Sula Indian Restaurant, Commercial Drive — Restaurant in Vancouver

TLDR : Rats.

Detailed version : late post..We came into eat on Friday night august 18th 2023. We walked in at 8.30ish and were told they will have a table at 9.15pm. We arrived at 9.20pm and were immediately seated. Ordered railway sliders(3 pav), chicken tikka masala, mango mojito, garlic naan, roti. We were super excited because the ambience is just amazing and we had just returned from a backpacking trip and were craving good honest Indian food. Restaurant was half full. The food tasted decent and I would talk more about it if only I had not spotted a grown rat literally 6 feet away from me. We were seated behind the wine shelving that is right behind the entrance and the rat emerged at the table below the window and then proceeded to sniff its way to the center table. There were 3 tables occupied at this time and the rat was so used to being there or being around people it didnt even react by my voice (which was freaking out a bit). We called over the server and frankly poor her she freaked out too and went to consult her manager. She came back in a bit and was super apologetic.. which is decent but hey now what am i supposed to do? Continue eating while the rat eats its meal in front of me. She tried to assure us that they think the rat is not a resident rat and it came in from the open door which "we have to keep open because of patio". I am not sure what is the logic here...I have been to hundreds of restaurants with patios and not seen a rat in the dining area. Infact even if you eat at local cheap tapri in India, I have seen more hygiene there. Server said "there is nothing I can do immediately but rest assured that we have a pest control team". What the hell... they could have absolutely gotten a broom or something and tried to drive away the rat. I dont know what they could have done and it is their job to know what they could have done. We pay the restaurants for basic hygiene and edible food. They asked what I would like to do.. we were so taken aback..sitting there with half eaten food ...feeling disgusted that we had already eaten something cooked in a place infested with rats. BUT THE ADVENTURE IS NOT OVER YET...

In few minutes, another smaller rat crawled out from under the wooden lining under the window. This was too much. One rat - sure maybe as you say it just now sneaked in from the open door. A baby rat - no, its not a mistake, you have for sure got an infestation. If you have ever known about a rats or mice infestation then you know they are always in packs so if there is baby #1..surely there are baby #2 to #6.

Anyway this was enough to kill any appetite. After expressing our shock at the situation and the poor server feeling totally unprepared to handle this and after taking some videos and pictures of the star of the night, we asked for cheque. The saving grace was that server was apologetic and said they will not charge us for anything. I think we must have ordered about 50 CAD worth of food..eaten maybe half of it and left the rest behind. No manager or senior authority approached us.

Headed to mezcalarita down the street.. open door restaurant with no rats, yay! I wonder if the rats are partial to Indian food over mexican. Anywayyyy...

Searched google reviews of this place for keyword "rats". You can do it too and you will find another review from about an year ago reporting a rat seen at the main st. Location. The owner has responded to it without bothering to address the rat issue- so obviously they are aware but turn a blind eye.

Did a google search and found a public service health report that cited rodent activity for Sula restaurant in may 2023. You can find it by googling for sula inspections VCHA. I will not post a link here because I am not sure how google reviews will react to it.

I share this because everyone deserves to know what they are eating and this restaurant needs a wake up call. They know of the rodent activity and do...

Being a Local guide of Edmonton, I would definitely rate all my experience in British Columbia. We have visited this place today on 14th July 2021. We came to British Columbia on 10th July 2021. 4th day here today after visiting 3 different restaurants in 3 days we found Sula.... I have rated this restaurant as number one out of 4 different places. We have tried their Garlic Cheese Naan, Achari Murgh Masala, Paneer Kadhai, Malai Dil Kofta, Vegetable Biryani and Mango Coconut Kheer.

Everything was so delicious that I couldnt stop myself eating it until all the dishes were almost done. Their Achari Murgh Masala was perfectly spiced, and other dishes were extremelly well prepared.

Achari Murgh Masala: a perfectly balanced dish with a hint of Pickle Masala (Indian pickles, not the one we use in Subs and Sandwiches.) With balanced spice level and a perfectly simmered gravy. Bonless chicken pieces were tender.

Paneer Kadhai : these people maintained the value of word Kadhai with mixing ingredients not too much or not too less.

Malai Kofta : Soft Vegetable Dumings in tangy tomato and onion gravy. It could not be easier all the time to maintain the softness of dumplings by putting it into boiled gravy. But these people have proved it by serving a tremendous dish of Malai Kofta. Love it.

About Vegetable biryani, about the taste I would give 5 out of 10 as it was pretty much taste like biryani but few whole spices were missing to give it extra aroma. I am a chef as well so for the look of biryani I would give 4 out of 10. Texture of the biryani is when you take a spoonfull you expect to have fine glazed rice with taste of almost all the spices in the biryani. This dish was little watery at bottom which doesnt match the traditional Biyani dish at all.

Talking about Mango Coconut Kheer : expectations were little high for this dish.yes it was tasty but the rice have been used were not Basmati Rice ( I guess because it was hard to feel the rice in mouth or hard to catch it on spoon) . Kheer is know as rice pudding, so first thing we try to find it milk and rice in this dish. MANGO and COCONUT are bonus flavors. But I am not going to say that this dish disapppinted me. It was delicious for me, kids love it too.

Girl server could be little more polite while talking, she was not rude but the way to talk to customers has to be little more friendly and polite.

At the end I would like to say yes it is most definitely a 5 star visit. Thank you guys for making our day by serving us a perfect meal. Keep...

Two of us went for dinner at Sula and had an incredible evening.

The place is decorated with such class and style, lovely yellow lighting with the perfect balance of greenery and Indian décor. The Koi pond is a very nice touch and they even have an accent in the entrance way which hints at the running water within the restaurant. The little touches, such as cloth napkins make a huge difference in the whole dining experience.

The food was incredible, we had Paneer Pakora which looked as good as it tasted. One cannot go wrong with battering and frying cheese but this took it to another level. We also had the Aloo Tikki Chaat which was a delightful second appetizer. Our waiter recommended the Lamb Pasanda curry which we had with coconut rice and garlic cheese Naan. This curry was incredible but weren't able to finish it because of the aforementioned amazing food but took it home in a box. I proceed to finish the remaining food for breakfast the next morning as I could not restrain myself until lunch time.

For drinks we had Yogi's at the start and my date had a tamarind margarita afterwards. My word, that tamarind margarita was incredible. The presentation of this drink was beyond good, from the smoking cinnamon to the lime flower this drink looked as good as it tasted.

Of all the things, the décor, food, nor the drink was the highlight of my dining experience. It was the wait staff. Our waiter Kaous (my apologies as I know I am spelling this wrong) was delightfully friendly and also guided our dining experience perfectly. His suggestions we're all on point and next time I'd look for him to order on my behalf. I will describe the water situation which demonstrates the level of detail present here. The water cups were chilled when we sat down, Kaous brought out two water jugs, one to fill our cups and the other to be left full on the table. Our water cups were never empty as even the expo's would top them up.

I would suggest everyone dine at this fine establishment before the 2023 Michelin Star restaurants get announced in Vancouver and a reservation is...