Palais d'Ajit — Restaurant in Montreal

I used to really enjoy Palais d'Ajit. It's a decent Indian restaurant with a wide variety of savoury dishes to choose from, so getting bored of the menu is nearly impossible. Yet I have mixed feelings about the place.

Although the wait can be very long when eating in, takeout meals are usually ready in under 10 minutes. That's a big plus if you're in a hurry (or just really hungry), but a little worrisome since you're not paying for fast food. Is everything premade and then reheated? I doubt they even give their food time to marinate, as their meat can sometimes taste bland and overcooked.

A big downside of the restaurant is that they're not very good at customizing orders to meet dietary restrictions. Most of their vegetarian dishes have cheese or cream, and you can't order butter chicken sauce with vegetables instead of chicken, for example. I tried explaining how substitution works to three of their staff members once, but they just didn't get it. The concept was completely alien to them. Vegans and lactose-intolerant people can't really eat here.

Another downside (which is common to many indian restaurants) is that you can't order a meal with meat, vegetables, rice and naan (for example) as one plate at a fixed price. You have to order every dish separately, and each meat or vegetable dish costs what you'd expect to pay for the price of a full meal with sides. At least include free rice when someone orders a bowl of veggies or meat!

A year ago, I used to order meals here weekly. Back then, their prices were borderline expensive. Now, they've increased their prices, and they're no longer affordable for regular dining, so I only go there once every few months. Other local eateries in Verdun have much better...

I love Indian food. And I adore this place! (Actually, the whole family, including the kids did.) I've tried it in different places in Montreal. It has been my favorite restaurant for 15 years. It is a family place and the food here is stable and perfect.

Some dishes are not spicy enough because they adopted it for Canada, and some are quite spicy (not maybe like in India, and not spicy enough for me, but spicy.) Better to read. They write on the menu if spicy every dish is.

I try to give you some ideas and describe what I like most. But I need to say that everything I've tried in Palais d'Ajit is absolutely delicious.

Garlic naan - best ever. Not spicy. Hot, fresh, yummy.

Lamb Soup (all soups, actually are perfect). Spicy. 3-4 of 6.

Vegetable Samosa is delicious, better than samosa with meat. They give you 2 mouthwatering souses with it: something like yogurt with greens and another one - sweet-sour-plum. Not spicy or a bit spicy, maybe 1 of 6.

Chichen tandoori - chicken legs, delicious, not spicy 1-2 of 6.

Baigan Bhartha - eggplant puree, a bit spicy, 2-3 of 6.

Any rice. Seriously, I need to ask them what kind of rice cooker they use, because even plain white rice transforms into something unbelievable - lacy, light, long grains that are not glued together. My kids always ask to buy rice from Palais, because I never succeed in preparing such rice at home.

And the last thing - the Mango Lassi - is the best sweet dessert for...

The food here is still good but has gone downhill recently. I would only recommend this place for takeout. Nobody came to take our order, despite the fact that I told the woman (actually more of a girl) who seated us that we already knew what we wanted. They just completely ignored us after we sat down. I ended up calling the restaurant, from our table, to order. When they asked me my address, I said, "Table 10, in your restaurant." Then, we waited and waited and waited... for over an hour. Eventually, we got up to leave. Our kids were tired and we'd had enough. Only then, did they actually prepare our order. Being the polite Canadians we were, we paid and left with boxes of takeout. It kind of defeated the whole purpose of eating out for me (no dishes, some convenience). They should consider hiring some professional servers instead of having their kids do the work. I know that there are no evil intentions here, but the place would be much better if it was well organized by people who were qualified to manage a restaurant. It's not easy work, and really, not fair to make your children do it especially since they are busy and could afford to hire...