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Tandoori Palace
Categories: Restaurants Middle Eastern Restaurants Indian Restaurants Pakistani Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani [Edit]
1439 Commercial DrVancouver, BC V5L 3X8
Neighbourhoods: Grandview-Woodlands, The Drive
(604) 254-8452
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
22 reviews for Tandoori Palace
Review Highlights
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"The Butter Chicken was very tasty." In 10 reviews -
"The naan is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside." In 11 reviews -
"Skip the rice and go for the oh-so-freshly-baked naan." In 2 reviews
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22 reviews in English
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Review from Tracy S.
Vancouver, BC
4/1/2012
Thank goodness there's a place we can rely on for consistently good Indian takeout, at reasonable prices and with free delivery. When Corner Tandoori got a new owner and our experiences with them became ridiculously bad, we tried Tandoori Palace and were thankful to have a new place to order from.
Thanks for other reviewers recommendation to try the Baigan Masala; I wouldn't have ordered it otherwise, but it was even better than my usual favourites. -
Review from Deniz T.
5/22/2012
I love Indian cuisine. The spice, the colors, fresh flat bread, cilantro, oh my darling cilantro, the lamb, the chicken, tandoori oven, eating with hands, soupy materials with a good dose of fresh vegetables. The best part of this wondrous cuisine in Vancouver is, the East Indian society. The population will create the demand, which will give us very authentic eateries, at an affordable rate. We are not going to be monopolized by only two restaurants for the whole town. Oh we are going to get it, and get it in abundance, with variety of regional selections as well. Try to have Indian food in Halifax if you know what I mean. On top of that we have probably one of the best Indian restaurants in North America, Vij's. I have not been there yet, just because of the intimidating line up, but was fortunate enough to shook the guy's hand at a cooking demo, cook for him and taste his food. May I say, he has probably one of the best hands for seasoning and understanding of it with the appropriate protein cookery. Outstanding cook.
My routine for an Indian restaurant is order the chicken dishes on my first visit always. That goes with steak in Pacific or French influenced restaurants. If they can do a decent job on these, I usually come back for more items to try. The idea is; person who is in charge of protein cookery in kitchens are the most experienced or the most senior usually. It is a sign of love and care of the whole kitchen dynamic when you have a good job on this station.
My first impressions were not good at all for Tandoori Palace after eating 3-4 times. Chicken Tikka; 4 pieces of really cooked to dry chicken, with not so good greens, greenish tomato, good naan, but a really unbalanced plate. Being from a culture that are big on this kinda food and presentation, you identify with when things are not right. Part of being a great cook is to actually, plate a whole dish, sit down and eat the portion to get the feel of it, instead of dipping a finger in the sauce and saying; it is delicious. Same with the presentation, the food has to eat well, if the plate is turning into a mess after three fork strokes, well, it has to be worked on. In older cultures, they do not go into this detail daily, however things are plated and served in a certain way, which is the tradition and rarely changes, meaning they have been tested over time, became foolproof.
Butter chicken.... Decent, it is really hard to mess up a reduction of tomatoes and cream, and the protein is cooked to death again. Sigh...
That particular day, there was lamb talk all day in the kitchen. Got out of work, stopped by the Black Dog video. On the way back to my scooter, Tandoori Palace caught my eye. Lamb talk got me. I have ordered lamb biryani with naan on the side, to go. One of the things I do not understand about this place; it does not matter if it is jam-packed or empty, there is always the 15 min wait, if not longer. Anyhow, grabbed my food, came home, popped a DVD and grabbed a spoon.
The dish itself was absurdly delicious. Again a bit too much rice, but so flavorsome, spicy, acidic, salty, cardamom, cilantro, cumin, cloves are gonging your palate ruthlessly. A nicely seasoned dish should leave your nostrils alone after a clean swallow, otherwise you get that soapy or floral linger which becomes really unpleasant and taunting after 3-4 bites. Lamb was cooked perfect, a tender chew, butchered nicely, no sinew, not dried with over braising and loss of tissue, succulent as can be. I really do not now if they intended or got lucky, but it was one of the best dishes, I have ever tasted in this league .
