Babu

Babu selling expired food… we bought chilli chicken and got food poison. … and very salty too… just be alert guys…

So darn good! The food here is absolutely amazing, and makes you want to go back for more.
The first thing you’ll notice is the smell. Its heavenly and definitely makes you want to order everything! You can’t sit down here, as it is a takeout establishment, but it is still worth it.
Everything is quite good here, but the samosas are probably my favourite. Dishes here are typically quite spicy, so you will want to keep that in mind when ordering.
The food comes out quite fast, so you really don’t have to wait that long. The overall set up is a little confusing when it gets very busy, but it is what it is.
Definitely an awesome place to pick up some food and head home! Check it out!

Great soul foods (if you have ever lived in South India/​Srilanka)

Food is just ok. Everything is toned down to be boring and bland. Unfortunately only a few other Sri Lankan options in the area. I prefer the longstanding shop a few kms south of here.

Update on the samosa. Now it is $ 1 for 4 Veg samosa. The samosa is smooth, golden, doughy, light and not greasy at all. Although it is not what people think a samosa is (as noted by my friends), it’s still delicious in its own right. If you would like a crunchier version of samosa, try the patice $ 1 for 3. It’s crunchier as seen by the bubblier surface, but it is greasier, so beware. Overall, nice Indian neighbourhood take out place.

I’ve been coming here regularly for the past 6 months, you cannot beat the lunch deal, 5 $ for a huge plate of food! The mutton somosa’s are great (4 for a dollar), if you get them hot out of the oven they are to die for! The guys are always super nice as well. The curry itself is average, if comparing to a traditional dine in experience; however considering its fast food, it’s superb!
Some more combo’s, and samples I would give the place a solid 5 stars!

First time was good, because I was happy to find this so close to my place. Since then, the quality has gone way down. Greasy and stale. Worst is some of the counter service. One of the guys back there is just plain rude with a terrible attitude.
Go if you are desperate. I’d rather go to McDonalds with a bottle of Tabasco.

Been here a few times. Usually to pick up samosas, they have fish samosas too.
For the other items, i’m not familar with the food, so i usually look at all the dishes and then pick what i like. Most are spicy. Prices are good! Somedays it does get busy.
No seating inside. Take out only.
Service as mentioned in other reviews, are hit and miss.
Worth a try if its your first time, at least you get to see what you are ordering, instead of pictures.
If it looks dry, don’t order it.

Literally just now we tried to call for delivery and a man picked up and he said «no delivery, only pick-​up.» We tried to tell him that his website is called
and that it says to call the following number for delivery. Even though we told him this he said no and he hung up on us. Worst service ever. Would not recommend.

Excited, but confused. Checked their online menu as well as their in-​store advertisement, and the prices didn’t exactly correlate with their in-​store specials.
Had:
Chicken biryani ($ 5.45) — Comes with 2 pieces of chicken, hardboiled egg, and some kind of yogurt salad. Biryani was flavorful. Portion was very generous (lasted me lunch and dinner). Chicken needs more flavor in order to stand up to the rice.
Lunch special ($ 5.99) — So online, they say that the lunch special is all day and it’s $ 4.99. It is supposed to come with plain rice, 1 meat curry and 3 veggie curries. On their specials board, it was listed at $ 4.99 before 3pm, and after 3pm, it costs $ 5.99. It also comes with 2 veggie curries, and not 3. I was allowed to choose biryani rice though. Also a good portion. Butter chicken is tender and flavorful, and it’s got a nice BBQ smokey taste to it. Mutter paneer could have used more paneer, but it was also tasty. Daal was not bad, but I prefered the paneer.
Fish patice (3/​$ 1) — This is almost like a crossbreed between a samosa and a dumpling. It’s deep fried and quite tasty. A worthwhile treat. Slightly spicy.
Mutton samosa (4/​$ 1) — Also quite tasty. Does have a mutton taste, but no actual meat texture. Curried mashed potato paste inside. Also slightly spicy.
Mutton roll ($ 3) — Quite similar to the mutton samosa, except with a few chunks of potato and a few pieces of actual mutton. Also in a roll that is presumably not deep fried. This one is also quite a bit spicier than the patice or the samosa.
The food was quite good. The portions were quite good. The prices were quite good. However, they need to work on their service. It was my first time there, and one of the servers accompanied me as I walked around the restaurant ordering things. Towards the end, when we were about to pay, another server told us to follow him to the cash register to pay. He had mistaken us (myself and my parents) for another couple that he had been serving. We ended up paying for their order, and we were almost given their food. Our original server then told us to follow him and he would sort it out. He berated us for not following him to pay. There is no visible system in place as to how to pay. He was there when the other server told us to follow him, but did not stop us. Not a fan of being berated for something I don’t think was entirely my fault.
This location is a tad far for me, but there’s a closer one, so I’ll go there next time. Hopefully, their service issues get worked out.

