moti mahal

love the butterchickenand coconut rice. no other restaurant comes close!

we had not been here for a few months and were craving indian food. this is a great spot. the only issue is the lack of available parking space. our servers were very helpful this evening, and recommended the fish pakoras so we tried them for the first time. very good. we also had thechickenmasala ( good but not great) and the papaya coconut curry prawns, which my wife loved. prices here are quite reasonable and this is a nicely maintained clean restaurant.

best indian food i've ever had. it's not cheap, but it's worth it! i highly recommend theirchickentikka masala,chickensamosas, saffron rice, garlic naan and sesame naan. i've had tons of other great dishes but those are my go-to's.

we sat down here and had a pleasant seat on the far west side of the restaurant. the first thing i want to point out is that they use the copper cups, which to me, makes me drink a ton of water. i love these cups.

to be quick with this one, the food was fresh and delicious. we were especially happy about the crunchy/soft texture of the naan. we didn't have much time, so only ordered butterchickenand saffron rice, with naan. i forgot to get pics while i was there. there's a reason this place has been open for so long.

nice ambience, reservation needed. food can be improved though. does not have the authentic indian taste to it as its catered to people that are into modified/ less of indian spices so i personally found everything quite bland. plus point: 17th ave - good crowd/fine dining & fast service for a busy saturday night. approx $15-$18 per entree so by the time you order a couple of entrees and rice or naan to go with it you're looking at $30-$50 per person just for the food (did i say food wasn't that good?). kebab was dry. do not order the palak chicken(spinach chicken, so plain). anywho, my friends had the lamb & shrimp vindaloo and they seemed to have liked it a little. service was good, the server replaced the spinachchickeni ordered on his recommendation withchickenmasala curry without any hesitation. i don't think i'll be going back here despite good service & it being on 17th ave. but you might like it if you're into mild curries.

vindalooooo. moti is awesome! i go once a week and every time its been great. go for the lamb where you can because its delicious, especially in the vindaloo. the chilichickenis an excellent choice if you are trying to decide on trying a new dish. i can't believe there are negative reviews on here about this place...

used to be my favourite - what happened?. this used to be one of my favourite restaurants in the city. i was traveling for a year, so naturally this was my go-to restaurant on my first night back. i was incredible disappointed.
first off, our server made it very obvious that he either hated his job or hated people. couldn't decide which. he was monotone the entire time except for the last 30 seconds before he handed us the portable pay machine - clearly trying to entice us to tip him. we gave him a very low tip, i wish we had left zero.
secondly, the experience just sucked. our samosa appetizer looked terrible. we ordered two orders, and they brought out four dark fried samosas which were plopped on top of a few strings of cabbage and gross looking carrots. i used to love theirchickensamosas. instead it looked like i was eatingchicken"balls" in dirty cabbage. *sigh*
now to the main. palak was great, hard to mess that up. perfectly spiced.
butterchicken- the one dish that should be perfect in an indian restaurant, was really watery. not a thick cream base like usual. very disappointed as moti mahal used to have one of the best in the city.
lamb vindaloo - sauce great. meat tough.

truly, the only thing lovely about this restaurant was the pleasant young man who made sure to check our water and refill as he saw fit.
sorry moti mahal, but your standards and quality have gone beyond south. not sure if it was management change or chef or what. but two huge thumbs down....

have been here many times, has been about a year since we have been here last. going to be many more years before we go back. the food used to be tasty and of good quality, maybe 8 or 9 out 10, this time everything was 6/10 or below. the mango shakes were pre-made and warm, with some ice put on top, the vindaloo beef looked great, but was tough with a strange taste. thechickenlooked strange, like preformed processedchickenballs, which were tender, but not much taste.

where do you buy yourchickenfrom ... asked to the manager`. hello again!
read below another comment regarding the quality of yourchickensource resulting in bad tasting food ...

if you recall mr. manager, we asked you also that where do you get yourchickenfrom ... we were told that you get it fresh delivered (i hope you meant from a butcher shop).

you need to make changes drastically mr ``manager``

now added one more to the list
- change the girl or `change the girl`
- change the chef or switch the chefs around (naan guy to chef vice versa)
- change the manager or change yourself
- change the supplier or change the source

happy eating everyone ...
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mobile review
doesn't like it
diner from calgary • feodora • 12 reviews
nice flavor, but they need to try a new source for their boneless chicken. it tastes and has the texture of mass produced steroid/growth hormonechickenbreast. i would love to see how good it can be with regular or free range chicken.
posted on 06/20/14
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-----11 dec, 2014-----

manangement or chef or server. service was okay.
food not up to par.
high priced for low quality food.
we were told o(nce i brought up that the biryani rice is all mushed together) that this is kashmirichickenbiryani. we told the `manager` that this is not the first time we are eating out and we exactly know how the kashmirichickenbiryani should look and taste like and this is not even close.
criticism not well taken by the `manager` ...

