Sizzling Tandoor Downtown — Restaurant in Victoria

Part 1 of review - My husband and I visited this place recently for its boasting 4.2 rating, but to be honest, this is not worth ruining your day/evening! A rude staff member (a server woman with bangs hair style - Kirn Bawa) does not know how to conduct herself with customers. My husband had complained about the music at this place because it was 1 - too loud, 2 - very fast paced remixed songs which were killing the vibe of the place. Music is a big part of the restaurant experience so we were well within our right to request a change of music.

This woman staff got so offended that she started making insulting comments for my husband about how “he should be a little more happier in life” and commanded that “he should bring headphones the next time he goes to a restaurant”.

This was really uncalled for and she did not stop there. Right after we paid the bill and gave her a tip too despite her unprofessional behaviour, she said ”the front door is right there” implying that we should leave. It was a serious shock to me!

She is not fit for this job where public interaction is a huge element. She can’t handle speaking to customers and is capable of starting a fight with anyone for no reason.

When I read other 1 rating comments, most of them quote that staff here is rude and disrespectful which I now believe is true. She ruined our evening. We had packed the leftovers from our dinner there to eat later but honestly we threw it outside the restaurant in the garbage can after this incident as it left a bad taste in our minds despite the food being actually fine!

Never returning to this place and I will make every effort to deter my friends and family from giving business to this place.

Part 2 of review (after owners’ reply) Got to know the restaurant is owned by Bawa family and the woman server who misbehaved with us was Kirn Bawa (GM) and possibly the daughter or some close relative of the owners. That’s why she had that bratty attitude and the tone she took was as if coming from an imaginary throne! Of course, then it makes sense why the restaurant “supports” the actions of their staff because it is all one voice. In the reply, owner (one of the Bawa’s) mention they won’t tolerate misbehaviour towards staff while completely being blind to the fact that it was her (Lady Bawa) who verbally abused my husband for no good reason.

Anyway, our problem was that instead of taking that as feedback, she got utterly defensive and crossed the lines of decency. This toxicity will take this place down because she doesn’t even know the C in Customer Service.

P.S. There are other reviews mentioning that music here is obnoxiously loud and plays some random rap or mixes of unpopular songs. Makes it impossible to enjoy a conversation with...

I was hoping to see a -5 negative rating if possible. The worst Indian Food I ever had in North America. They are a big black spot in the name of Indian Food. Let me dissect it for you. When we walked in, a blonde waitress asked us to take any table... And when we chose one to sit, she said 'except this one and the adjacent one'. That was a warm welcome. We walk to the buffet stand and see same old low grade Indian Restaurant menu being served. We chose to order. Firstly, there was a mix up on the beer. I asked for a Lager and I am served a Hoyne Pilsner. Not a bad beer. For appetizer, the waiter suggested us to try Paneer Pakora. What do we get, pieces of Paneer glazed with Spinach paste and batter fried. Bland was the taste. 8 pieces were served... We ate 6, coz of hunger. Rest of them, left for the restaurant to decide. Waiter suggested us to order 'Chicken Tikka Masala' (apparently he orders the same). What do we get... 2 Inch diced boiled chicken in tomato paste. The inside of the chicken was cold. Just being a South Indian, I asked for 'Hot'... So what do they do.... They add Red Chilli Powder... The chef was very generous to add an extra spoon to show his love. I am writing about the red chilli powder because, I clearly asked the waiter to ask the chef to make it Hot, by adding Green Chillies and not Red Chilli Powder. I ate one piece of chicken. Rest of the Tikka Masala, again left for the restaurant to decide. Roti and Naan were decent... No complains. Rice - Dried... not cooked. I am not kidding, grains were dry as if they were dried under the sun. I even told the same to the waiter. Waiter walks by, I tell that the food is funny, he tried to understand my problem with the food and offers to remake the food. Unfortunately, he did not understand that food has to be served right in the first place. No one would like their food to be remade. Now, here comes the best part. I ask for the bill... Waiter saw that our food is not eaten, he still charges me full amount without any shame. I paid $38 dollars for the food which was less than half eaten. While paying the bill, all I could say to the waiter is that "I am paying this bill not for food, but for Beer and letting us use the Washroom".

I am very sure that the people in the restaurant will recognize me after reading this review. Strong suggestion to people who want to visit this place.......

Food, when it eventually came after about 80 minutes of waiting was good. We were sat in the front on Christmas day. It felt like we were in the waiting room. No ambient lighting, atmosphere non existent. We asked for candles and one came about 60 minutes into our visit, despite asking 2 different servers, twice. At one point, the lights on the wall above went out and we sat in the dark for an extended period of time. No one came over to us to acknowledge this. We used our iPhones and found a fireplace App to create some sense of atmosphere. The rest of the restaurant was well lit and looked cozy. We felt like the abandoned step family that no one wanted to talk to, despite making reservations well in advance. They seemed to have a good business of take-out and paid no attention to the folks in the restaurant, at least they paid no attention to my family. I finally brought it to their attention after having sat there for 60 minutes with no attention. We had no food and were starving. They didn't ever offer any sort of munchie to get us through this time. Most Indian restaurants will offer some papadom and some sauces to get you through. Fine, we didn't order, but come on, 80 minutes without any drop of food, when we only ordered 3 curries. This was a terrible Christmas "experience". The service was some of the worst I have ever experienced. If you can't take care of the few people in your restaurant, you shouldn't be in the service business. Sorry, big fail tonight. We had more time tonight to analyze how you could make that small room better with more ambient lighting, candles, curtains. We literally felt like we were in the waiting room and no one knew we were...