Indian Ocean Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

2024 Edit: prices have increased substantially and portions are smaller. Also certain dishes are not edible anymore such as the pakoras and paneer pakoras which are usually so dry and overcooked you can’t physically eat them. Still enjoy the food for the most part but wish they didn’t bait and switch on prices.

Awesome service, excellent prices and unbelievable food. This place has it all. We did the dinner for 2 with some modifications. First we were served water and offered some choices for wine and beer that are not yet listed on their menu. Vegetable pakoras and samosas were a great starter. Also started with paneer tikka (tandoori) which was delightful, served with pickled onions. For the main, we had the mango chicken and butter paneer with saffron rice and garlic naan. Asked for medium spice levels and it was PERFECT. A decent heat level without blowing your tastebuds off. The mango chicken was recommended and we are so glad we did it. So good!! New fave for sure. The naan was very very good as well. Rice was great although not quite as large of a serving as we are accustomed to. For dessert we had the gulab jamun with ice cream and it was super delightful. Best I’ve ever had. All the food was served at the perfect temperature, the portion sizes were generous and selection awesome. Quality at all levels and best of all, not overpriced. Would love to see a physical drink menu (they only had it online and it’s not updated with their full selections) and can’t wait for the buffet to return. Would also like to see some better dinner lighting in the restaurant and maybe some ice in the water but that’s being nit picky in comparison to the service and tastiness we received. Our waiter Jyoti nailed everything; even small requests were honoured immediately even though the place was busy and she was the only server. Not only will we be back, this is our new neighbourhood go-to! Glad to support a local family...

Zero customer service. Ordered food last night on August 4th, '23 through Skip the dishes. 4 garlic naans that were paid for & ordered were missing. When we called back, the person on the phone said, sorry there's no one who can deliver the naan right now. If you want, you can come over and get it by yourself. Rest of the food was decent but I don't know how they are surviving with such customer service. They can definitely do better. Pathetic is what I felt for the service.

Update: August 6, 2023.

I got a reply from the owner!

"Hi Pratik, thank you for your feedback you called us after our closing time demanding someone deliver your "missing" breads at night; 10:20pm. At that time all of our staff had left and we were cleaning up if your delivery was in the area we would have gladly done it but it was well over 20mins away. That's why we asked if you could come pick it up we would have gladly provided the breads and if not we gave you the option to give you the breads in the morning. We also told you, you could have received your refund from skip the dishes but you didn't want to and demanded that we refund you which we have no control over. Thank you for your review we were not gonna risk the well being of our staff that late at night to do a delivery for your selfish request when they also have a home and family to be with."

Well here's a thing. Instead of using air quotes on the word missing and being passive aggressive with a customer, how about you set up some ground rules for the delivery options for the wellbeing of your staff AND your customers? Not accepting any delivery order before an hour of closing. Instead of asking us to get the naans next morning, how about arranging the delivery ? Skip the dishes can only deliver what has been kept in the boxes. How about having some sense of accountability? Nonetheless, it's all for nothing as I know, I will be...

Our family just had a wonderful meal here to celebrate my mother's birthday. Indian Ocean is a relatively new restaurant; when we first arrived, we were surprised to see that Tandoori Palace (the previous restaurant at the same location) had been replaced. I'm glad that we gave Indian Ocean a chance, though, because it's definitely an improvement over what was already one of our favorite places to eat.

They've redone the paint and upholstry in some really lovely shades of blue, and the music was nice and quiet so as to not interfere with conversations. The new menus are simple and easy to read and offer lots of variety, including a short list at the back of their most popular dishes. We ordered butter chicken, paneer, aloo gobi, and lamb biryani. All four dishes tasted really fresh and were perfectly seasoned. We all agreed that the food was more enjoyable than Tandoori Palace's buffet (which was already very good in its own right). Plus, we got to take the leftovers home and the prices were very reasonable - especially for post-pandemic dining.

Our waitress was very friendly and attentive, and knew the menu and the kitchen well. I got the impression that everyone there was really invested in making great food and providing a positive dining experience. I suspect we'll probably...