The Host

After spending the day at the ROM, I needed to find a place nearby before I headed off to a baseball game. I wanted something decently priced, as well as sit down. I looked around on Unilocal and found this restaurant! I decided to give it a try and I’m very happy I did. Since I was getting an early dinner (530 pm), I was one of the first people in the restaurant and was sat right away. I ordered the matar paneer, butter naan, rice, and mango lassi. Everything was very delicious and the naan were huge pieces, so you could share it easily with two to three people. I think if you got what I ordered, minus the drink, it can be split between two people! The service was great, too, as my water glass was always filled and the servers were attentive and nice! I highly recommend eating at The Host! Lastly, the price of the meal was perfect. For everything I got, it was CA$ 26 and I know I will get another meal or two from my leftovers.

Great food but they really don’t know how to serve! I waited so long for a sauce I asked. I asked for a glass of sparkling water and he gave a 750ml bottle without telling me. So disorganized when actually serving the food.
The quality of the food was good!

3.5 stars
Goat curry was great. Eggplant curry less so, being as it was a little sweet for my liking. Chicken 65 was good. Service was slightly inattentive. It took a while for us to pay. But I’d come back, especially to get that goat curry. Yum.
Slightly upscale inside. Washrooms are down stairs. They fit us in on a Saturday night, even though we had no reservations. The place was pretty busy inside.

I was at the ROM & craving something different that I can sit to enjoy instead of the typical fast food.
It was a short walk over & I was the first one sat for dinner which proved positive because people were already either calling in reservations or snagging tables within the first 15 minutes I was there.
I ordered this deliciously flavorful chicken appetizer, the saffron rice, & the lamb entrée. Everything was absolutely loved. If I had more time to stay on my travels, I would added dessert too!
The servers were amazingly attentive. Even as it started getting busy, my water glass was always full & they checked on me appropriately but not pushy.
The only reason this place doesn’t get 5 stars is I’m still thrown off when places outside of America have you pay for the rice separately. Used to having it included with the dish without question so this extra charge will always bug me.
Next time I’m in Toronto craving Indian food then you know I’ll be going to this place.

Waited 1 hour for our appetizer and curry. I thought the chef quit on the spot as it was a busy night and everyone was waiting extremely long for their food. It does not take 1 hour to warm up pre cooked dal makhani and chicken.
The chicken sizzler was burnt when it arrived at our table. $ 20 for a burnt appetizer.
The chicken tikka masala was below average and their dal was alright.
I think the 1 hour wait just really ruined our meal.

We got out of a business meeting around noon. We were hungry, and didn’t want to spend too much time looking for a place to eat. I got my phone out, looked on Unilocal what was closest with a good rating, and there we went.
Lunch formula is a fixed price buffet. The choice was fairly limited, comprising some of the usual suspects. The food was ok, not great, and not terribly warm.
Based on the reviews, it seems this might be a good spot for dinner, but the lunch buffet is quite ordinary. But buffets usually are anyway.
If you’re a big eater and looking for a good bang for you buck, you’ll probably be happy. If you’re a light eater, you’ll feel that its expensive for what it is.
I would be tempted to try it again for dinner, but maybe not as there are so many good options in the area.

I went for the lunch buffet and was quite disappointed at the lack of vegetarian options. It’s 100% worth it if you can feast on their meat options but if you can’t I would skip the lunch buffet and go in for a dinner instead.
The restaurant is huge and kinda looks like a fancy house which I loved! The service was quick and pleasant.
From the vegetarian options the food was all standard fare Indian food. They keep the fresh naans coming and the food isn’t oily which are all great.
It’s a good spot if you’re downtown and craving Indian food!

Good find near the Park Hyatt hotel. The $ 25 winter prix fixe menu is a great idea and the portion size is perfect for one. I had a lamb kebab appetizer, chicken tikka main with chole, plain naan and rice, and carrot halva for desert. They were very tasty. I also had a mango lassi, which wasn’t as sweet as I am accustomed to.
All in all good food and good value.

Came here on a whim and absolutely loved it!
It was a Saturday night and we didn’t have reservations and got seated right away.
The second you open the door you can smell the delicious food!!!
Ive got to say this is the best Indian food I’ve ever had!
This restaurant place is a hidden gem.
The service was helpful and very friendly!
Delicious flavourful food!
The restaurant is huge and I don’t recommend reservations.
Make sure you order the green chicken

From the moment we walked in the door and were surrounded by the wonderful smell of curry spices, we knew we were in for a great dinner and we were right.
Even though a Winterlicious menu was offered, we decided to order from the regular menu so we could order dishes to share.
The pappadum that arrived right away were the perfect tease to wet our appetites.
For appetizers we got Pakora platter, Samosas and I picked Chicken 65. All of them tasty but the Chicken 65 was the hands down winner, all 4 of us agreed next time we will just order a few of that for the appetizer, such depth of flavour and just darn tasty!
The dipping sauces for the appetizers were the best we had ever tasted.
For mains we ordered fish curry, butter chicken, goat curry and my personal favourite Lamb Roganjosh. Each of us liked our personal pick the best but it was great being able to share the different dishes because it was all delicious.
The saffron rice and both plain and garlic naan were the perfect accompaniment to the flavourful main dishes.
Some of the heat and spice of the food built up over time so the Mango Lassi was the perfect cooling treat at the end of the meal.
From the moment we stepped in the door, to placing our orders and paying the bill, the service was above and beyond our expectations.
Definitely our go to for Indian food from now on.

