Indian Bistro Thunderbay — Restaurant in Thunder Bay

I went and ordered breakfast platter and masala tea, took over 25 mins before serving and I’m ok waiting as I travelled for 4 hrs to thunderbay to experience some South Indian food. I was served with the platter but i gave a benefit of doubt to its appearance and started eating. I realized Sambar is cold from days ago . Idly was ok, peanut chutney was cold and watery . When it comes to vada, it’s like a red leathery hard rock outside and batter inside, same thing with Dosa , crisp on outside, batter on the inside , when they folded the thick dosa.everything was served cold. I brought to the attention of the lady server that she should have told me to choose something else instead of breakfast because they all knew deep inside . I mentioned that I never had such a not to eat food in my entire life even staying in government hostels. She started blaming that it is not her , it’s the chefs in the kitchen. Instead of addressing the issue or apologizing, she tried to pass the blame and deviate and after few minutes, came back and asked if I wanted more idlys instead, I politely rejected the offer as I lost my appetite. I reminded her that I was waiting for tea and she served me the tea . While paying the bill , I reminded her to charge me to tea and she mentioned that it is on house. I politely rejected that I don’t need any freebies or charity , I would rather pay for my food. What pained me more is the food wastage not just on my table but around other tables too. Half eaten plates. I promised myself that I wouldn’t step in again. Just because I’m desi, or we speak the same language doesn’t mean you can give a crappie service and get away with it. I’m not a person to rant about anything but I strongly felt that I need to waste my time to share my experience so that people make better decisions when they want a pleasant experience. Last year , when I ordered food for my friends at the St Josephs hospital for pick up it was good and they all liked it. They always used to call me to ask about food. Now I need to let them know about my experience. It’s a food traumatic experience. At least , maintain the washrooms with some soap and paper towels and keep the kitchen , floor and...

Online ordering was fairly smooth - some descriptions on the menu would be good to indicate the serving size, whether a dish came with/without rice, etc. We ended up with way too much rice because we ordered rice side dishes not realizing the mains we ordered came with rice.

One ordering hiccup - we ordered lamb curry from the menu. Turns out they didn’t have lamb and we didn’t find out until we were on our way to pickup our order. We switched to a beef curry (not on the menu) but had to wait an extra 20 minutes for our food.

With 4 levels of spice on the menu we ordered medium and for most in our group it was too hot to be enjoyable. I’m accustomed to (and enjoy) eating spicy food having spent significant time in Asia/India and it was just bearable for me. It’s hard to imagine how much thought has really gone into distinguishing these different levels of spice. Overall the food seemed OK but given the intense heat across all of the dishes it’s hard to think of anything that stood out.

The restaurant itself appears dirty and rundown. There were tripping hazards on the stairs entering the building, dirty and incredibly un-level floors inside and most of chairs were up on the tables. Bright painted walls only serve to highlight the lack of cleanliness everywhere else. I didn’t use the washroom and don’t want to think about what they might be like. All this doesn’t instill much confidence in the cooking conditions in the kitchen.

The fact that the restaurant was empty at 6:30 on a Friday probably says it all. Maybe shrink your footprint and focus on delivery/takeout if you can’t put the effort into maintaining the facilities and a dine-in experience.

Unlikely...

I recently had an incredibly disappointing experience with Indian Bistro. From the moment I walked in, it was clear that hygiene was not a priority. The tables were sticky, the floor was unclean, and the restroom was in a deplorable state.

The service was abysmal. The staff seemed disinterested and unprofessional, taking an excessive amount of time to take our order and even longer to bring out the food. When the food finally arrived, it was a major letdown. The dishes lacked flavor, were poorly prepared, and some items were even cold. The meat was a particular issue—some pieces were burned while others were undercooked, making the meal quite unappetizing.

Adding to the frustration, my online orders were significantly delayed all the time, and when it finally arrived, several items were incorrect. This level of carelessness is unacceptable, especially considering the high prices.

To top it off, the wait time was excessive, far beyond what could be considered reasonable. Despite the long wait and subpar food, the prices were unjustifiably high. The overall experience was not worth the cost. I would not recommend Indian Bistro to anyone looking for a pleasant...