Amaya Express

Been here twice. Food is really flavourful and great value for portion size. I received friendly service both times. They were also happy to give extra butter chicken sauce each time! Great to dip with naan for an extra 99c. What more can you ask for from food court Indian food?

To the folks giving this place 3stars+ do you even know what real North Indian food is? Food is bland, meats are dry, and service is misleading with all those stupid add ons. If you’re charging for naan and pickle — at least visibly print it!
This place has no business serving food in the name of a country that delivers cuisine based on diversity in spices, flavors, colors, heritage, and culture!

Decent Indian fast-​food.
Wish their menu was more straightforward — I ended up not really knowing what I was ordering or how much it would cost.
Still, food was very tasty and everything was perfectly cooked and served. I came after the lunch rush but everything was still served hot and fresh. Portions look small but are incredibly filling. Staff were very welcoming.
Prices not bad compared to nearby competitors.

this location has flavorful food, but watch out for «add ons». They plate the dish your ordered, then offer add-​ons, but don’t tell you that those items are an additonal charge, and by the time it goes to the cashier the cost doubles — even though along the way you point-​blank plainly ask «if it’s included?» and they say yes — I’ll bet it is. All i heard was cha-​ching as my container moved along the line! That irritated me so much that I just canceled the order. I wonder what ever became of it?

I actually had a poor customer service experience at a place next door to these guys and so I happened upon Amaya Express.
Walk up to this place and you are welcomed with a friendly greeting and they tell you the options available today — all of which look great.
I tried the Beef Roganjosh and the Saag Paneer (spinach & cheese) and they were pretty good. Not as flavourful as some other times I’ve had Indian but it was $ 10 incl. tax and came with some naan.
It’s in my building and I’ll definitely be back.

For what it is, you can’t beat it! I work downtown and Amaya Express is in the food court of my office building. Daily lunch special for $ 6.99! Always different, decent lunch portion, i’m in and out in less than 3 minutes (for take-​away), courteous staff. So just to reiterate, perfect for an at-​your-​desk office lunch; however, do not make a special trip to come here :)
Follow-​up: Visited 10.04.13 and found out they have VEGAN options! Yea! Considering changing my diet to a vegan diet and in a land of crappy food court lunch options, Amaya Express was a shining beacon with lovely choices.

If you’re looking for some average reliable Indian food, this is a decent place.
Nothing special as the naan is bit soggy and the butter chicken is bland.
I don’t think they go nearly far enough with the spices. I suspect it been tamed for the Canadian palette. Far from authentic but it’s convenient.

I’ve tried their chicken and beef curries with basmati rice. Portion size was fairly large and both were tasty, although not spicy enough for my personal taste.
The samosas and vegetable pakoras are pretty tasty and relatively inexpensive if you’re just wanting a quick snack.
Their salads are pretty good, I would recommend the tandoori chicken salad, it’s healthy-​ish, good portion, reasonable price.
Service is fast, though there is a lot of traffic in that particular corner of the food court since their service counter is next to another popular take out place, so be patient.

Horrid location (sunless underground mall in the middle of the financial/​conference center area) but this was thel, best of all the choices that I could see in the food court area: more flavorful, more unique, quick, and plenty of food for a cheap price. One of the few places that has its own seating and slight atmosphere as well, cut off from the din outside of people snorting their Tim Hortons.

Amaya Express is one of the few reliable places I’ve found as of late.
Their menu is small but they have a few lunch combos (3 combos in total), as well as rotis and daily specials. They also served side dishes that you can get on their own like Masala fries (1.49 for a large container), samosas and vegetable pakoras.
One of their combo dishes I’ve tried is a beef curry. It came with a thick layer of basmati rice coated the bottom. It was more rice than I could ever possibly eat in one sitting. The beef curry had tender chunks of meat. Drowning my meat and rice was their hot curry sauce, which they were quite generous in serving.
In terms of spiciness, the curry is enough to tickle your tastebuds, but not enough to paralyze your senses. I was warned that it was spicy but it was flavourful. Personally, I appreciate an Indian curry with some level of spiciness otherwise it’s just bland.
As a vegetable side I had their dal palak, a saucy mix of lentils and spinach and has a lemony flavour to it, which I really enjoyed. You’re also given two pieces of naan bread. If I had my way, I’d prefer more bread and less rice to soak up the curry and dal.
In terms of affordability, their prices are reasonable. The cheapest meal on the menu was $ 6.99 (that’s for both the beef and chicken curries) and you get a bowl full of it (again, tons of rice and lots of sauce). That price doesn’t include a drink.

Darn it Unilocal… please allow half stars!
For the record, my verdict: 2.5 stars.
Today my friend came down to the Financial District to have lunch with me. Given my 1-​hour time constraint, we went to First Canadian Place’s food court because it has a lot of seats (I could always find a seat there, despite the lunch rush hour) and the great selection of food. It was a gloomy day, so I automatically wanted something soupy but different. After looking around, I settled on Amaya Express; I haven’t had Indian food in a long time.
I ordered their lentil soup ($ 2.99 before tax), veggie samosa ($ 0.99) and pakora ($ 0.79).
The lentil soup was very runny with no hints of lentil, but it didn’t taste bad and there were pieces of apricots at the bottom. The lentil soup came in a small cup, accompanied by 2 pieces of naan bread. It wasn’t the greatest naan I’ve had, it was flat and bland, but it was ok, just not very memorable.
The veggie samosa was big, crispy, and the veggie filling was very tasty –light curried veggies. It was delicious and satisfying, not bad for $ 0.99.
The pakora was good, not as good as the samsoa. As my friend described it: «umm, hash brown with spices.» I definitely had better pakoras before.
What I like about this place is that they’re generous with their hot sauces, –I eat practically everything with hot sauce or cayenne pepper. Their prices isn’t too bad, despite being located in the Financial District. I’ll definitely come back for their veggie samosas, maybe their pakoras, but probably not the lentil soup.
Oh yea, one of their cashiers needs an attitude adjustment. When I politely inquired about my soup, I’d been waiting for awhile, she totally snapped and said it was heating up. I had no idea it takes about 10 minutes to heat up soup (probably in the microwave, I didn’t see a pot). Also, it’s a food court, food’s supposed to be fast.