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Tried both the downtown and Richmond Hill location and we loved them both!
We were served a papad roll while waiting for our order to arrive. Service was excellent. After our appetizer plates were taken away, a couple of servers came to provide us with warm plates which they placed on the table using linen napkins instead of bare hands. Then, the dishes were served, again, by a couple of servers so that it all came at once.
We figured we would stick to more well-known, traditional dishes. We got the Tandoori Chicken which was a half chicken, bone-in, marinated in yogurt and tandoori sauce and roasted in a clay oven. It was flavourful but was a bit on the dry side.
We also ordered the Lamb Roganjosh which was boneless and slow cooked with yogurt and traitional warm spices.
While the Roganjosh was good, the hands-down winner for the fam was their special Butter Chicken. It was less creamy and spicy compared to the regular Butter Chicken we are familiar with. It was hearty, with the right balance of sweet and spicy and curry.
We didn’t get basmati rice but we did get an order each of Roti (Tandoori baked wheat bread) which was perfect for picking up the meat and wiping out the sauce from our plates.
Our mango lassi was also perfect, cutting through the strong flavours of the Roganjosh and Butter Chicken. A couple of sips in between the dishes got our tongues ready to take some more of the spice. What a delightful counterplay.
For dessert, we had the traditional Gulab Jamun which are spongy milky balls soaked in rose scented syrup. It was soft and just had the right amount of sweetness.
We also had Kheer which is a rice pudding topped with pistachios. It was very refreshing and a perfect palate cleanser.
Happy to say that the girls thoroughly enjoyed this meal!!
Been only to the Markham location, though they have a more famous cousin in downtown Toronto. Went twice - the first time with a group of first timers and came back disappointed 2/5 .. Honestly, wasn't very excited when my local hosts (who are long time patrons) suggested this place, but went along to be polite really ;)
Going by the second times experience, I guess the feeling is you need to know what's good and order that. Recency effect leads me to assign a higher rating!!
my first time here was years ago and it was not very good however, my best friend had said they had changed chef and it is a must try. Sure enough, she was right! All th dishes were delicious and it came out piping hot. The murg mitch tikka (green chicken) was moist and tender. The butter chicken was also tasty and very rich and creamy. Love it with all the sauce on the rice or on the naan. Also tried the kofta ...veggie balls. A bit on the spicy side but loved it too!!! Service was great and kept filling the water for us. Highly recommend this place if you want Indian food in Richmond Hill!
I've had a LOT of Indian all across the GTA and went to The Host on a very high recommendation from a co-worker. I have to say that while it was good, very good actually, it didn't quite meet my expectations. It was really not that far apart from anywhere else I've had and given the modest hype, I kind of expected it would have somehow stood apart.
A favourite in our family. Try to make it for the lunch buffet, fair amount of options, fresh, restocked, and better value for your money as dinners can get expensive. Staff is always kind and the try their best to seat you as quickly as possible
Loved the food. Totally authentic Indian food. Garlic naas were just too good. And so was the paneer vegetable. Must go place for those wanting to try good Indian food !! Well done !!
Although I find The Host very overpriced, I do like their food. Nothing is outstanding, but I haven't had a single dish that I didn't like either. Where they stand out is their catering. I attended a very large Indian wedding and their wedding food, despite cooking for hundreds of people, was Excellent. However, I am only giving this restaurant 3.5 stars, because the service was atrociously bad. Just bad. Inattentive, incompetent, rude, slow, I could go on.
Good for lunch buffet, good value, decent quality. Never been for dinner
Dinner review for THE HOST. Simply outstanding! Went for dinner a few times and the food and service was consistently outstanding; Highly recommend it.
My favorite place for Malai Kofta!
The Buffet Was Pretty Good. I was hesitant to try the buffet because of a few reviews but it was actually pretty good and only $12.00. I will definitely try this restaurant again.
Love it!. Wonderful food and great place to take the family or simply dine alone. Love it. Decor is quite striking with traditional Indian artifacts, not overly done but subtly presented.
Our waiter helped us choose our meals & we were not disappointed.
The butter chicken was delicious and the nan was fresh.Would love to come back here and try their lunch buffet.
Host is a place I go to 2-3 times a year with vegetarian friend. We love it. Service is lovely -- food is consistently delicious. We come late for lunch and it is fresh and clean. Small problem with the traffic flow -- buffet goers Have to pass the check-in -- but this is minor. Great lunch place!
