Light of India Restaurant

This family run Indian restaurant is one of my favorites. They remember their regulars and are very welcoming to new patrons. I can only review lunch here as this is the only time we are in the area.
Its set up as a buffet. Everything is always warm. The butter chicken is delicious and i can’t seem to get enough of the fried cauliflower! Mmmm

One of the absolute best restaurants in Ottawa! I moved to Boston years ago and still think about this lovely restaurant and all the wonderful people there all the time. It is the best Indian food I have ever had and I must say I miss it and think of it often.
My personal favorites were the korma and ragan josh — unbelievable. When I next visit Ottawa this will be my first stop!

One of my favourite Indian restaurants in Ottawa.
Portions are reasonable, service is formal without being snooty, prices are good. It’s a family business so you may encounter several generations in a single visit. One of the sons who works there is very chatty and great at helping you pick out menu choices based on your food preferences — he will also customize dishes so everybody leaves happy.

Easily my favourite Indian restaurant in Ottawa. The food is always excellent, with varying levels of spice and a large enough selection of vegetarian dishes to satisfy everyone.
The head waiter is extremely friendly, and seems to remember all of his patrons. If you ask, he will recommend combinations of dishes that compliment each other so that you can have a great spread of different flavours in your meal.
Service has always been quick, though I do suggest a reservation if you’re going on a Friday or Saturday evening.
The one and only time that they made a mistake with an order, I was more than compensated for it without having to ask — they really do take pride in return business.
Favourite dishes are the Bagun Baji, Dhansak, Motor Paneer, and Dupiaza.

I have mixed feelings about the dinning experience that I had Friday night.
Arrived with a group of six around 7:30 and the place was packed, but getting a table was no problem. The restaurant was inviting, had a home style feel, and I enjoyed the dim lighting. Tables are very close together, and it can get pretty loud, so you can definitely hear other parties conversations.
BUT, and this is a BIG, SHOW STOPPING BUT, the service was slooooooooow! Everyone received their appetizers at different times, leaving hungry guests drooling. The wait times between appetizers and food were very long. Just getting our appetizers took about 45 minutes. Getting our bills was even a bigger hassle to the point where we all stood up, put on our jackets and were about to leave at 10:15 at night! Remember we got there at 7:30!!!
Where they scored points:
The food was delicious!!! We ordered krishna combo plate for one to share and veggie samosas.
What you get with your combo: ($ 20.99)
Onion Bhaji
Vegetable Curry
Peas Polao
Papadum
Pickles
Dessert
The samosas were the best that I have tried thus far. The onion bhaji was amazing, as well as the vegetable curry! We never received the papadum, and when we asked where the pickles were, they brought us out some kind of Indian condiment paste. Neither of our guests tried it.
Desert was a small bowl of pineapple and grapes which were refreshing.
Not sure if the price justified what we received, but the food was delish!
Our waiter was very friendly, chatted with all the tables, and we got to know him on a personal level. Our water boy was cute, and came around every 10 minutes to fill up our glasses with a smile!
Although this restaurant was accommodating with large groups, was very inviting, and you never feel rushed to leave, it is not a great idea to dine here if you have an eventful night of events. We missed our trip to Starbucks and movie date! :(
Would I go back? We all were yawning and had a headache when we left, but I don’t think I would be back for a while.
3 Stars because the food, and staff were great.
They lost 2 stars because the wait times were outrageously long and service was VERY slow!

Some classic Indian food with a very nice small atmosphere, sure the tables are close together but that is because the food is so good people do not mind eating close together, it’s not like you are on top of the other tables.
beef Dansak is just the right hot, butter chicken is always a good dish, the best hands down samosa in the city, onion bagie is a nice app.
Try the Cobra beer. They have the best Indian beer selection
We order here 1 – 2 times per month

I decided to try this place again after watching a repeat of Man vs. Food where he goes to New York and eats phaal. I googled it and it looks like Light of India is the only place that has this curry in Ottawa. That’s too bad.
So I got a whole bunch of samosas, they were soggy and looked like they were reheated and the sauce that came with them tastes like sweet and sour. Quite unappetizing. I then got phaal of course, which had a nice, extremely spicy sauce however the quality of the meat was incredibly poor.
If you’ve ever read any of my other reviews you’ll know my biggest pet peeve is low quality meat, which Light of India uses. Lots of gristle and tendons found throughout my food, not one piece of white meat either, the rest was all fat. I picked the chicken chunks out and ate the sauce. I’d be willing to try a vegetable dish because as mentioned the sauce is quite delicious. If you’re looking for a place with good quality meat AND flavorful, rich sauces. I highly recommend either Host India on Montréal Rd (don’t do the buffet), or Coconut Lagoon on St. Laurent.
Also worth mentioning this place was far from cheap. It was 30 something for 2 orders of samosas, and a phaal, no rice.

