i come from a city with a huge variety of indian restaurants, so i've been spoiled. I found the food at dhaba to not be particularly authentic. the take out menu is very bare with quite "mall food" tasting options, mostly combos. when we called for pick up the line was busy for a good 45 minutes before we finally got through which was pretty weird. I've also eaten in, and brought my parents from said indian-food-saturated city. We all ate politely and quietly sharing the knowledge that this was the Manchu Wok of indian cuisine. Quite possibly the most disappointing part is the "naan." As you can see from pictures, they are more like sliced up pita. They still do the job naan is supposed to do - collect the curry goodies as you would a dip - but they may as well have been Superstore pitas. THIS is what naan should look like: http://onceuponaplate.blogspot.ca/2009/05/naan-homemade-indian-flatbread-without.html and note that this was made by someone without a tandoori oven! i think you'd be better off watching some good youtube videos and buying spices from the indian grocer. Though clearly, I'm in the minority. read more

I went there on Saturday, it was buffet only. They had very limited items. Non of them was really tasty. They charged $40 for two person. About $50 after tax and tip. It was very expensive compared to quality and variety of the food. I won't go there again. read more

The food tasted okay but the portions were quite small - I had the individual butter chicken platter and was still hungry after eating my small cup of chicken. I was also disappointed to only get 1/2 piece of naan bread, would have been nice to get a whole piece, makes me wonder who got my other half. The servers were nice but unless they increase their portion sizes or lower the prices I am not sure we will make this a regular dining spot. read more

Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Chicken Madras, Samosas, Spring Rolls, Nann, and Saffron Rice are to die for! The food is filling, and all that kept two people eating for 3 and a half days. The price is good now that they have combos. I really think this is the best place to get Indian food. It was a little difficult for me to find, but it's basically behind Jungle Jim's in Bayers Lake. They opened the other section to the restaurant so it's a little bigger now. The staff is very friendly and the chefs know what they are doing. read more

I have been a huge Indian fan for a long time, and this place definitely impressed me! I was happy with their vegetarian choices and their portion sizes. Although I found their Basmati rice a tad dry, I loved their chickpea curry and the fresh Naan bread! Good service and atomosphere, I will definitely go back. read more

Was treated to lunch here on my birthday over a year ago, and immediately liked it. Can't tell you now exactly what I ate, but do remember enjoying it and being full. Came back for the buffet on a recent Sunday in September around 2pm and enjoyed it again. And most recently, with the Halifax Association of Vegetarians for a private dinner where they were open for our group only. The restaurant itself is very clean, with atmosphere mid-way between casual and fine dining. You have the choice to sit on either the right or left side (two separate rooms) when you come in the door, with the left seeming more on the fine dining side. Their buffet bar is on the right. Incredibly friendly service. It's not big overall, with maybe seven or eight tables per side. The buffet is excellent to top up your plate with various things that I unfortunately can't name right now because I thought I could copy them over from the online menu. They list the Indian names for each dish, but not the description, so I don't know which is which. I have eaten as several Indian restaurants in other cities but am only good at naming daal and saag paneer, my two favorites. LOL All their dishes are tasty though, with perfect flavor and very filling. Their 'Dhaba sangria' drink is excellent too. Next time I will pay closer attention to the dishes and edit this review, and I will be back. :) read more

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The best Indian food I have ever tasted. The butter chicken is very nice and creamy I visit here about 2 or 3 times a month and every time I'm welcomed by amazing servers and great customer service ! I recommend this restaurant 100% read more

Have a lot better option for indian food then this. As an Indian I'm ashamed with the quality of the food. They dont even make naan on their own. The food is edible but if you want better india taste, i would suggest you go to a different restaurant. read more

My wife and I visited dhaba express for the Saturday lunch buffet. Overall it met my expectations for a 14.99 buffet. The steam table was full and plentiful. Our server was back several times to fill water glasses and clear plates. I was not really sure what I was eating beside well that's potato and eggplant oh there chicken, rice etc... But the sauces and names of the dishes were not something I can talk about due to a lack of knowledge of Indian food. I would return. I picked up a menu on the way out the door. Plus don't forget to try the candy covered fennel seeds at the cash register they were interesting. The price of the buffet includes water and desert. read more

The perfection place to eat delicious indian food while you are on a shopping day. The buffet is a great way to try some new flavors. And the staff is really really nice. read more

I'd heard so many good reviews I couldn't resist the temptation to stop by for lunch. All I can say is Mmmmm, Mmmmm Good. Service was a bit slow to take our order but the food came within a reasonable time frame for the lunch crowd. Our server was very helpful with my selection and when I mentioned I only liked dark meat chicken she directed me to a Scrumptious Curry Chicken. Highly recommend for a casual lunch or get together with friends. Not sure I would go on a date at least not a first date. Might be embarrassing to dip your Naan. lol. read more

We are visiting from the states and sort of found it by mistake. Well it was no mistake. We happen to be there for Father's Day and they were only serving buffet. It was great. Both meat lovers and vegans can eat. The employees were friendly and very informative read more

The food was excellent , The Mango Lassie was great along with the Vindaloo Chicken and the Mutton Curry was my favorite .

