait another 10 minutes gladly. The main dishes came in small metal bowls, but still, couldn't finish even half of it in the end. In case you're judging, those bowls are bigger than those "gravy boats" other places serve up. Definitely will be coming back again. And this time, I'll be leaving room...