Om Cuisine of India — Restaurant in Calgary

Summary: Om Cuisine is phenomenal. I whole-heartedly recommend that you give their Southland location a try even if you have another Indian restaurant you typically order from in the SE/SW.

Detailed Review: I’ve ordered take out or delivery from Om Cuisine approx. 8 times since they opened. My most recent order was on May 4, 2023. The May 4th order is photographed and consists of 1x vegetable appetizer platter, 1x vegetable pakora, 1x chicken samosas, and Raita.

For context, I typically order takeout/delivery for 2 to 6 people for staff meetings and dinner parties/events. Indian is a staff favourite so it’s what I order most frequently. I’ve ordered from pretty much every Indian restaurant from 130th Ave SE to Erlton so this review is in comparison to my experiences with their competitors in this area. I typically order appetizers to accompany other dishes. In the past I’ve also ordered their rice, bread, and curry dishes and they are also fabulous.

As you can see from the photo, their quality is superb and their portion sizes are reasonable (generous given the recent shrinkflation that’s plagued 2023). Unlike competitors, they still provide tamarind AND mint chutney with each appetizer order and the amount of chutney is extremely generous. They really pay attention to detail, they even visually separate meat samosas from the vegetarian with the red food dye on the tips which is great when serving larger groups.

While I’ve never dined in, the dining room looks quite nice. It’s well decorated and has always been immaculately clean when I've arrived to pick up my order. Their staff is polite and they leave personalized notes on their takeout bags which is a nice touch.

While I do not wish to bash any of their competitors and won’t name names, I can honestly say Om Cuisine is the only Indian restaurant in the area that hasn’t:

1. reduced their portion sizes (with or without also simultaneously increasing prices); or,

2. suffered a blatant decrease in quality of ingredients or skill of their chefs.

I don’t know who owns Om Cuisine. I have no affiliation with them and am simply taking the time to write a detailed review because they politely ask for online reviews on their takeout bags. This is a small local business that I will happily continue to support and recommend. The dedication to their restaurant and passion for what they do is apparent. I can only imagine how much harder they have to work given the impact of inflation.

If possible, I hope the restaurant considers adding paneer samosas to the menu. I have no doubt that they'd be absolutely fabulous! I know this is a big ask considering the price of ingredients. The only competitor in the area who offered paneer samosas had to take them off their menu and I would purchase them from Om Cuisine without hesitation if they ever...

Tonight I thought; let’s order some Indian food for dinner. I ordered the following menu items as seen in the pictures below. So let’s start with the samosa - that was decent - as samosa should be - it was nice crispy and good tasting. However the other two items were a completely different story. The chicken karahai was NOT chicken karhai .. it was a mix of masalas and curry made with boneless chicken and some green prepper. Chicken karahi is NOT this, it’s just chicken fried in butter with tomatoes, black pepper and salt with sometimes ginger and red peppers added. Nevertheless the taste was simply mediocre at best - too many spices over powered the taste and it wasn’t pleasurable to eat. Moving on; the Chicken Reshmi was just boneless thigh pieces cooked in perhaps some kind of milk power and bland spices. By definition kabaab are supposed to be minced meat and good high quality reshmi kabab are cooked with Ginger, garlic, pepper corn or powder, salt, lemon juice, almonds, cashews, thick curd or hung curd/ greek yogurt and fresh cream - there was no signs of nuts.

So the point is the food is bland, mediocre at best - Om Cusine simply takes advantage of the lack of competition in the desi food market - and sells whatever they can, and since people don’t have better world class options - they will buy...

Recently, I had the pleasure of ordering takeout from Om Cuisine of India, where I ordered a variety of dishes including mango lassi, chicken biryani, chicken fried rice, chilli chicken, and raita.

To be frank, I must say that I have had superior lassi in Calgary, even the mango one. The aftertaste of this particular lassi was slightly tangy or somewhat bitter, but it was hardly noticeable.

Moving on to the food, the chicken biryani was a standout dish for me. The tender chicken and fragrant rice were perfectly seasoned, and the dish was packed with flavor. The chicken fried rice was also enjoyable, with a nice balance of spices and a generous portion of chicken.

Next, the chilli chicken was a spicy and flavorful Indo-Chinese dish that packed a punch. The heat level was just right for me, and I appreciated the crispy texture of the chicken. Finally, the raita was a cooling and refreshing side dish that helped balance out the spice of the other dishes.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality and flavor of the food. The packaging was well done, and my order was ready for pick-up in a timely manner. If you're in the mood for delicious and authentic Indian cuisine, I highly recommend giving this...