Madras Curry House — Restaurant in Montreal

Truly such a hidden gem!! I happened upon Madras Curry House by chance, but it was one of my favorite meals in Montreal. I arrived in the city pretty late, so most restaurants were already closed; in desperation, I looked up an area where it seemed like a few spots where still open, and just walked into the first place that would let me in...and it happened to Madras. The staff greeted me warmly and shuttled me off to a cozy table in the corner (conveniently located next to an outlet) with a pitcher of water. I was absolutely starving at this point, so everything on the menu looked irresistible, but I eventually settled on the vegetarian thali. It was exactly what I needed - warm, comforting, filling, and so very delicious. The meal came with yellow dal, a vegetarian curry of their choice (it was aloo mutter that night), two assorted veggies, a rice / lentil cracker with sambal, and a heaping mountain of basmati rice. Every single item was cooked to perfection and absolutely packed with flavour.

The service was quite simple and no frills, but friendly. It seemed like the entire restaurant was operated by just the chef / owner and just one employee, so it could take a while to get all your food. I, thankfully, only ordered one item so got everything in a relatively timely manner, but heard a few neighboring tables complaining to the chef / owner that they hadn't received certain items. However, I also overheard those tables raving about how outstanding the food was and the way the chef's style reminded them of their home provinces in India...so there's clearly something that keeps drawing folks back to this wonderful hole-in-the-wall spot time and time again. I just happened to walk in, but Madras was easily one of my favorite meals in Montreal. I can't wait to go back and sample more of their menu,...

The food tasted good however, the 2 star review is primarily because of our experience. We tried Goat curry, Medhu Vada, Sambar vada and Onion chilli cheese utthapam. All of the dishes tasted well now here are the reasons because of which I am giving this restaurant a 2 star review We went to dine-in at around 4 PM and half of the items in their menu were not available. The biggest shocker was that being a South Indian restaurant they did not have regular dosas available (only had rava dosas), neither was Idli available, Utthapam only 1 was available. This was not notified to us while we entered else we would have choose another place for dine in They have serious worker crunch, the lady serving us was telling they are short of employees and needed 3 people atleast. Even after having service delays, no proper employees at the restaurant they charged a 10% service charge for a group of 4. When asked they mentioned that its mandatory, I cross questioned them that where does it show and the showed me a hand written note stuck on a wall which no one would ever notice. I have attached a picture of it as well The faucet in the washroom has water running in opposite taps(the cold water tap when opened runs hot water). To this their solution was to write it in a napkin and stick it.

I would have given a 1 star review but the food was nice so added an additional star. The owners should realize that people come to dine in for an experience as well and not just eat. Complete ZERO in...

This is not the first time I am eating here but this is the first time all items were useless, no taste , too much oil in Poori and the masala for the poori is just potato smashed in salt gravy and its not fresh either, I returned the Poori immediately I tasted 2 bites . Service girl was smiling and saying oh you didn’t like it ok ok. $13 for that , apart from that I ordered from Todays special menu list. Other item was Kalakki it was just a salty egg there is nothing else. Bit of black pepper sprinkled on top , no taste at all , no onions or green chilies in it. I ordered a plate of Idli, it was so sour the idli, I think the batter is too old. Coconut chutney wasn’t fresh it was already went bad. I ordered for chilli bajji, it was very very oily and the chilli is not good, the seeds were all black. I don’t know why but it was Friday evening and I faced this much , only the chicken Briyani was ok not like other days but when compared to all other items it was ok. There is only one tiny leg piece in the Briyani. Money waste and also I went to eat South Indian and came back very disappointed. There wasn’t too many customers one 1 when I went and 2,3 came after but she served us the last , even the Kalakki she didn’t give it first. Have to wait, others ordered after us and got the food before us. It’s my very bad...