the host

i always have a lot of expectations with indian restaurants. everyrestauranthas its own version/flavour of food and this makes them different from others. i ordered tandoori momos which was different and nice and chutney served with it was great. but panner tawa masala was not that worthy and tasted ordinary. decor is rustic indian and has party hall too. they seem to have decent buffet spread so may have to try that in future to see if my views change!

although i find the host very overpriced, i do like their food. nothing is outstanding, but i haven't had a single dish that i didn't like either. where they stand out is their catering. i attended a very large indian wedding and their wedding food, despite cooking for hundreds of people, was excellent.  however, i am only giving thisrestaurant3.5 stars, because the service was atrociously bad. just bad. inattentive, incompetent, rude, slow, i could go on.

i have never left a review of arestaurantbecause all in all the service is usually up to my standards, however after my first time eating at the host i finally have a reason to write arestaurantreview. it was my girlfriends (at the time) birthday and she never tried indian food so i decided to take her to the host. i have driven by here multiple times as it is close to my girlfriends house and it claims fine dining, so i figured it would be the perfect place to take her for a special occasion.

=so first off, we walk into the restaurant, and the first door had a cool look to it but that about as good as it got. as we walk in there is no one to greet us and i am looking around aimlessly for a couple minutes for a host (at arestaurantcalled the host, ironic much?) finally a waiter saw me, because i stared deep into his soul and he must of felt my presence and without even acknowledging me he takes another minute to greet us. he tells us to follow him and he literally points us to a table in the back corner of the restaurant...fine dining but the waiter/host cant take me to my seat. alright, so then our waiter comes and my girlfriend asked a couple of questions about the drinks and just went with a pomegranate martini. the drink was way to strong and all you could taste was the alcohol...yet another problem. my girlfriend has never eaten indian food before and i have only had it a few times so we had a few questions about some dishes. first for the appetizers i start telling my waiter i want something vegetarian, but before i can even get my words out he interrupts me telling me about some chicken dish that is very popular and delicious. i tell him thats great but i do not eat meat and i order naan with spinach and a few other things in it.

the dish came out after 5-10 minutes which is fine and the dish was ok at best. nothing special, could of easily made something better at home with some indian spices. so our waiter comes back, doesnt even ask us how the dish was and asks us "what would you like to order". i tell him i have a few questions and he responds with "ohh you have more questions?!?" and at this point im just in disbelief at how rude a waiter could be. i asked him about the spicy prawn dish my girlfriend was going to get and all he said was that it was spicy...thanks for the help. we ordered that dish and i ordered some eggplant dish. then the waiter says something about rice. to which i say pardon as i thought i had already ordered my dinner. he rudely responds with "what rice are you getting?!" and with myself being confused i ask him "what do you mean?". and once again, obviously extremely rudely he says "what are you going to eat your dish with?" so still in disbelief i ask "what rice is there to choose from?" and he grabs the menu and points to the rice. one is white rice and the other i never heard of so i asked him about that and all he says is "it has more flavor". well thanks for that, going to a fine diningrestaurantand you cant even tell me anything about the food. so i end up ordering the rice that has "more flavor" which also costs money but is apparently mandatory to order...hmmm, makes sense. maybe they should tell you before rudely forcing you to order something without explaining anything.

so finally after the worst service i have ever experienced in my 22 years on this planet my food comes.. the food was alright but honestly the indian kitchen is better and the host proclaims fine dining...what a false statement. i'd suggest to anyone ambiyanrestaurantin unionville, great food and most of all great service (take some notes the host management). so now my girlfriend is all annoyed and the waiter comes to ask if we need dessert and we just ask for the bill. doesn't even ask how our food was.... so after a few minutes our waiter is walking towards us and literally throws the bill on the table not even making eye contact or asking if we need a machine. i cant fit anymore here but i wouldnt reccomend eating here to my worst enemy. worstrestaurantin ontario

when my grandparents came to visit, my mom suggested we go to the host  after having gone for the dinner buffet before. we went to the richmond hill location, conveniently situated in a sheraton hotel with lots of parking and a shopping centre attached. i don’t eat indian food that much, so this would probably be the third indian buffet i’ve been to. i’ll try my best to give a helpful review of thisrestaurantcompared to the others i’ve eaten at. so, for my first plate… ccw from the tandoori chicken: bhindi amchuri (okra), papadum with mint yogurt sauce, samosa with tamarind sauce, potato wedges with tamarind sauce, kaju matar paneer (looks like tofu), amritsari choley (with chickpeas). back: rice cakes with lentil sauce     thisrestaurantdefinitely has the most plentiful selection of curries compared to other places i’ve been. this was probably my first time seeing rice cakes and

when my grandparents came to visit, my mom suggested we go to the host after having gone for the dinner buffet before. we went to the richmond hill location, conveniently situated in a sheraton hotel with lots of parking and a shopping centre attached.