advise from a consumer who eats out almost every night:
1. change the girl (server) and if you can not change the girl ... `change the girl`
2. if unable to do no. 1 at all; change the chef, if can not; promote the guy who makes naans to the chef as that guy makes great naan, perhaps he can make better eatable food.
3. hand over the management to someone else, who still does not understand the meaning of `customer service`and your job as so called `i am the manager`is to accommodate your guest however if you are not able to; change the manager and the management.

- i would not recommend this restaurant to any one.
- i had dinner at this place about 10 years ago and it is possible this manager is probably still wearing diapers, the setup was different what i can recall and did not have any issues like this with this so called `manager`.

there are better options in the city for indian cuisine, namely
- mango shiva in downtown on stephen avenue
- qila in ne (falconridge plaza)
- mirchi in downtown on 8th street and 12 avenue
- faisal kabab hut
- royal indian cuisine on 120, 4th avenue downtown
- spice 7

happy eating everyone!


-----09 dec, 2014-----

the worst indian restaurant. the start was good. we were greeted well. chairs were very uncomfortable. interior looks cheap. a server with dreads served us. the server probably was blazing before coming to work. anyways ordered food. does not taste good at all.
when we were asked by the server "how is everything". we told her how we really feel about the food. the response was negative in a polite way, "both of us are hungry that's why we may be able to finish the food". after a while the manager showed up *the guy with a beard*. did not take the critics very well and asked us if we own a restaurant. we simply said that we don't but we are customers who like to eat out and taste different food and you should take the feedback in a positive way. what an attitude this guy has ... is not friendly at all, totally rude and unprofessional. i think he still needs to learn how to take the feedback positive or negative and improve the quality of food and service. if your food is not good at least have good customer service. paid $50 or so for eating with chutney and naan. only thing there good is naan, water and chutney. lots of food left in the plates and the serving dishes, so other than chutney and water, the rest don't even bother. what our experience was:
service not professional
food ... somewhat undercooked ...so many better options in indian cuisine in calgary and this is not a repeat for us.
management. .. with a very rude attitude and very unprofessional

with this attitude and service, wish them all the best :) but dont think last long in market with that nasty attitude ... looking forward to new management as the location is great.

kudos to the guy who cooks naans there.

waste of money and time to go there for decent food.

expecations were high.
what we got is really really under par food and service. the food prices were really high for the poor quality food.


-----09 dec, 2014-----

calgary worst indian restaurant. paid $50 or so for eating with chutney and naan. only thing there good is naan, water and chutney. the rest don't even bother.
service ... not there
food ... eat somewhere
management ... no concept of customer service. they can only handle positive feedback. they would get upset like a child if god forbid said anything wrong with the food.

waste of money and time to go there.

expecations were high.
what we got is really really under par food and service.prices were really high for the poor quality food.

haha maybe everyone should stop ordering butterchickenand expand their horizons. it wasn't even made in india. it's the indian version of the "california roll". oh calgary.

how difficult is it to coo. utterchicken& paratha...worst ever in the city. server came up to do quality check told her it's not good her response " fine i will take it away " disappeared dropped the bill later. seems like cooks dont care about the food, servers don't care about the service & owners don't care about anything. awesome way to run a restaurant.

whoever says this food is good doesn't know anything about indian food...
the most watered down bland butterchickenand dahl i've ever tried in this city. full of white people that clearly don't know indian food... this place is not good at all, nice atmosphere but please fix the watery flavourless dishes!

bad butter chicken. quite possibly the worst butterchickenin calgary. but i have rather specific tastes when it comes to butter chicken; my favourite being from masala express in ranchlands (where i think they pride themselves on bad service). some may like the butter chicken, or perhaps it was a bad batch. the naan bread was excellent, and i had the roti as well which was good. the service was the best i've ever had from an indian restaurant. the interior/decor/ambiance are all good.

only a thumbs down because of the butter chicken, though i suspect i'll be back to give them another shot. there was enough potential there not to write them off entirely.

nice flavor, but they need to try a new source for their boneless chicken. it tastes and has the texture of mass produced steroid/growth hormonechickenbreast. i would love to see how good it can be with regular or free range chicken.

food junkie. good service is a nice way to start a meal. apps' sheeshkabob 's were excellent. the best butteredchickenin calgary. rice at times is a bit dry but well worth the money.