Ayini Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

We were very excited when Ayini opened in Barrhaven as we enjoy South Indian food, which is especially hard to find in this part of Ottawa. We have been customers since they opened, and kept making allowances for growing pains, but our most recent ordered has been our last. Their customer service is non-existent -- they clearly do not value their customers (and we were regulars), they are hopelessly disorganized, and the quality of their food has plummeted. We placed an order on Friday through their website (a great improvement over trying to make a phone order, as they never got the order straight). It was confirmed, and my husband drove from Manotick to pick it up. I had placed an order for 4 people worth $89. When he got home, he received food for only 3 people, and yet had paid the full amount. We phoned them to tell them they didn't give us the order we had paid for. I expected an apology and for them to attempt to fix it. Instead, he only took my name and number and said someone would call back. No one ever called back. We called two more times. At first, they suggested we could come back tomorrow and they would give us the missing food then. (!!!) I demanded that they refund the amount we didn't receive on my husband's credit card. They took all the information of which food we didn't receive -- had to repeat 4 times on the 3rd call -- took my email and said they would issue a refund. That was Friday. Today is Sunday. Still nothing on the card. No phone call, no genuine apology (they just kept blaming their computer), no customer service whatsoever. So -- we went hungry and paid for food we never got. As for the food, the quality has plummeted. It was flavourless. There was no spice, no flavour. There were no curry leaves in the masala filling of the one dosa we did receive. The sambar and chutney were both thin and watery with no flavour. I have never eaten such flavourless sambar. The chapati was dry and had the texture of cardboard. The garlic nan was gummy (they don't have a tandoor over in which to make nan, so them so the texture is not right) and did not taste of any garlic. flavourless, like everything else. A while ago, an older gentleman seemed to manage the place, and things picked up while he was there, but he wasn't there on Friday, and everyone seemed different. In any case, we will not be returning. This was the worst takeout experience we have ever had...

Don't get caught caught in to their low price menu compared to other Indian restaurants. There's a catch - less price means VERY less quantity, and of late, poor quality. Their business model is to attract customers with lower pricing and then heavily compromise with the quantity. Their so called "large" order will basically be a small container that too only half-filled. They will even charge a dollar for a spoonful of chutney - a condiment that could accompany the order. The food quality is not great either. Mostly super spicy, but that just maybe the cuisine style. The meat chunks are so small and few in every dish. Some dishes in their buffet counter looks so stale - either dry bland or watery gravy. They also tend to miss orders in takeouts. We found naan missing in our takeout bag after bringing the order home. In one occasion we ordered a "large" dish, only to find their small container only about HALF FILLED with stale left overs. I reached out to the owner/manager showing a picture of the order, and he just defensively argued that's the right quantity. Other businesses would have had the courtesy to hear customer concerns and try to remedy. But this guy didn't even bother responding to my messages. Very unprofessional, impolite and greedy. The place is unclean and food is mostly stale. We decided to stop going here. Would never...

I recently visited Ayini Restaurant with friends for their weekend buffet breakfast. I had ordered South Indian tiffin items from here about a year ago and was not fully satisfied, so I wanted to give it another try.

It’s a small place, but with a few changes, I feel it can be better organized to handle more customers. Hopefully, they will take this as positive feedback.

The breakfast was not ready at the mentioned start time, possibly due to shortage of staff. However, I liked that they are using biodegradable plates — that’s a really nice effort.

We tried idly, pongal, vada, upma, dosa, and poori.

Idly could be a little softer and smoother.

Vada and upma tasted good.

Chutneys (two types) were nice, but sambar was watery and average.

Poori needs improvement — it should be softer.

Plain dosa was okay. They also serve tea, but I didn’t try it this time.

The price is reasonable compared to other Indian breakfast options in Ottawa, which is a plus.

A few suggestions:

Make sure all items are ready on time to avoid long waiting.

Improve taste, quality, and consistency across all dishes.

Provide small cups for chutneys and sambar to make serving easier.

Since the space is small, better organization would help serve more people...