Butter Chicken. I ordered the butter chicken for take-out, the place I usually buy it at, I pay $10, and its fairly good. When I saw the price of $15, I was expecting a reason to justify the $5 difference, but there wasn't any, in fact, there was even less chicken.
Amazing dinner. Service was always pleasant and food was ridiculously fresh. The soup was amazing and the chicken was the best Indian I have had in the GTA. Place is great but can use a little more light.
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Keep up the high standards. When a restaurant establishment is good, one does not have to be picayune in the review. When it is bad, one can keep them up against the ropes and pummel them - even if they pretend to play gastronomic rope a dope by not 'changing ' or improving. Alright ... now this is why this restaurant THE HOST is a good place to eat, especially the buffet ... CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM BEGINS ...
1. excellent service: timely refilling of water glasses and supply of napkins, courteous attitude, respectful and quick service delivery of items. The staff and servers are WELL-TRAINED ... and not 'pretenders'.
2. expertise: excellent head chef and associate cooks ... they KNOW what they are doing ... very tasty items and healthy (very little MSG, preservatives ... if any at all)
3.well presented: good presentation of items, lovely buffet and ala carte items
4. gorgeous decor, both ethnically appropriate, yet contemporary and up to standard
5. the restaurant and the restrooms are clean and modern.
6. the prices (so far) are FAIR ...advice to the management ... don't change them and don't even start thinking of scamming like other establishments ... keep up the good work!
The Host is highly recommended (as of this date) for the ala carte items and the various buffets. Advice to the staff and managers ... keep up the good work with good service, fresh and innovative dishes and fair prices.
Advice to those considering visiting this restaurant ... just go. (If you give a bad review, you are obviously a competitor and troll because this restaurant is actually one of the GOOD ones) ... so, check it out when you are hungry for Indian fare.
My first visit to this beautiful location was with my daughter 6 years ago. Ever since it's my favorite Indian place.Recently I took my family on a Saturday a dinner. The food was superb, we had 3 main dishes to share: Lamb Roganjosh ,Tandoori chicken and Dal and we were looked after by a very charming waiter with a good sense of humor. If you want OK food there are many choices around but for flavors I would recommend Host. Consistently good never disappointed.
One of my favorite places. Whenever I'm in the area, I HAVE to eat at The Host. I have always had courteous service. The butter chicken is the best! And yes there are plenty of chicken pieces in it. The sauce is so good that I want to dip my naan in it. I understand why they won "the best butter chicken' award". The basmati rice is light and fluffy as it should be and the naans are wonderful. I have been there half a dozen times in the last 6 mos. and it's always great.
Pleasantly surprised. Had a very nice Indian dinner at the Host (in Richmond Hill). Good service, nice ambience, adn the food was amazing!
Pricey... Really tasty... but not worth the price....
Reasonable lunch buffet but on the pricey side compared to some of the better ones downtown. No mango chutney included in the buffet which is annoying.
When my grandparents came to visit, my mom suggested we go to The Host after having gone for the dinner buffet before. We went to the Richmond Hill location, conveniently situated in a Sheraton hotel with lots of parking and a shopping centre attached. I don’t eat Indian food that much, so this would probably be the third Indian buffet I’ve been to. I’ll try my best to give a helpful review of this restaurant compared to the others I’ve eaten at. So, for my first plate… CCW from the Tandoori Chicken: Bhindi Amchuri (okra), papadum with mint yogurt sauce, samosa with tamarind sauce, potato wedges with tamarind sauce, Kaju Matar Paneer (looks like tofu), Amritsari Choley (with chickpeas). Back: Rice cakes with lentil sauce This restaurant definitely has the most plentiful selection of curries compared to other places I’ve been. This was probably my first time seeing rice cakes and
Lovely ambiance with great food and service, I’ll definitely be back again (and ask for a spicier tandoori murgh).
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When my grandparents came to visit, my mom suggested we go to The Host after having gone for the dinner buffet before. We went to the Richmond Hill location, conveniently situated in a Sheraton hotel with lots of parking and a shopping centre attached.
I don’t eat Indian food that much, so this would probably be the third Indian buffet I’ve been to. I’ll try my best to give a helpful review of this restaurant compared to the others I’ve eaten at.
