PSA: Thinking of trying the new Chai Churi in Ottawa? Read this first
About a week ago I posted a 1 star review for the Chai Churi Indian restaurant on Carling avenue. My review was removed/reported by them so I figured I repost it here word for word. I’ll let y’all be the judge.
So I went with my sister and friend. We just wanted to get some drinks and maybe a bite to share. We ordered 2 mango lassies, 1 elaichi chai, and their signature in house churi. The mango lassies were beyond mediocre. They tasted like store bought lassi from the bottle.
The churi was more of a halwa texture. Traditional churi should be buttery crumbs that loosely clump together when pressed. The individual roti crumbs should still be noticeable. It’s one thing to use leftover roti or paratha. Another thing to give stale food.
Moving onto the elaichi chai. We saw traditional clay matkas (pots/glasses) and were excited to experience chai with the cup. We’ve had lots in Toronto and even bring back the matkas to collect. While we expect the matkas to have an earthy smell when doused with hot liquid, we did not anticipate a pungent sour scent. We were being gaslit into believing this is how it usually is. A normal properly fired mitti/clay kulhad can give chai a noticeable earthy smell/taste, but it should be more like warm clay/terracotta/petrichor, not foul, manure-like, sour, or rotten.
Additionally, staff were not wearing gloves. Not one person. That’s actually a health code violation.
Initially when we informed them, their reaction was not apologetic - they did however offer a partial refund. We received quite a few looks from their staff who had huddled up after this all occurred. The smell that came from the matka was truly revolting and ruined the rest of our experience.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend. I do appreciate the full refund eventually. And one person did say sorry at the end.
(*edit for Reddit they responded to my friend and sister saying that their reviews were dramatic and fake - and that they deliberately trying to harm a small business. After seeing their comments on the reviews, I edited my original review to include more context and clarity)
Below is the continuation.
Additionally, in their response to my sister and friend, they state that we left a “dramatic fake review” - we’re simply sharing our experiences. The man behind the counter himself admitted that the kulhad/matka smell is strong but tried to justify and gaslight saying that’s how it’s supposed to be. Unfortunately, we happened to know what we’re talking about when it comes to this. It’s not about hurting a small business, you guys could have simply acknowledged that something didn’t go right and tried to move on and make the experience better for the next person, however you decided to respond by accusing your customers of being dramatic and leaving fake reviews. You may not have felt that you were rude but that’s what it came across when 4 staff members were huddled giving us looks from behind the counter.
I’ve described the food and drinks as I felt reasonable - which as previously mentioned above, we did taste. We each took a sip of our drinks. And each had a small bite of the churi. It was only the chai we could not stomach to touch due to the pungent odour. So we did in fact taste it - and therefore reserve the right to pass judgement on the flavour and experience.
Additionally, we asked for a refund because our food looked as if it were untouched - as in it’s not like we ate and enjoyed and then proceeded to ask for money back. We simply asked for our money back that we wasted on food/service that we did not use.
Again, as previously stated above, I acknowledged that a refund was provided. You however, in your eagerness to respond you seem to have forgotten that you did not return our money without delay - you only wanted to do a partial refund. Nevertheless, I did appreciate the resolve we came to at the end.
It’s not about getting our money back and hurting a small business, it’s about sharing our experiences and allowing others to make informed decisions before they spend their hard earned money on mediocre products or food or service. That is the whole point of reviews - asking for my money was my right, as is my leaving a review.
Also regarding your comment about dishonesty in the other post, I’d say it’s borderline robbery to sell Maggie noodles, which is 44 cents btw, for over $10 per dish.
EDIT AFTER I WAS CORRECTED: Fair, I’ll take the L on the glove part, I genuinely thought gloves were required when handling ready-to-eat food, so that was my mistake and I’ll correct it. But that was honestly more of a side note.
I’ve had soooo many matka chais and this one was just gross. Their signature churi tasted stale, and several other people have had similar complaints about the food. They’re also selling a 44¢ pack of Maggi for $10 😭
Being wrong about the glove rule doesn’t suddenly make everything else I experienced untrue.