Moti Mahal Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

Extremely Disappointed – Not Worth the Time or Money

We were initially considering Moti Mahal as a venue for our upcoming office party, so I decided to try it out personally about two weeks ago. I wasn’t planning to leave a review, but the experience left me with such regret that I felt compelled to share.

The food was far below expectations. I ordered Chilli Paneer, which was oddly prepared in curry masala—completely off from the classic dry, tangy version it’s supposed to be. The Chicken Biryani tasted like sticky boiled rice mixed with a sauce and tossed with chicken pieces—completely lacking flavor, texture, or authenticity.

The most disappointing dish was the Daal Makhani (Maharani). It looked old and had a strange taste. When I raised concerns, I was assured it was fresh, but as someone who has worked as a North Indian chef for 8 years, I can confidently say it wasn’t.

What truly sealed the experience as both funny and unprofessional was when the waitress asked us to save our dirty cutlery from the starters to reuse for the main course. That was a new one for me.

The whole experience left me with nothing but guilt over wasting both time and money. We immediately canceled our plan to book the space for our office event and I will not be returning. I would never recommend this place to anyone who genuinely appreciates Indian cuisine.

They might be able to pass their food off to those unfamiliar with authentic Indian flavors, but not to those who know what it's supposed...

I may be the first Indian to review this place and my experience was not at all like the reviews found here. Visiting Calgary for the first time, we wanted to grab high quality Indian food. I ordered the butter chicken because it was highly rated and even had articles written about it. It was the most bland butter chicken I have had in the life. The food was soulless with absolutely no flavors. My wife got the veggie lunch thali and her main entree was also tasteless. I think the food is catered more towards a bland palette. I even asked for extra spicy and the food was still flavorless. I would reccomend to stay away from this restaurant if you are visiting from out of town. Definitely not an Indian restaurant you want to try out. Also didn't appreciate getting melons as dessert with my thali. When was the last time an Indian restaurant severed fruit for dessert. The waiter defintiley forgot to mention the fine print when we ordered the thali. The picture showed gulab jamun. It's safe to say that it will be memorable as a restaurant with the worst butter...

I should have listened to the other reviewers. This place has terrible food.

I walked in and spoke to an employee specifically about wanting authentic Indian/Pakistani food as I had read the bad reviews before me.

He told me that everything on the menu is good. On his recommendation, I ordered the Masala chicken and Moti shahi kebab. The masala chicken was below average and the portion was too small. The Moti shahi kebab was average. I found the garlic naans to be great, something I ordered myself and not on his recommendation. Cheese kulcha was below average.

The dhaniya chutney (green dipping sauce) is so watered down that it disgusts me that they would even serve it to begin with.

I paid $50 for food that I wouldn't eat even if it were free. Tandoori on 14th has way better food. This place is an insult to Indian/Pakistani cuisine and the owners should be ashamed of themselves to be even serving such pathetic food.

If I had to rank this place on the quality and taste of food served, it doesn't even deserve to get the 1 star I'm forced to...