I went to this place for my birthday dinner (okay… ONE of my birthday dinners… I’m a massive foodie, okay??), and I thought everything about it was good. Decent décor, okay service, pretty good food… but at the end of the day, nothing was really memorable about it. Nothing screamed «wow» for me (which is why it took me a long time to get around to writing a review of it). I’m a big fan of indian food, especially spicy dishes and anything with paneer, and I thought their panner dish was solid and the butter chicken was alright. But I haven’t thought about those dishes since… typically when I have a great dish, I crave it again soon enough. Not this time. *Shrug*. So I don’t have anything negative to say, but nothing really popped for me.

We had a wonderful meal here last night. I was looking for a place close to Hart House that we hadn’t tried before and as this was highly rated on Unilocal,we decided to give it a try. The service as others have mentioned was truly outstanding. Extremely prompt and polite wait staff make you feel you can immediately relax knowing these guys are not going to screw up your order. I had a nice glass if German riesling with my shrimp biryani which was the perfect, slightly sweet and cool accompaniment to balance the hot, spicy rice dish. My partner had tandoori chicken and he loved it. We enjoyed some garlic naan beforehand and had a side dish of raita with our main course. The menu was quite large and the next time I’m there I plan to try the «build your own curry dish» and try the vindaloo curry with fish and vegetables.

Love this place! No wonder it’s been here so long. Good portions, great service, location and ambiance. The food is great. The tandoori chicken murgh was great and served on a bed of vegetables with which it was cooked on a sizzling hot iron. The garlic naan is delicious. They have salty lassi which I love, don’t like the sweet mango version which is often the only choice some places. The shrimp biryani was also great.

A visit to The Host on a Sunday was a definite letdown for what I had hoped to have been a higher quality fare of Indian cuisine in the downtown core. In a nutshell, everything tasted muted and significantly flavourless to its other Indian counterparts.
As noted on their website as being the winner of the best butter chicken contest by the Toronto Star, one would expect nothing less than taste bud delight. However, disappointingly, the dish did not maintain a rich mouth feel nor did it have a distinctive flavour — none of it lingered. My assumption is that they use a ratio of less cream to more tomato paste.
To further underwhelm, the Chef’s Sampler of three different kinds of Tandoori chicken, had the result of them all having the same flavour profile. It then made me question the type and duration of marinades each one had. Furthermore, they were all dry.
Lastly, please avoid the Tadka Dal (yellow lentils) at all cost since what is expected is a watery and uninspired mess of bland blah — something one would find eating whilst in hospital. Disappointed and frustrated, I loathe the ugly bill on my card.

We’re giving it a 5 stars, mostly for it service, and 4 stars for the food.
For the appetizer, we shared the Bhel Puri, which was a very solid choice considering how yummy it is (Let’s just say we cleaned the bowl alright)! For the mains, we had the Chicken Lababdar (not Labrador, according to their menu!), Saffron Rice and Garlic Naan — all of which were very tasty! We also had the Butter chicken, which we thought was just okay.
We thought that the service at this restaurant was very amazing. When we arrived, the patio was very full so we decided to stay inside. However, it was very cold and as soon as there was an opening, I asked to change our seat to the patio. Our sever was very accommodating and helpful. I love that there was 1 server dedicated to the patio, even when its almost empty! When it came to packing up our leftovers, the server told us he added more rice, because we only had a bit left. How amazing was that gesture? We think because of that, they certainly deserve 5 stars!

Came here for the summerlicious menu, I got the Samosa appetizer, saag paneer and gulub Juman. My boyfriend got the butter chicken as his main, both were great, the presentation was fantastic and cane with lots of naan (as it is offered on the menu as either naan or rice) however the main dish is served with basmati rice a side of daal makhni and a side salad, there is a bit of a wait but the food was fantastic, we both left more than satisfied! They don’t skim on the main with summerlicious as many restaurants do, they care about detail and the food is perfect and authentic, the menu has so many options as well! I highly recommend for summerlicious for people who love Indian food and tons of options!

