The Secret Kitchen - The Indian Saga — Restaurant in Vaughan

It was mothers day so i arranged for me and my family a total of 10 members to go to this restaurant. I had booked 2 weeks in advance as based on the reviews i read it was a very nice place to eat with a nice atmoshpere and good service. My experience was anything but pleasant . We arrived at the restaurant around 230 on mothers day Sunday May 12th. As i walked in i was greeted by a person near the front door, and was shown to my table. The decor looked beautiful. The music was loud like at a night club, looked like they had plenty staff for a possible busy mothers day rush. We began by ordering drinks and appetizers. We. Ordered a vef platter and a non-veg platter. The veg platter arrived in a few minutes along with our drinks.. the food looked good..however the wine bottle was left on the table the server did not pour for us and more se they did not bring it on a bucket of ice as rose generally needs to be chilled.as disappointing as that was. I would let that slide...but things continued to get worse half my family does not eat meat..so when the veg platter came they ate as the rest of us waited for the non-veg platter which arrived roughly 35 mins after the veg platter. We instead of enjoying our drinks and food together ended up watching eachother eat . Now this can be a one off but not the case as plenty of staff standing around, there was no serving spoon with the appetizer s and when we asked we had to wait another 10 minutes to get them and there was no knives which also took time for them to get by which time we struggled and ended up using our spoons to cut the meat. Now we ordered our mains we order four vegetarian items and 2 non-vegetarian items. 8 naans a 6 Papad and 2 onion lachha. So once again all the vegetarian items arrived first and all 8 naans and papads. Half my family began to eat as the rest of us once again waited for our non Vegetarian dishes.once again there was no serving spoons and asked and waited untill they got them.so about 40-45 minutes later the two non veg items arrived. By now the half of my family was done eating. The rest of us had to begin and our naans were cold the papad was cold. As we had waited there was not even a apology for the delay . But wait it gets worse, the non-veg items we ordered were butter chicken and the indian sizzler non-veg Had the server told me i was ordering the exact same thing and that the only difference was that the butter chicken was on a small bed of rice and veggies.. i would have ordered something else.. but i ended up with two of the exact same chicken just served diffrently . The service was poor the food as average. The ambience was off due to loud music my bill was well over 700 dollars including a pre determined 18% tip as we were a large group. Afterwards all of us had to apologize to my mom for bringing her to a place that should have given us the best experience on a holiday mother's day. For the pricing everything is overpriced, all food was served slow staff need training, i should not have to ask for refill on my water every 5 minutes...and wait another 5 before someone tops of my glass. Over all no matter how good the food is presented and tastes. With the service being so poor and the loudness of music taking away from the ambience , i will not return to this restaurant and i would bot recommend this restaurant to anybody, i would get better service at McDonald's then i did here, should have gone to tandoori flames buffet i would have paid half the amount and had a better experience. If i could give below 1 star for service i would i always generally leave a review when i attend any restaurant, and usually they are good reviews of there is usually something good to say about The Secret kitchen i dont have anything nice to say at all. But most disappointing was the look on my moms face after such a bad mother's day experience.

I am attaching a picture if my receipt . A total including tip of 742 dollars.there is no excuse for the service i received when spending that kind of money on such a...

We visited The Secret Kitchen with a group of eight for a special family wedding anniversary dinner. While the food was creative and delicious, the service was frustrating and disappointing — especially considering the premium prices.

🍽️ Food & Ambience

The food was truly the highlight of the evening — beautifully plated and flavourful. We also enjoyed the drinks. Shoutout to Het, the bartender, and the male food runner, who were both warm, professional, and had great energy. The manager stopping by to check in on the food was also appreciated.

We ordered a biryani dish and were surprised at how small the portion was for the price. Since we were a larger group, we added two more. As they were taking a while and we had to leave soon, I asked the server if they could be packed to go. Instead of doing that, she responded with, “But it’s ready.” If it was ready, why hadn’t it been brought out already? I had already said we needed it to-go — yet she wanted to bring it to the table. It just felt like she wasn’t listening.

