Spice Heaven

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We didn’t plan the visit to Spice Heaven on Danforth. It just happened. We were trying to find a restaurant where to eat at on Pape/​Danfroth, but we kept walking more East, until it got pretty dry in the food department, but we were saved before rain by Spice Heaven.
Besides the heavenly food, We will always cherish the lovely server who was in that night. I think he was the owner. He was so diligent, sweet, kind and attentive, like no servers before.
We were hungry for biryani and fish, also ordered naan, which was fresh and nicely crisp. A huge plate of biryani was delivered to our table, which was the only one occupied on a Wednesday evening. Few people stepped in to take their take-​away orders. Biryani was good, but a little spicy for me, who is not very good with spicy food. So was the fish. After server noticed we were struggling a bit, he brought yoghurt, which helped to enjoy the food more. Fish was nicely cooked and as the name of the place says, spice heaven, the flavours were great! We enjoyed our visit there a lot, as you do not get the whole restaurant often just for you. We ended up having a nice conversation with the server and he sat down with us and shared some cooking tips and facts about his home region in India.
We left with an amount of food enough for our lunch tomorrow, full stomachs, peace of mind and an amazing feeling of humanity and kindness. Thank you!

This was my least favorite dining experience in recent memory. When I walked in I noticed the place looked kind of thrown together. Bad flooring, random signs strewn about, not a lot of sweeping had occurred. I wasn’t too alarmed at first as sometimes sketchy places really produce when it comes to the food. Looking at the menu I noticed there was no saag and no matar paneer, my two usuals. The veg options didn’t look appealing so I ended up ordering butter chicken.
I went to the washroom while waiting for my food. It’s downstairs. When I reached the top of the stairs I was hit with the most vile aroma of human fecal matter imaginable. Once downstairs I realized the washrooms were all the way at the end of the hall. The smell seemed to be emanating from the basement itself. Not a good deal. The washrooms were so disgusting I was just waiting to see wild life at any moment.
I really seriously considered leaving because the place obviously doesn’t care in the least about cleanliness. I’d already ordered, though, and didn’t want to look like a jerk so I toughed it out. Wrong decision. The dish served should have been labeled Cheese Whiz Chicken. It was sooo salty and had a vicious acidity. It seriously made me think of cheese whiz or processed nacho cheese sauce. Not at all like any butter chicken I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.
There are only three or four tables. Most of the restaurant was full of a group of young people who seemed to be playing board games, smoking sheesha, and talking too loudly. Not the usual Indian restaurant vibe. The server was quick with the water refills but kind of argued with me when I ordered the food medium spicy. He was all like «Really? Are you sure?» when I said I was sure he says «Do you usually eat medium?» WTF. I’ll never go back.