So I guess I will be going back for more... Well done. -
Review from Ayla C.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 2/27/2012
Alright, so I decided to give this place another (couple of) chance(s). It was pretty rough for delivery but I live a lot closer to it now so I went for the take-out option. It was significantly better fresh, I'll tell you that! The staff weren't super friendly - I think indifferent is probably a good term for them, but the food tasted fresh and the samosas were way less greasy, although I'd still like more chutney with them. The curries we got were pretty tasty, but don't expect any spice at all - I forgot to tell them I like it spicy, and they definitely didn't ask. The naan is good, if a little dry - I tend to prefer mine a little doughier - it sure is huge though.
I'd go back again, but I wouldn't say it's anything special at all, just a handy, cheap, convenient place to get ok Indian food.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/18/2010
I was excited to try a new Indian food place, I've had little luck with Indian restaurants centrally… Read more »
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Review from Alicia Q.
Vancouver, BC
2/6/2012
When I was living on The Drive, my roomies and I tested out all the Indian restaurants in the area, and this was the winner. I've moved a little further away now, but still find myself ordering from them.
The reason I keep going back is for one specific item...their Baigan Masala. It's a spicy eggplant dish that I find myself craving all the time! Also to be noted, their Naan is a huge carbalicious piece of bread! Their prices are super reasonable too, love that each dish is quite large and comes with naan or rice.
I've admittedly never dined in restaurant, we've only done delivery and takeout. We always have to wait forever for delivery, once waiting over an hour for food that arrived ice cold. I very much suggest takeout!!!
It's pretty hard to beat Tandoori Palace prices and I've still never found a better Indian eggplant dish. Definitely worth a try! -
Review from Earl W.
2/17/2012
If you read our reviews, you know that Earl and Janet love Indian food, and we can't get enough spice!
We grabbed to-go from Tandoori Palace one night after a long day of work (at the video game store for Earl and the embroidered sweater shop for Janet). The food wasn't the best we have ever had, but considering the low price, we thought it was a good find. Their naan was particularly delicious (and huge), and the baigan masala (eggplant dish) was lovely - spicy with perfect-sized chunks of eggplant. The saag paneer was not bad, but not standout, and Earl thought the Tandoori chicken was yummy. Service was pretty quick, but the atmosphere isn't the most pleasant. We would recommend taking your food home to eat.
Overall, a tasty and cheap place to grab a quick and easy meal.
Sincerely,
Earl and Janet -
Review from Megan S.
11/21/2011 1 Check-in Here
The food here is consistently delicious - definitely the best butter chicken I've ever had (not too sweet, a little smoky and perfectly spicy), the naan is crispy and chewy in all the right places (and HUGE!!), the samosas are solid and the daal is my new favourite - like a warm bowl of mushy happiness.
I have to echo some of the same complaints as my fellow Yelpers - there's nothing particularly appetizing or enjoyable about dining in, and delivery service is always painfully slow (we've had cold food delivered on more than one occasion).
My recommendation - order to go, pick up some beer at the BCL across the street and have a curry binge in the comfort of your own home (sweatpants optional). -
Review from Brian B.
Coquitlam, BC
8/10/2011
So I work right across the street from this place, and being that curry is one of my all time favorite foods I've been here a few times.
The food is spectacular. As many others have said, the butter chicken is phenomenal and the freshly made naan is great as well. They do have a lot of great vegetarian options as well though. The eggplant was especially amazing, I must say.
I'm also very impressed with the portion sizes, being that an order of any of their main dishes come with your choice of rice or naan and is enough to last me for two meals. As I stated previously I work right across the street so I will occasionally come here and order food and leave it in the fridge at work for the next days' lunch as well.
Sadly, the one thing preventing a five star review is the general condition of the place. While it does seem to have the 'authentic indian' thing going for it, it also always appears messy and unkempt as well as it being rather noisy all the time. My suggestion is to simply take your order to go.
Overall, it's hard to go wrong with a place that will give you great food for two days on ten bucks though. -
Review from Carly B.
Vancouver, BC
5/30/2011
I decided to yelp about Tandoori Palace as I am at work right now eating some not so great butter chicken. I'm pretty sure Tandoori Palace has ruined me for all other restaurants.
I've been eating here for about 3 years and I must say they are consistently awesome. I always get the butter chicken and naan (I know, I know, I need to expand my horizons!) and it always comes out the same spicy delicious way.