I’ve been to Babu’s many times since they opened (which, by the way, is not anywhere close to the 20 years they claim — they’re closer to 2 than 20, more like 5), and I have to say that their food is subpar. I don’t even go to them for naans because they are so bad.
Unfortunately, my family and I would keep dropping by since they’re so close to FreshCo, but the food is just as bad or worse than we remember. The flat breads are not the way they’re supposed to be (I won’t go into comparisons of their naans and rotis) and their vegetable and chicken curries have the wrong spices in them in that they don’t taste good. I don’t know if it’s because they have South Indian or Sri Lankan chefs but their North Indian is sub-​par. If you’re going to eat there, stick with South Indian /​Sri Lankan dishes.
Even though we’re based in Unionville, my family and I will end up making our weekly Indian food pick-​up run to Samosa King at McCowan and Finch or Mistaan at Victoria Park and McNicholl. That says it all as we hate crossing Steeles and we hate standing in long lines, which the former has.

Awesome food and incredible prices — how do they do it for those prices !!! I love the butter chicken and samosas and onion bargis most of all !!! And the lovely staff who are so patient with us idiot Caucasians who don’t really know how to order but just trust the fabulous waiters !!!

Awesome food and incredible prices — how do they do it for those prices !!! I love the butter chicken and samosas and onion bargis most of all !!! And the lovely staff who are so patient with us idiot Caucasians who don’t really june how to order but just trust the fabulous waiters !!!

We ordered
Meat/​Vegetable Samosas
Butter Chicken
Assorted Desserts
Naan
This is considering as a fast food environment
Samosas: They were very good, great for a quick snack and has a great taste
Butter Chicken: Mediocre at best, tasted pretty much like chicken with a very plain tomato sauce put onto it. Some of the pieces were very hard meat while the others were chewy…
Assorted Desserts: Very good! Very sweet but goes well with tea or coffee
Naan: Not very good, Garlic naan tastes bitter contrasting with naan
Its okay, I wouldn’t have it again although the pricing is very good

Disappointed with Babu recently. I used to have better experiences and better food previously. My recent visit wasn’t so pleasant.
Their queue system doesn’t make any sense. I went to get some take out for dinner. I had to line up once to order food and line up again to pay at a separate line up. It took a really long time just to get take out (I was there for 20−25min and it wasn’t even that busy at the time). They seemed to serve people who weren’t even in the line-​up, how is that fair to people who are waiting in line.
Food quality seemed to be going downhill as well.
Overall, cheap take-​out, just okay quality food, slow service; took a long time to get food and q system didn’t make sense. I don’t think it’s worth the hassle. Likely won’t come back here anymore.

I was not very impressed with the food. They do have a large selection of food choices. There is no seating at all so you have to take out. The guys behind the counter were friendly and the service was good. The reason I am giving a 3-​star is because the food quality wasn’t that great.

Probably the shortest yet one of the most effective reviews I’ve written! The food here is fannnnnnnnnntastic! I love love love the samosas and 3 or 4 for $ 1… game changer right there! So goooood the curry is so delicious you could eat like $ 10 worth not even joking! I don’t even care that this place is a takeout place. I’ll just order my food and eat in my car all day! I’ve also tried the lemon rice and yummmm. I’ve yet to try the other food as samosas are my life at babu. If I order other food I feel the samosas will be angry at me so samosas all day!
Anyways the place smells like curry heaven and the other food looks amazing! Definitely give this place a try!