👎 Disorganized, Frustrating Service

I have a lot of patience — my father owns a restaurant, so I understand the demands of the service industry. But this was unacceptable. Our server was incredibly disorganized and lacked basic common sense or communication skills.

Even when we were placing the drink and appetizer orders, she seemed confused and slow. By the time we got to the mains, I ended up typing out our full order on my phone and showing it to her one by one — just so she could enter it at her own pace without getting overwhelmed.

What was most annoying was her total lack of presence at the table. I was seated on the right-hand side, and instead of coming closer to speak with me, she would stand at the far end of the table, speak very softly, and make no effort to be heard — even though the restaurant was extremely loud. It felt like we had to shout across the table just to interact with our own server, which is ridiculous.

If Het had been our server, I genuinely believe the entire experience would’ve been more enjoyable, efficient, and fun.

💵 Billing & Lack of Transparency

At the end of the meal, we were never presented with a bill — just handed the payment machine. I added a tip, assuming gratuity hadn’t been included yet. When I later asked for a receipt, the server had to go to a separate area to get it. Only then did I see: • We had been charged for water that was never requested • An automatic 18% gratuity was added — without any verbal disclosure

This is not acceptable. In Ontario, automatic gratuities must be disclosed upfront — not buried in fine print on the last page of a long, confusing menu. It’s common restaurant practice to present the itemized bill first, then the machine. The fact that this step was skipped entirely is poor service, especially on a $700 bill.

We explained the situation to the manager, and to his credit, he refunded the gratuity. But this could’ve all been avoided if basic communication and transparency were in place.

📄 Menu Layout

The menu itself is overly long, messy, and difficult to navigate — even for someone fluent in English. For elderly guests or newcomers, it’s even worse. It desperately needs to be simplified and better structured.

⚠️ Final Thoughts

While the food and ambiance have great potential, the lack of communication, poor service, disorganized staff, and hidden fees completely overshadowed the evening.

If you’re going to charge high-end prices, the customer service and professionalism need to reflect that. Unfortunately, they didn’t — and that’s what we’ll...

My experience at The Secret Kitchen was okay and not how I expected considering the hype surrounding the chef owned restaurant.

The restaurant ambience is impressive and not the usual type you would find at some of the fine dining restaurants in the GTA. The decor inside was stylish and quite creative.

Ordered a couple of appetizers with some non-alcoholic drinks. We were served a welcome drink before the appetizers and drinks. I have to say that the welcome drink was exceptional. It was hot and very refreshing. It had a great taste and I liked it very much.

Then came the non-alcoholic drinks. The blueberry drink was really good. Not too sweet with a creamy like texture. The Paan flavoured drink, on the other hand, was a big disappointment. The drink tasted like water mixed with just few drops of the Paan essence which costed a whopping $25.

The “Delhi Chaat with Hummus” appetizer was nicely presented and was very comforting. Simple flavours yet so delicious. However, the “Hariyali Paneer Tikka” was below average in terms of taste and quality. There wasn’t much flavour of the Green Chutney marination and the paneer was hard instead of being soft. The presentation of this dish was average as well.

The main course dishes weren’t that great and lacked the essential flavours one would expect in these dishes at a restaurant of this kind. The gravy in the “Paneer Tikka Masala” dish was a bit sweet and the paneer was hard. The “Dal Makhani” wasn’t the typical Dal Makhani and was average. The texture and taste said it all. The assorted breads were fine but should have been a bit better.

I asked for some green chilies and they were served deep fried instead of raw. That was weird and a letdown. I’ve never seen any Indian restaurant serving fried green chilies.

The collection of english songs being played was fantastic which added to the sophistication of the restaurant. Enjoyed listening to them.

Although the pricing is higher than some of the other fine dining restaurants in the GTA, the service was pretty good. The servers were nice and well behaved.

I provided a detailed feedback to the restaurant supervisor - Aditya who was very kind to accept and appreciate the honest feedback provided while leaving. As a courtesy to us, he waived off the Paan drink from our bill and also mentioned that he would bring this feedback to the restaurant management’s attention and corrective action would be taken going forward.

I would recommend trying this restaurant for a new experience at least once especially when you’re celebrating a...