Restaurant Review

Host India
Located: 622 Montreal Road
Phone: 613-746-4678

For my restaurant review, I decided to go to Host India with my family. When I first opened the door, I thought that the restaurant had a very South Asian and Indian appearance to it. It was a huge and spacious area with several tables and booths. The restaurant looked elegant and was decorated very nicely. The tables had a burgundy coloured tablecloth with a white square sheet on top. The glasses, cutlery and napkins were at each place mat on the table. The walls were painted a mustard-orange colour and were filled with old fashioned Indian décor. There were religious Indian statues, wall hangings and decoration pieces placed throughout the restaurant.


Ras Malai

When we entered, we were seated almost immediately. The waiter took us to a table in the centre of the restaurant, near the main door. As we sat down, it felt really cold all of a sudden. We asked the waiter if we could sit somewhere else that didn’t have a draft and he very kindly moved us to another table. Afterwards, we were talking about how it was still very cold and the waiter overheard us. He quickly brought us a portable heater and put it at our table apologizing for the coldness and told us that one of their heating units was broken. I thought it was really nice of him to bring us a heater, even though we never asked for it. It showed that they care about their customers and want them to leave the restaurant satisfied. 

Vegetable Pakoras


We finally settled in and began to order. We all ordered vegetable pakoras for an appetizer. Then for the main dish, we ordered chicken jalfrezi and butter chicken and finally for desert, I ordered ras malai, my brother ordered mango kulfi and my parents had gulab jamin. We had two waiters that were serving us and I thought they were both very efficient and well informed.
I was impressed because our food was served to us very quickly. They served it within 15 minutes even though there were several other tables seated apart from us. The dining experience I had was really good. I loved all the food especially the vegetable pakoras. The 2 different types of chutneys that it came with added a sweet and sour taste to the spicy pakoras.

Butter Chicken

The butter chicken tasted okay but it was somewhat sweet and I didn’t like it that much. I expected it to be spicy and I ended up not liking the taste at all.

Chicken Jalfrezi

 The chicken jalfrezi was delicious and full of flavour but I personally think that it should have been spicier. What I disliked was that when we needed more drinks, I had to go to the front desk to find our waiter and tell him. The service was good but the waiters wouldn’t be there for half the time and if you needed something, you had to get up to tell them. Another thing I disliked was that the restaurant was really cold and it was uncomfortable but it was nice of the waiter to bring us a heater. I really liked the restaurant’s atmosphere; it felt so cultural and traditional with all the decorations and the service was really good. I loved the food, especially the pakoras and overall, I think the restaurant does a very good job of being consistent with their work.


Despite all the good things about this restaurant, there is always room for improvement. The restaurant is decorated very nicely and seems like a high end restaurant except for the place mats and napkins on the table. I think that if they spent so much time and effort on the physical appearance of the restaurant, they should improve the quality of things that people actually use such as place mats or napkins. I think that instead of using paper thin disposable place mats, they should invest in fabric place mats and napkins which aren’t tissue. In the end it would benefit them financially because they won’t have to keep purchasing more and it would improve the quality that their customers receive. I really enjoyed my dining experience and I’ll definitely be going back sometime soon!

More Information:

Click here for Restaurant Menu:
<http://www.hostindia.ca/Menus/DinnerMenu/tabid/6143/Default.aspx>
Click Here to see Map:
<http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=&daddr=622+Montreal+Road%2C+Ottawa%2C+ON%2C+>
Hours:
Sunday..................................11:30-2, 5-9
Monday-Thursday...............11:30-2, 5-9:30
Friday-Saturday...................11:30-2, 5-10
**Lunch Buffet: 7 days a week from 11:30-2, Mon-Fri $12/person, Sat-Sun $13.99/ person
General email: info@hostindia.ca
Staff (owner) email: ravinder.tumber@hostindia.ca