BOMBAY KITCHEN FINE INDIAN & HAKKA CHINESE CUISINE — Restaurant in Guelph

What a delightful dining experience! Our party of four was warmly greeted on Friday night and made to feel very welcome. One of the owners, Rajan, welcomed us and a wonderful waitress served us. We were very slow at ordering as we were all chatting, but she was very patient and attentive. We ordered a bottle of red wine to start and ordered an assorted platter as an appetizer. A delicious assortment was delivered to our table. We then ordered chicken tikka masala, a panneer dish, butter chicken, with Bismati rice and garlic naan, The main dishes were delivered in good time by our attentive waitress. All dishes were perfectly prepared and spicy as we had requested. We were given lots of water to drink throughout the meal and made to feel very comfortable for our birthday celebration. It was a holiday, so the restaurant wasn't too busy, but they were preparing lots of take out orders. So were able to stay and relax for a couple of hours and our group was able to have a good visit. The restaurant was clean, bright and quite elegant. For a delicious meal for four including a bottle wine, we were quite happy with the $140 bill, we felt we got our money's worth and had a wonderful time and we did not feel rushed at all, even though our group stayed for some time.

I have also been for the lunch buffet and received similar fine service and made welcome by Rajan. The buffet assortment is very wide and is a great way to try a variety of dishes made by the Bombay Kitchen. The chefs who are also owners, do a magnificent job and are obviously well trained.

I highly recommend Bombay Kitchen for a truly delightful...

I spent $30 on a single curry dish from Bombay Cafe because I fond memories of the previous establishment Spice 11. Overpriced and slow, but Spice 11 used to make a great Dansak.

Then came the waiting. After the first hour, I phone them and the woman who picked up the phone said the meal is ready and she is just waiting for the delivery guy. Fine I guess, Just Eat said that it would take about 50 minutes. Half an hour after the initial phone call, I called back. She told me that she lost track of where the delivery guy is. She said she would phone him and then phone me back (she didn't). Ten minutes after the second call, I get a ring from the lobby door. At a minimum, my food was getting cold for 40 minutes! I did not even get an apology from the driver. He just handed me the food and left. I really wish I did not pay the tip ahead of time.

The curry and rice was luke warm and the garlic naan was soggy because the butter had time to soak in. So after receiving this disappointment in a bag, I had to become the cook and reheat my THIRTY DOLLAR meal. I finally got around to eating it 2 hours after ordering and the food is meh. Did they switch cooks? It used to be fantastic and unique, now I think I could pull this off on my own.

I feel like I was suckered out of 30 bucks. I tried phoning them to tell them my dismay and the phone went unanswered (twice). I just left a message saying that I will never order from them again. As of writing this (50 minutes since the third call) I have not received an apology. I used to preach good things about Spice 11, consider that...

This review is more for myself, I'm on the hunt for the best chili chicken out there, the chili chicken served here not the traditional Asian type that you would find in most places or true haka restaurants, but the owners are nice and it's a long standing business in Guelph that you should support. I'm curious to try their haka noodles next, but the chili chicken is not it. They also don't have any lunch specials, which would be a great way to sample the many items on their menu instead of spending $20 to find out and end up not liking the dish anyway.

The portion size is good, the gravy is super watery and does not really taste good whatsoever. To be honest, they have big chunks of chicken that prefer small chunks of chicken, even though I had it right away, it wasn't crispy, it was not the worst chili chicken I've ever had, but it was nowhere near the expectations I had, especially with the price of the dish.

I'm still open to trying their noodles sometime and leaving the review specifically for those, I'm on the hunt for the best chili chicken and unfortunately when it comes to Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph, there doesn't seem to be...