This is one of my favorite spots to get food from. Always fresh… they have a consistency that it’s a bit hard to find these days when I go to take out restaurants.
The chicken Korma is so delicious!
It’s super affordable and the quantity they give you always makes for great left overs! :)

This is a decent Indian takeout place to satisfy late night cravings because of the extended opening hours. It’s always a fun experience to see many different kinds of curries through the glass display.
There’s also a bakery attached to the restaurant and that’s where magic happens. You have a wall of freshly baked bread, piping hot samosas and other fried treats piled up high on trays. If you’re feeling particularly indulgent, you can also pick up some sweets like gulab jamun, which are probably 500 calories each.
Docking a point off because the cashier was slow and seemed inexperienced in dealing with the lines. By the time I got home, my meal had already gone cold.

It’s hard to go wrong with Babu.
My go to is their Masala Dosai. Super cheap for how filling it is, and its genuinely good food! The «pita» that it’s wrapped in could do with some flavour, but the on-​the-​side sauces that it’s served with, plus the hearty filling definitely pick up the slack.
Note: This is a south Asian restaurant, so beware if you’re not up for a spicy experience.
And of course, there’s nothing more satisfying than their mutton squares. God bless…

Oh, Babu. What happened?
You were once the bastion of good (alright, not GREAT) Indian food for super cheap prices. I used to be excited when Saturday nights came and I would come here with the girlfriend/​family to buy your samosas and butter chicken. But when I came last week I found out that your samosas have changed (AGAIN) to become worse in quality, with thick shells in bland fillings. Your butter chicken meat was dry, and the curry broth was watery.
You were still cheap, but now that’s the only thing you got going for you.
Is this a temporary thing? Did I catch you at a bad time?
Is it me? Is it you? Is it not me but you? Is it not you but me? Do I even make any sense?
Whatever it is, I think we need to see other people for a while. I will visit you again sometime (soon?) and hope for better days.

I’ve only ever eaten the samosas here — it’s $ 2 for 4 pieces.
They’re actually huuuuuge. I love the vegetable and mutton here. The spices are so overwhelming — none of your gross, soggy, barely-​tasting like anything kinda puffs.
If you’re coming here for the samosas — you have to be a little direct as there’s usually 5 to 10 people milling around — you just go up to the counter (left side — where the samosas are) & order. As everybody else is waiting for food on the right side.

$ 5 ALL DAY lunches on weekdays; $ 6 on weekends and it is SO worth it. They jam pack the box with food! You get to pick one rice, one meat, and three veggies from a variety of options.
One of the servers told me that their mutton curry is the spiciest, so if you like spicy food, give that a try! I’ve been here several times and have never ran into any problems with the food or service. They always have a handful of staff on hand — both at the counter and at the cash.
Samosas are four for a dollar!
P. S. This place is takeout only, so there is no seating.

Hmm… where to start.
Honestly. I would never think I would try Babu… but one day running through Unilocal reviews and so on., I had a craving to try biryani rice and omg… I’m so glad I came across babuuu ;) !!
Seriously guys… if you love spicy food… COME HERE AND TRY THEIR LUNCH SPECIAL …
I ordered butter chicken biryani rice and omgggggggggg sooooo delicious… BUT SO SPICY… its so spicy that I couldn’t take more than 3 spoons of rice/​chicken every 15 minutes. but seriously. its so good. the chicken is so soft and falls apart easily … the rice is so yummy…
the bad thing is i got a stomach ache afterwards. Not sure if its the food or its from something else but…
I will get it again! Because it’s honestly so worth $ 5… I had to split the rest of my lunch for dinner cause there was just TOO much…

As someone who is very familiar with Sri Lankan cuisine, I was very pleased with most of the items here. Their curries etc often are a tad on the greasy side but their dry meats (tandoori style roasted chicken) is excellent.
Great selections of rolls and buns. Very cheaply prices and well made. Fairly friendly staff