The naan is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Its home made and frickin huge! The butter chicken portion is just as big and I've only managed to finish it all a few times.
I did take my English friend there once while he was visiting and he swooned over his dishes. Said it better than some of the curries he's had back home. -
Review from Jess L.
9/14/2011 2 Check-ins Here
This is a great hole-in-the-wall type of place to go to get your butter chicken fix :) The best place about this place though is the naan bread! You have an option to get either rice or naan with your curry order, but trust me, get the naan! I've been here a couple of times now and the butter chicken is always awesome (not runny like some places) and you get two large pieces of homemade naan bread to go with it which is sure to keep you full.
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Review from Malloreigh M.
Vancouver, BC
12/29/2010
Some of the best Indian food I've had in the city, at a reasonable price, and they deliver. At the end of a long, hard day, I want Tandoori Palace, and sometimes, I get it. For $25 including tip, I can have two hot dishes, rice, and naan delivered to my front door within 45 minutes, and it'll feed me and my lady friend for two days.
The eggplant dish is incredible, simply incredible. Their alu gobi is also some of the best I've had. The food here is consistently delicious, always delivered hot, and prepared efficiently. No complaints!Listed in: Curries and Chutneys and…
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Review from Raymond O.
Vancouver, BC
6/15/2009 2 photos
Ended up at this place while walking around during the closing hours of Commercial Drive's participation of "Car Free Vancouver Day". The prices are pretty decent for Vancouver standards.
First the best part. They make their own NAAN! It's "baked to order". We were waiting quite a while for our take out dishes that we decided to eat it right there instead.
The Butter Chicken was very tasty. They use white meat, which I'm not a fan of. But I ended up dipping the freshly baked naan in the sauce itself and that was enough to send me to "Foodie Heaven"*.
*Not an actual place, but a state of mind. :)
A good vegetable compliment is their Saag Paneer which is spinach and cheese curry dish. It helps break down the more tasty and spicy dishes that you may have ordered so you can go at it again. Yum!
TIP:
- One dish is enough per person, but it's best to enjoy everything in family-style fashion.
- You have a choice of rice or naan with each dish. Skip the rice and go for the oh-so-freshly-baked naan. Seriously.
So, why four stars? Service is good, but their mind-set is toward take-out rather than the attentiveness for dine-in customers - which there were a lot when we were there. You just have to tend to yourself and go directly to the counter for extra utensil, water refill, and take out containers. Also, the restaurant is shabby. Not shabby chic. Just shabby. It needs an update to attract more foodies who may get turned off before even entering.
Really worth trying if you happen to be in the area.Listed in: Jai Ho!
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Review from Kim L.
Vancouver, BC
12/9/2010
I've been looking for an Indian place for when I get sudden pang for saucy goodness, but other than their freshly baked naan (which I truly appreciated), I'm not sure I'd trek back again. After reading reviews, we decided to give TP a try.
Since it was raining outside, we decided to dine in (before we realized that every table but one was bused). It's pretty no frills here and though there are tables for you to sit, you don't order at the table, you order your meal at the counter and choose either rice or naan (get the naan!). We got the butter chicken and shrimp tikka masal.
I was already prepared after reading the warning regarding decor. When it comes to great food, I can close one eye to the decor and just focus in on the food, but this place was so unkempt (on a quiet rainy Sunday afternoon when no other patrons showed) and noisy (the cook kept slamming kitchenware around) that I couldn't enjoy my meal. I really can't dig places where the staff seem indifferent to customers or care enough to keep the place clean. We actually took the rest of our meal to enjoy in the comfort of our own home. I feel it's quite pricey for what you're gettin--even for take out.
Anyone want to just bring me a stack of freshly baked naan for my butter chicken and tikka masala? I promise that I'll be a good hostess and share the food. -
Review from Dani B.
7/28/2009
I'm a big fan of family run joints, and this place's friendly ambiance just adds to the great food.
The food is good, the portions are big and the price's are very reasonable.
I highly recommend coming here for a quick bite or grabbing something to go. If it's nice outside Grant park is just around the corner and its a lovely place to eat their amazing naan and enjoy the weather. -
Review from Dean P.
Abbotsford, BC
10/18/2010 1 Check-in Here
The curries are plentiful and pack some heat while the butter chicken has an excellent smoky flavour. The Tandoori Palace may not be much to look at but the food more than makes up for the lack of ambiance.
