Southern Aroma

Craving thali’s this past Saturday night, we decided to give Southern Aroma a try in search of variety from our usual go-​to thali joint.
Décor is nice. The restaurant appeared very clean. Staff were friendly and service was ok (slow at times).
We were disappointed to learn that the Thali dishes were only available during the lunch service (they should indicate this on the menu). Instead we went with the chicken biriyani, plain dosa (comes with sambals), eggplant curry, chicken curry. Everything was delicious. Food came promptly and presentation was nice (love the added touch the banana leaves bring as well as the enhanced flavour!). Portions are large which made for tasty leftovers!
Prices are reasonable and the food is made very well. We will definitely return!

I decided to try this place out with a couple of my friends as it was a new place in town. If you’re into South Asian food, there are a ton of other places in Scarborough/​Markham that are WAY BETTER than this place. Aside from the nice décor (I’ll give them that), the customer service was horrible, the food was cold, and I found hair in my food! I would not recommend this place to any one.

Nice ambience, fabulous job on the interior decorating. Good location with lots of parking. Food was okay. Staff were nice and attentive. Will try again.

So I first had food from this place because of their catering. It was delicious!
The salmon was seasoned just right. Spicy and everything tasted fresh. I could tell no corners had been cut in delivering their masterpiece. (Ok i have to admit– my mouth is watering just thinking about that meal…)
I had to try their actual restaurant after this. I was glad I wasn’t swayed by the negative reviews. I eat meat but my partner is a vegetarian. This was the perfect combination for us. Their mock chicken (aka gardein chicken) was very good. I’d recommend the gardein chilli chicken to anyone. But before I get to the meal, I’d be amiss in writing this review if I didn’t mention the vege rolls and crab cakes. It was served with a sauce that really brought out the flavour of the food. The salad that accompanied the starters was also yummy and had a tangy sauce.
For our actual meal, we had shrimp fry, eggplant curry, putty and the garden chilli chicken. I’d recommend that as a combo to anyone. It was the blend of the traditional and the new.
Maybe the other reviewers had a bad experience, but I’d recommend this place to anyone. The service was amazing without them intruding on date night. Loved it ;-)

New place, classy, tasteful décor — ethnic chic. The masala dosa with fixings was good. They add a small dessert with it which is a unique twist. The quinoa-​tofu chicken (mock) based kuthu roti was excellent & so was the quinoa chicken (mock) chilli chicken curry. This place is new & I see it being successful if they continue delivering in the same classy, tasty style.
Check it out!

There is a glaring need for a nice classy South Indian/​Sri Lankan place. This place suits the bill. It is clean, has modern décor and has an interesting menu — I’ve never had mock chicken Kothu roti. The masala dosa was solid with nice sambhar and two chutnies. Interesting twist — dosa had a small dessert gratis. A delicious coconut chocolate truffle. Service was friendly and efficient. I really hope these guys make it.

The décor and atmosphere was beautiful! I had a mango shake, which was sweet and delicious. For my entrée, I had the mock chilli chicken with garlic naan. It tasted like real chicken and was very flavourful! The naan was fluffy and yummy as well. The staff were very friendly and provided amazing service.
I will definitely go back again!

Rubbish and worst restaurant I have been too. I took my family and parents from UK there and we couldn’t sample their food due to the fact it wasn’t available!
How can a restaurant not have any food??? I had starving young kids and we had to leave because they had no food that we wanted.
I am glad we didn’t get to eat there after reading the review about finding hair and foil in the food! What other crap would there have been if I had eaten there!

A combination of South Indian/​Sri Lankan flavours. A restaurant that just opened up around the end of May/​June I wanted to try this food again to see what was new and to try some more dishes. There’s definitely more spicy and flavourful items on the menu– with appetizers of crab cakes, sizzling meat dishes, chennai poutine (fries with curry/​meat/​paneer). This seems to be a new addition. The three of the appetizers we tried were good and flavourful! The shrimp fry (spicy shell-​on shrimp) was good.
For vegetarians, the ‘mock’soy protein chicken seems pretty good! Amazing flavour and texture— without the meat.
MUST TRY: shrimp masala, crab cake, kothu roti
UPDATE: Dosa is back on the menu!!!
We also tried some of the egg parotta which was nice and flaky. It came with curry sauce. Maybe a yogurt sauce would be good too to add there.
In terms of main dishes, the chicken Briyani is delicious and spicy! With a nice chicken piece, egg and a yogurt sauce.
The dessert is good– mango milkshake and offers an assortment of cake, I like the dulce de leche cheesecake– it’s a lighter airy cheesecake.
Service and ambience– amazing service from the waitstaff, polite attentive. Seems good for vegetarian and nonvegetarian food. This place is clean, nicely decorated and fancy. We even got hot towels before the food!
I’m impressed by this restaurant will come here again for my South Indian/​Sri Lankan food fix!