Solid little Indian restaurant. Great for getting takeout or for eating the buffet. Our second time there we were surprised when we found out that they only were serving the buffet and we couldn't order anything off the menu. The mango lassis are delicious. This might not be my favourite Indian restaurant, but it has solid offerings and will do the trick when you have a craving! read more

I wanted to love this place but I just didn't. I tried the lunch buffet but was disappointed. There were only about 4 items, maybe 1 vegetarian, and they all seemed to share the same taste profile (little variety). I'm pretty sure the naan is packaged. I believe I payed around 15$ which felt overpriced for what was there and it just didn't hit the spot. Not terrible, but there are better places for Indian food. Perhaps their dinner menu is better. read more

I have visited twice - once for take out and once for dine in. The staff were friendly and efficient and the food was good. I do not know much about Indian food but I know that I really enjoyed the Butter Chicken, rice and naan bread. I need to get back to see their expansion. read more

Yummy home cooked Indian food at a reasonable price. Family run business and the staff are so friendly and helpful. I loved it!

We went for their Sunday buffet with 2 other friends. My conclusion: Nice decor, and fast filling of water, but watered down Indian food. I can't speak for their regular menu, but as far as their buffet goes, it's the "Americanized/ Canadianized Indian food" They've got all the right dishes out, the chaana (chick pea), the vegetarian dish, the meat curry, naan, and etc, but the seasoning is not there. The meat quantity in their meat curry was skimpy. If you are not there right when it comes out, there's only sauce left. read more

Beware of the Saturday Buffet! My husband and I ate from the Saturday buffet yesterday at Dhaba, and we have both been suffering since. Seems as if the food may have been at the wrong temperature for too long or some other series of unfortunate events. It's too bad, as it was tasty but we won't be returning. We are not willing to run the risk of going through this again. read more

This place seems to have a good cliental, and I was pleased with the level of service and food I received. I would recommend this restaurant and I intend to eat here again. read more

Stale old food mostly, I myself had food poison once. But hey, unfortunately depending upon your race/country of origin, the service from the restaurant varies. Do not recommend. read more

I'm from the city with 'the curry mile' I have been born and bred on chicken balti's, poppadoms and aloo gobi's - so I was excited to try Dhaba Express yesterday. The place was clean, fresh flowers on each table and nicely decorated. We ordered a selection of starters, onion bhaji's, spring roll and samosa's - all fantastic, no grease, freshly cooked. I then ordered the chicken curry combination, I was lovely, I really liked the salad that came with it. My husband really enjoyed the chicken vindaloo he ordered. We will definitely be back. It was very busy though - go early! read more

Food is delicious! Had several options for their brunch buffet, always a plus. Perhaps just a touch slow on refilling their buffet trays. Nonetheless, a good place to go! read more

Great food with great service. I love their butter chicken and garlic naan and not to forget chicken 65 is great taste as well.

So we had read good reviews about this new Indian /halal place in Halifax and we were quite excited to try it out. We ordered some of the most common Indian/Pakistani dishes which we have grown up eating... Mutton curry, lamb biryani and shrimp tikka masala were the main course dishes we ordered. The mutton curry tasted awful... We didn't eat it ... The other two were just okay... When done , we informed the server that we didn't like the mutton curry and requested to pack up the left over for us. When we got home , we found out that they didn't pack the mutton curry dish for us however they charged full $12 something for the dish. Furious at this I called the restaurant and spoke to the lady at the reception who told me she is the daughter of the owner and they can do nothing about it and hung up the phone. I am sorry but I will never go back to that place again and will not recommend any one else to try it out. It's just a waste of money. For people who know what Indian food should taste like... This place will be a huge disappointment !!! Also, the portions are small for the price. read more

This place is a bit hidden so you won't come accross it unless you are looking for it. I enjoyed a wonderful meal there last night with my girlfriend. It consisted of Butter Chicken, Daal Palak, Beef Vindaloo, a bread basket for dinner and Carrot Halwa and Gulab Jaman with some Masala Chai for dessert. The food was excellent the only reason I have given them 4 stars instead of 5 is because they didn't have some of the menu items that I wanted. Chicken Biryani (my favourite dish) was not available that night and also ras malai (my favourite dessert) was also not available. read more

One of my recommended spots for East Indian cuisine! I love this place!! I am not too sure if restaurant had changed over once with new owners or if they have decided to change to a new name. I feel both were good if not better now. Food and service has been consistently good. You won't be disappointed, just come and check this spot to eat if you haven't yet. read more

Sunday brunch is where it's at. Really tasty and healthy options that I haven't had elsewhere and the chai was authentic and well done too.

