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Gautama
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
4 reviews for Gautama
4 reviews in English
-
Review from Daniel O.
10/23/2011
Gautama. A short film.
Saturday night. Little India. 8pm.
Scene opens with a panning shot of the bustling street, Duvali lights sparkling, shoppers rushing past with large bags of groceries, clothing stores shine with beautiful sari's in the window.
Camera stops at a huge line outside a restaurant. Siddhartha. Frustrated, hungry Torontoians queue up for tasty Indian buffet. They are told it will be about 35 minutes.
Camera pulls out an pans about a block to the west to another Indian restaurant, Gautama. Camera zooms in on the sign, when viewers notice the exact same logo next to the restaurant's name as seen on Siddhartha.
Camera pulls back, then zooms in once again , this time into the large front window to reveal a half empty room.
Fade out.
guatama is the new little sister resto to Siddhartha. Same exact logo, same exact menu, no line-ups or waits for take-out. Way better service.
Yet no one knows this. People were literally lined up the door at Siddhartha, yet Guatama sat only 45% full
We called in an order, here is what we had:
Chicken Tikka Malsala ($10.99): super creamy and spicy boneless marinated chicken
Lamb Vindaloo ($10.99): super tender lamb stewed in a spicy red gravy
Saag Paneer ($9.99): creamy spinach with a bit of heat and cubed housemade cheese
We ordered a couple more dishes but I can't seem to remember their names. One was a stewed chickpea dish, the other was a curry with sauaage-shaped balls made with chickpeas and nuts.
We ordered everything medium spiced, it was spicy but not unbearable at all. Everything was super fresh and delicious.
Will definitely go back, my new favourite place in Little India! -
Review from Fern H.
2/27/2012
We had intentions of eating at Siddhartha's but when we drove by, the restaurant was dark with a sign saying it was closed for renovations and to go to Gautama instead.
Arriving around 7-ish on a Friday night, Gautama was pretty full. We were able to snag the last table for 5 right in the window.
Famished from a long work day, we hit up the buffet ($13.99) and loaded up. While I was spooning food onto my plate, I noticed that the different curries were quite runny and thin, including the butter chicken and daal.
The mattar and saag paneers contained very little cubes of cheese. Naan was available for a very short time in the buffet, and not delivered fresh to each table as we had experienced in the past at Siddhartha's. Once the naan was quickly snatched up, it took a while to replenish. I was actually only able to get one quarter piece for my whole meal and was finished eating by the time new naan came out.
I found the buffet food to be lukewarm in temperature and totally agree with a previous reviewer that the butter chicken was very, very sweet tasting, and the watered down sauce wasn't appetizing.
Finished off our meal with a bit of fresh fruit, freezer burnt ice cream and decent Gulab Jamun.
Service was friendly and efficient for a busy place.
I've definitely had better buffet food in Little India before. It was disappointing that the the food at Gautama was so watered down and sloppy. -
Review from David M.
Toronto, ON
6/1/2011
Another in the Siddhartha empire developing on Gerrard. (I was told that there will be another opening nearby, completely vegetarian.)
The space is open and airy with nice, new decor. The buffet is 2/3 vegetarian, had the usual dishes including dal, naan and papadom. (At one point, someone came out of the kitchen with a basket of hot naan, and delivered it to each table as needed.) They had the standard desserts, including Gulab Jamun and low-quality ice cream (banana, chocolate, mango and vanilla).
The food was good, not outstanding. There's nothing really to set it apart from many other Indian restaurants in Toronto. The gentleman who seems like he may be the manager told us that the food is meant to be "spicier" than at Siddhartha. We didn't notice.
It's a nice space, has a good selection on the buffet, and presents an enjoyable dining experience. Check it out. -
Review from nuevo d.
Toronto, ON
6/3/2011
Had the dinner buffet this past tuesday night. We searched reviews for indian food on Gerrard East and could not find a great review for a restaurant setting (not fast food), non vegetarian (hello butter chicken!), non greasy, and nice ambiance indian food resto.
So we just went there and walked around. We found that this one was the only one that was not empty (we were there around 730pm) and appeared new-ish.
So the stars are for :
fairly new looking
cleanliness of the resto/ decor and layout (really can make a difference - quite a few other places looked so cheap and dirty)
size of the resto
****great customer service!!! (apparently hard to come by lately) attentiveness of the host/waiter (yes he did come around with freshly made hot garlic naan and served us at our table - this was buffet so it was a nice touch! and kept filling up our water glasses and always took away our dirty dishes and was very aware when you needed to catch his attention for the bill etc).
the selection was alright
the naan was delicious
even though it was "standard" icecream ..... I loooooooved the mango icecream - usually I dislike that - especially at chinese resturants (usually get the green tea instead) but this mango tasted like passionfruit!!I wanted to take the tub home! (sadly this made up for most of my disappointment in the butter chicken.. its sad cause this is an indian resto and here I am raving about the icecream!)
the lack of stars:
im sorry but butter chicken shouldnt taste so sweet!! (can we say - ketchup?) :-( This is actually the second resto that served sweet butter chicken... maybe Im missing something here and maybe there are different kinds of butter chicken?
This was such a let down cause that is my staple for assessing the indian food. I usually love butter chicken! The chicken masala made up for it. Though at one point, I think the chicken was undercooked.
So this resto has potential - the look, the friendliness, but they gotta work on the quality of the food. Hopefully someone will tell them or they will read the reviews. Once they get that the place will be great - considering the surrounding dives.