This is my favorite Indian restaurant in Ottawa. Huge portions, moderately priced Indian in a simple, unassuming, but clean atmosphere. It’s never sold-​out, but there are always people there for dinner. Comes with complementary papadums to start and pineapple + grapes + After 8 mint to finish. Butter chicken is creamy and sweet, with lots of almonds and raisins. Naan is perfect: crispy yet fluffy and buttery. Vegetable Korma is so good. The spicy dishes are really spicy. Love the onion bhaji but make sure to ask for the raita that only sometimes comes with it.

I absolutely love Light of India. When my boyfriend and I go for dinner, we always order three dishes so we have leftovers. The lamb Korma is sweet and delicious and when we get the very spicy dishes, trust me, it’s almost painfully spicy (but oh so yummy). The only downside is the pre-​meal bread; I didn’t care for it.

This tiny restaurant has a really nice décor and great mellow atmosphere. I have been here for their buffet once and more recently for a friend’s birthday. I had high expectations on both occasions based on the reviews but I must say I was really disappointed. The options in the buffet were okay and food was alright. But for a lunch buffet, I don’t have a lot of expectations. My big disappointment was dinner party. The service was good but the food took forever to arrive and there was way too much confusion when the food was being served. The butter chicken was sweet and had too much of a tomato flavour for me. i tried some of the other curries and the flavours were very similar. I wonder if they use a standard curry base during preparation and just add a few other spices depending on the dish. I was also surprised with the portions especially knowing how much the dish cost. Overall a very disappointing experience.

This is a friend’s favorite Indian restaurant. I do not understand why. the lunch buffet is not that great and my husband and i went for dinner only to find the service lacking. the food is ok not great and the tables are very close together. not my favorite.

After reading the various reviews I can’t help but be disappointed with the whole meal.
I also was quite excited that they had a Pal/​Phal on the menu (don’t see that very often in Canada) so I ordered. They also had something else on the menu called a Ceylon Curry. According to the waiter it is supposed to be hotter/​spicier than the aforementioned phall. Well — that was like a red flag to a bull so I also ordered one of those — chicken. With rice and 4 chapati and 1 naan — I was set.
The food was presented on a cart with a small keep warm plate and a friendly smile… The service was very friendly.
Well imagine my disappointment…
The chapatis were out of a bag from somewhere, Metro, Loblaws — anyway I suspect they warmed up in a microwave — they were not chapatis in the Indian/​Pakistani sense of the word. The Naan however was delicious.
The basmati rice had been sitting in a pan way too long and lumps of dry pan shaped rice didn’t really work for me.
The chicken pal — well, it was basically butter chicken with a chilli in it. Greasy, heavy on the gut and tasteless. If I had wanted butter chicken I would have ordered it.
The Ceylon — well, again it was a greasy butter chicken with a chilli in it. No spicier and almost as tasteless.
Their spiciest dishes are not in any sense of the word spicy. A shame I had high hopes.
I will not be going back to that restaurant the food had a microwave feel to it and each dish tasted the same but not in a good way.

Very good food, you can ask for spicy and guess what? It will be. I love the begun bhaji. Service very friendly. Closed at 21:30, 22:00, not an after theater place.

The Light of India has tasty Indian food and great service. Their veggie korma makes my heart break it’s so sweet and delicious. The mellow atmosphere and leisurely pace of the service means a great location for a date or a casual chat with friends. However, if you’re looking for food in a rush, you should keep on walking or just splurge on the lunch or supper buffet. I’ve only had the buffet once myself. It was fairly good with moderate selection, but nothing stupendous.
If you want a cheap meal to go and don’t want to eat junky fast food, I suggest ordering curry as take out and then make your own rice at home.