Aiyara Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Ottawa

To all who read this...DO NOT EAT AT THIS PLACE!!! We read the review on Yelp, Zomato and Google, then checked out their online menu prices which is misleading and outdated. We decided to call and find out if their prices had changed, since it seems to be a common practice by Ottawa restaurants to never update their online prices. When the guy said their dinner size Green Curry Chicken was $16, I was ready to say thanks but no thanks (Because in Toronto and Kingston most regular orders for this dish, as of September 2017, usually cost $10 - $12) and then the guy said oh it's a big order--enough for 2 people and that he'd throw in a big order of rice, which is $2, for free since its our first time ordering. So we decided to give it a go and drove for 25 minutes cautiously optimistic that we would get what we were promised. When we arrived, I decided to open the bag as my spouse was paying. Low and behold the owner had lied!!!! The $16 portion was in a small container which was the equivalency of a small wonton soup size...and he claimed that this was enough for 2 persons. This kind of deceitful practice is disgusting for Ottawa. There should be a law to fine restauranteurs that steal and cheat from patrons. Of course we returned the crappy portion back and demanded our money back. But I think what was most rude was that we hadn't realized the change didn't all fall back on her hand and $0.05 cents was still in my spouse's hand when she handed his bill back to him, so the waitress proceeded to loudly claim (so that those all in the restaurant could hear and assume the worst) that we owed her $0.05 cents...as if we were deliberately trying to steal that pitiful change from her and lol as if that could buy anything in this day and age. IF I COULD, I WOULD RATE THIS PLACE -5!!! No matter how good the food may taste, any restaurant that gives you a wonton soup sized order for this dish and charges $16 is a thief. Why do people in Ottawa allow themselves to be price gouged??? Don't you all realize that you are enabling these restaurant owners to Cheat You!! Anyone who pays for these inflated prices knowingly is simply a dumb Chump!!! I have first hand experience in the restaurant industry. Ottawa does not pay higher prices for groceries and supplies. They are close to the Montreal wholesale distribution centre. Ottawa also does not pay higher rent per square footage, nor do they pay more than the bigger cities for their property taxes/values. BE VOCAL AND HELP STOP THE PRICE GOUGING/PRICE FIXING BY OTTAWA RESTAURANTEURS! Even Vancouver is cheaper...

We ordered about $75 worth of food for takeout (pickup). The order was ready within 30 minutes of calling it in. The portions for the chicken satay were generous, but the chicken was bland on its own and the peanut sauce tasted and smelled like stale peanut oil. The deep-fried shrimp spring rolls were delicious but overpriced for the 4 we received. The mixed veggies in oyster sauce consisted of overcooked, yellowing broccoli with an abundance of steamed white mushrooms and a few slices of carrot; the "sauce" was watered down and bland. The marinated crispy duck with veggies in chef's special sauce was actually just the same mixed veggies in oyster sauce, with small bits of duck jerky in a separate container. We received 6 complimentary spring rolls, which were half the size of your average spring roll and filled mostly with vermicelli. The yellow curry was the best-tasting dish overall, though it was quite sweet. The curry consisted of very thinly sliced strips of chicken and small potato pieces, and came in a 16oz container.

Based on other reviews, this is a place for dining in. I would not...

I am baffled by the positive reviews for this restaurant. The food is NOT Thai. It is Thai 'inspired' at best. The food completely lacked authentic Thai flavouring (though they probably thought they nailed it with the 'amply' flowing sriracha sauce - not). Worse still, the food was very bad quality. The ingredients weren't fresh, it was heavily sauced and oily, no herbs and just poorly executed overall. I had a foreign guest with me who had never tasted Thai food. Having lived in Thailand, and having worked for an excellent Thai restaurant in Toronto, I was delighted to introduce him to Thai cuisine. Hopefully I haven't turned him off it for good. We didn't enjoy our meal at all, and several of us weren't able to finish our dishes. The only reason I felt compelled to write this review was because something very odd / suspicious is happening with the google reviews to this restaurant - they are just waaay too positive for what you get. And the kicker was it was really expensive too, but honestly that's not what bothers...