The Siddhartha

I really wanted to try this place, I walk by almost daily and the pictures of the buffet in the window looked wonderful, Lunch buffet is now only available on weekends so we went Sunday at noon. Although they open at 11:30 NOTHING was set up and they didn’t even know we were there. Not to be detoured, we went over to the Flying Pony to have a coffee and give them time to set up. Half an hour later, the buffet was half full at this point we should have walked, but hubby knew I had been wanting to try so we decided to stay. Slowly the additional dishes were brought out but we found most of them watery and lacking substance. There were several dishes labelled Paneer but it was hard to find any Paneer in them. When I pointed this out they did bring out a bowl and add more cubes. Come on now, we were the first customers of the day it is not like someone before us picked the dishes clean (unless of course, they were recycled from the previous nights buffet).
The food was over seasoned and I know this because I eat Indian cuisine about once a week. Fresh naan was not on the bar, it was made to order and brought to the table, with a choice of regular or garlic, It was not brought until we were well into our second plate of food and it was one piece quartered. There were two of us, they gave a single diner near us the same exact basket. They offered more when the basket was empty, but who has all afternoon? It was close to 1pm before they brought out the chopped lettuce for the salad bar, well over an hour after they opened. I see all these wonderful reviews about the eggplant, that must have been in the one remaining empty spot on the buffet when we left, as there was none. Although I am not vegetarian/​vegan my daughter is and I am quite familiar with eating this way. This was the gassiest experience I have ever from a vegetarian restaurant.
The price is very affordable and the staff friendly but we will not be returning.

Everybody loves this place because of the patio — which is nice, I agree, and sorely needed in this hood.
However, the service is generally mediocre and, occasionally, indifferent.
But what kills me is the lack of fresh naan. they refuse to serve it to you at the table — as every other Indian resto I’ve ever been too (dozens and dozens of them, in a variety of countries) does.
this costs the resto next to nothing to make, it’s a service for customers to make it fresh and absolutely a given at any authentic Indian restaurant.
People come in because it’s the nicest looking spot on the strip (it is quite attractive) and I fear they think they can mail the service in.

In a great vegetarian restaurant, omnivore customers are happy without the meat. I enjoy the menu, especially the buffet. Quiet and comfortable, looks on to the street. Very clean

Tried the vegetarian buffet at dinner. The food was generally fine but not exceptional.
The dishes I enjoyed the most were the eggplant and cauliflower. The mint chutney was awesome — very fresh & flavourful!
I was not especially impressed with the pakora, samosa, daal, or other dishes.
Naan was so-​so.
Service was fine.
2.5

Decent vegetarian lunch buffet. We would eat here again. They have another location that offers meat.

I noticed that some of these reviews are from when the restaurant served both meat and veg. It’s reopened and is veg only (mostly vegan, and the waiter was very friendly and helpful in showing us which items were not vegan).
We recently went for the buffet. I thought there were a lot of choices, good flavours, and that it was a pretty good value. The naan was absolutely delicious.
It only gets three stars because it was so so salty. I’d go back every once in awhile when craving that type of food, but some of the dishes were so salty that I could feel the muscles in my face twitching a couple times.

Service was slow but we were not ignored. Nice buffet and the Naan special was fantastic. Much better setting than most other places in the area. Not necessarily the best food however.

1. The buffet is over priced considering the cheaper alternatives across the street.
2. I never been to a buffet that actually ran out of food for prolonged periods. I was there for an hour and could not get any Naan at all.
3. There was a poor selection of food when compared to a regular indian buffet.

One of the better East Indian vegetarian buffets that I’ve had anywhere. Lots of variety. I especially liked the okra and paneer dishes and the fresh naan that the friendly server brought me.
The only odd thing was that the server offered two other tables a masala dosa as part of their buffet meals, but didn’t offer one to me. Maybe he knew I was from out-​of-​town and not a regular customer. Still, seemed a bit strange not to offer to all.
That said, I’d recommend this place for tasty vegetarian food.

Très bon buffet indien, qualité de mets et des saveurs indiennes comme on les aime. Le personnel est agréable, sympathique et sans prétention.

Service was slow, it took awhile for them to actually notice that I need water in my table and had to asked them.
For the food, the butter chicken is the best while the vegetable (fried rice) tasted weird and somewhat hard. The others like the naan bread was too soft and didn’t really compliment the curry so much as what I tasted in other restaurants.
For a $ 15 (plus tax) buffet, it’s somewhat a rip off considering there are a ton of other buffets around this place.

The restaurant is beautifully decorated and comfortable as well as clean, which is what made us decide to have a afternoon brunch there, you know the saying don’t judge a book by it’s covet, the food was very poorly prepared and it seemed like it was reused from previous day. Just about every dish was unedible, from the butter chicken (which was SWEET I think the chef put sugar instead of salt in it.) to the spinach and tandoori chicken all tasted 2 days old. I would never eat here again:-(IT Was Terrible!

3.5 stars for Siddhartha.
Our group of 5 decided to have the buffet dinner ($ 14.95pp). There were several empty tables when we arrived.
The selection of items consisted of the traditional items: tandoori chicken, butter chicken, paneer tikka, channa peshawri, aloo ghobi, etc… We found the food to be fresh and flavourful. Our server brought out a a fresh basket of garlic naan for our table which was crispy and warm. Overall, I thought the food was fine and exactly what I expected.
Atmosphere is cozy and inviting; you could sit for a few hours, have a drink and nibble away. Don’t do what we did — gorging too fast will only result in a sore stomach!

