Punjaabi VIBE Shisha Lounge and Bistro (LLBO) — Restaurant in Vaughan

They say you never get a chance to make a first impression. PGIB would be well advised to take heed of this.

Having been welcomed to the 3/4 empty restaurant we were shown to our table and then served by someone wearing worn jeans and sneakers. Not the best look tbh. He took our drinks order and we left for the buffet.

There is a good variety of food but many dishes were unlabelled and those that were lacked basic descriptions. Even a regular consumer of Indian food such as myself saw dishes I hadn't before. What was in them? Who knows? How do we choose? That aside, I understand that a person with an allergen risk would not eat at a buffet but there are other reasons why a person might wish to avoid certain dishes so this is a strange omission to me. Equally, the same serving tongs are used for multiple dishes. Not great.

We returned to our table. No drinks. Server was dealing with water behind the bar. Another set of guests sat down at an adjacent table to us and the server attended to them. We asked about our drinks and were told he would bring them after serving the table adjacent and he then brought water, which we hadn't asked for. The drinks eventually arrived just before we finished our first plates.

After a second visit to the buffet we noticed that there was no naan to be seen. I found our server and was told we had to order this (though it was included). Bizarre for something as much a staple as rice, surely? And why did we have to ask? Why hadn't he told us at the start? The table next to us had the same comment and were equally perplexed. We sat down and noted the plates from our first visit to the buffet were had not been cleared. The naan, when it arrived, was freshly baked but curiously "flat" and not the light airy naan you might usually see, in fact It may have been paratha. Not sure if it was undercooked or perhaps just a different style. Not to my taste though.

We finished and sat for a while and moved the now increasing number of plates to an empty table rather than stare at them. They were eventually cleared away.

The food generally was acceptable for a buffet and the restaurant pleasantly decorated. Shame about the disinterested server...and...a postnote - both my date and I felt strangely "bloated" for hours after our meal, though we certainly hadn't overindulged. Was it the naan? Something else? No idea why but as a general dining experience, memorable, though not for the...

Edit - August 2023 Newly renovated - and looks great. Outdoor space looks very comfortable but more lounge than dining space.

The food was excellent - one of the best flavours in Vaughan to Markham. Our Bindhi curry was perfectly spiced - fresh made spices and flavoured. Naan was fresh fluffy and chewy along with the other curries and kebab. The portion size was ok and definitely more than restaurants in Toronto downtown or Mississuaga area ones.

A young lady named Bipan served us - attentive, friendly and excellent.

This restaurant is a must try for lovers of authentic Indian cuisine.

Compliments to the restaurant chefs and team.

Huge fan of ethnic foods and we are very lucky in Toronto GTA to be spoiled for choices.

So we decided to try out Punjaabi. Here is my review -

Summary - food is excellent. We ordered the obligatory Butter chicken, chicken vindaloo, lamb curry, aloo gobi, bhindi curry, naan, veg palao and Punjabi stuffed Paratha. Although on the “medium” spicy scale, the curries were hot.. but delicious hot with fragrant and flavours of spices used.

Observations -

Chinese menu? Why in an Indian Punjaabi Restaurant ? Basically saying - “we don’t make good Indian food so we have added other international cuisine to the menu”.

Cleanliness - 6/10

Service - 7/10 - doe eyed staffs, timid and a bit clueless - probably new employees.

Pricing - about 15 - 20% more than some of the other Indian restaurants we go to. The menus on google review are severely outdated and depending on the items, pricing is about 50% to 80% more. For simple context, plain naan is $3.50 versus some other restaurants charging $1.50 to $2.00 each.

Buffet - not offered on the night (Wednesday) we tried out the restaurant

Menu - we originally wanted to order thalis, but was told that menu was only offered to 5pm. This restaurant uses digital menu… please update the menu with this information instead of creating expectations and then limiting it.

Portion size - about medium. Better than some of the “upscale” Indian restaurant where curry portion is about a cup. But less than some of the family run Indian restaurants.

Parking - lots of parking

Thankfully, the food was delicious and had...

This place is dirty. The employees were getting orders wrong. The Drinks were flat. The employees would talk about customers noticeably. The food area, washroom and dining area was very dirty especially the ice cream area. The food looked and tasted like it has been siting there for days.

Edit: I was also asked by the management team to give their restaurant a 5 star review so I can get a % off my total bill. They wanted me to take a screenshot of it and give it to them for the discount. What type of restaurant does this? Alot of these reviews are customers that wanted money off their bill, who wouldn't do that? It doesn't show the true integrity of the restaurant compared to good panjabi restaurants that actually work hard for customer service and their food and they don't bring customers for good reviews

Overall a bad experience

Edit 2: The owner's response "Please don't put false reviews" responding to my review. Instead of lowering your customers integrity and option you should see how you can resolve the issue and make sure it does not happen again. I can find myself at a point of life where I would spread false information regarding a family owned business in matter a fact any business. My photos have my proof, regarding the bad experience. Maybe fix the issues that your restaurant is having then pick fingers and say customers are lying. There's a reason why I only come once.

Edit 3: after a year and more the owner is saying I’m “defaming” their business. Not at all!! I’d never do that to any business. Although I shared my experience and it should be acknowledged. I also attached photos of the un clean environment but they’ve been removed from the owners...