Indian Roti Kitchen — Restaurant in Vancouver

Great food. TERRIBLE service. I have been a regular customer here for quite some time - often craving their delicious food, and order for pick-up, as well as dining in. However, although they have delicious food, they have terrible service. Only one woman works at the front - answering phones, serving customers, dealing with pick-up orders, payments, and she can clearly NOT handle it all by herself. Not sure why they haven't hired someone to assist at the front, but it is taking a toll on their business. As nice as the "lone woman" has been in the past, today she was nothing short of INSANE. I called ahead to order for pickup, she said it would be fifteen to twenty minutes. I was driving an EVO (pay by the minute), and therefore asked it there was anyway they could rush my order as I was just down the street. She said they'd do their best, but that it was likely going to be 15 minutes for sure. I said Ok, placed my order, and made my way there. Traffic was crazy so I got there after about 15 minutes, and parked the EVO in a precariously small spot - with the hazards on, hoping my order would be ready. I walked in and a number of people were ahead of me, so I patiently waited off to the side until I was able to pay. Meanwhile the phone was ringing off the hook, people were coming and going for their pick-up orders, paying for them at the front; she was multi-tasking, answering phones, running credit cards, running back to the kitchen to get orders for pick-up, etc. Meanwhile the clock was ticking on, and my EVO was costing me more every minute. It ended up taking half an hour. True, not too much longer than her estimate, but had I known it would take that long, I would have "signed off" the EVO, and walked in to pick it up instead (walking home afterwards). When my food was finally ready, I went to tell her that had I known it was a half hour, I would have made different choices regarding my EVO, but couldn't even get a word in. She started yelling at me, saying "You ALWAYS do this!!! You STRESS me out!!!......and so on, and so on, and so on!!!" And generally, just flew off the handle - covering her ears like a 4 year old so she couldn't hear me responding to her outrageous behaviour. There was ONE, I repeat, ONE other occasion when I was in a rush to pickup my to-go food, again, because I had an EVO waiting. But I was not rude, or impolite - I simply let her know I had a "pay by the minute car" waiting. I worked in the service industry for years, and eventually ended up leaving as I couldn't handle the demands hungry customers put on me, while my colleagues could. I would take things personally, they wouldn't. I realized it was not a good environment for me, and it's clear, it is not a good environment for the lady who works here. Honestly, I've recommended this place to SOOOOOO many people in the past because of the good food, but having one of the owners(?) go off on me in her restaurant, yelling at me in front of another customer is unacceptable. A petulant toddler should not be the face of an otherwise good business. So, go here at your own risk..... you might just get her on a good day and leave happy. But honestly, Indian Roti Kitchen, you should seriously consider hiring someone who actually knows what they're doing when it comes to customer service, and the ability to handle customer feedback...

It's a takeout-only Indian restaurant specializing in curries wrapped in a roti. This format is very unique and space-efficient, but also a delicious different way to enjoy curry. You can also get typical Indian snacks and dishes with rice instead of roti. You can add in additional proteins or veggies to your dish for an additional cost. I found it easy to use their website to order, and my order was ready at just about the exact estimated time that they gave me. I ordered the baingan bhurtha roti with added paneer and spinach for something different. The roti portion was huge and well worth the cost even with the fees from my add-ons. I ate the whole roti for fear that it wouldn't keep well but saved some of the curry for the next day. The roti itself was very good - tender but not tough, didn't get soggy from the curry. The curry also was pretty good - no surprises, but flavourful. It was less oily than a lot of restaurant-style Indian food which I appreciated. The paneer and spinach add-ons worked well, I would recommend trying it with these if you don't mind spending a little extra. I ordered medium spice and it was actually a little milder than I expected on day 1, but the heat was more intense on day 2. It was extremely hot when they gave it to me. This is great if you have a long trip home before you can eat it, but I took it to the park by City Hall which is just a few minutes' walk, so I had to tear open the roti and let it vent for quite a while before it was a bearable temperature to eat. I also got a mango lassi. This actually surprised me with how good it was. I could really taste the fresh mango! This was the thick kind of lassi that's best to drink with a straw. It is, again, takeout-only, so there's not much atmosphere, but there are chairs that you can sit in if you need to wait. The staff...

Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. The roti dishes are like a roti pie, or like a big enchilada, and they are delicious! The portions are generous and very reasonably priced considering the pressure restaurants are under right now. I ate the whole thing myself and felt very full but I'm a pig so you could probably comfortably feed 2 or even 3 people with one roti dish, I'd say they weigh around 1000~1300 grams each. I like that you can customize the spice level too, but the medium-spicy was more than enough for me and I eat spicy food often! I tried the lamb vindaloo and it was excellent, the lamb was tender and there was plenty of it, and the vindaloo had a nice tang and spice flavor that lingered on your tongue. The takeout containers are sturdy aluminum that you can also eat out of, and the disposable cutlery is very solid and works well for cutting. It's clear that the takeout hardware was chosen specifically for its quality, i don't think any other kind of takeout container could stand up to the roti pie and a wimpy knife & fork are just not satisfying to eat with. We ate outside at a picnic table and everyone who walked by said they could smell it from almost a block away, it's powerful! I also noticed that you could smell the restaurant from well down the street where we parked! The papadams are great and the veggie pakoras had a great crunch with a strong caramelized onion flavor and a creamy potato center. I liked that the chutney didn't have an overwhelming tamarind flavor, just a nice acidity to brighten things up a bit. The online order system is easy to use and works excellent, I was super happy with it. Overall a great restaurant with a lot of thought and care put into their dishes, highly...