PEI Roti Food Fusion — Restaurant in Summerside

Writing a review for this establishment has been on my to-do list for quite sometime. I wanted to do them justice with my words and not just quickly write a sentence or 2 bc they deserve all the praise. With the launch of their new crispy chicken burger, now is the perfect time for me to tell everybody about this Summerside gem!

It starts with the owners. Harold and Arti are 2 of the kindest people I have ever met. To know them is to love them. Their passion for food and their customers shines every single time you see them. To say they make your experience is an understatement.

THE FOOD. We have been going weekly for over a year now (in the beginning it was more 🐷) I am somewhat of a foody. I lived out of province for 15 years where the restaurant scene is quite a bit more expanded than here. The thing I miss most about moving home is exploring new restaurants and the options here can be quite limited. Finding PEI Roti has been the best experience!

Authentic dishes, made to your preference, and man oh man will they keep surprising you! We like to go on Thursdays when they do their specials. Every Thursday, there is a new ‘flavours from around the world’ dish where you can experience new and exciting food from other countries. Let’s be honest tho, you could blindly point to and get anything off their menu and you wouldn’t be disappointed. Everything they do just feels like amazing home-cooking.

If you like spicy food like I do, you have come to the right place. They customize your dish to your preference so if you aren’t into heat, they still got you and will do mild versions or anything in between. I haven’t found anywhere around here that satisfies my heat craving like they can.

I could seriously go on and on about this place for an eternity. Just go! The crispy chicken sandwich they just launched will knock your socks off. They put a unique spin on the traditional sandwich and layer the flavours in such a way that will have you wanting more. So fresh and light. Not heavy/greasy like others can be. We had it for the first time last week and almost went back for seconds. If the kids didn’t have us busy we...

The food was lovely and the service was great.

Caroline and I were visiting Access PEI but stopped in to PEI Roti for a bite to eat as it was noon when we arrived in Summerside.

We ordered the onion bahji while we waited for our lunch, and while I wished it had more onion in it, the texture and flavour was great.

Caroline ordered the Jerk chicken naan-which and I’d ordered a Tikka masala chicken naan-wich. We were given some hot sauce on the side, some tamarind sauce, and a wee bit of pickled apple iirc.

Caroline loved her jerk chicken, and I certainly enjoyed the tikka masala, although it was very similar to the obsequious butter chicken that we all know and love.

For the Tikka, I was hoping for some dark meat mixed in, but it was a lovely sandwich that I’d be happy to order again.

Caroline and I took the down to the waterfront and sat on a picnic table enjoying our lunch and the view.

We plan on trying the roti next. :)

Cheers!

UPDATE: Two days later we had some business in Summerside so dropped in for lunch. This time I ordered the Butter Chicken Roti and Caroline had the Jerk Chicken with rice.

The butter chicken roti is served on naan Roti, and she spiced mine up a touch to more of a medium at my request. I really enjoyed the meal, along with another Onion Bahji while we waited.

Caroline thought the Jerk Chicken less than medium hot, and figures that you have to flat out request spicy if you want it hot.

She did share a bite of her samosa with me, and I could tell there was some cumin mixed in with the mashed potatoes. It was very nice, but I’m still a fan of the onion b. Lol.

I’d like to try their curried chicken next, on Roti...

My husband and I were in Summerside and wondered if there was something new to try. We found this place on Google and although we were looking for a place to eat in, the reviews were so good, we decided to eat in our car (since this is takeout only). We parked by the boardwalk, it was nice!

The curry chicken rice bowl was excellent! It's not a cream based curry and to me, it tasted gourmet! I mentioned this to the owner later and she said it's because they make everything like they would at home, not by following a recipe line by line but from the heart. 😊

My husband had the chicken sandwich and he loved it. And the prices are amazing! And the tips go to charities. And the owners are so upbeat, enthusiastic and nice. You can tell they are having fun running this restaurant together. So nice to see ☺️. We loved it so much we got supper to take home to Charlottetown. Some samosas and 2 noodle bowls (chili chicken and butter chicken). She said you'll have enough left for your lunch tomorrow and she was right!

The dishes seem to be a mixture of Indian and Jamaican type foods. Highly recommended! Make sure to stop by next time you're in Summerside!

Update: April 2025. Stopped in again and we met the new owners! Also nice people! Food is as good and lots more menu items! I tried the paw paw chicken and dared to try just a little Carolina reaper ;). Well, it is hot but I loved it. So nice with the sweet papaya 😋. I did not realize this is the hottest pepper in the world! So you've been warned he he! But you can try any of their dishes mild so don't let that...