BENARES Cucina Indian — Restaurant in Toronto

Benares will take you down in memory lane of authentic Indian food. I was really surprised to find a flavourful and authentic Indian restaurant in Downtown. It's in the basement.

Starting from its ambiance, I felt everything was perfect (except the Washroom sign 😀). The room will give you a vive of Rajasthani architecture with the lighting being so perfect to the ambiance.

The utensil used (plates, salt sprinkler, the water jug and glass, the serving bowls) will make you feel having food in Indian restaurants in India.

Coming to the staff, they are so polite and well-behaved that you seldom find such attitude in other Indian Restaurants in Toronto or in Canada. Starting from menu selection to the explanation, they were very good.

Before going to the food and taste, I wanted to highlight their service and food preparation. It was very quick and we didn't have to wait for a long time. We wete 04 people, had ordered 4 different drinks, 2 soups, 02 starters, 02 appetizers except the main course of 06 different items. And we have never waited for a long time. It was very fast and that's the highlight of their service.

Last but not least is food. We ordered Moscow Mule and Cabernet Sauvignon, which was really good. Both were served in a Viking style brass mug and in a wine glass. Rate: 5/5

Alu papdi chaat ordered as an appetizer was a good choice unless you don't want to have a tangy and juice Indian chaat dish. Price was a bit higher end considering quantity and the taste. Rate: 2.5/5

The Chicken Malai Kabab and Lamb Shish Kabab were delicious but little dry. The chutney and salad served as sides were also good. Malai kabab should have more creamy, and Lamb should have more juicy. Rate: 4/5

The Lamb soup was costly yet worth for money. The soup was so good that we were thinking about ordering one more. There will be small/tiny lamb meat balls in the soup (tasted like pieces of Lamb shish kabab) were really good. It was also served with 02 pieces of fried Papadam. Rate: 5/5

In the main course, we have ordered garlic naan, chicken biryani, chicken Hariyali, Prawn Coconut Curry, and Daal Makhni.

Garlic Naan tasted good as well the size/potion, but it was oily/buttery. Rate: 3/5

Chicken Biriyani was too wet, and it didn't taste like Biriyani or pulao. I will not recommend having biriyani here. Also, it's too costly considering the potion size. Rate: 0/5 (think it as -5/5)

Chicken Hariyali was with a good potion for 3-4 people, and it tasted good. Rate: 4/5

I was under impression thay Prawn Coconut Curry would be the famous Bengali dish "Malai Kari", it wasn't. It was more red in color buy surprisingly tasted creamy, coconutty and good. I will recommend it. Rate: 4/5

Daal Makhni can be better. Rate: 2.5/5

As sweet dishes/sweet drinks, we ordered Mango Lassi, which was too sweet. If you ever order the same, make sure to customize with very little sugar. Rate: 2/5

The Washroom was neat and clean. They have a drinking counter. We haven't tried that out.

Overall, the experience was good (really good). I didn't expect the food or ambiance should be this good. I will visit again. As a whole,...

I recently visited this restaurant with high hopes, only to be sorely disappointed. In fact, it's not an overstatement to say that this place is the epitome of culinary disappointment. Let's start with the food. I ordered their supposedly famous shahi paneer, expecting a burst of flavors and rich textures. Instead, what arrived at my table was a sad excuse for a dish. The shahi paneer was bland, lacking any discernible spices or depth of flavor. Disappointed but hopeful for some redemption, I decided to provide feedback to the staff, hoping they would rectify the situation.

However, my hopes were quickly dashed when an employee, who was apparently pretending to be a manager, approached me. Not only did they fail to acknowledge my concerns adequately, but they also displayed a remarkable lack of professionalism. To add insult to injury, instead of offering a sincere apology or attempting to make amends, I insisted on replacing the shahi paneer with their dal makhani.

Thinking that perhaps this dish would salvage my dining experience, I reluctantly accepted the offer. Alas, my hopes were once again crushed as the dal makhani turned out to be equally disappointing, if not worse. Not only was it stale and unappetizing, but it also left a lingering aftertaste that I would rather forget. It was evident that the food here lacked freshness and quality, two essential elements that any reputable restaurant should prioritize.

To make matters worse, the employee posing as a manager displayed a shocking lack of customer service skills. Their demeanor was rude and dismissive, as if my feedback was inconsequential. It's disheartening to encounter such unprofessional behavior, especially in an industry where customer satisfaction should be paramount.

In conclusion, my experience at this restaurant was nothing short of a nightmare. From the lackluster food to the abysmal customer service, there is little to recommend about this establishment. Save yourself the disappointment and steer clear of this place. With so many other dining options available, there's no reason to subject yourself to such a...

The food here was pretty good and the decor/vibe is nice - but the service was absolutely ridiculous. We came here for a 9-person reservation. It wasn't clear who our server was. There was a bunch of workers coming to the table and orders were getting mixed up. It wasn't busy at the restaurant but the workers were running around (literally running lol) across the floor sometimes.

Without any warning or mentioning that they were closing early, they came to our table with the bill and shut the music off.. It was quiet. It was so rude how they did this with no warning or communication. They gave us a giant bill for all 9 people together (not separated) and many items of it wrong, double charged or missing. They refused to separate the bills and took about 25 mins (maybe more?) in the pitch quiet to make everyone settle their bill correctly one at a time by crossing things off a large bill with a pen.

We all spent close to $700 at this establishment ... It shouldn't be our job to do this work when they should have been organised with processing orders and punching them in correctly. It was completely unprofessional... The servers/bartender had a serious lack of training and were in no way equipped to handle a large reservation on what I'd consider a slow/non-busy night...

I had been here before and enjoyed the food. This is why I'd still recommend this place if you are a small group or couple. Our group dining experience was very poor however and we will not be...