Padmanadi Vegan Eatery — Restaurant in Calgary

Honestly, this is a bit of a loaded review so take this with a bit of salt as I explain why I would actually review the food a bit lower. To vegan readers, please understand that this is my take as an Indonesian/Chinese guy who tries all cuisines but grew up in a household where both food cultures were the norm as I grew up and McDonald's and Harvey's was a rare treat until near adulthood.

As stated, i'm part Indonesian (mother is from Palembang in south Sumatra), and I've tried their take (Edmonton location) on satay and rendang and it was decent even when allowing for vegan "meat" like seitan. I admittedly wasn't wowed (id say 3 out of 5), but was curious enough to see what else they offered and saw their Sept buffet day as a chance to try more.

Now before I get into the food more, Indonesia has a sizable Chinese population, so there's a lot of Cantonese cuisine that's part of the culture. But Indonesia was also a Dutch colony that celebrates the native dishes from this incredibly complex set of islands of 100+ million people. Still, when I'm going to a place that advertises itself as an Indonesian eatery, I really didn't expect what was essentially a Cantonese Chinese buffet with western desserts and only 2 Indonesian dishes that I could tell (I think it was Deng Deng or fried beef jerky or was it Empal and the Curry chicken).

Ok, history and cultural lesson done, the food was better prepared than the average Chinese buffet as it was all made in small batches, but no gado gado or rendang? Nasi goreng or pempek? Fried rice of any sort? Peanut sauce? Indonesian people like their spice and heat, but the only spicy dish was a diced potato dish? And cupcakes? Rice pudding? Pannacotta? These were the desserts, but Indonesia has a rich heritage of desserts like the heavenly Spekkoek. Now while I wasn't expecting that cake (it's super labour intensive to make and uses a ton of butter so it would be difficult to make a vegan version), I would have expected Indonesian dessert standards like condol or kueh lapis beras. So as an Indonesian buffet, I'll give it at best 2 stars out of 5.

But it's the food quality that matters in the end obviously, and I'll go to 3 stars here stating it was OK, not great or legendary but OK. I would say thar since all of the dishes are made in small batches, the overall quality is better than most buffets in the city. Being vegan. It tends to be sweeter as the lack of flavour boost from added fats results in added sugar to compensate. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of seitan as it has the texture of flat tofu sheets, so the flavour then comes from really sweet sauces. Again, I'm still puzzled by the general lack of heat in almost all the dishes or anything needing peanut sauce (very common in the cuisine). Still, as the small batch prepared quality was better than the average buffet and nothing was way off flavour profile wise, I'd give the quality as food (not Indonesian food) a 3.25.

Service and the atmosphere was fine, good overall. Price as it was a special event and that I'm admittedly not in tune with vegan ingredients costs and such was a touch high, but not prohibitive.

So, and I can hear some readers already wanting to criticize me for this, if you're looking for a vegan Asian buffet offering, the monthly buffet is probably a rare monthly treat worth going to. If you're looking for Indonesian food, I'd personally choose another place (there's really only 1.5 places left with one Mon-Fri breakfast-lunch resto near Columbia College and a food kiosk at the Crossroads Market) with actual meat but it's worth trying the a la carte at Padmanadi at least once but...

My family has been a fan of Padmanadi in Edmonton ever since we discovered it. Each time we go to Edmonton, we always make it a point to visit the downtown location. When we heard Padmanadi was coming to Calgary, we were ecstatic.

Fast forward to the grand opening, the food was not as good as we had hoped. That was to be expected at grand opening as they likely were working out the kinks. Food quality/taste got better, but only marginally. Over the the last 5 times we tried it, it was not great; okay at best (okay being 3 out of 5 for food quality). It was never at the level it is in the downtown Edmonton location.

After several months, my family gave it another try. That was today, July 14, 2024. After today's experience, I can confidently say that we will not be patronizing the Calgary location again; not unless if there are great improvements. It was around 4:45pm that we arrived. Firstly, my cup of water had a floaty thing in it. Second, my bowl that was brought after we ordered food had large food crusted stains on it. When the food came, it was truly the worst experience of the 6 times we've been there.

Roti Canai curry was like watered down curry.

Tempeh Pulau had inconsistent cook on the green beans. Some were raw. Consuming raw green beans is bad. You can look that up if you'd like.

Tom Yum soup lacked any depth of flavour.

Bakmi Goreng was sweet. That's it. No other flavour to it.

The service was the best part of the experience. The waitress we had was good.

Hopefully the owners will see this and not take this as a "complainer" and take it as an opportunity for improvement. You need to hear the bad, not only the good. I only write this because I do hope that my family can return one day as we do love Padmanadi...just not the Calgary location...

I regularly vist padmanadi. But

i dont like the way they arrange tables during buffet..they had tables in front of the front door and in front of the restroom. where people stand behind you and watch and wait.

Even when you ask a different table. the person alloted the table, i think his name is "Adam"won't give you one. I was asking him why? the restaurant was empty and why i have to sit in this table and He also made some rude comment like you came late and thatsy.. I said I will wait and he said i cant give you the table you want even if you wait till 7.30pm. but he was able to give table to people who didnt even have a reservation. He is really rude.He claims he is the owner of the restaurant. But usually padmanadi staffs are really polite and good. This guy was so rude

he also said that if i dont come on time to the reservation, the third time the system will block me..i am like dude this is not needed now!! are you my dad or what! this is a restaurant and not a lecture hall! dont create big scene. If it blocks i will create a new email ID..coming to the restaurant is for the stress releif and not to study rocket science..it was raining on that day how could you expect people to come on time.

If he is the owner it is not necessarily he has to roam and boss everyone..if you dont get a customer !there is no business for you! he just screwed up my mood for the whole day..why are you ppl existing actually.if you're really pissed off and dont want to be welcoming just shut the door and play with your cat!! I am not gonna come to padmanadi...