Indian Bay Leaf — Restaurant in Vancouver

I would give 0 stars if I could. We went here after reading all the glorious reviews and after some one I met on the train recommended it. This place could not disappoint more. I have lived in Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto and other places that has good Indian food but this is no where close to being "authentic" or "3+ Star worthy".

Customer Service - Can I give negative 5 stars? Terrible service. We were craving for some rice so we wanted to order Dal which, according to their menu, comes with rice. In order to reconfirm, I called ahead to ask about it and the lady said that Dal indeed comes with two scoops of rice. I placed an order for Dal, Roti, and Chicken Biryani. Drove for 20-25 minutes each way. Came to hotel room only to find that they did not pack rice. When I called, the lady who answered the phone was insinuating that I was lying about it. Really? A tourist and a paid customer who came to Vancouver would lie about a scoop of rice? She insisted that she packed the rice and that I should "check more carefully". I am not sure what she means by that? Then she put me on hold and instantly disconnected the call. I called again to speak to the manager/owner. He was willing to have someone deliver rice to our hotel but he was not sure how long it would take since they do not have a vehicle. He however gave an estimate of 20+ minutes and said that it could take longer. At this point I asked him for a refund and even offered to drop off the food at the restaurant the next day. We felt cheated and insulted by the way they treated us. However, the owner insisted that dropping off the food was not necessary and that he would issue a complete refund. It has been 2 days and I still have not received any refunds.

Food - 2 Stars. The only saving grace was the Chicken Biryani. It was half way decent and no where close to being authentic Hyderabadi Biryani. It tasted decent none-the-less. Rotis were completely under cooked and doughy. Dal was pretty meh. It had too much masala. So much so that we could taste a hint of raw masala powder.

Overall pretty disappointed by food...

“This restaurant not deserve even a star !!!”

WORST BIRYANI in canada(or anywhere in the world). growing up in India hyderabad most of my life , I've had Biryani N number of times start from street cafe allhamdullila to paradise biryani in hyderabad and this is not even close to biriyani it seems like KUSHKA with kind of biriyani but not(mutton curry mixed in plane rice with raitha and onions aside).and it is found in madanapalle and punganur of chithoor district andhrapradesh and this 1000 times better than indian Bay leaf biryayaaani.its not spicy ,i guess they are adding synthetic colours instead traiditional safron and i canceld 2 biriyani and asked for naan and chicken curry it was like frozen naan oven heated and gave us worst chicken curry i dont even have a clue what to name it..funny thing is i dont see chicken in it may be some one stole it some one is really hungry beside me then one of my friend moved to dosa and vada ,dosa is good and vada (some thing went terribley wrong cause i was not expecting a sugarless chewing gum) customer service is good and friendly i pityy them cause they had to eat that food if they forget thier food from home ambience huhh i dont see ambience in this retaurant except tables and posters filled with historic hyderabad monuments bay leaf management with this kind of food and not worthy prices dont even dare to start delivery services because during delivery it may turn to some other recipe and people may get confused bay leaf management dont be stingy ,hire a good chef dont experiment with customers they go reataurants to have tasty food not a bay leaf food HYDERABAD IZATH MAT NIKHAL i never want go back to this place to eat food thank me if it is useful Don't get tricked by the name Hyderabadi you will become...

This is our go to place for biryani. I discovered this place some time last year, and have been there quite a few times since, and introduced it to a few friends as well. Great biryani - these guys really know how to make it, the flavours are excellent and the chicken is extremely soft, falling off the bones almost. One plate of it comes in a handi, and is large enough for 2-3 portions. Of course this is Hyderabad-style biryani, and it isn’t complete without salan (a mildly spicy sauce), something I was impressed to see these folks serve alongside the biryani.

Their chilli chicken is also good but not as good as the lamb pepper fry! Never had anything like it before and i always make sure to order this every time I go. It’s quite spicy though, cuz of all the pepper it has. I also really like their chhole bhature. It is an oily dish by nature (the bhature are deep fried and no amount of pressing paper napkins on it will ever absorb all of the oil), but once you have already prepared yourself for that, it’s very good. The chhole are so perfectly spiced and cooked. Also, it is by no means a serves one kinda dish. 2, at the very least, but would also feed 4 if not ravenous.

Pro Tip: Don’t ask for lamb pepper fry to be made mild. I made that mistake once. You might as well order something else at that point because without the pepper, it’s just lamb fry and tastes nothing like the original dish. Just don’t make...