House of Spice Restaurant — Restaurant in Summerside

My wife and I recently ordered out at House of Spice in Summerside. We are always looking for a good authentic Indian restaurant and hoping this might be our place close to home as we live only 10 minutes away. Since we got pick-up this review won't reflect the service or atmosphere, for which I can't comment as I haven't experienced it. This review is only about the food.

Which was... okay. We ordered the Malai Kofta and Chana Masala. The Kofta balls were actually tasty, the sauce alright but not great. The Chana Masala was a bit bland. We ordered plain rice and matar rice. We were unimpressed that the matar rice appeared to be nothing more but the plain rice with peas, which doesn't explain the $2 price difference. The naan bread, always a focus point when I try a new Indian place, wasn't thin enough and didn't have that freshly fired taste I want from naan.

I'm by no means an expert in Indian cuisine but I have been to India several times and have eaten traditional cuisine there. This food lacks the complexity and depth of flavour I expect from a really good Indian place.

In summary, this place is, from my experience, the best Indian food there is in Summerside. If it were in Charlottetown I wouldn't put it in my top five. I was really hoping to have a good Indian go-to place nearby. Instead, especially since the price point seems to be the same, when I crave good Indian cuisine I'm still driving the 40 minutes to C-town for Himalayan Curry.

House of Spice, if you can up your game to Himalayan Curry level I will be very...

I ordered the butter chicken main dish and I ordered the garlic naan. Now I’d like to start by saying I used to order all the time until it wasn’t financially viable probably 1 and a half years ago but then you’d get butter chicken, rice and your choice of normal or garlic naan. Now when I ordered the butter chicken main I expected it to atleast come with rice but I got home and all that was included was one dish of butter chicken and no rice, I was extremely disappointed, as it was $18 before tax and service fees that they charge along with an automatic tip for just the butter chicken. I just can’t see why they’d stop including rice, I can see the naan costing a bit but rice is Pennie’s on the dollar and for the price should be included in a main dish. If I ordered an appetizer I wouldn’t expect rice but for the main I do as it should be a main course not just a small dish of butter chicken. Anyway the food was great but I just can’t justify a smaller portion of naan bread while paying for it when it used to be included, no rice included with a main, if I had known that either I wouldn’t have ordered or would’ve paid $3 more for...

I’ve been to this restaurant twice now, and both times have been really disappointing. The first time, I tried to order just one cup of chai, and they told me they don’t serve individual cups—I had to buy an entire kettle. That already didn’t make sense, but I decided to give them another chance.

We also tried the biryani once, and honestly, it was terrible. It tasted like they just cooked some spices in water and mixed it with plain cooked rice. It didn’t taste like biryani at all—no flavor, no aroma, nothing close to what biryani should be.

This time, I ordered a paratha for takeout and specifically asked not to include raita—just plain yogurt without water. I explained that I’ve had their raita before, and it’s always a super thin, watery mess. I even confirmed on the phone before picking up my order, and they said they gave plain yogurt. But when I got home, it was the same watered-down mixture again, in a tiny 4oz container. Even the paratha was noticeably smaller than before.

Honestly, this place just keeps getting worse. The food quality is poor, they don’t listen to instructions, and overall, it’s just not...