Indraprastha - Markham — Restaurant in Markham

I recently dined at Indraprastha in Markham for the first time and unfortunately, it was a disappointing experience. We ordered the Chicken Dum Biryani, which was the special of the day and chicken 65. Surprisingly, the food arrived at our table within five minutes—this raised concerns about its freshness, and unfortunately, the taste confirmed those doubts.

The biryani lacked flavor and depth—it felt like eating plain rice with pieces of chicken rather than a well-cooked dum biryani. The Chicken 65 also didn’t meet expectations and overall, the meal tasted like it had been prepared well in advance.

What puzzled me was how the restaurant had so many positive reviews, until I noticed staff prompting guests to leave one before leaving. While I appreciate good customer service and found the ambience pleasant, the quality and freshness of the food really need improvement. I truly hope they work on this, as the place has potential.

Editing this review after the owner’s reply!

Thank you for your reply. I’m genuinely surprised by the defensive tone, especially as someone who rarely leaves negative reviews. My review was based solely on my personal experience during my first visit, and I had no intention of being "malicious" or misleading.

When food is served within five minutes of ordering, it’s natural to question its freshness — especially for a dish like Chicken Dum Biryani, which is traditionally slow-cooked. I didn’t claim to know your kitchen operations — I simply shared how the food tasted and felt to me as a paying customer. Unfortunately, both the biryani and the Chicken 65 lacked flavor and did not seem fresh. That was my honest impression, not an accusation.

In addition to the food, I had also ordered a drink that my friend ended up trying. He didn’t like it either, as it didn’t taste anything like what we expected based on its original version. After spending nearly $70 on food and drinks that didn’t meet even basic expectations, I think it's fair to say I left disappointed.

As for the review prompt, yes — a staff member did come to our table at the end of our visit and politely asked us to leave a review. I didn’t say this was inappropriate, just that it helped me understand why there might be so many reviews. That was an observation, not a personal attack.

I also acknowledged that the service and ambience were both nice. But when the main reason for dining out — the food — doesn’t deliver, it significantly impacts the experience. A one-star review might seem harsh, but it reflected my honest disappointment after that visit.

Instead of questioning a customer's intent, I would encourage a more open and constructive approach. Feedback comes from real people who chose to spend their time and money at your restaurant — and like your team showed through their hospitality, a little respect goes a long way. I truly hope my experience was just an exception, and that others continue to have...

UPDATE: great food and great service. Glad we came back a second time after some issues the first time (see below) after we mentioned our son had a nut allergy. Food took a little while to arrive but once it did we were extremely pleased. No issue with allergies this time. Will recommend to others.

Prior review: We were looking forward to dinner here as my wife and 2 kids love Indian food (as do I). They did a great job with the renovation, the interior is nice and the menu looks great.

Unfortunately we were unable to try the food. I am unsure if there was some miscommunication going on but upon advising the staff that our son has a nut allergy, we were told by 4 different servers that they would be unable to serve our son because they use the same spoons for different sauces and so were concerned re cross-contamination. First of all, we have had a lot of experience with restaurants and nut allergies and know that there is always a chance of cross-contamination whenever any kitchen uses nuts for some dishes. Second, we have found success throughout the world in dealing with restaurants who have nuts on the premises to ask what dishes do not have nuts in them as ingredients and we then order those dishes while also asking the staff to ask the kitchen to plate the meal away from nuts if possible. We tried to convey this to the staff but were more or less told that they wouldn’t serve my son at all (save for some rice) for fear of getting sued.

I am unsure this is a reasonable way to run a restaurant. I also would have thought that any liability they may be worried about can be addressed via a note on the menu or in making clear to us (as they did) that they can’t guarantee no cross-contamination.

Overall, it was disappointing that the restaurant was unwilling to even try to find a way to serve someone with a nut allergy. Most of all, it was disappointing that they were unwilling to give us the info we asked for (re ingredients) and therefore did not allow us to make an informed choice as to what was ok for our son. We appreciate that sometimes some restaurants are off limits (because they use peanut oil for example) but in not telling us about the ingredients they removed that choice from us by simply refusing to serve him anything beyond rice. Note, he loves Indian food and has had no issues in the past with a number of different dishes at other Indian restaurants.

One final note: allergy concerns or not, I would recommend that anyone working in any kitchen always clean and wash any spoons or other utensils to ensure that part of a korma sauce does not make it into a...

I want to share the horrible experience when i visited this restaurant on Apr 26, 2025 for lunch buffet with my family. When I checked in, I was asked to pay in advance for buffet and I paid $64.95 for the family of 4 before even eating the food. After paying the, the hostess gave me 4 plates, I was surprised to see that., and i asked her why she giving me plate before even i was seated. She said i have to use the plate for buffet. I felt that's very unhygienic practice, i refused to reuse the plate that as i showed the person who introduced him as his owner friend, how people are touching serving utensils on leftover plates when they go for refill. there two guys from the restaurant talking to me, and one of them was honest to tell me that they don't have enough plates that's why they are reusing the plates. I even showed them that even the one server that was helping in the buffet section as also touching the serving utensil on the left over plate to which he was serving.

I decided that i cannot eat food at a place where the proper hygiene is not kept, as i was walking out, i met the owner and i expressed my concern to him and he was very calm, but he didn't agree to me which is ok, its his restaurant and he decide how to run it. But when i started talking to the owner, one of the guys that i was talking before started raising his voice and started coming to right to my face asking me to leave the restaurant, to which i said, i will leave the restaurant as long as they refund the money that i paid, because i didn't eat any food from the restaurant, which this owners "FRIEND" refused to oblige. I took the video of this incident as a proof and safety of my family as this so called "FRIEND" ( someone mentioned that he is the franchise owner) was getting very aggressive with me, also i needed a proof why i didn't want use their service. They insisted that I delete the video. When they saw that i have a proof of how unhygienic their process is, they said they will not refund me unless i delete the video. I refused to delete the video and left the restaurant with no refund.

While leaving the restaurant the owner accompanied us out and promised me that he will refund the amount. But he never did till date.

I have been to this restaurant many times before, in fact a week before i was there and the people were nice and friendly. But i guess when the business is good they don't care about repeat customers / customer...