Ali’s West Indian Roti Shop

Came here for the first time today. My west-​Indian esthetician told me that this was the one place close to downtown where I could get authentic Trinidadian food. I am east Indian but I have had my fair share of west Indian foods, especially when I lived up in Scarborough. This place is definitely comparable to Drupatis and Mona’s Roti up in Scarborough.
Doubles are very very good. Moist fluffy fried dough, with delicious chana in between. The pepper sauce used in the chana is excellent. The roti was delicious as well (chana and spinach), and huge! I ate a quarter of the roti and one double, I was stuffed afterwards! This place is cheap, quick, hearty, and delicious.
There also was ample seating, and friendly staff. My only qualm was that it was very messy to eat, it would have been nice if they wrapped the roti and the doubles better. The lady did give me a container afterwards to hold the roti, perhaps they could offer that to clients to begin with.
Overall a great place for a quick, delicious bite (and leftovers)! Thankful that this place is not too far from my home.

Really great hole in the wall roti shop along the bustling, integrated, and variety-​filled strip of Queen Street West.
You can’t (as far as I know) get Indo-​Caribbean food in Chicago so my fiancé and I were craving a double or roti as soon as we landed in Toronto for New Year’s Weekend.
The storefront itself is deceptive because the inside is rather large, with plenty of seating.
Together we got the beef and chicken roti, separately assuming we could each stomach our own. We were both way off as the portions of the roti are as other reviews state — hefty — but delicious. The curry is well spiced, with just enough kick where you can still taste the meat and the roti shell is perfect.
Customer service here is friendly and attentive. More importantly, the product was great for the price and quickly prepared.
I can’t compare this to nearby Bacchus but I can certainly say that Ali’s is as good as any other roti I’ve had.

get that s*** hop on the wave stop slacking. I don’t care what anybody has to say this is great better than any McDonalds or any fast food restaurant if you’re looking for food at a good cost and big and proportions for the money for the price this is the place to be if you’re looking to eat healthy this is the place to be I will see you there

Whenever someone says roti. This is the place I think about all week until my cravings are satisfied. This is my go to roti shop now.
Note: This is West Indian roti. Make sure you understand the difference because it may be a different style you’re looking for.
My go to order is the chicken roti. Which is a chicken stew filled roti. The chicken is juicy and tender, seasoned with curry and spices. If you want some extra kick of spice, you can order their hot sauce separately. Word of caution — it is really spicy! I have also tried their delicious doubles which you can’t go wrong if your you just in for a small snack. And they also have beef patties, which brings me back to my childhood, but they’re just okay. The only thing I wished they had were samosas.
The owners are a nice bunch and always welcomes you like you’re an old friend in town. They also come and serve your order to your seat when they’re not too busy.
I’ll be back. No questions asked.

It’s always telling when you see people of a related culture actually lining up to order from a restaurant. Out of all the roti shops in the downtown core, I’ve seen more actual West Indians here than I have anywhere else.
The roti shells themselves are pretty good (prefer the Paratha myself, since the Dhalpuri ones tend to have a slightly too-​dry-​mealy-​for-​my-​taste middle layer), and they sell them separately in case you want to fill them with your own stuff.
My favourite is the shrimp roti, but their beef, chicken, and veggie ones are good, too. My only issue is that they can all be a little too moist (by the time I get the paper bag home, it’s usually thoroughly darkened by the leaking juices).
If you can handle it, ask for it hot and they’ll add a schmear of their hotsauce — it’s not too blazing, just right and delicious.
Great doubles (at a great price), too — I love perfect doubles dough (light, with just the right amount of chew), and they get it right.
Affordable, friendly and damn fast (I think my last roti order was out and hot in about 3 min, so you don’t have to order in advance).

Review based on chow mean, 2x chicken roti, and jerk chicken dinner.
Overall, I just dont think I like Roti — Im not going to hold that against Ali’s. If you like Roti I think this would be a good place.
I do like curry, and this place had good curry. Service was friendly.

