Guru - Edmonton

Food tasted good, but the delivery arrived with an unsealed bag and no tamper-proof packaging. It made me unsure about food safety. Food: 4 Service: 1 Atmospher... read more Food tasted good, but the delivery arrived with an unsealed bag and no tamper-proof packaging. It made me unsure about food safety. Food: 4 Service: 1 Atmosphere: 1 Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $40–50

The management is new, and they said they will be bringing a lot of new items in the menu. I wish the new management good luck. Food: 4 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 read more The management is new, and they said they will be bringing a lot of new items in the menu. I wish the new management good luck. Food: 4 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

I 'm not exactly sure why or how this happened but Edmonton is a city with a large amount of particularly good Indian food. One of the restaurants that tops the... read more I 'm not exactly sure why or how this happened but Edmonton is a city with a large amount of particularly good Indian food. One of the restaurants that tops the list every time is Guru, which opened roughly a decade ago in Place Larue in Edmonton 's west end. Since then they have opened a second location downtown and have generally been considered one of the highest end Indian restaurants this entire time. Avenue Magazine named Guru Best Family Style Dining 2020, which makes them the perfect place to visit with your Indian food loving crew. I made a reservation in advance and arrived for dinner on a Saturday evening ready to eat. The restaurant itself is very large and expansive, made up of various rooms and dining areas. There 's an outdoor patio as well. The decor is also quite stunning with an ambiance that is modern but still boasts obvious Indian touches. I loved all of the intricate, rich details, especially the beautiful lit up feature wall with om symbols. The music playing made us feel like we were in the movie 'Drive, ' which we quite enjoyed. One small issue is that once we were seated no one came to serve us for a very long time (it was probably at least 20 minutes . When our server finally did show up she apologized profusely, explaining that no one had let her know about our table. Apart from that mishap, our server was wonderfully friendly and personable. I started right away with a Guru Chai (House ground spices, milk, black tea $5.00 , which is a staple for me in Indian restaurants. Although the cocktail list is very impressive and exotic sounding. Mixologist Gurjeet Khaira has crafted each cocktail to match the Indian theme perfectly and I would especially like to try the Smokey Backyard which is made with housemade chai syrup. The server poured my chai theatrically, holding the pot up high. This is traditionally done to refresh the tea by allowing more contact with the air. Chai made in good Indian restaurants makes the likes of coffee shop chais look fake. I absolutely love having the real thing! Real ground spices and tea leaves steeped in milk allow for a rich, aromatic experience. An ideal cup of chai in my opinion! The Small Plates to Share section of the menu at Guru is particularly exciting to me because I feel that this is where they 've been able to feature the most innovation. The ideas are interesting, flipping traditional dishes into something modern and new. I loved the idea of the Guru Street Food plate and Vishal 's Poutine made with pakora fries and butter sauce is absolutely going to be in my future (can we get some paneer on there?! . However, there was no question, we were going to start with the Butter Chicken Samosas (Crispy triangular shells stuffed with butter chicken, served with chana masala $8.75 for two , likely Guru 's most popular dish and their claim to fame. I grabbed a forkful of chana masala right away (a chickpea curry and was immediately blown away by how delicious it tasted. I had barely eaten anything and things were already off to an excellent start. An ingenious dish, the crisp, golden pastry is jammed full of juicy butter chicken. I 've never seen this anywhere else and it 's such an amazing way to enjoy butter chicken and still save room for other dishes later. These are a must try every single time. But the starter that truly knocked my socks off was the Shrimp Pakora (Shrimp coated with chickpea and ground spices $21.75 somewhat expensive but absolutely worth it. Plump juicy shrimp were coated in a crispy pakora batter, creating an entirely unique dish. The flavour and texture was wonderful. I loved the salty spiciness, and of all of the dishes, I can 't stop thinking about this one. It was unlike anything that I have ever tasted before! The shrimp had that addictive quality that makes you want to keep eating more. It also occurred to me (for the first time ever that pakora is like the tempura of Indian cuisine. Served with two dipping sauces; one tamarind, one mint a perfect match for both appetizers. These shrimp are special and you want them in your life! For our main event we decided to stray from our usual butter chicken or lamb curry or vegetable korma in an attempt to try something new. (Although I 'm certain that Guru 's version of all of those dishes is excellent. On this visit it was going to be the Lamb Vindaloo (Portuguese spices blended with lamb and farm potatoes $25.75 , a dish derived from Portuguese cuisine. Unapologetically spicy, this dish was deeply rich with heat but not so much that any flavour was lost. The pieces of lamb were tender without a bone in sight. (You 'd think that this is a given, but you 'll find bones in your curries at other restaurants. I also loved the potatoes which were perfectly stewed. An ideal example of a beautiful curry, full of robust spice, and wonderfully delicious. I really want to try the Fish Moilee next time because it sounds great. Fish in coconut milk works for me! Indian f

COVID Review Take Out Review. Ok, so hadn't tried Guru prior to the pandemic. Thought I should support local businesses. Ordering from Guru was done using their... read more COVID Review Take Out Review. Ok, so hadn't tried Guru prior to the pandemic. Thought I should support local businesses. Ordering from Guru was done using their website and calling them directly. Gent that took my order was very nice and personable. Had ordered 2 dishes plus rice and 2 pieces of naan... $75 ! (before tip) Not the place you go if you are watching your food budget. When I got there the place was dark and it looked like they were closed. There was a table at the entry, and after waiting for a bit, someone emerged out of the kitchen. Obtained my order and went home. Opened up the order, and everything was there, and the still fairly warm. What I was immediately struck by was the size of the portions. Quite small for the amount paid. Hmm... well let's reserve judgement until I taste this. Dug in, and it was good, but not outstanding. hmmm... well that was a bit disappointing. I had high hopes for Guru. Especially considering the rave reviews I had read. Overall, Take out is never a great indicator for a restaurant. The entire service aspect is missing and so is the ambiance. The food from Guru was good, but not outstanding. The biggest surprise was the small portion, and that my butter chicken had 6, yes I counted, thumb sized pieces of chicken. For $25 ! Hmmm... not good. I think there are better Indian restaurants out there, and for price, I hope that their service is stellar, as the food left me underwhelmed.

My go to Indian restaurant when I'm in the city and it's always special when we go. Hubby and I are currently avoiding carbs so skipping the naan bread which is... read more My go to Indian restaurant when I'm in the city and it's always special when we go. Hubby and I are currently avoiding carbs so skipping the naan bread which is always a favourite was hard, but the house salad we had instead was outstanding! Truly every dish is fantastic and our server gave us plenty of space and time to enjoy our dinner but we never wanted for a thing. We have consistently had wonderful meals at the Guru.