Heard a lot of good things about Dhaba from co-workers and decided to try out their Saturday lunch buffet. It was excellent! The most distinctive and flavorful Indian food I ever had (especially the rogan josh and jalfrazei) and this saying a lot because I have had Indian food in larger cities in Canada and the US. Service was great and the decor was clean and well laid out. Definitely going back! read more

A few friends and I had not intended to go to Dhaba Express one Sunday afternoon but after driving by Taj Mahal and finding that it is still closed (possibly closed for good?) and going to Curry Village which we found out does not open until later in the afternoon on Sundays we were stuck wanting Indian food and not sure where to get it. I had remembered reading about this place in the Coast and so looked up the address and drove over to try it out. The servers were very friendly and efficient, prices were decent, the atmosphere was acceptable and the food was great! I will definitely make this my new go to place for Indian food. read more

Excellent service and food. Watch out they close early in the evenings and have weird hours. Lots of take out and lunch biz I guess. Great Indian food, hot hot! read more

We've been to Dhaba many times now so this will be compilation assessment. Their a la carte menu items are excellent. The weakest item would be the Pakora which tends to be dry. The strong suits are the biryani (especially veg or lamb), vinladoo beef, varieties of naan, samosas and for the less adverturesome, butter chicken. Recommended as high as can be, is the Sunday brunch. Dishes you simply won't experience anywhere else and they're incredible. The Saturday brunch, however, doesn't meet the same standards. This is an all you can eat affair which seems to be pitched both to the all you can eat crowd (quantity first), as well as those maybe trying Indian for the first time. Please don't misunderstand; it's probably as good as most other local East Indian restaurants. But having been spoiled by the other things coming out of Dhaba's kitchen duck the Saturday brunch and invest in the Sunday brunch or the a la carte. Reservations for 6 or more. read more

The food was wonderful! We ordered it to go and it was very tasty! We both shared the chicken masala and the mutton beef combo plate:) it was very yummy and we will definitely be going back for more!! read more

Delicious! Nice little gem in Bayer's Lake Business Park. Make a reservation if you want to sit in the swankier side of the restaurant. looked more comfortable over there... :) read more

The food here was very good. We had the channa masala dinner, the dal makahni dinner and some garlic naan. The saffron rice was delicious and we enjoyed our curry and channa. The restaurant was clean and the waitstaff were very nice. There were also a few kids in there (in addition to ours) so they are definitely family friendly. read more

So good and Worth the wait! Delicious food, always fresh and hot, even the takeaway. The staff are super friendly. Dhaba is awesome.

Never go there on a weekend. Low quality low variety over-priced buffet. I still feel sick after the lunch I had.

My fiance wanted to take me and my son somewhere nice for my birthday, and I wanted Indian food. I looked at the previous reviews and thought Dhaba may just be the place. We arrived just after 6:30 p.m. The place was quite busy, which we took as a good sign. The manager was manning the phones and checking diners in. She estimated a 20 min wait. So we stayed. We were seating quite quickly which was another good sign. Then the problems began... We were seated about 5 mins or so when the server came for our orders. We all ordered water and my fiance and son both asked for pop. I was informed that the appetizer I ordered (pakora) was unavailable so I had to order something else. The server left with our orders. She came back quickly with our water, but we waited at least 10 minutes before she came back with the pop orders. We waited another 5-10 minutes before the first appetizer came out. And she only brought the first- my fiance's mulligatawny soup. My fiance was more than half done his mulligatawny by the time my son got his one samosa. BOTH of them were finished their apps before my papadums (tomato, onion and sauce drizzled on lentil chips) finally arrived- so I was eating my app alone and last. She cleared our apps dishes fairly quickly but it was about 20 mins before my son could flag her down for a pop refill. We watched as both couples who arrived after us (and were seated on either side of us) received all of their food before we got our main courses. When the server heard us complaining she finally came to our table to explain they had run out of rice (we saw the other tables BOTH get rice before us). We waited another 5 mins before our main courses arrived- all at once this time. We ate our dinners- the server never came to check our water or pop. She never checked in to see if the food was okay or if we needed anything else. We sat waiting to pack our leftovers and order dessert for ages after we were done eating. When she did come back to collect our leftovers I asked for the carrot halwa which I was then informed was also unavailable. She took mine and my fiance's leftovers- she said she couldn't take all three because she would mix the dishes up even though we all ordered different things. Within 2-3 minutes she returned my take-away box and took my son's leftovers... no sign of my fiance's take-away for another 5+ minutes. Eventually she returned with the last 2 boxes and the cheque. As we waited to pay, other customers who came to the till after us were rung out before us and new people coming in to order or be seated were dealt with while we were left to stand there. The food was passable- not significantly better than I could have made at home- but the service, time management, staffing and client care was dismal. Terrible experience. Probably will NEVER come back. read more

Worst Customer Service, I was regular for pick ups at least once in 2 weeks. @ months back I called to ask what is the menu for vegetarian. I am sure the owner's younger daughter picked up the phone and was told to check the website. Unaccepted, because at that moment if I had the access to their website, I would not have called. Anyways, I ordered 2 dishes and one was Matar Paneer. After coming home when I tried the Matar Paneer I called in again to complain that the Matar Paneer is full of salt and was replied back OK. Worst part is I wrote an email and never got back.\ Choice is your's guys!!. read more

Having been here twice, the regular food here is fantastic, but the lunch buffet is probably catered more to traditional Indian tastes. The half portion of naan you get is definitely not enough (You'll want to order more, trust me). Check it out, you won't be disappointed! read more