Bombay Bhel - Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

It is sad to eat at an Indian restaurant that funds serving basic Indian food challenging. Our home cooked food is better than the food served here. And to answer - so why eat here? For a break.

Staff is very welcoming and makes you feel comfortable very quickly. Especially the gentleman. Seating and interiors look pretty decent.

The description of the dish in the menu is very tempting, that is, until you are served the dish. There's a big difference. And it doesn't taste anything like it should.

About 80% of the time we spent at the restaurant was waiting...for the food to come to the table. Service is horribly slow and there's no excuse for it because they were not busy and had more 3 waitresses.

Mango lassi The mango Lassi is watered down as it is. And then served with ice cubes in it that waters it down further. Mango Lassi should be thick and taste of mango. These one's have a hint of mango.

Lamb Biryani The lamb Biryani was questionable. Certainly didn't look fresh and didn't taste good either. The lamb meat was hard and dried out, don't know why. At first glance, the way it was served was disgusting. Just a heap of rice someone just dumped on a plate. The colour of the rice of the top layer was different from the bottom layer indicating one of the layers had dried out. Not sure if this was stored in the fridge and then reheated. The dish was served warm and the inside was cool. Just one big mess.

Music Music was unnecessarily loud and from a music system with little to no bass. Really irritating to hear music played in treble. I'm Indian, and I listen to Indian music alot. Even watch Indian movies from time to time. But the music played at this Indian restaurant wasn't pleasant for the setting.

Chicken lollipops Nothing like the usual Hakka chicken lollipops. So why call them lollipops if they aren't? These were just chicken legs marinated hastily and grilled. Meat was dry on the surface and didn't taste good at all.

Also ordered the saag as part of a veg thali, which was plain salty. Nothing else to it in terms of taste. The price of the veg thali does not justify its price.

There is no washroom inside the restaurant. You have to use the mall/public washroom and...

It was the first time I had Indian food in Toronto, to be honest, I would never thought about having Indian in Canada, since there are a good number of indians restaurants in Hong Kong, and they are quite authentic according to the Indian KOL in Hong Kong. Having Indian in Toronto probably not the first thing comes to my mind but it was quite an experience. Gotta say the menu was substantial, plenty of choices, even tho quite a few were involved their butter chicken. Dishes in the menu were in their Indian name, that sounds authentic, however, the food itself was quite fusion to suit the Westerners palate. Butter Chicken, kinda like the Chicken Tikka Masala in England, and they claimed they are the best in town. I wouldn't go that far to say they are the best I have ever had, but it was definitely not bad at all. Since the dishes here in the Great White North usually pretty big and we don't have a big appetite, so 5 of us ordered two platters, a butter chicken poutine, butter chicken with naan to share and had a few beers. The appetizer platter was great, there were samosas, onion bahjis etc. They all taste pretty good. Nothing too spicy, definitely suitable for any novice on hot stuffs. The main sharing platter was more substantial, lots of meaty goodness. The lamb shish kebab was my favourite out of those, it hasn't got that strong lamby, gamey taste, even my partner who isn't a fan of lamb had a good few of those. The coriander chicken was succulent and juicy. The shrimp was too salty to my liking, and the cashew chicken drumsticks were quite bland. All in all, they were all quite salty and couldn't taste much different between them, but don't get me wrong, they were tasty, if they could tune down on salt a little bit that would be even better. There was a spicy minty dip came with the platter, it was refreshing and hot spicy at the same time, that really up my alley, not to mention their cheetah mango beer was, refreshing, not too sweet and lingering with the scent of mango, excellent drink to pair with their...

I debated whether to write this review because the owner was very friendly and apologetic about the dish we returned. However, I believe in sharing honest feedback so others can make informed choices.

Before I begin, I want to mention that I was a vegetarian for many years, and Indian cuisine has always been my go-to. I cook both North and South Indian dishes at home and have dined at numerous Indian restaurants across the GTA, from small, hidden gems to upscale establishments. Bombay (before their ownership change and relocation) used to be one of my favorites in the RH area.

We ordered Vindaloo Chicken, Palak Paneer (returned), Matar Paneer, and a Curry Pizza. Unfortunately, none of the curries had the depth of flavor you’d expect from properly tempered spices, everything tasted bland more like watered-down canned food than authentic Indian cuisine.

• Vindaloo Chicken – The chicken had a slimy, mushy texture, likely due to being either frozen or over-marinated in citrus/vinegar-based sauce.

• Palak Paneer (Returned) – Not only were the spices missing, but they also forgot to add salt. It was completely flavorless.

• Matar Paneer – This was more of a "soup" than a curry, so thin that you needed a spoon to drink it. To make matters worse, the green peas were rock hard. Honestly, a can of Campbell’s soup would have been better.

• Curry Pizza – I actually enjoyed this, but my friends disagreed.

In my friend's words, "The best part of the meal was the water." Overall, despite the friendly service, the food was a huge letdown. I wouldn’t return or recommend this...