Solid. Had the channa roti. Great flaky dalpuri roti. Great portions, swift service and cheap.
Will be back.

Great place for a bite to eat. Big portions made fast. Didn’t find it to be all that special but enjoyed the food.

My boyfriend and I visits here every trip to Toronto. The curry chicken and roti is some of the best and the owner is a very nice man. We are loyal customers!
Update:
We took some curry shrimp and roti for the trip home. OMG! I had no idea that this place could get any better. We made it home and were very satisfied with our little bit of Toronto in Michigan.

This place is definitely a caloric splurge. The roti is absolutely massive, and on its own, enough to incapacitate you for the remainder of the day. You could choose to make the reasonable choice and not finish it, but it’s so good and it keeps asking you for just one more bite. And it doesn’t end there. Cause you gotta get a double too. The doubles, which based on the wrapping look like they’re 90% pure lard, are absolutely delicious and melt in your mouth with fried doughy goodness. My only saving grace is living downtown, where I can justify this place by the one hour walk there and the hour walk back.
The staff are always friendly and helpful. Everything takes about 10 – 15 minutes to prepare fresh. Definitely worth the cheat day :)

Tried their curry duck which came with rice and peas and a small salad. I wish they had asked me if I wanted any dressing on the salad but other than that, I had no real complaints with my meal. The duck was nicely tender and seasoned. And the hot sauce packs a mean punch!

I’ve been going to Ali’s for their roti for the past 15 years or more. Their chicken and goat roti are very tasty. They offer enough flavour and sauce, as well as a great house-​made hot sauce. However, when I recently tried the oxtail soup, I found it completely unpalatable. The little pieces of oxtail were mostly gristly, the meat was chewy, and just plain old tasting. The broth was «off» probably from the old pieces of meat. Also, the soup lacked the body, substance, and ingredients of a typical Caribbean soup. Instead, it was strangely overrun with an abundance of potatoes, celery, and carrots. Caribbean soup must have dumplings, cassava, edo, sweet potato, yam, and/​or green plantain in it. Needless to say, I am remiss to try anything else at Ali’s ever again. I’ll just stick to the roti’s.

Convenient roti stop on Queen, and I could park on the street, walk in for a goat roti, and be out in 15 stuffed beyond belief.
Compared to other roti places in town, this one gets it the most right. When you walked in, the ambiance and clientele reassure me that this place is legit. Pricewise, this place is in line with Island Foods, but manages to be slightly better in every imaginable way. The overall roti is bigger, and has a layer of chickpea flower that Island food misses out on. Inside, the chunks of goat meat are equally as impressive, with what is seen as a slightly better meat to potato ratio.
Service was fast and friendly, and would make it into my regular roti rotation.

I am not a «Double» expert, but I found Ali’s West Indian Roti Shop quite good.
A good place to stop by for some cheap good food!
The ice cream here is made in house, great for a hot day as it is frozen solid! Soursop flavour was refreshing!
A great pit stop when you are in the area!

I’m always on the hunt for a top notch roti.
I had the beef roti and it was very tasty. Well spiced, pepper was nice, under $ 10 bucks and decently big.
Bias: my dad says he’s been coming to this place since the 90s so I was more critical but this roti has held on to its game!

Came here for a Roti yesterday. Huge and quite nice. Next time I will go for a little extra hot sauce or maybe the goat. Nice service.