The food here was really good. Totally different from other Srilankan restaurants. Their country chicken curry is to die for. Kothu rotti is really good as well. Can’t wait to take my family there.

I took my in in-​laws from the UK here a few weeks ago and the food and service was fantastic!
We were greeted by friendly wait staff who showed us to our tables. The cutlery and plates were made of copper and really gave you a feel of a South Indian restaurant. We were then provided hot towels to wipe our hands, which I don’t think I’ve ever had at an Indian restaurant. The attention to detail here was something Indian restaurants can learn from as most other places herd you in and herd you out. The restaurant décor is the best for a sit down Sri Lankan I have seen thus far in Toronto.
The menu had a decent selection of food for both vegetarians and meat eaters. I am a vegetarian so trying to find well spiced mock dishes are difficult to find, but this place had a great selection. I would definitely recommend the gardien biryani.
I applaud the culinary vision that push the edges on some of the traditional dishes!
This is the place to be in Toronto if you are looking to try something different from your typical South Indian takeouts!

Went to this restaurant with my family because it just opened recently, and hey why not try something new. What could possibly go wrong?
We were informed by the waitress that they were out of biryani and dhosai and the appetizers on the menu were unavailable, which baffles my mind of how that’s possible. We ordered naan with mutton masala and chicken chettinad. The food was okay, definitely not the greatest.
If you’re eating the food and thinking of other places you should have gone, then that’s a really bad sign of the place you’re in.

First time here… found the place on Unilocal.
The good: New place, nice décor and furniture. Small menu compared to other similar restaurants. Fast service.
Ordered their puttu with kudal curry (days special) and puttu with chicken curry.
Potion was too small for a Sri Lankan/​Indian restaurant. So half way into the food we ordered garlic naan so we could have a full meal at extra cost.
The Bad: my buddy found a 3 inch foil in his puttu and two strands of hair (one in the puttu and another in the garlic naan)
The Food: Kudal and chicken curry was decent.
As for the garlic naan it felt dry and either not fully cooked or it’s the wrong dough (not sure what it was)
The garlic naan wasn’t what it suppose to be. There was no garlic flavour what so ever.
End of the meal we requested the waiter to see the manager or the owner and he wasn’t available.
No compensation was given for the disgusting findings in the food even though we showed to the wait staff what was in the food.
He took the plate to the kitchen removed the hair and the foil and bought the plate back to the table and said since we ate the food they cannot provide any kind of compensation. Still bugs me what kind of restaurant would remove the dirt and place the same plate in front of the customer again.
Everything cost $ 37.25 which is not cheap. Obviously the cooks have less experience and the cost should be based on that.
Oh almost forgot there was a piece of rotten chicken on the window frame where we were eating… (i’ve posted the photo along with the Hair naan)
It is understandable the new restaurants take time to perfect themselves. But at least price the food accordingly and compensate to customers that are not satisfied with your food specially when there’s hair and foil served in your plate.
Would not recommend this place. There’s other popular spots around the same corner that provide good food and service.

The food was great! Sri Lankan and South Indian dishes on the menu. It is a cute little sit down place. I had the parotta and shrimp masala and my friend had the chicken biryani. I would go back just for the parotta!

Ordered the mutton masala. Shrimp masala biryani. Chicken rassam and vegetarian chili paneer. And garlic naan. Very delicious and fresh.
Chicken Rasaam was unique and is a must try.

Great food. The Thali meal was very good. The curries were very flavourful and not overly spicy like other South Indian dishes. Since the spice level was controlled you can taste all the flavours of all the curries provided with the thali meal.
I was impressed with the wide variety of curry dishes that was offered with the meal. Each curry had a unique and distinct flavour. Each curry appeared to be made from fresh ingredients as none of the curries tasted «old».
One of the issues I had with the restaurant is the lack of variety on the lunch menu. The only option was the thali meals (which are delicious). The staff made a great effort to prepare other items but, the lack of options was very noticeable. Also, we received cake as the sweet portion of the meal. The cake was delicious but, a traditional sweet dish would of complemented the meal very well.
The staff were very pleasant and friendly. It’s definitely a great addition to the neighbourhood which is lacking dine-​in South Indian restaurants.