Zauq Mississauga - Halal Pakistani, Indian & Hakka Cuisine — Restaurant in Mississauga

I wish I could give them 5 stars.

We went for dine-in brunch at this location based on the recommendation from a very good friend.

This is one of the best places for meat lovers!!!

The quality of food is really really good!!!

But then why 3 stars?

Here we go -

The location of this restaurant is very good, right on the intersection of 2 major roads. Ample parking space due to the plaza. However, it seems that they do not have regular snow cleaning.

Not sure about handicapped accessible parking since everything was covered with snow but I am really hoping that there should be at least a couple of spaces since it's part of a plaza.

There is NO handicapped accessible entrance and NO handicapped accessible washroom. This is where they lose their 1 star.

However, the ambiance is amazing and the washrooms were very clean and smelled good. Please all the pictures posted and I am sure you would love to go for dine-in. We also like how they had all the cutlery right next to you so that they do not have to worry about asking and we do not have to wait. Just grab what you need.

They had 1 high chair for children so if you have more than 1 kid then it is better to call and confirm before you show up.

The dine-in starts with their salad and 2 sauces. We really liked both of them. Neither too sweet nor too spicy which is perfect!!!

The food was the best part of our experience. We had 1 soup,1 starter, 1 main main course entry and 1 Briyani. All of them amazing!!

The quality of the chicken and paneer was really good. The taste was well blended and not too spicy which we asked for. The Briyani was the star dish since it was not dry at all and the rich flavors just exploded as soon as we ate it!!! The paneer was really good as well. The soup and starter met the expectations. The quantity of all the items was really nice, we brought 2 containers of food home with us. This also justifies their price which may look a bit on the heavy side. The serving time was reasonable neither super quick nor too late.

All in all, the food overall exceeded our expectations and the presentation of all the items was really nice.

Kudos to the chef for the great preparations as well as presentation.

The staff was really nice. They helped us in deciding our order since it was our first time. They were also always available whenever we needed them as well as they kept checking on us if we needed anything.

The only part where we were super disappointed was the way how they added Gratuity in the bill and did not tell. We were very happy so we added tips as well not knowing it was already part of the bill.

This is why they lost the second star, we are not sure if this is now a common practice or if it was a miss from our end. It's been a long time since we had done a dine-in.

They could have skipped the tip option when we were doing the payment since the Gratuity was already a part of the bill or they could have told us that Gratuity is already included so tip accordingly.

Nevertheless, we were very happy and didn't mind paying $70 for $50 food. But we just wanted to share this here so that everyone else is well informed. Copy of the receipt attached...

OG location: Beautiful decor, smashing self-serve idea, plentiful staff, flavorful food.

Updated review for dining experience at their new location:

We went to the all new Zauq - the same management and staff but in a larger unit with an upgraded ambiance and absolutely adorable dishware.

We were happy to see that for once, we wouldn't have to wait in line for a table and were seated immediately. Staff were friendly and welcoming 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 The interior design details are so cute 😍 This place must have been so much fun to put together. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ also to the branding detailing.

Now on to the food:

We ordered chicken lollipops for starters and a BBQ platter and lamb kadhai for mains.

The lollipop was yummy as always. It is one of our favorite starters here, and other than the lack of a schezuan sauce to go with it, we have never had any complaints ⭐️

The BBQ platter was equally good, if not better! I hate to say this but there is a down-side (not sure if this has always been the case as this was our first time ordering a bbq platter): It is served with a significant quantity of naan, which, although absolutely delicious, we found completely unnecessary. For our family, it was a complete waste (take home) because...

The kadhai dishes ALSO come with naan.

So now we had a whole lot of naan and only one semi-gravy. That's a lot of naan/ carbs and no real gravy to eat it with. All delicious nonetheless!

Moving on... We've had the chicken kadhai and khurchan in the past, and we have always fallen in love with those. This time around, we were looking forward to eating red meat. Unfortunately, the lamb kadhai was a complete disappointment. The "meat" was literally 90%-95% bone, and the 5% meat that was there had to be wrangled off the bone. (Not a very pleasant experience!) This dish was a complete letdown. It was also exceptionally oily, so we ended up eating barely a few bites.

All in all, the new decor and attention to detail for the comfort of the customer is well worth applauding. We'd love to give Zauq yet another try once they've ironed out their kinks in the kitchen. (We did ask our server to inform the chef about the kadhai; hopefully, they'll do the necessary.)

We have also catered food from Zauq in the past and have never had any complaints; hopefully the revamping doesn't change the chefs/ recipes.

PS: When you order the BBQ platter, the accompanying raita and 2 chutneys are refilled at a charge of almost $15 every time you request a refill for all three. Something to keep in mind.

2nd Update: the quality of food has gone downhill. Probably never going back. We ordered the BBQ platter, murgh khurchan and chicken lollipop, of which, only the last was decent. The other two were a serious...

We hadn’t come here for a while and we’re pleased to see they have renovated the restaurant. It was extremely busy. HOWEVER… despite how wonderful the food was, paying at the very end was surprising. You don’t pay at the table, you pay at the cashier. Your bill appears on the screen. There is a 10% gratuity added automatically. Thinking this was too small for the server we asked the cashier if that was the tip for our server. He explained that no, this was a mandatory gratuity for the dishwashers that the management has implemented. I’ve never heard of a restaurant doing this, as most servers will give a portion of their tips to kitchen staff generally. This also meant that you now give 15-20% tip to the server PLUS this additional 10%. The manager was not available but the cashier offered me their card to call them tomorrow. I thought this was shallow, because this was never disclosed at all until the end. No signs or literature posted. The cashier told me it was at the back of the menu, and showed me, it was under “drinks” in smaller font. Again, deceiving and not reasonable, especially because I highly doubt that the dishwashers actually see this money as a tip, but rather as their wages. Sadly, this is Very misleading and unethical for a restaurant to do this.

SERVICE: It’s busy, they are short staffed so service is a bit slow. The servers are really nice though and doing their best. Aman was our server and she was great!

FOOD: the food was even better than I remember. It was served hot, fresh and so flavourful. Real authentic food! Everything was cooked to perfection. The naan were the best I’ve had anywhere so far.

PRICE: Reasonably priced and very good menu choices. BEWARE: there is a non disclosed 10% gratuity for “dishwashers” on your bill.

MENU: A huge variety of food ranging from Pakistani, Indian and Asian. Excellent choices available.

WASHROOMS: Semi-clean.. no soap at all available to wash your hands. The washroom is modern but was not serviced. Not sure how the staff wash their hands properly with no soap. Women’s washroom was the same according to my wife.

OVERALL: I would normally highly recommend it here. It’s a great atmosphere and the food is amazing. However, the sneakiness of adding a gratuity at the end is very shady, and leaves me to never return. This place would have been rated better based on the food quality, but they ruined their reputation by being shady.

I recommend making reservations as it...