So, for my first plate… Tandoori Chicken: Bhindi Amchuri (okra), papadum with mint yogurt sauce, samosa with tamarind sauce, potato wedges with tamarind sauce, Kaju Matar Paneer (looks like tofu), Amritsari Choley (with chickpeas). Back: Rice cakes with lentil sauce
This restaurant definitely has the most plentiful selection of curries compared to other places I’ve been. This was probably my first time seeing rice cakes and the crispy Papadum at an Indian buffet before.On the website, the Butter Chicken/ Murgh Makhni is considered award winning and I thought it was quite good. The sauce had a strong tomato taste and the chicken wasn’t too dry. I ate this with the Naan, though I thought that the Naan here wasn’t as soft as the kind I tried in Vancouver because it was sitting at the buffet for a while after it was freshly made.One thing I would definitely recommend getting seconds is the Rice Pudding. I think they add rose water to it which gives the milk a very distinct, fragrant taste. There are also raisins and pistachios inside. This would be my favourite dessert.Standing in the back corner of the buffet are two cooks who made these appetizers in front of you. This was my first time trying Bhalla Chaat Papri, which tasted like biscuits covered in tamarind, mint, and yogurt sauce. I liked this more than the Pani Puri, which were these thin crispy, hollow bulb-shaped snacks that had beans and chickpeas inside, and were soaked in mint water. The taste was certainly interesting, I’m not quite sure if it was good or bad, but I would definitely recommend you to try these Indian street eats for yourself!Alongside my second or third bowl of rice pudding, I also ate more than one Gulab Jamun. I’ve tried these popular Indian desserts at other restaurants before and they are really sweet but delicious. Gulab Jamun is a dumpling made from curdled milk and deep-fried, then soaked in some sweet syrup water.
The Jalebi was prepared on the spot by another chef in the corner and I watched him squeeze batter into spiral shapes in a pan filled with oil. When taken out, he placed them in sugar or honey water. I was surprised to learn that these were an Indian dessert too because my Iranian friend had brought a box of these at the end of Ramadan (they are called Zulbia in Iran). These tasted chewy and really sweet as well.Overall, I enjoyed my experience very much here. While eating, I had no idea how to pronounce anything and I was trying a lot of things for the first time, so writing this blog post led me to search up what all the menu items were and research their origins. The selection of Indian food offered by The Host was not only gastronomically pleasing, but gave me a lesson on culture as well!
Until next time.
The Host is one of the finest restaurants for Fine North Indian Cuisine. I personally prefer the buffet better because there are many options to choose from. I would definitely recommend trying out chaat papri, the daal, spice kebob and naan bread. Simply delicious and if you visit once, this will become one of your top options for North Indian cuisine in Toronto.
Good food, good ambiance. Great location. We were a group of 30 people, we enjoyed their Sunday buffet. Staff was really welcoming. It can accommodate smaller to larger group. Perfect spot for get together. Will not mind going again!
It was the first visit to this establishment! The restaurant is well-lit and well-decorated and absolutely has the capacity to engage its customers all the time in its elegance, ambience, and music while their having their food. The only reason for my awarding 4 out of 5 stars is the question mark raised on the cleanliness of one of the glasses the server brought to the table at around 1:15 PM on Thursday, April 5, which was soon replaced with a clean one. Otherwise, the experience was great! Thank you, The Host!
One of my favourite spots for Indian food. Food is always tasty, the atmosphere is great and the service is top notch. Highly recommend trying the lunch time buffet. Absolutely love the freshly baked naan served here. A+
The host is a nice Indian restaurant in the Richmond Hill area. I have been there a lot of time, but mostly used to go for buffet.
This time it was ala carte menu and to my surprise the food was really good. The buffet is also good, but ala carte food tastes better.
Everything we ordered was so nice and perfectly cooked. The staff are nice and the suggestion given to us about the food was bang on.
Definitely recommend for anyone looking for Indian restaurants nearby.
Ambiance is good and feels like the era of maharajas .
Parking can be a pain in some time. The parking space in front is not enough.
Loved the ambiance. Excellent and authentic Indian food. Quality and quantity were satisfactory. Loved the presentation and service. If you like Indian food, go there. You will not be disappointed. I ordered ala carte, can’t speak of their buffet though.
It's been years since we've been here. Blame the kids for being picky...
The food was and still is amazing. Service is great.
Can't wait until we can leave the kids at home again so we can go back to our favorite restaurants.
I really liked my experience at the Host restaurant 😍,
The waiters and waitress were so friendly, polite and welcoming,
Interior is very beautiful and you can listen to a nice Indian music while you enjoy your eating,
And the best part was all food, appetizers and desserts we ordered, I enjoyed everything I tried.
The lamb was very tasty and well marinated, the Mango Lassi was so delicious, Butter Chicken was great and you feel being in the Heaven with those sweet delicious desserts 😋😋
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