Bombay Mahal

This is my go to Indian restaurant BEST in Montréal.
Food is to die for, If i could i’d eat there every night!

We went to visit Montréal from US and we had dinner here on one night. The food is not great compared to restaurants in U.S. We ordered dahi vada and the vada had bad smell because it smells like bad oil where they cooked over and over with the same oil, did not cook properly. We ordered chicken biryani with very mild but they gave too spicy though I mentioned to them that I have 2 little kids. They did not put a board outside that they only take Canadian dollars and Canadian debit card. We had only US cash and U.S. Debit card. So we paid extra 11 dollars for the amount we owe.
I got sick after eating dahi vada.
Owner seemed to be a big CHEATER. And money grabber. We don’t know if the cashier is the owner but he is very rude.
At least visitors from US should not go here.

Best Indian food, period. We drive all the way from Ottawa for a piece of this authentic experience and often bring some of it home to freeze for later. We’ve tried the other top rated Indian food restaurant in Montréal, and none even came close. We’ve loved every single dish we’ve tried there, but with our top favourite being the Chili paneer, followed by (not in any particular order) the Palak, Shahi (A bit too sweet, but still delicious), and Mutter paneers, Baingan Bharta (oily, but very flavourful), Veg korma (YUM), Chana Masala, and Daal Makhni.
Oh, and the prices are very reasonable! $ 7.99−10.99 per curry dish, with most dishes being $ 7.99. (I speak for the vegetarian curries, I am not sure about meat ones).
If you don’t know what to order, try their Thali’s which come with 3 different curries, naan and salad. The Naan is always fresh and piping hot. Service tends to be quick. What’s not quick is waiting in line and getting a table — it gets jam packed on weekends, with the line sometimes going out the door.
You can bring your own wine here too.
Tip: Order ahead and pick up to avoid the long wait for the table and super crowded/​noisy restaurant on the weekends.

Un midi seule poulet au beurre 9 $ salade pas fraîche point négatif mais le reste parfait et délicieux

I waited 2 hours for a spot… Yes it was Saturday night BUT the food was way better at Chand Palace next door. Yes less room than Bombay BUT better customer service and level of spices and tenderness of the meat way better than Bombay Mahal. They will never see my money… Never again!!!

Une amie me propose de manger indien, pourquoi pas je n’ai pas encore essayé. On se dirige vers Bombay Mahal, vu d’extérieur ça né paye pas de mine et l’intérieur est très ordinaire (style fast food), et quelques places assises.
Nous voila devant les réchauds, tout a l’air très appétissant, nous né y connaissons pas très bien, nous demandons donc quelques explications au serveur, il né parle pas très bien français, mais nous explique correctement en anglais. J’opte finalement pour le poulet au beurre (pour emporter), et ce fut une belle découverte, j’ai beaucoup aimé, le poulet était tendre, la sauce délicieuse et en suffisance pour la quantité de riz basmati.
J’ai payé 13 $ environs, ce qui me parait tout à fait raisonnable vu la quantité et la qualité.
Bref, j’y retourne sans hésiter et si vous êtes de passage ou la recherché d’un bon resto indien, rendez-​vous chez Bombay Mahal.

Been going here for years. It’s a great bring your own wine place. There is usually a line, but don’t let that influence your decision to go there… the staff is hilarious and quick. I’ve tried 90% of the menu and its all pretty awesome. My typical order: samosa, pakora, chicken jalfraizi (great level of spice), basmati rice and garlic naan.

Meilleur restaurant indien dans Montréal. J’y vais régulièrement et je n’ai jamais au grand jamais été déçue par la nourriture. Elle est toujours excellente.
Le poulet au beurre est incontournable ainsi que les vegetarian samosa, le mango lassi et le pain naan. Sinon le Mahal pulao rice est mon préféré.
Finalement, les gens sont adorables et se souviennent de nous. Ils ont un bon sens de l’humour et sont toujours très courtois.
Les deux seuls points négatifs sont les suivants :
— Les gens né parlent pratiquement pas Français.
–Les files d’attente peuvent être longues.
Mais sinon, la nourriture compense largement pour ces deux petits points.

