Ocean Palate Express.Indian and Kerala Cuisine — Restaurant in Hamilton

This is my second time ordering from the restaurant. First time was on a weeknight atleast four (maybe more) months ago. Food was okay then. Cleanliness and organization of this restaurant was still an issue then.

This review though, isn't about the first time. This is about yesterday (on a weekend). Food quality...absolutely rubbish! Chicken curry and chicken kottu parotta gave our entire family digestive issues through the night. Only word to describe after the fact is RAW. The meat was undercooked. I wish I had realized that while eating (and that's on me). I am sure this review comes across as harsh, and I hate leaving a harsh review for a (presumably) family run business. But, the unprofessionalism showed by the front counter employee yesterday was astonishing! They had zero clue about what was available on the menu, gave us false information about the availability of dosa, and took double the time to make our order than initially was told. The front lobby area looked completely unorganized. They had tapes covering prices of the menu items at the counter. Not sure if that is intentional since some restaurants these days have a tendency to change their prices every few months! There were atleast two other people waiting for their orders without any clue as to when it's gonna be ready. The front counter employee made a mango lassi, poured it in a plastic cup, and covered the plastic cup with aluminum foil as a form of packaging. They went to say, "Sorry, our packaging is not great today". Absolutely unacceptable that they haven't been trained to do basic tasks (if those tasks are part of their job). As many have pointed out, for the prices, the quality and quantity of food don't match up.

It's mainly a takeout restaurant, but the cleanliness in the customer waiting area and behind the counter is equally important and they have lacked on both sides.

Unfortunately, I won't be repeating here. Good luck to this...

Even we saw a lot of negative reviews about this restuarant ,still decided to dine at this restaurant. Our group placed orders, but the food took around an hour to arrive, and even then, it was only served to some of us. Two of our orders were particularly delayed (kerala meals), arriving more than an hour after ordering.

Our concern increased when we observed an employee transferring curry dishes for the meals, from containers to microwave ovens near the front counter. After we got the food especially kerala meals, quality of the food reflected our suspicions, as it seemed stale and tasted awful, possibly from the previous day. We didnt ate much due to concerns about food poisoning.

This practice of serving outdated or stale food does not align with proper food handling standards, and it appears that the restaurant may be unaware of basic food service regulations in Canada.

Regrettably, our experience was disappointing, and we have no intention of returning to this restuarant again.

Reply:

Your perception is actually biased and prejudiced, assuming that numerous 5-star ratings or staff members holding food handler certifications guarantee quality food every time.

However, the reality is that the food we were served was clearly stale and old (Kerala Meals).

Similar to the negative reviews I've shared, they reflect the unfortunate experiences other customers, including ourselves, have faced. Nevertheless, these reviews don't have anything to do with us, as each customer's experience and feedback differ.

I took your response seriously (even if it may have been insincere), and if you genuinely regret the inconvenience we experienced during our recent restaurant visit and believe you've taken appropriate measures to address it, then that's commendable...

Hi, Please take this as constructive criticism. To begin with, I was really excited to find a South Indian store around me as wife and I are fond of dosas and who makes a dosa better than Indians from south. So out of sheer excitement, we ordered a masala dosa and an egg masala dosa. Went to the store and found out that prices have been raised than what’s on the website. It was disappointing as I was not ready to pay $35 for take out of 2 dosas. Anyway, I told myself that if the food is good then I’ll be okay. Waited for my order while looking at the menu on the wall which doesn’t reflect correct prices. They don’t have a take out menu with correct prices but just a hard copy menu that you can get when you are in the store. Anyway, after 7-10 minutes, my dosas were ready. I collected them and noticed there is no coconut chutney. I asked and was told they don’t have a coconut chutney. Who serves dosa without coconut chutney is beyond me especially at the prices you are charging? All I got offered was sambhar and some beet chutney that I have never got with a dosa. I had a feeling it’s all downhill from there. Reached home and looked at dosas. It was a plain dosa and boiled potatoes with turmeric, mustard seeds and curry leaves just plopped on top of dosa. No paste inside dosa, no other flavours, nothing else. It was like eating plain dosa with boiled potatoes. I’m sorry to say but it’s the worst dosa I had in recent memory. You can’t charge such price and give such a dosa. Extremely disappointing for a South Indian restaurant. The only saving grace was sambhar. I hope you make appropriate changes to make future customers experience better. I will not be returning to...