The Host was the first Indian restaurant I ever tried. I didn’t know what I was ordering but it didn’t seem to matter because everything was delicious.
Favs are butter chicken, samosa, eggplant, naan, vindaloo shrimp, lamb kabobs, wafer thin warm cracker with cumin, curry beef
Chai tea is awesome. I didn’t think it would like it but I was pleasantly surprised. Amazing stuff.

Came for the lunch buffet today but didn’t like it at all. Food was ok but not much selection. I wouldn’t come back for the lunch buffet.

Went here for Winterlicious lunch. I had the spinach and cheese stuffed naan and the butter chicken with rice. My partner had the samosas, chicken tikka masala and rice. Both mains were great, but the naan tasted like it was made from a package of Pillsbury crescent rolls. I opted for the cheese balls for dessert, since they were out of the saffron ice cream, and they were quite good. My partner got the rice pudding and it was thin, milky and kind of bland.
We waited a long time to order our food. We waited a long time between courses. And we waited a long time again for the bill. There was one waiter and someone else who seemed to be the owner helped out — both were unfriendly. The restaurant was busy, so it’s understandable to have to wait a bit. But it was disorganized chaos at its finest. For example, the table beside us had to ask to order after waiting for ten minutes and was told to «just wait a minute.» When their order was finally taken, we waited an additional ten minutes even though we were there first. I’ve been a server and it makes the most sense to take orders from two tables that are next to each other, write them down, and then input them at the same time.
Do not go here if you’re looking for a quick bite to eat. It took almost an hour and a half to order, eat and pay for three courses, which is double the amount of time we spent at a different restaurant the week before. I would consider coming back, but not before trying other Indian restaurants. I doubt this is as good as it gets in Toronto.

Our party of four showed up on a Friday night for our 8:00pm reservation. Our mission to tackle the winterlicious menu. Upon arrival a hostess greeted us as well as another male who I assume is the floor manager. He took over saying he had the perfect table for us.
We were seated in the front of the restaurant in what seems like a glass extension was built onto the original building. It was kind of cool because you could see the brick of the old building with windows intact. It felt like we were seated in a green house as the glass front was surround with lots of fresh plants. I can see this as being a really nice spot to sit the summer time. However since it was winter it was a bit cool but the manager turned on some heat lamps so we never felt the chill.
The winterlicious menu here is phenomenal, there are sooo many choices and options to choose from. Several waiters took care of us that evening and they were extremely gracious and attentive the whole evening.
To start we were served a complimentary amuse bouche of a crispy Papadum with a refreshing cilantro chutney.
Next up were appetizers.
I went with the Samosas which were served in a pair. To my surprise I received beef filled samosas although the menu said they were vegetarian. I actually didn’t realize they were beef until my second bite when I went to smother them in the chutneys decorated on my plate. Needless to say I never bothered to complain to the waiter because I thoroughly enjoyed them.
For mains I went with one of my all time favourite Indian dishes
Aloo Gobhi — Classic simple preparation of Potatoes and Cauliflower florets perfectly done in thick masala
I absolutely loved every last bit of this dish. The vegetables were perfectly cooked still retaining a bit of the crunch and the balance of spice and flavour was mild and comforting.
My entrée also came with a choice of side which included my second favourite Indian dish
Awadhi Khatti Dal — full-​flavoured yellow lentil with a tinge of raw mango, yogurt and garlic
The dal had a very bright and zesty flavour from the addition of mango but balanced with the tangy yogurt and subtle garlic flavour
In addition to all that we also got a choice of rice and nan. Since there were 4 of us at the table we basically ordered all the rice and nan options so they brought us platters of each. The real winner was the nan. Fresh from the tandoor still warm and lightly charred it was perfect for mopping up all the last bits of curry. But the garlic nan was out this world! We demolished it all with in seconds of landing on the table. Eaten as is or with curry it was highly addictive. Our waiter was soo good in offering to bring us more in which thankfully accepted.
Finally for dessert as if we weren’t stuffed from all that delicious Indian food.
Kesar Kulfi — Saffron flavoured homemade ice cream
Although the menu said it was safforn kulfi — I’d have to say it was predominately pistachio flavoured — dead give away as being green and garnished with pistachios. Perhaps it contained saffron but nevertheless I didn’t bother to complain because pistachio is my favourite flavour! The kulfi was a bit too hard for my liking though the pistachio flavour was great and the salty bits of pistachio was good for taking the edge off the sweetness it was my least favourite dish of the night.
Overall I have to say the Host really shines in giving you that Authentic comforting Indian food. Although the restaurant may look a bit dated and they had a few menu mistakes the service here is really impressive. Every single waiter was well mannered and courteous checking on us and keeping our water glasses full. Next time you have a craving for Indian food definitely check out The Host to get your fix.

Un très bon restaurant indien dans un quartier huppé de la ville. Qualité, service et gros prix sont au rendez-​vous. Nous recommandons tout particulièrement le fameux ‘Saag paneer’, cette purée d’épinard et de fromage indien.