Sip 'N' Dine — Restaurant in Halifax

I visited this restaurant on the evening of July 15. From the outside, it looks inviting, but the interior is cramped, and the atmosphere feels a bit off—almost cringeworthy. The staff greeted us warmly, but we were asked to wait for a table. Frustratingly, as soon as a table opened up, they gave it to someone who arrived after us. After we pointed this out, they quickly cleaned another table and seated us. Our server only appeared to take our order and deliver the food, and we had to go to the front counter to pay.

Now, let’s talk about the food and drinks.

We ordered three main dishes: Malai Kofta (sugar balls in sugar gravy), Kadhai Paneer (cottage cheese in sugar syrup), and Daal Makhni (stale lentils). Each dish arrived garnished with long, thread-like strings that left us wondering if they were edible or just decoration.

The Malai Kofta was a letdown. The so-called “kofta” was sweet balls stuffed with raisins, drowned in an overly sweet gravy with barely a trace of Indian spices or salt. No coriander, no ginger—nothing remotely Indian. The accompanying naan was dry and tasteless.

The Kadhai Paneer was essentially the same sweet gravy used in the Malai Kofta, with some cottage cheese and a few extra ingredients thrown in to make it vaguely resemble Kadhai Paneer. Honestly, it was gross—an insult to Indian cuisine.

The Daal Makhni was no better. It tasted like canned lentils from a supermarket, with a hint of tadka (vegetables and spices cooked in butter) that was far from authentic. It was overly sweet, missing the rich, spicy essence that defines a true Daal Makhni.

For drinks, we ordered a salty yogurt drink (Lassi), which arrived in weirdly tall, super slim cylindrical glasses. It was a complete disappointment—no salt at all, and it barely had any yogurt in it. What’s the point of a salty lassi if there’s no salt and it’s watered down with hardly any yogurt?

It’s like this place has a grudge against salt and spices altogether. And to top it all off, I spent $90 on this fake Indian food—absolutely not worth it.

Honestly, this restaurant needs to step up or shut down. The food and drinks served here are a disservice to Indian cuisine. Please hire a skilled chef who understands the basics of Indian cooking—a proper blend of spices and tadka is essential, and this place clearly misses the mark. Those mysterious threads in the food? They need to go, too.

If you’re not familiar with Indian food, trust me, it’s so much better than what’s served here. This place doesn’t come close to capturing its flavors.

If you still want to give it a try, go ahead, but I’m willing to bet you’ll agree with me afterward. Drop a like on this review if you do—because I’m just stating the facts.

Replying to Owner’s Response-

Your response denies that your food tastes bad and that it’s nothing like authentic Indian food. You also claim I didn’t visit your restaurant. I’m attaching my bank transaction record as proof. I didn’t take a receipt because I never planned to write a review. Since this is now public, I visited with a friend around 9:30–10:00 PM. Check your cameras and the amount I paid. We sat at the first table on the left upon entering. My friend couldn’t stomach the food and waited in the car while I tried to eat some, as I was a hungry man. Your food may look Indian, but it tastes nothing like real Indian cuisine. Accept criticism and work on your dishes. Rather than doing regular Flip Flop Drama here in comment section.

Currently, your food looks Indian but lacks any authentic Indian flavor, Period.

Second Edit-

How can anybody bully you when you have been bullying every critic on here. Just stating the facts- check every criticism that you received and the way you offensively responded.

But here I’ll show maturity and close up this conversation. You better open up YouTube and start from...

AVOID THIS PLACE – Worst Dining Experience Ever!

If I could give zero star, I would. My experience at Sip ‘N’ Dine in Halifax was absolutely terrible. The food was cold, tasteless, and ridiculously low in quantity—a complete rip-off. We ordered Hakka noodles, Lakhnavi paneer, garlic naan, and veg biryani. The noodles were served cold, so we complained, expecting the main course to be better. But guess what? They served that cold too! It was as if they just didn’t care.

The staff was extremely rude and unprofessional—instead of fixing their mistakes, they acted as if we were the problem. On top of that, basic hygiene was missing. The water glasses were dirty, which was disgusting.

This place is an absolute disaster. Horrible food, rude staff, and unhygienic conditions. Save your money and go anywhere else!

Reply to Owner , Dear Owner,

Wow! What an eye-opening experience it has been to witness the sheer arrogance, incompetence, and dishonesty of your establishment. We sincerely appreciate the masterclass you have provided in how NOT to run a restaurant—from serving cold, low-quality food to delivering rude, dismissive service and then lying through your teeth in a public response. Truly, a performance worthy of admiration! Since you seem to struggle with the basic concept of customer service, let’s refresh your memory: 1️⃣ We ordered Hakka noodles as a starter, and it came stone cold. We did NOT ask for a replacement—we simply requested that the next dishes be served hot. 2️⃣ We then ordered Chef’s Special Momos, which were also cold. Your server, instead of fixing the issue, gaslit us and lied about them being "straight from the oven." Fun fact: steamed or fried dumplings don’t turn ice-cold in five minutes unless something is seriously wrong with your kitchen. 3️⃣ Out of the 8 momos, we ate 6 while waiting for a resolution. The server took the remaining 2 momos to the kitchen and never returned them—yet somehow, we were still charged the full price for food we never received.When we politely asked for either our missing 2 momos or a resolution, your staff suddenly decided that they had been thrown away and that we had to pay extra for new ones. Now, instead of owning up to your failures, you decided to double down on your own version of reality, falsely accusing us of: 🔹 "Enjoying almost an entire meal, claiming dissatisfaction, and getting free food." — False. We paid for everything and asked food that we paid. 🔹 "Walking away with a takeaway souvenir." — Hilarious! The only thing we walked away with was a bill for food we paid and a stomach full of disappointment. 🔹 "Strategic dining" and "maximizing value while minimizing payment." — If calling out your failure to serve properly cooked food and expecting what we paid for is a strategy, then congratulations—you’re officially afraid of basic consumer rights.

Since you’ve decided to publicly defame and accuse a paying customer of fraudulent behaviour and took free food , I can file this complaints to ✅ Consumer Protection Canada ✅ The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ✅ The Canadian Food Inspection Agency(CFIA)

Now, I’m not here to file complaints or waste my time on a failing restaurant. But maybe—just maybe—you should spend less time writing petty, sarcastic responses and more time learning how to run a decent business and taking criticism/feedback as well.

Your restaurant is a shining example of how to lose customers faster than you can reheat cold food. Keep this up, and the only “training” you’ll need is how to close a...

We were shocked to find a small stone in the curry: not something you expect in any meal.

They did apologize, but it was quite disappointing, especially since my wife is pregnant.

The chef should be more careful to ensure food is hygienic and safe.

Edit: I can clearly tell the difference between a hard stone and dry spices — this was definitely not a spice. We had planned to take the half leftover curry home, but due to hygiene concerns, we couldn’t. So, we requested a replacement to ensure we received what we paid for. Please be more careful moving forward.

Edit2- The staff did not inform me not to pay the full amount. In fact, I told them we were ready to pay in full—our only concern was about taking home the leftover curry, which was unhygienic. I explained that we had ordered two curries, and usually take any leftovers home. However, since one of the curries had a stone in it, I asked if it could be replaced with a fresh one. They agreed to this. Despite that, we were still charged the full amount. Just to clarify, we weren’t asking for extra food nor getting anything free—we only wanted to take home the portion we pay for. Staff did not mention anything about it being dry spices— they acknowledged it was a stone, and it truly was. I was lucky to avoid injury by spitting it out in the washroom...