i don’t eat indian food that much, so this would probably be the third indian buffet i’ve been to. i’ll try my best to give a helpful review of thisrestaurantcompared to the others i’ve eaten at.

so, for my first plate… tandoori chicken: bhindi amchuri (okra), papadum with mint yogurt sauce, samosa with tamarind sauce, potato wedges with tamarind sauce, kaju matar paneer (looks like tofu), amritsari choley (with chickpeas). back: rice cakes with lentil sauce
 thisrestaurantdefinitely has the most plentiful selection of curries compared to other places i’ve been. this was probably my first time seeing rice cakes and the crispy papadum at an indian buffet before.on the website, the butter chicken/ murgh makhni is considered award winning and i thought it was quite good. the sauce had a strong tomato taste and the chicken wasn’t too dry. i ate this with the naan, though i thought that the naan here wasn’t as soft as the kind i tried in vancouver because it was sitting at the buffet for a while after it was freshly made.one thing i would definitely recommend getting seconds is the rice pudding. i think they add rose water to it which gives the milk a very distinct, fragrant taste. there are also raisins and pistachios inside. this would be my favourite dessert.standing in the back corner of the buffet are two cooks who made these appetizers in front of you. this was my first time trying bhalla chaat papri, which tasted like biscuits covered in tamarind, mint, and yogurt sauce. i liked this more than the pani puri, which were these thin crispy, hollow bulb-shaped snacks that had beans and chickpeas inside, and were soaked in mint water. the taste was certainly interesting, i’m not quite sure if it was good or bad, but i would definitely recommend you to try these indian street eats for yourself!alongside my second or third bowl of rice pudding, i also ate more than one gulab jamun. i’ve tried these popular indian desserts at other restaurants before and they are really sweet but delicious. gulab jamun is a dumpling made from curdled milk and deep-fried, then soaked in some sweet syrup water.

the jalebi was prepared on the spot by another chef in the corner and i watched him squeeze batter into spiral shapes in a pan filled with oil. when taken out, he placed them in sugar or honey water. i was surprised to learn that these were an indian dessert too because my iranian friend had brought a box of these at the end of ramadan (they are called zulbia in iran). these tasted chewy and really sweet as well.overall, i enjoyed my experience very much here. while eating, i had no idea how to pronounce anything and i was trying a lot of things for the first time, so writing this blog post led me to search up what all the menu items were and research their origins. the selection of indian food offered by the host was not only gastronomically pleasing, but gave me a lesson on culture as well!

until next time.

the buffet was pretty good. i was hesitant to try the buffet because of a few reviews but it was actually pretty good and only $12.00. i will definitely try thisrestaurantagain.

keep up the high standards. when arestaurantestablishment is good, one does not have to be picayune in the review. when it is bad, one can keep them up against the ropes and pummel them - even if they pretend to play gastronomic rope a dope by not 'changing ' or improving. alright ... now this is why thisrestaurantthe host is a good place to eat, especially the buffet ... constructive criticism begins ...
1. excellent service: timely refilling of water glasses and supply of napkins, courteous attitude, respectful and quick service delivery of items. the staff and servers are well-trained ... and not 'pretenders'.
2. expertise: excellent head chef and associate cooks ... they know what they are doing ... very tasty items and healthy (very little msg, preservatives ... if any at all)
3.well presented: good presentation of items, lovely buffet and ala carte items
4. gorgeous decor, both ethnically appropriate, yet contemporary and up to standard
5. therestaurantand the restrooms are clean and modern.
6. the prices (so far) are fair ...advice to the management ... don't change them and don't even start thinking of scamming like other establishments ... keep up the good work!

the host is highly recommended (as of this date) for the ala carte items and the various buffets. advice to the staff and managers ... keep up the good work with good service, fresh and innovative dishes and fair prices.

advice to those considering visiting thisrestaurant... just go. (if you give a bad review, you are obviously a competitor and troll because thisrestaurantis actually one of the good ones) ... so, check it out when you are hungry for indian fare.

we were in the richmond hill area and looking for something different to eat. we were originally looking for a thairestaurantbut we couldn't find it so we opt'ed for the host since it was different and we heard from friends that it was good.