My friend, originally from India, and I decided to try this new Indian restaurant in Markham on November 11. When we entered the restaurant it seemed very dark and the room was cold, but the aromas were appealing to both of us.
The restaurant had few patrons, we chose a booth and were greeted by a most pleasant waitress.
Since we were looking for a light lunch, the only option from the extensive menu was to order two appetizers, our choice being Chicken Lollipops (if my memory serves me correctly, no peppers hot) and Gobi Manchurian (one pepper hot).
The food arrived quickly and looked appetizing. Neither of us could swallow either of these two appetizers they were so hot to our palate - now, I usually enjoy a fair degree of heat and my Indian-born friend - and talented Indian cook, I may add - could not tolerate the heat in these dishes.
We asked if we could have a bowl of rice or lentils in order to subdue the heat in these dishes. We were informed that we could order another dish containing rice. No, we didn't want yet another full order, we simply wanted a scoop of rice or lentils to diffuse the heat.
The waitress returned with what was about an 8 oz. bowl of plain boiled rice. We both had a spoonful or two of rice to cool our palate and decided that we not risk another mouthful of the appetizers, having at that point had each one piece from each dish.
When the waitress presented us with the bill, she made a point of mentioning that there would be no charge for the small bowl of plain rice.
Being a new restaurant in the neighbourhood - so many missed opportunities for free advertising and precious public relations!
Firstly - Perhaps the owners might consider having a menu of say three items of small portions, a meat, a vegetable and a rice or lentil offering as a lunch option.
Second - Those little peppers indicating the degree of heat on their menu are, in our opinion, way off the mark, or in the dishes we ordered were most inaccurate.
Third - When the waitress saw that we could not eat the food we ordered because of the heat, points would have been scored if she had offered to take the plates back to the kitchen and offered us alternatives, with apologies.
Fourth - To bring to our attention that the small bowl of plain boiled rice was 'free of charge' - well, no comment.
The bill for these two inedible appetizers was upward of $40. (I was not given my portion of the bill)- we did not order any beverages.
Not only will we not be returning to Indraprastha, but we will be sharing our experience.
When trying to locate this site in order to share our experience, I did see that another location of Indraprastha had issues with the health department. read more