I’ve been here like 5 times sine my review. Always a good time, and good meal. I just want to add a couple pointers I’ve noticed.
a) The food/​curries can be exceptionally filling, tread lightly. Stop when you start feeling full. 2 – 3 times, I have over eaten and stayed bloated for hours, when I should’ve stopped and just taken the rest home.
b) The prices seem to have gone up slightly. What used to be $ 40 for two ppl for starters/​mains, tip included, is now $ 50. Still best deal in town though.

Horrible service.
This rating is solely based on the service you receive. Upon picking up a takeout order, I was told there’s delivery service in my exact area. No extra fees included. Which made me happy since it’s out of my way from work to home. So I place a delivery order by phone and the guy tells me there’s a ‘delivery fee’ of $ 5.50!!!
Not only is that fee preposterous, the guy literally laughed in my ear when asking about the fee.
Needless to say I’ll mention it to everyone I know.

Cheap place
Good food
Was never disappointed
It is small and very packed though :)

Ok, so I’d been coming here for years and years, and then I stopped. I don’t remember why this stopped being my go-​to for Indian on Jean Talon, but I think it had something to do with trying Mahli Sweets, Chand Palace, Punjab Palace, Halal 786 — I broadened my horizons and didn’t look back to my undergraduate haunt. Until now.
Bombay Mahal is the one place in town that two of my favourite people feel like regulars. They walk in and get hugged and feel at home, so when they wanted to celebrate a big birthday there I was dropping everything, changing plans to spend it with them, all the while wondering what my experience would be all these years later.
We had a lovely time, I’ll say that. It was about what I expected, tasty but it’s honestly not my favourite. The chicken korma was delicious, the naan was excellent, the chana samosa were good though not quite hot, and the sag paneer and butter chicken were kind of flavourless. The stairs to the bathroom were slippery and I slipped pretty hard, so that was a bummer, and the slightly moldy smell down there was not ideal. The thali is ~$ 10 which is cheap, but almost twice as much as other bigger, and in my opinion better, thali’s nearby.
But yes, it’s relatively inexpensive, BYO, and the staff are super friendly and funny and dear. I think there are better things to order than I did and lots of reasons to go back, but keep adventuring in the area if you’re interested in discovering exceptional Indian food in Montréal.

I’m going to start out by admitting that I was scared to death to try this type of food. I’m a very picky eater and ambiance helps me feel comfortable. This place has zero ambiance to speak of. None. Zero.
You walk in and there is a tiny room that maybe seats 6 people, they take you behind a door to a larger dining room that is cramped but jam packed. If the place is jam packed its a good sign to me.
The waiter noticed our hesitation (we were 8 girls, first time for 7 of us) and he basically gave us what I call a «white girl sampler». He asked what our preference was for meat and how much spice we could handle and then brought an assortment of dishes and sauces to the table.
Everything was DELICIOUS. The spices wren’t too over powering the flavors were all very good and the service was great. We had a funny waiter who loved to interact and talk with us.
My only issue was I had googled Indian food prior to going to get an idea of the menu and their somaos were very different than any I had seen online. It was still delicious but I hadn’t seen others smothered in sauce… (and don’t tell anyone but I wanted that sauce on EVERYTHING!)
I would go back again but in a few months. I don’t think I can handle too much of that food too often.
Oh and its bring your own wine which is great. Google told me Pinot Gris goes great with Indian food and I can’t lie, it went down smooth!

Ouest of Parc Ave on Jean-​Talon you’ll find a plethora of indian restaurants. If you are a stranger to this part of town I can understand your anxiety towards choosing the right indian restaurant to wine and dine at. Fear not, Bombay Mahal is the light at the end of this tunnel of eateries.
I’ve been going here for years, and I can say that it is one of the most consistent restaurants with the quality of their meals. So maybe it gets pretty hectic (Friday and Saturday nights tend to have a line up out the street — white folks love their naan) and sometimes service is slow but the wait is sooo worth it. I’ve seen my mother-​in-​law lick the butter chicken bowl clean, that’s how good it is. TRUST ME! YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
On an authenticity level, I can’t say how similar it is to Indian food found in India since I’ve never been but I can tell you right now that it’s always a good sign when you see Indian families enjoying a meal here.
Bombay Mahal is vegetarian and vegan friendly and also BYOB (woohoo!) — they also have a great menu for larger groups (5+ people) where you can get whatever dishes you want on the menu all you can eat for $ 21.95 per person. Not bad if you want to indulge or are eating with a bunch of ogres ;)
Recommended dishes: aloo gobi (cauliflower dish), shani paneer (paneer in a tasty orange sauce), and baingan bharta (roasted eggplant). Yum!
Side tip: buy your booze at the SAQ or the Loblaws on Parc and Jean Talon. The liquor selection in this neck of town is weak in the depanneurs, unless you like drinking Red Stripe or Labatt’s Blue then it’s all good!

