Bombay Chaat & Paan — Restaurant in Ottawa

The doorway to this place looks like, its renovating so an instant shady feeling or an adventure feeling, as in opening the door would lead to....

The dine-in experience

Upon entering, there was no one at the counter to greet. Just greeted by a void, standing in isolation wondering if I should eat at home or spend money in hopes of being satisfied. Before I could arrive at a decision, I saw a face with a smile suggesting to go sit anywhere. Menu-was scan QR code. Kudos for ditching laminated menu but forcing me to take out my phone. This starts a chain process, now my phone is out, I am looking at menu but I am also getting notifications from my apps regarding why I need to subscribe to Tinder pro & expand my search radius to get more matches. I am about to pick comfort food to drown my sorrows but here I am being reminded what my sorrows are. Maybe this is a marketing trick? I'd order more items? Ah! but they failed. Menu is static- it's just a page which does not adjust based upon time. Few items that I thought would help me feel good, were not available before 4. Was it not enough that Tinder was telling me, no matches but now every item I wanted "sorry after 4", I pulled my mental self up & ordered available items.

Atmosphere

Whilst I waited; I realized, they had the temperature lower than normal so people order more, however, they forgot, it's "little" cooler, not so cold that I start thinking about committing sins so Devil can start heating this place up by sending fire from hell. I looked around, trying to distract myself from the cold weather, Tinders' rejection & lack of available orderable items; I see, dark & gloomy environment. Massive TVs which apparently had cartoons & news talking about mom & son missing. The music being played sounded like a kid who wanted to be a doctor but parents forced her to be a DJ. The music in itself was alright but the "mix" was that bad. Imagine wanting to be a doctor & being forced into becoming a DJ. The pictures of how this place looks on the inside either have been heavily photoshopped or I need to get my eyes upgraded to a new software because it did not look like that. It was darker, mixed with dark paint-this is a perfect place if you are happy in your life & are becoming little too optimistic, bring yourself here & you start getting thoughts of how dark life can be. You start appreciating the things you have in life & become more grounded. You start donating, sharing more with others because you never know, when it could all come to a halt.

Food/Servings

Every time a new dish came, it came in the serving bowl. We legit had to ask for extra plate(s) & still only 1 extra was provided. I mean I understand that they believe in evolution & how humans evolved from animals but we are more civil now, right? if there are 3 people, why is it such a burden to provide three plates? When extra plates were requested 1 was provided which felt like a favor. If this is a similar stunt to "save" the environment from harmful chemicals of detergent which will be used in dish washing, please just serve the item in which it was prepared. Better yet, just drop the ingredients on my table & I’d make it myself, OH wait! even better idea, provide instructions on how the dish was made, I'll buy the groceries & prepare it myself at home...hold up something does not feel right.

Recommendation?

When you are feeling invincible, egotistical- come down & you'd feel grounded & start appreciating life, When you want to get out of a relationship but want OTHER person to do the breaking up, When in-laws are in town & you want them to visit you less often.

Conclusion-Ways to Improve?

-Use the displays to "display" menu/food pictures, prices, availability. -Get Youtube/Spotify w/e- type in Lofi/soothing/ heck gym music & let it play instead of w/e fiasco of a mixtape you had on. -If 2 people are ordering 4 different appetizers, please offer extra plates, **Why 3 not 2 stars- they can improve, the human that served us, seemed patient & approachable. **Why not 4 stars?...

Indo Chinese - Manchurian, fried rice definitely no Pani puri - definitely no, salty, tasteless Water - take your own Cutlery - lucky if they provide you any

Very disappointed with the whole experience. As a family (wife, kids 5&3)we were looking forward to an authentic Indian meal however the whole experience was a total disaster. Ordered starters and main and requested starters to be served first, nothing unusual, water is something you would expect to be served as soon as you sit, however we were never offered or received it till the time we walked out. About 20 mins later we had 1 of our main dishes served to our surprise and the girl left it and walked away. No plates provided or cutlery and then 10 minutes later 2 more of our main dishes appeared and yet no plate or cutlery. We cut them some slack regarding no starters being served as it's a new beginning for them and, I walked over myself to get the plates and cutlery and requested it from the kitchen window, to my shock no one apologized and just passed over the plates as it was a norm. When we tasted the food especially the noodles which were ordered for kids, they were very spicy hot even after letting them know they were for kids and especially requested to be made mild. Then another guy brought Pani puri which was one of our starters, when we tried it was salty and tasteless. At that time I had enough as my kids didn't receive water till that point either. I asked them to cancel the rest of my order and requested the bill for whatever would be on the table. Paid for tasteless food, no water for my kids who were by that point hungry and irritated and to top it off there was no remorse or apology for ruining our night. Save the time and effort and dont dine in and maybe try the delivery and hope it will taste nice, however I very much...

A very good spot for Indian style street food cravings..

Location is convenient and now crowded.

Ordered a few things and trust me, the pictures don’t do justice to the actual taste and flavors..

Chana Bhatura - 8/10, chana was tasty, much better than a lot of other places tried in Ottawa. Bhatura is not a bhatura but a think flaky Poori (good and light), but 1 is not enough.. so you end up ordering an extra one. It should include a pickle / chutney in the plate to make it even better.

Chinese Noodles - 9/10, very yummy, decently spiced and very close to authentic indo Chinese flavors. Enjoyed it

⭐️ dish Chili Potato - 10/10, my star dish for tonight, super yummy and probably one of the best items to try on their menu. Love the flavors and quantity (good enough for 2 hungry adults)

For kids - must try the French Fries - 10/10, probably the best fries I’ve eaten in a very long time. The crunch you feel on every bite and the crispiness was outstanding.. my kids enjoyed it and complimented as best fries eaten ever..

Must try this place, the staff is friendly and courteous!!

Update 6/18: second visit with a friend.. we ordered the chili potatoes and they were a disappointment this time. Not crispy at all and all mushed up like a bharta.. 3/10

Pav bhaji - it was the hype and recommendation given in our first visit, but it was yet another disappointment. Not much of a pav bhaji taste 4/10

Manchurian - it was a delicious dish, well balanced in flavors 8/10

Veg noodles - average taste, could be better. 6/10

Service - this is something I was impressed In my first visit, however, it was very different the second time. We had to wait for 25-30 mins for the noodles and it arrived mildly warm instead of freshly hot.

I’ll be open to try a new place next time which might bring more...