Hastina - Royal Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Robinson Township

I was shopping in the area when I stumbled upon this Indian restaurant named Chutneys.Since I was visiting from Toronto I felt like some good south Indian food. Everything went well till we placed our order and then all hell broke loose. Nothing arrived for full fifteen minutes and its only then I realized that I couldn't tell the waiters from the customers. No wait staff was in uniform. There was total confusion. At least three guys came to take my order not knowing it was already placed. When the dosas arrived I was in shock. They were so pathetic - small,one scoop of filling with one tiny cube of potato. It was served in a foam plate and I managed to identify someone looking like a waiter and asked for the chutneys that go with a dosa. He went mad looking at our foam plates and summoned three or four guys wanting to know who screwed up in the serving. All this while we are hungry and waiting to eat. The kids didn't even get their chocolate dosas. They took our dosas and returned them in thalis with all the chutneys and the kids also got their dosas. My sense is that a bunch of IT guys have gotten together and opened this restaurant with their wives in the kitchen doing the cooking and family and friends doing the service with no idea of restaurant management and customer service and food quality or portions. They don't have a clue about safe food handling and cleanliness.If you do not speak their language then you are doomed. I also realized later that it was a Thursday and they were having a "all you can eat" deal. That explained why they were so full and they just couldn't cope. I do not wish them bad but at the rate they are going they will certainly add to the stats of restaurants that shut down for doing everything wrong. I do not think they deserve any customers till they've got their...

Edit 5/30/25: I'm leaving an updated review since it seems this place has rebranded and probably changed hands recently. The food is still good and they still do the buffet, but it's not entirely vegetarian anymore and things are much spicier. Price was about the same. I think it might be lower actually. We paid $27 for two. There are several chicken/goat dishes which are delicious but veryy spicy. They still do the dosa as well. There are less dessert options now. I think it was just mango lassi (which was empty) and one pudding. Unrelated to the food, the bathroom cleanliness left something to be desired and reeked of sewage, which is not really what you want to smell when you're having dinner.. at least it was contained in the bathroom.. That aside, the service was friendly and it was a lot more crowded than the first time we went, so we actually had to wait a few minutes. Many people were there in large groups. If you go in a smaller group of 2-3 you'll get in much faster.

Old review: Delicious food, friendly service, clean atmosphere. We tried the Sunday lunch buffet ($15/person over age 5) and everything was very good. Honestly we aren't that familiar with which types of food are regional in India, just that we pretty much like all of them! The dishes here were all unique compared to other Indian buffets we've been to (ie no Tikka masala/palak paneer/the usuals that you see), but they were all delicious. Most of them were a tiny bit spicy - not too much for us, but we like spicy! They had a little cooking station in the back where someone was making fresh dosas, which was cool. They also had many sweet options as well, which is a nice change as most places have only one or two. In all, good experience and we...

Very kind workers. I had came in 25 minutes til closing or so and it took me a bit to decide because my mother was having a bad day. I was waiting for my food to go so they didnt have to worry about cleaning my table and dishes. They saw me and asked if I had been waited on after I had been waiting and I said I had already ordered and was waiting for my food. Originally I thought my order was ready but they unfortunately told me they couldn't fulfill the order. They were at first a little bit confused and unorganized about what had happened to the order. Then they were very apologetic and began offering me free food for the trouble. I understand because I came in close to closing and they did their best to make up for the issue. I am thankful they gave me products to still eat and try because I hadnt eaten today despite it being close to closing. I am glad I was able to try their tofu and pasteries. They had given me the food for free. They were sure to be clear that my money would be refunded also, showing me. I felt bad because they may have to deal with a lot of racist white people and didnt want me to think ill of them because of harmful stereotypes. They were very kind and still tried to satisfy me and tried to make sure that I didnt think they were trying to take my money. I definitely would like to come back to try more options another time. They gave me 3 different pasteries, and 3 other containers of food. They definitely tried to make up for the mistake as much as they could...