Madras Palace

Original Post: September 22, 2006

Location:

1249 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough

Cost:  great prices!

http://www.madraspalace.com

If you get there on a Friday or Saturday night and it’s crowded, you may as well go home and order pizza. Your food will take sooooooooo long to arrive that not only will you have forgotten what you ordered but you’ll wonder where you are because you are now 99 years old and have Alzheimer’s.

We made the unfortunate mistake of reserving a few tables to accommodate our large group of coworkers, not realizing that that would further jeopardize our chances of receiving our meals in a timely fashion!

Still, our appetizers were tasty and filling…

The chicken pakoras were savory but we had to be careful not to over-fill on them because the rest of the food took so long to arrive.

I was told that certain items I wanted on the menu were in fact ‘not available’ that night….so I finally ordered a dish of Kerala fish fry and rice.

The Fish Fry…Kerala ishtyle is tasty and almost as good as Mom’s home-cookin’!

It’s late by the time everyone has finished eating, but a round of coffees is ordered to which an apologetic server replies “Sorry we cannot accomodate such a large group.”

I’m perplexed….this IS a restaurant, right?

When our giant bill arrives, it creates an uproar since items which were not ordered have been charged to us anyway.  However, everything worked out in the end thanks to the good attitude and service and we all leave content and loaded with left-overs.

Madras Palace is perhaps the only restaurant in Scarborough that serves traditional Kerala cooking that really does taste like back home. So, while the food is delicious, if you dare go on a busy weeknight or weekend, don’t expect everything on the menu to be available or your food to get to your table on time. 

I suggest going on a weekday for lunch…chances are you’ll be quite satisfied (I’ve been back since for lunch, and the service was great and everything we wanted was available).