Ali’s is my go-​to place for some authentic Trini roti. I think it’s by far the best roti shop in Toronto, but ofcourse I may be biased. Afterall I have been eating here regularly for the past five years.
Ali’s is a no-​frills place with very friendly staff — both in the kitchen and the ones that take your order. You can eat-​in or take out (I almost always do the later since the restaurant is not designed for ambiance (unless tiles, bright lights and metal chairs is what you want)).
My favourite is their signature dish — the roti. I’ve tried all possible combinations but chicken roti is the clear winner, closely followed by chickpea-​pumpkin roti. Lately I have started switching to the vegetarian version (you can choose or combine chickpea, squash, spinach and potato). On the downside I’ve noticed that their roti shells are occasionally not fresh, but that’s rare.
My second favourite dish is the chickpea sandwich aka ‘doubles’ which is a simple arrangement of curried chickpeas between two fried flat breads (think ‘puri’ from India). The fritters, drenched in oil, are a must to satisfy your junk food craving. How bad can they be? They have chickpeas, that makes them extremely healthy junk food (yeah right)!
The place also has some other west Indian fare, such as cassava and some imported drinks. Try the coconut icecream.
As an added bonus, you get to see entertaining sights while you wait for your food, such as people with «East-​Asian» features speaking with a Trinidadian accent (Read this:
)
Enjoy!
Secret tip: Ask them to add tamarind chutney to your roti or doubles, they won’t automatically do it.

Since Island Cuisine in North York closed down and I’m too far from Pickering to satisfy my need for I Heart Roti, this has been my greatest discovery. Generously filled, deliciously spiced dahl puri roti filled with pumpkin (!!) and an assortment of other fillings. Service was incredibly kind and pleasant, and that alone made it worth it. I have been here 3 times in the last week with different staff, each time bowled over by the sweet cashier at the counter and the amazing food.
Doubles are huge, greasy, filled perfectly and utterly satisfying. Make sure to ask for pepper sauce on either if you like it hot. Their house pepper sauce (or whatever bulk brand they may be purchasing) is definitely spicier than your Grace variants and has a great watery texture as well. I personally prefer the general spice and salt level here than Bacchus, as I’ve yet to be disappointed by watery, bitterly spiced or turmeric loaded curry gravy.
Look, I know Mother India is right down the street (and I’m a huge fan myself — perhaps even edging it slightly over its sister Gandhis) but consider this: when I leave Toronto once again after this brief visit back home, it’s going to be Ali’s roti tucked in my carryon to eat on the plane ride home.

So I’ve been reluctant to try out this roti shop because the exterior is more reminiscent of a Subway sandwich shop than a Caribbean restaurant. I’ve come to realize that because I learned to love roti sitting on the kitchen floor of the Trinidadian lady next door when I was 5 years old, I don’t think good roti can come from any place that doesn’t approximate that experience.
Ali’s West Indian Roti Shop proved me wrong. Really wrong. Even if I take off points for not having hole-​in-​the-​wall street cred and preparing the food out of the sight of diners who want to know what’s going on with their food, I have to rave about how good this roti is! A perfect dahlpuri wrap with that wonderful yellow stuff underneath (the friendly lady behind the counter told me this was split peas). Nicely textured and flavoured curry filling that seems to be seasoned for Canadians, but would easily be elevated by the addition of some hot pepper sauce (Grace, of course!). Ample serving sizes meant two chicken rotis fed four people back at my house and Ali’s seems to have figured out how to put together this delicious package without grease soaking through to the paper bag.
Like the other roti purveyors on the block, Ali’s runs a clean shop and if you can get past that feeling that you’re at Harvey’s or Subway, then you can enjoy roti while looking at starving artist sale oil paintings of a vaguely Caribbean landscape.
Ali’s wins my prize for best roti at Queen and Lansdowne.

So like many others, I crave the doubles.
If you have never had a double, it’s a must experience.
I had my first double years ago at this little West Indian grocery store at Hurontario/​Dundas in ‘sauga. Ever since then, I haven’t found anywhere that makes them. To be honest, I haven’t REALLY tried that hard to look for ‘em… but when I moved to Parkdale and found this roti shop, I knew they’d have them. Bingo!
First off they’re cheap.
Second, they are vegetarian.
Third, they are AWESOME. Filled with chicpeas that are curried, perfectly spiced. If you like it spicy, as for hot. YOU WILL GET HOT. I haven’t ever eaten them with the tamarind sauce, but I would imagine it’s great.
Soft chewy patty, delicious chickpea filling. Just go. They rock.