Kalinga Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Ottawa

We’ve been to Kalinga since they opened a year ago. Mostly takeout since it’s hard to find parking since it’s downtown.

Unfortunately like many new Indian restaurants opening up - they started with a bang of authentic flavours but over time the have not been able to keep up - neither the flavours and unfortunately the quality of ingredients. The only thing going up , are the prices ☺️

Non veg : we generally order some of the chicken Karivepdu, 555/majestic. On multiple occasions we’ve received overcrooked fry chicken such that we now call after placing an order to hope they can let they cook know and not to overcook. For curries - we’ve tried on the mutton, a few months ago and never after. Base gravy is mildly undercooked with small pieces of uncooked onions pieces. You can definitely give the mutton soup a try - has been good almost always.

We had the unfortunate experience of ordering Chicken Lollipop on Aug 22 for dinner takeout. We were apprehensive but thought we would give them another shot. Confirmed - we are not ordering here again. The chicken was not only undercooked inside but the meat was spoiled. Food quality is one thing, safety another. We will not report it as the owners seem genuine and are just looking overworked with the demand.

Veg : we were big fans of the veg Manchurian starters and 555. There used to be flavor and taste in the dumplings before - but now, bland and oil heavy. We did order the malai kofta curry a few months ago and it was good.

Their Biriyani although not fully dum - has good flavor. The ghee used however is a little strong.

Atmosphere - we’ve been during rush hour lunch and they definitely need to hire more help. Once waited asking if a specific Thali is available and confirmed it is. Only to be told 25 mins after waiting that they don’t have it that day.

In a nutshell, great potential but looks to have succumbed under the pressure of their own success not being able to keep up with what looks like...

I want to start by saying the food was absolutely delicious, and everyone at our wedding loved it. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you’re just going for a meal. That’s why we chose them to cater our wedding after trying and loving their food.

Unfortunately, the catering service itself fell far short of what we paid for. We specifically hired extra staff to ease the workload and reduce stress, but instead they mostly stood around and did very little. Essentially, the staff only served food, which defeated the purpose since it was a self-serve buffet. I hired them to help manage the venue and support guests. This left me stressed on what should have been one of the happiest days of my life, and some of our friends and family even mentioned that the staff and coordinator were giving them a hard time.

I was also shocked to hear that staff asked our bartender for drinks during the event. That was completely unprofessional and disrespectful. Communication leading up to the wedding was equally poor, with replies taking three to four days and multiple follow-ups needed for basic questions. We shared our concerns with the coordinator privately after the event hoping for a resolution, but it’s been two months and we have received no response, which shows how little they cared once they had been paid.

To be clear, the food was amazing, but the service, professionalism, and communication were absolutely unacceptable. I would recommend the restaurant for dining, but I would never recommend them for...

Service and food were better than perfect. Our wonderful waiter was able to check the ingredients to every dish we asked, quickly on a device, with out leaving the side of our table.

He was able to quickly recommend a dish that our two picky kids both enjoyed. (Chicken with noodles)

He helped us order a well balanced meal, just enough rice, Garlic Naan, 2 vegetarian entrees (daal, so creamy and luxurious + Paneer, so fluffy and fresh in a beautiful sauce). we got a yogurt cucumber side dip (my favourite). Onion pakora side (light and crispy) Masala papad (bold fresh and crunchy) an order of white rice and another order of dum rice.

This fed our family of four from starving to stuffed, with enough for 3 big meals left for takeaway. The kids enjoyed the chicken in their kids dish, the onion pakora, the daal, papad, rice and the garlic Naan.

The meal along with tip was 125... we were expecting it to be so much more, as we ordered everything we fancied.. meals for 4, appetizers and multiple sides.

They adjusted the spice level for non-indian customers... and so next time we will ask for the Indian spice level (we eat a lot of spicy)... the spice level they brought us had a good kick but it was appropriate for casual spice lovers with a normal tolerance. Better safe than on fire I think!

The chairs so comfortable, establishment clean and beautiful, a SINK adjacent to eating area for convenient hand washing! (I loved that!) Clean bathrooms and just a good vibe all around! 100/10 can't we...