Excellent restaurant Indien, bon, pas chers, mais pas très beau. On y manqué collez sur les autres tables, le service ce fait seulement en anglais, mais sa fait le charme de l’endroit ! Et en plus ces apporter votre vin !

Vindaloooooooooo! The red tangy and fiery spicy sauce of the beef vindaloo hits you hard on the very first bite with a blast of flavor you’ expect from authentic indian cuisine.
Recommended by one of my friends at work, a few of us decided to satisfy our craving for some indian on a Thursday night. Wow… boy were we in for a treat. For those of you who care more about the taste experience than the «décor», this is the place to be! The samosas were delicious packed with heat that builds up as you eat more. The chicken saag was not too leafy and soft to the palate. The braised lamb korma was probably my favorite with its complex and layered flavors blending spices, yogurt and meat juices. To help keep the heat down, the mango lassi did a great job!
This is a great little BYOW indian restaurant that’s been around for more than a decade… add this place to your checklist! Come and say hi to owner Prasheen…

I’ve been here a couple times and it was decent to good. This time however. I ordered the chicken curry thali and a few papadums. I got the thali. It was decent, though the salad was more of a bland decoration.
But where we’re the papadums? I asked the waiter once. Later on I asked him again. Later as he was picking up our plates he asked me if I got my papadums. I never did!
I believe this place is known for ok to good food and bad service but how often should one have to ask for papadums. Oh yes, and they tried to charge me for them.

This place used to my favorite cheap eats Indian in town. The food is reliably tastey and the BYO aspect is a plus for sure (grab good beers and Marche D’Afrique down the road).
HOWEVER, a few years ago, they expanded their dining room and lost all quality control. The meat to sauce ratio is now so low that the last time I went I had three (THREE) tiny morsels of chicken in my entire dish. And we weren’t even drinking (See Dean A.‘s review for more info on that one)! Now, I go across the street to Maison Indian Curry House were I usually get 5 — 8 morsels per dish. Still pretty stingy, but better by a long shot.
What the hell happened to Indian being a great value for the $? Sure, the prices have stayed roughly the same, but the amount of food has tapered off significantly. And I really hate to pay for rice. That’s just cheap.
My overal verdict of Indian in Montréal (having eaten at eight or so different places on multiple occasions) is that the food is just decent, is no longer a good value, and that the owners pay little attention to the notion of eating as an «experience.» I’m not referring to pretense or fancy presentation, but just some pride in the damned product would be nice. The city is ripe for a new contender.
Rating Scale:
1 Star: Avoid the town in which this place is located just to be safe.
2 Star: With so many great places to choose from, why risk this one?
3 Star: I’ll try it again or consume here in a pinch.
4 Star: I go here regularly if financially and/​or calorically feasible.
5 Star: I look forward to taking my wife or friends here.

Best Indian food I’ve had in Montréal…(so far)…
This place is not at all in the running for décor or ambiance. It’s a big room, industrial type floor tiles, cafeteria style tables… but come here for the food! Wow, it was great. I went for lunch on a Saturday and there was no line up so I am not sure how busy it gets for dinner, but the food will not disappoint.
Service was fine, nothing great but what you would expect in the atmosphere. Again, it’s all about the food here!
I ordered the Vindaloo Chicken, but also tried butter chicken and a thali dish. All good.

We ordered the butter chicken. Creamy and rich and one of those things with a deceiving name. Butter chicken contains no butter, like the chickpea, where it is neither chick nor pea, but unlike Chop Suey, chopped and busting with suey.
Lamb Korma. Not gamey at all as the yogurt marinade probably cuts most of it out even though the bone is still in.
Chicken Jalfraizi. Really really fragrant and a bit tangy. The chicken was a bit dry as I can imagine white meat was used, but would have probably tasted a lot better had they used dark meat.

