Shaaz | Indian Cuisine | Ottawa — Restaurant in Ottawa

I'm giving Shaaz 5 out of 5, not because it's perfect, but because the food is exceptional, the service is genuine and the atmosphere is elegant.

Shaaz lived up to the hype ... they walk the talk when it comes to their food. We had the Dragon Gobi as appetizer, and it was exquisite. Crispy cauliflower tossed in spicy sauce with dry red chilies and cashews. It's very spicy, but we were warned, and if you like spicy food that's also rich in flavor, then this dish will not disappoint.

For the main course we had the Chicken Korma, with a side of rice ... we also had the Juicy Mutton Mandi and a side of butter naan. The chicken korma looked pale, compared to the dark brown korma we're used to at other restaurants ... but the taste was exceptional; it's definitely the best chicken korma we've ever had. The sauce is thick and flavorsome, and the chicken is so tender that every bite is rich and delicious.

The juicy mutton mandi was also amazing, there's no other word to describe it. This is a plate that has been perfected and could be categorized as award-winning. There are 3 other types of the mutton mandi. I choose the "juicy mutton" because it was recommended by our waitress, but I'm curious to try the others next time.

For drinks, we had the mango lassi, which was delicious, but it was served in a take-out plastic cup! For a dine-in experience, any drink should be served in glassware, even water.

For dessert, we had the Gulabjamun (milky dough fried and immersed in fragrant syrup) and the Rasmalai (creamy cheese dumplings soaked in sweet, cardamom-scented milk). Both were decadent and perfected with the right level of sweetness. You can taste the quality of ingredients in every bite.

Note: I started this review saying Shaaz is not perfect, and that due to a couple of easy to fix issues:

1 - I asked for water with ice and was told they don't have ice, so to drink cold water I had to buy bottled water. I've never seen this in any other restaurant ... ever! Restaurants always have ice, and for a place where you're consuming spicy food, ice-water is a must have.

2 - The naan bread was so disappointing. I've been to Indian buffet restaurants that had a better naan. Even supermarket naan is better. Shaaz needs to change its naan recipe, because tasty naan bread at an Indian restaurant is a given. You shouldn't mess that up!

In conclusion ... Shaaz is now one of my favorite restaurants, and that's mainly because of the exceptional food. It's a place to bring out of towners as well as work colleagues, friends and family...

When it comes to food itself, they got pretty great idea how to play with flavors and that's what brought me back to them 4th time in past 2 weeks. Food is great in regards to taste, freshness and temp, portions are okay for some and some items are little small but being in food business I understand their margins. I gave them 5 stars because you see that it's new location and they're trying their best to offer what they can. Now, let's talk about what can be improved (This ones for the management Team) You have lot of staff so one should have specific duty on the floor like pick up empty dishes, ask customers for refills, condiments/napkins etc. Half of them, roam around constantly with no set tasks. On a slow day or certain hours of the day and with not many tables filled, service should be tad bit faster. If the cutlery is already placed on the tables prior to customers arrival, make sure when placing it, don't leave finger/hand marks on them coz they look unclean especially when they are in color golden. I want to clarify that my suggestion for improvement is not reflected in my rating. Shout out to Shagun for providing great service, and suggestions on our first visit, although I came prepared for my 4th and knew what I wanted. You guys did not disappoint a bit with the food and the flavors. Will be back soon to try more stuff from your Booklet of a Menu! Update: for the past more than 4-5 times, everytime I went to the restaurant it was not very clean and almost every time I ordered cholle bhature for take out they have no consistency, one day they use black grams and one day it's white chickpeas, sometimes they cooked and last two times, there cholle were uncooked. I even called them and told them. Staff is not attentive anymore, my order was ready and waiting on the counter but they were busy talking to each other so nobody told me it was ready and it was brought to the front almost for 15 min. Wake up and remember that you are at work. I really liked this place and I came back so many times even after having issues almost every order. Not anymore, this place needs a manager who knows how to run restaurant and train...

We were really looking forward to a nice family dinner. Sadly, this restaurant completely ruined that experience for us.

We ordered a variety of dishes, hoping to enjoy a bit of everything. But right from the first course, things started to go downhill. The soup arrived first — a basic dish, yet it was bland and disappointing. Worse, the chicken in it had a strong, unpleasant smell and bad taste. We ended up removing the chicken entirely and setting it aside. What a waste.

Next came the dragon chicken and fish pakoras. The fish pakoras were one of the few items that had decent flavor. But the dragon chicken? The portion was tiny, and the taste was underwhelming — not at all what we expected.

Then came the Afghani chicken — and again, the same issue as before: a bad smell and questionable freshness. By this point, we were already disappointed, but we still held out hope for the rest.

Unfortunately, the mutton dish (apparently Shaaz’s Signature dish “Patthar k Gosht”: turned out to be the worst of all. The portion size was shockingly small, and the meat was dry, chewy, stringy, and completely flavourless - much different than what was written on their menu card). Honestly, it was hard to believe this was being served at a full-price restaurant. (The picture with lettuce attached so you can see exactly what we were served.)

To top it off, even the Roomali roti — something we expected to be soft and fresh — was a letdown. It was dry and at times so hard it was difficult to chew. For the price they charged, this felt like a complete rip-off.

After that, we decided not to order anything else.

The only good thing of the evening was the service. The server attending to us was polite, patient, and very professional despite everything that went wrong with the food. We really appreciated his kindness and effort.

But overall, this place was a complete letdown. For the quality, portion sizes, and price, this was an absolute disaster. If the restaurant hopes to improve, it urgently needs to focus on taste, freshness, and value.

We definitely won’t be coming back — and hopefully, this review helps others make an...