One of the nice things about living in Toronto is there’s such a critical mass of most cultures that restaurant owners don’t have to dumb it down for whitey. If whitey doesn’t like kimchi or green curry or natto, well, whitey can take a flying fuck at the moon and go eat at Swiss Chalet.
Slinky Woman and I headed out to Little India looking for a buffet. It was Thanksgiving Monday and Little India was quite dead. After passing by a couple empty places we happened upon Siddartha with some diners and decided to follow the wisdom of the crowds. But as Roma notes, the wisdom of the crowds fails.
The buffet was nicely varied but everything else seemed a let down. The naan was flavorless. The butter chicken tasted like hunks of chicken in ketchup. The pakoras were mushy and without any zip. I expected something full of zing and challenge in the heart of Little India. What I got was something that seemed dumbed down. About the only nice thing at the buffet was ice cream and respectable Gulab Jamuns.

It is a true shame, we had high hopes for Indian food in the «Indian Bazar». The buffet had a reasonable selection but it was all cold, the lamb was tough and when we asked for an ala carte menu the wait staff ignored us. We ill not be going back.
John Connie Megan

I have been going to Siddhartha for many years, since the owner of the current Siddhartha had been a server at the original Siddhartha (a little further west on the south side of the street from the current location).
The first thing that I noticed is that the owner picked up on some very strong décor sense from his time as a server at Dhaba and implemented a beautiful and serene environment at Siddhartha.
Secondly, he also instituted some strong customer service skills in his staff, that he himself exhibited as a server. As someone who basically grew up in Little India on Gerrard Street, I can tell you that customer service has been non-​existent up until the original Siddhartha opened its doors about 20 years ago. The team at the current location have continued this tradition.
The third big win for me, is the chef. He has been consistent since he opened. The food is very Panjabi in nature, and hence, a little on the oily side.
However, the food is very flavourful. Sometimes, I can just eat the delicious rice and dhal from the buffet, and I am quite satisfied.
The pakoras are fresh and tasty, always, and the chutneys (tamarind and chili) are delicious!
As a vegetarian, I usually stick with Palak Panner, Aloo Ghobi and Dhal (as those are my favourites), however, I have tried the veggie korma and eggplant, and they are quite delicious, also!
I have been to other buffets on Gerrard Street, and I keep going back to Siddhartha. Why? Because it’s the best buffet on Gerrard Street.
I noticed that someone wrote below that Italian spices don’t belong in Indian cooking. Let’s get something straight, some of the herbs that are predominant in Italian cooking, originally come from India, Iran and other Asian countries (i.e. basil). Do your homework before you make statements that detract from the integrity of the chef.
I also read something about pizza sauce … perhaps this reviewer needs to do some research.
Chicken Tikka Masala, for example, originates from Scotland, not India, and was created to appease the UK palate. It’s basically Tandoori Chicken with tomato soup. The result is not very Indian, but a dish that has become the number one fast food in the UK.
Pizza sauce? Close enough.

It seems almost pointless to review the specifics of the buffet, because, based on previous reviews, the choices change.
Leave it at this… nothing was outstanding, either way. No fantastic dishes… no total duds. The food was tasty and well prepared. No dal, though, and it’s one of my favourites. The experience was MUCH better than my last meal at Mahar.
It is a clean and comfortable place, with good service. My dining partner insisted that I mention that our waiter almost wore a trough in the floor by circling the restaurant constantly… whether anyone needed anything or not. It was like he was doing laps, waiting for a customer to flag him down.
Worth a return visit.

I attended this establishment due to generally remembering good reviews read somewhere and was disappointed.
This place would do well and be marveled at in white suburbia but in little India, it was bland at best.
I went with my parents and my nephew and dined on the buffet. All of the curries I found greasy and underspiced. The Tandoori chicken was ok but a little dry and the naan was doughy. Over all the price was high, especially for little India.
Maybe I am just spoiled by having access to the rest of little India for better food (
) in general I was not impressed. Though this place may go over quite well in Whitby or Oshawa.

That’s a shame, Ryan F. I really enjoyed the buffet! I thought they had a great vegetarian selection. It contained all the dishes I would’ve ordered anyway — jalfrezi, saag paneer, paneer makhni (a tomato-​based paneer), delicious pakora, an okra/​eggplant dish, chick peas curry, aloo gobi and lots of pickled-​like appetizers and salads. They also had these cottage cheese ball desserts (I was too full) and ice cream for any gluttons that could make it that far (Ok, guilty!).
All the dishes had a distinct flavour. I’ve tried a few places along the gerrard strip and this is near the top!

There are far better options in Little India than Siddhartha. I’m always surprised when I see several people occupying the tables within, however it usually serves as a sad introduction to those not familiar with Indian food in the least.
Usually, once people try the other options available within Little India and elsewhere in the city, rarely do they ever return.
The food looks just fine, when squinting 5 feet away, but then as you approach you note that many dishes are ridden with food colouring, and floating in water. Once you try your first bite, you realize that everything is sugary, even the chicken.
I would rather take my friends to Haandi or Mahar down the street. They won’t hate you for it afterwards.

Is it really fine, is it? If watery means fine, then that’s what the food was!
All-​you-​can-​eat buffet is pretty appealing, especially when there’s all-​you-​can-​eat ICE CREAM and all-​you-​can-​eat GRAPES. Everything else that was a part of the buffet was meh, so-​so, but edible. The interior was really cute and cozy despite my food dripping off of my plate. I really loved the ice cream.