Second Wife the Indian restaurant( parking available) — Restaurant in Ottawa

Well. Two weeks ago I noticed the name with some amusement on the building which brought me in to have a closer look at the menu: Indian! The neighbourhood needs a good one as the Glebe offerings have slid downhill over the past few years. Indian cuisine is very regional and it has been pleasing to see Southern Indian work gain prominence recently in Ottawa. Second Wife is unashamedly Northern style.. and.. oh.. my.. god. The calibre is of the highest.. I simply can't find fault. First outing was a day after they opened.. ordered the full on mixed app platter which came with FIVE dips. All sensational and each different character. NO dumbing down on flavour here. Second Wife offers a variety of heat levels, and 'mild medium' was selected. Next up was a shrimp biryani and a selection of naan breads. A mixed grill platter was ordered as well but did not make it to the table. The biryani was next level sublime. The naan breads? OFF THE CHARTS!!!! The food was of such excellence I could not complain about missing the mixed grill. It was all so good, we went back the next night. This time ordering different naans (they have like eight of them), a lamb korma, a coconut rice.. and the mixed grill. Any restaurant with aspirations towards Nothern Indian MUST do a brilliant lamb korma. End of story. If I could score it out of 10 it would have to be an 8.75. The korma sauce was clearly from scratch favouring a slightly yellowish colour while forgoing some of that unique almond flavour. The lamb was plentiful, firm and high quality. Not how I would do it, but again these dishes vary from town to town in India. The mixed grill was perfection with the tandoor chicken outstandingly sumptuous. One of the naans on this outing was the cheese stuffed offering: tart fermented based cheese. It was to die for. I desperately wanted to try the desserts which no one ever does because of the brilliance in everything Second Wife touches, but it was after 9 p.m. and I could eat no more. I will tho... To any reader of this review: JUST GO. Btw.. in thinking, Second Wife offered different dips for any number of their dishes. They are an overlooked stand alone gastronomical delight when done properly. If one arrives to your table at Second Wife, order another butter naan...

I enjoyed trying out this newly opened restaurant - Second Wife. I got to try this by seeing the appealing name in the first place: NGL😛

We reached the restaurant and were utterly shocked to see the restaurant packed on a Monday evening. We weren’t served or checked up on by a host, and we decided to take a spot by ourselves, seeing how busy they were.

We were served by hosts promptly once we got to sit down. Then comes the food! We ordered a Mixed Grill Platter, Goat Biryani, Butter Naan, Fish Kadahi and Mango Lassi.

The mixed grill was a solid hit; I loved the plethora of flavours. Shrimps and Fish were stunners! However, Lamb was a bit chewy and hard. Tandoori chicken had good flavours but lacked the original bold punch of spices.

Goat Biryani was tantalizing with a symphony of spices, fragrant rice and tender goat pieces. Conversely, it would be great if served with Mirchi Ka Salan or equivalent as butter chicken doesn’t go well with biryani.

Even the fish Kadahi is a must-try, and I highly recommend this. Be mindful of your spice tolerance level, and you can choose your preference while ordering. Butter Naan was great, too. The mango lassi joins the list as this one has been the best in taste recently, and it was budget-friendly, too.

Overall, the service was excellent. Nevertheless, the management should consider hiring an additional host to service people as the restaurant seems bustling and swamped.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a 50% off on the soft opening. I could have said entirely positive things about getting the offer.

However, I still decided to hit the pointers for the management to improve as there is room for improvement. I want the second wife to be the go-to place for all the patrons who want a break from their first wives😋😂.

Added Tip to fellow patrons: a parking lot is present beside the restaurant. You can park your vehicle there and walk to the restaurant to register your vehicle. Otherwise, the by-law could ticket or tow your car away. You also got ample street parking in the...

We walked in and were the only people there, not really a problem in of itself. However, the service really was incredibly sub par. Our server was very inattentive, not refilling our water or asking how things were. What’s more is halfway through the service he appeared to leave. It made us feel like we shouldn’t have been there. For context, we were there at 7pm, which should be prime dinner hours.

There was a kid in the restaurant too, which I assume was someone’s son. He had his phone connected to the speakers and was playing tiktoks over the speakers the whole time we were there. Obviously I get it, you may have to have your kid with you especially in restaurants but don’t give him connection to the speakers? Seems like common sense

The food started out ok. My partner and I ordered a vegetarian platter to split together which was quite nice, consisting of pakora, spring roll, fried paneer, samosa, and some French fries (for some reason). For $16, it was pretty decent for what it was, and quite tasty.

For the rest however, it took an hour to get our food which consisted of: an extremely small amount of very bland curry. I had the mango paneer, which really was not very sweet or mangoey at all, although I will admit the paneer itself was well cooked. My partner had malai kofta which was also disappointing as it appeared that it was burnt and overcooked. They are charging $16 for each of these curries by the way, which is way too steep for the amount that you get. The rice we had was equally as small, and the naan we ordered came dripping in grease.

A total of $65 for what we had really was not worth it. Absolutely awful experience, needless to say, will not...