Tara Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Barrie

WARNING: Do not eat here.

Let me preface this by saying the quality of food here (which ranges from good to inedible) depends largely on whether or not the owners (two brothers) happen to be in the establishment at the time you order.

If they're in, you might get decent food. If they're not, expect a downgraded version of their regular menu because, apparently, these two brothers can't be bothered to ensure a certain standard in their establishment if they're not present.

Let me now get into why this second grade, watered-down version of an "Indian restaurant" should be avoided at all costs.

We have on three separate occasions ordered their unsweetened butter chicken (we make it very clear over the phone that we don't want the sugary butter chicken) only to come home after picking up the order and see they've got the order wrong and given us the sweetened version of the dish.

They've even, on one occasion, given our pickup order to wrong people and made my wife wait an additional 30 minutes while they re-made our order.

On each of these occasions, we've not given them a hard time over these issues, allowed them to fix the order as needed and driven back to the location after driving home to pick our order up with no further requests of compensation/credit etc. We understand they're a small business and mistakes happen so have continued to provide them with business to help support local Barrie establishments.

Tonight, on the fourth occurrence of them once again giving us the wrong version of the butter chicken order, I was willing again to drive back to the restaurant (we live across town) to get our food but this time asked for compensation off of one dish because this keeps on occurring and we've wasted time and money without complaint in the past simply trying to retrieve the right dish from the restaurant.

While they (reluctantly) did so (after offering me "rice" as compensation), they began to yell at me, telling me they didn't want my business and to not order from them ever again.

I was already lowering my standards eating at this pitiful place. And while neither brother unfortunately possesses the talent as chefs to compete with new and better Indian restaurants popping up in the area, they proven tonight that they neither have the business acumen, customer service skills, nor the decency as human beings to be considered a choice for us moving forward.

I'd highly urge anyone reading this to not bother gambling their chances at getting a decent meal at an already high price.

There are plenty of other (and much better) Indian restaurants in the area who deserve your business. Avoid this rubbish, nonsense establishment...

From the moment we arrived I knew this would be at very least an authentic cuisine experience as the wonderful scent of exotic spices cooking filled my senses, and my heart with the anticipation of a culinary treat! The light green paintwork and pillars also lends an Asian vibe reminding me of my time spent as an Englishman in Asia many years ago. The second pleasure was the personal welcome from the owner/head chef, "Yar" and family as we were offered a table. Then the beautiful classical artwork encased on the wall to the right and to my left the restaurant's illustrious povedence part of which was having hosted famous rock star Brian Adams among other favourable critiques. I had to pay very close attention to Yar but could gather this was a man dedicated to authenticity, who delighted in the art of food, who has dedicated 40 years to his career as chef, who veritably enthused over his food and who refuses to compromise on ingredients and quality of product. We had struck gold! This was the place for me, and the food matched everything Yar confidently expressed. We had more courses and dishes than we four could finish, each dish was a delight, and adventure in the subtlety of fine Indian cuisine. We requested Yar cook our food mild and found it still very hot for us as we had not indulged in spicy food for some time, I would recommend 'super mild' if you like very mild, if you are up for challenging your pallet, Yar won't disappoint and cooling yoghurt is available and a wonderful accompaniment to any spicy food. Few restaurants will cater to customising your meal as best they can to suit. Regardless of anything else, Yar's healthy cooking style, sourced quality of product and career experience is worth indulging in, every time. A delightful house red wine and genuine Asian brand, award winning, internationally renouned Tiger brand larger beer made for the perfect table friends of the cuisine. I can't say enough about it, it was the best! We've found our second home. If you try TARA but only twice, you simply have to take your friends for Yar's glorious variety, it can be a culinary...

I haven't even tried their food yet. I placed an order at 4:23 pm for it to be delivered at 6pm June 4, 2021. The website used to place the order, provided the option to pay by credit card at the door, and asked if I wanted to provide a tip. I selected to pay at door, and included a tip. The website showed that delivery was $5.00. Once the order was placed, the restaurant called and wanted to be paid by credit card over the phone as they did not accept credit card payment at the door.

The order finally arrived at 6:30 pm. The delivery driver said he had tried to deliver once previously, but the restaurant had provided the wrong address which resulted in the delay. I confirmed with the delivery receipt that the restaurant had recorded the wrong address. He then told me that the receipt did not include the tip. So I had to add a tip to the bill. I understand as the delivery person they are only the middle man in this situation, I don't not blame this person at all. The responsibility is that of the restaurant.

When we opened the order we realized we hadn't received an item we ordered. I figured this was an honest mistake and went to compare the online receipt with the delivered receipt. The math did not add up and they had charged us for the item. They also charged us $8.00 for delivery and not $5.00 as stated on the website. I called and explained what happened and the individual on the phone wanted to argue. He continued to repeat that we were not charged, that the item was not included in the cost, and we received everything we had paid for. He then tried to offer us free dessert for our next order. I said that I would prefer to just receive the missing item instead. He would not stop arguing that we were not charged, and insisted we would have a free dessert on our next order.

This was honestly overall abysmal customer service. Do not order from this restaurant's website, they had the incorrect payment option, the incorrect delivery fee, and didn't add the tip I agreed to pay. I will not order from this...