Punjabi By Nature — Restaurant in Oakville

Located in a small strip mall just west of Trafalgar along Dundas St. W. in Oakville, Punjabi By Nature offers a a good selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian Indian dishes that are reasonably priced. Additionally, they have a very good selection of sweets which are meticulously presented in a long display case that seems to automatically draw your attention as soon as you enter the restaurant. Unlike most establishments that primarily aim to provide in-house dining with an option for take-out, Punjabi By Nature appears to be geared more toward Take-Out with an option to dine-in. As you enter the restaurant, there are big blue overhead digital menus behind the cash desk and hot food area to make the order process fairly easy and straight forward. The dining part of the restaurant is fairly spacious, and consists of average size booths and open table seating that could easily be configured to accommodate large parties. Tables available for two guests appear to be too small and would likely detract from the level of comfort experienced as food and beverages arrive and are placed on the table. Aesthetically, the dining area of the restaurant is tastefully appointed with Indian themed decor that is not over the top, yet is enough to add some warmth and charm to the overall dining experience. Wait times for food will vary with the type of food ordered. Tandoori dishes normally take some time to prepare so it is quite normal for wait times of ten to twenty minutes. Food that is already available at the hot table will more than likely be served fairly quickly after placing an order. Overall, the taste and quality of the food selected was in the range okay to good. The Eggplant Bhartha was fairly decent but lacked the tartness normally experienced in other Indian restaurants. The Tandoori Chicken Leg was almost okay for grilled chicken but definitely missed the mark on achieving that robust, tart, and spicy Tandoori flavour you would expect if you were a fan of meat and fish dishes prepared in the traditional Tandoori style. On the positive, the Tandoori chicken leg was moist and tender and fresh tasting. Customer service seemed to be okay but a bit lacking. Staff appear to posess a "Down to Business" attitude with little room for being helpful or exchanging niceties. This is not to say that the level of customer service experienced was not good, just that a warmer, friendlier attitude would go along way with respect to earning a customers continued patronage well into the future. Overall, the restaurant appears to be very clean, has a good selection of hot vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items, displays a decent selection of sweets, and the taste and quality of their food items appears to be fairly decent. However, the food items selected on this visit miss the mark on possessing the robustness of flavour experienced at other Indian...

I recently visited Punjabi by Nature in Oakville, an Indian restaurant specializing in North Indian cuisine, hoping to experience an authentic and flavorful meal. My experience, however, left much to be desired.

The ambiance of the restaurant was welcoming at first glance. It had a clean and well-maintained space, which gave a positive first impression. However, the small size of the table we were assigned immediately became an issue. There was hardly any room to place our food comfortably, with dishes and cutlery precariously balanced on the edge of the table. This cramped setting detracted from our overall dining experience, as it became difficult to enjoy the meal when items kept falling off due to the lack of space.

For the meal, I ordered the vegetarian thali and their house special kulcha. The vegetarian thali included two vegetable curries, one curry dish, raita, salad, dessert, naan or roti, and rice, while the special kulcha dish came with raita, chutney, and chana. I was hoping for a hearty and flavorful North Indian spread, but what I got was average at best.

The vegetarian thali was a mixed bag. The dal makhani was a major disappointment—it lacked depth and flavor, tasting almost bland, which is surprising for a dish that typically bursts with richness. The paneer kadhai was slightly better, though still underwhelming. It was decent in terms of texture, but it was missing basic seasoning, leaving it somewhat flat. The standout in the thali was the malai kofta, which was flavorful and well-prepared, far superior to the other dishes on the plate. The naan was soft and fresh, but it wasn’t enough to elevate the rest of the meal.

The house special kulcha, advertised as a signature item, didn’t live up to its promise. It was not soft as I had hoped but rather flaky, and the accompanying chana had too much garam masala, which overwhelmed the dish and masked other flavors. Despite the restaurant's emphasis on this being a specialty dish, I didn’t find anything remarkable about it.

The one bright spot in the meal was the gulab jamun served with the thali. It was warm, sweet, and delicious—a classic Indian dessert done right. However, this one dish wasn’t enough to redeem the rest of the meal.

The service was decent but not exceptional. The staff were polite, and the restaurant itself was clean and tidy, which is always appreciated. However, the lackluster food and the uncomfortable seating arrangement overshadowed these positives.

Overall, I would rate Punjabi by Nature a 2.5 out of 5. The food was average, and there was nothing about the meal that would entice me to return. While the restaurant’s cleanliness and decent service were commendable, the underwhelming flavors and poor table arrangement made it an experience I wouldn’t want to repeat. I left without a single dish that I would crave...

Update: The reason I am not deleting my old comments is so that readers can gauge the change I am talking about. Normally I don’t change ratings so soon as someone may be having a bad day (sometimes me and sometimes the other person) but this has been 5-6 times in a row now. The quality of the food has gone down significantly. As much as we liked the sweets and variety here, the trend of the quality has been downwards. While initially the milk cakes would stay good for 3-4 days, now it becomes hard in about a day. The dine in food quality has come down as well and the food has started causing sour burpish feelings. The other day I went to get roti packed and was told 10 minutes… I returned after 10 minutes and patiently waited for 15 more but never got it. We went to a nearby restaurant and they served the entire meal in 15 minutes. Lastly today we got samosas for home and guess what… the potatoes were lacey (not sure what the word is for that) but the first bite indicated that they are not just old but going bad! As much as I hate to bring down a review from 5 to 1 star, I had no other option. I will for sure not visit this place in the near future till some other reviews give me a very good reason to do so!!

Old review 2 months before the update: We were very excited to try out this restaurant since we saw it a couple of times driving by. We were greeted with big smiles from the very helpful staff and seated. We were so glad to see Chole bhature on the menu as it is a family favourite and my son had his favourite paneer butter masala. We also ordered an Amritsari Kulcha with chana. The star of the show was the chana bhature even though other items were good. What however stood out was the smiling and helpful staff and the nice plates/cutlery food was served in. The portions were also very generous. Jagdeep was very very helpful and no amount of stress of diners pouring in impacted her smile and politeness. On our way out, we also checked out the sweets section and the variety was very good. So if you stay in Oakville, a must for diners to check out and a...