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Review from Janet J.
Vancouver, BC
6/7/2011
If you want a long story short, this place has got OK Indian food but it has the worst delivery service, if you can call it that at all.
So here goes the long story. Like many others, I have tried their butter chicken and would agree that they are one of the better places. They certainly use enough spices in their sauce to kick up the flavour scale and you can ask for extra spicy if you are up for it, and they do a fairly decent job at making the dish as hot as possible. If rated on food alone, I would give them a 3 out of 5 stars.
However, they get only 1 star from me for their RIDICULOUS delivery service, if you can call that service at all. So, I live in downtown Vancouver and get that it's hard to find parking, but honestly, any person would agree that delivery means food to your door. The delivery guy from Tandoori Palace REFUSED to park his vehicle around our apartment building and made my husband go downstairs to get our food. He was impolite and insisted on not coming upstairs as he didn't want to find parking around our neighbourhood and was afraid of getting a ticket if he parked illegally. My husband didn't want to argue any further as we were in the midst of watching the Stanley Cup Final but to say the least, he was not pleased. Seriously, when did a delivery guy's parking issue become my problem?!?! I am pretty sure we ordered delivery for a reason.
We were so unhappy with them that we that our last time ordering from them would be the very very last. Simply outrageous. -
Review from Kenneth E.
Vancouver, BC
10/12/2011
amazing butter chicken, and they weren't kidding about the portions! enough for leftovers...it's been there for a long time, so the owner knows it's a competitive market there...a lot of takeout and delivery in the area, thru http://www.orderit.ca
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Review from Kristine B.
Vancouver, BC
10/12/2010
Great chana masala, dal, and other curries. Bread baked fresh. Over the years the decor has been improving - from terribly shabby to shabby but clean.
The food is so good - fresh, perky flavours, hot, reasonable - that we keep coming back, but we think that a little more attention to the decor could make this place busier than it knows how to handle.
Try the guava juice and mix it with your water. Deeee lish. -
Review from Kele N.
Vancouver, BC
7/17/2009
Great food for a great price. Love coming here for a quick bite. The naan is great and the curry and butter chicken dishes are my fav. Sure to fill u up.
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Review from Alex G.
Vancouver, BC
5/27/2010
Needed to run an errand in this 'hood and I had a powerful hunger for delicious indian food. This spot just talked the talk (or smelled the smell, more accurately). Chicken tikka was lamely presented without any kind of sauce and two huge naan pieces that I had to make a bizarre bare-bones wrap with. Give me something to work with! The flavours were all okay, but the people were not friendly, the ingredients not so fresh, and the entire experience merely satisfactory. I'll keep looking for decent indian on the drive.
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Review from Daniella E.
Vancouver, BC
8/31/2010
It's small and nothing fancy, tho don't let the look fool you! The food is packed with flavor and it sits well in the belly. It's healthy and not oily at all. I'm a regular there once or twice a week. It's the only place that makes me wanna go out for Indian. It's fast, well priced and they do to go. Try the Lamb Saag, Butter Chicken (not buttery or creamy very light for this dish) Dal and Raita. You get your entree curry with your choice of rice, naan or salad. Ask for spicy if you'd like.
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Review from Murdoch B.
Ottawa, ON
5/20/2010
Like many restaurants on the drive, Tandoori Palace is a little hole in the wall of a place, but the meals are some of the best values on Indian food in Vancouver. $12 will get you a curry with naan and chai. ...and it's good food!
The service is friendly and easy going. I sometimes go there with friends to work, and they're totally cool about us spreading our crap out all over the table while we do so. They even give me free chai occasionally since I'm a regular.
And to top it off, they have a big screen TV, and they've always got hockey on if there's a game on. So you can get your Indian food without missing the game. Yay! -
Review from Rajan S.
Vancouver, BC
12/28/2009
Food is very good. I usually order the Chana Masala (curried chickpeas) with naan - a fresh giant one that could easily serve two. As good as the food is, the place isn't. Lacks any seating or environment, and not always friendly. I did discover that they deliver within the area, so I have opted for that a few times. Overall, if you're just looking for a good eat without the dining experience, then you'll enjoy Tandoori Palace.