The food was delicious! We were in the area after a Unilocal event and a friend was familiar with this place, so we decided to do dinner here. It was great. The food was delicious (we ordered two chicken dishes and a veggie one) and the service was friendly.
To be honest, the only reason this doesn’t warrant a 5 star is that the ambience is pretty mediocre. The rest of the experience is perfectly lovely (or possibly even amazing). I would recommend to practically everyone.

Excellent restaurant indien qui né perd des points que sur le décor très ordinaire (dans le genre resto à pizza avec pointes à 2 $) et le service un peu pressé (on n’a pas vraiment le temps de relaxer à la fin du repas, les serveurs s’arrangent pour que vous partiez rapidement — mais c’est compréhensible, à voir les files énormes qui se forment à l’entrée !).
C’est un restaurant très populaire. Il faut être prêt à faire la file, à moins d’un coup de chance inouï. Dès qu’on goûte à la nourriture, on comprend pourquoi. Que ce soit le pain naan parfaitement cuit et bien chaud ou les oignons baaji avec une petite sauce piquante savoureuse, tout ce que l’on mange chez Bombay Mahal est délicieux, le poulet tikka, le poulet au beurre, les plats de légumes, etc. Il faut faire fi du décor, cela vaut vraiment la peine.

Don’t be scared off by the line that snakes out the door, down the stairs and around the corner — this means the food is amazing (and it’s worth the wait).
If the wait is not your thing (you’ll wait a bit even if you have a reservation), order takeout, and you’ll be in and out in just a few minutes flat.
Order the chana samosa, baighan bharta, and the shahi paneer (these are all my favourites). It’s hard to go wrong, though, so peruse the menu until you find something that strikes your fancy.
Go at lunch to take advantage of the $ 5 vegetarian thali. Pair it with a mango lassi and you’ve got a stellar meal.
This is a hole in the wall spot so don’t expect linen tablecloths and a fine dining experience. What you’ll get instead is great food, a friendly server and some stellar people-​watching moments.
BYOW.

Well. I’ve heard soooo much about this place, so I was super amped and brought a friend with me before we headed off to a party. What a disappointment in every way.
Ambiance: None. It’s loud. The décor is tacky, and dirty. There’s two rooms in which everyone is squished like sardines. Sidenote: I wouldn’t mind this if the food was delicious (see Kazu for example).
We were asked in line that if we are out in less than an hour we could be seated because there was a reservation at our table. We agreed as we had somewhere to be. We sat down and I got the chicken thali and my friend got the lamb vindaloo. I am a newly formed still-​rare occasion meat eater, but I do know what good meat tastes like. The chicken in all my dishes was dry, rubbery and without flavour. The chicken tikka was dry and tasted like it was frozen for years before coming out of hiding. The sauces were boring, metallic tasting and dulled the palate. The rice was the only thing that was edible. I didn’t even finish my butter chicken (?!) because it was that disgusting, and I’m poor so I never want to waste food and will usually eat people’s leftovers. My friend’s vindaloo was also questionable and he was pretty disappointed I took him to such a dump.
I will say that the pakoras and their sauce was delicious, even if too greasy, saved the night.
Seriously, how do people give this good ratings? I grew up in Toronto where I ate at many Indian homes and have a plethora of delicious Indian restos to consume, so maybe that’s why?
I went to another place on Jean Talon that has high reviews, and it was much better than this but definitely forgettable and not worthy of repeat visits.
Oh, and then there was a line up to pay. Seriously.

My favourite restaurant in Montréal hands down.
If you go and don’t like it, it’s because you’re not ordering the right thing. My boyfriend and I have gone every 6 – 8 weeks for the last 4 years and we have tried a variety of dishes, but now, we always order exactly the same thing.
Chana Samosa — crunchy, spicy, saucy.
Baingan Bharta — velvety pureed eggplant with a kick
Chicken Korma — creamy dreamy yogurt-​y sauce with tender chicken.
garlic naan — amazing to dip in the bharta and korma.
Buy yourself a bottle of wine, grab a friend, and try the above mentioned menu next time, (all for about $ 35).