Southern Aroma — Restaurant in Markham

Life got ahead of us, we were meaning to do this review about 6 months ago when we had our wedding and reception! Shankar the owner did not disappoint in service or food. I believe a lot of raving reviews were about the taste and authenticity of the food! So I will start with that, Southern Aroma served food for our wedding although vegetarian for a Hindu wedding, his Gardien puff pastries and Chili Gariden Chicken were a tremendous hit! All the guests stated it was like eating meat and it was delightful. Fast forward to the reception that was hosted in King City, Shankar and his team came from afar and provided an exemplary service. We ordered 1 live station, appetizers, 1 live puttu station and a buffet. The presentation and food was raved about by every guest. Not 1 guest complained about the food.

Finally, I wanted to touch on Shankar and his teams' service. I know Southern Aroma's food is the best out there but I would really like to thank Shankar for helping out on the wedding and reception and working with us. My wife is extremely indecisive and we paid for our entire wedding and reception. Shankar was extremely patient with us, provided decent options for us within our budget and was really friendly. He provided the best service as he would have with a bigger budget to people with a smaller budget.

I would highly recommend Shankar and Southern Aroma team for your event, not only because he has the best food to offer, but because of his personality and...

I was disappointed initially but my overall score is 3/5. Seems they mainly cater this cuisine to the Indian/desi demographic regarding its dishes. Biryani was not white/gora friendly very spicy pre mixed, I felt the actual taste of the dum rice and herbs and chicken were overpowered or washed out by the high amount of spice, thus I couldn't finish it. I suggest they create two batches for the non spice customers. The butter chicken or chicken tikka Masala is the same dish and the curry is strangely sweet which put me off because commonly the curry is still salty and flavourful. Now the positive.The mango milkshakes were great and the garlic naan was good as well. Hot towels were provided which is very different to most Indian restaurants.

I would rate 2-3 stars, still has too much of a relaxed family vibe needs more professionalism and attentiveness. Dishes need more focus on taste and catering to Western style without over bearing spice or sugar.

Will change review once I am insured of their direction on how they will improve their establishment.

Last note: interior lighting is very dark so it's hard to read menu even with glasses and the music is very loud for a fine dining experience.

Update January 5th, they have not replied back to my initial review seems like the company does not care. Doesn't look good...

South Indian + Sri Lankan food spot in a dead plaza. Lots of parking because there is nothing else here. Wasn't a huge fan of the restaurant. The portion sizes were really small. Really irked me especially considering the prices per dish. I don't think it's good for groups ... or solo. We ordered one of the shrimp dishes and it had like 5 shrimps at most in a tiny bowl. When the dish was brought to us I legit said "where's the rest of it?!" Hoping there was a second bowl or something to follow. Nothing spectacular in terms of flavor in all the dishes we ordered. I mean to be honest it was hard to judge the flavor when there was barely any food in the dish to judge. Don't order the chicken pakora because what you get is not chicken pakora. I don't know what it was but it definitely wasn't chicken pakora and it definitely wasn't good and wasn't worth the price. All in all, pretty disappointed considering the 4 star rating I saw before going there. Definitely will not be returning.

The staff were very...