Utsav Restaurant

Cute little Indian restaurant tucked away in Yorkville. My husband and I shared a Butter Chicken, Saag Paneer, Basmati Rice, and Garlic Naan and it was just more than enough. I would have ordered more garlic naan if I had less self-control. The sauces were so tasty and the portions were very reasonable. The service was great, good recommendations without being pushy.

I’m not usually someone who leaves reviews on Google, but I had to for this restaurant. This was the BEST Indian food I’ve ever had, and the owner and chef were so friendly and welcoming! I ordered the butter chicken, and the owner recommended the saag paneer (both were incredibly!). The butter chicken was rich, creamy, and full of delicious tomato flavor. The saag paneer was also amazing! I loved the soft, nutty, and flavorful chucks of cottage cheese. I’ll definitely be coming back, and I’m so happy that I can also order through Uber Eats at home!

This is my second visit to this restaurant, and both times I’ve been impressed by their excellent service and delicious food! I’ll definitely be back for a third visit when my parents are in town.

Our 11 year old son chose this as he loves a curry. We really enjoyed our meal, the service was very attentive and friendly. We got there early as we didn’t have a reservation and they managed to give us a table for 4. It was busy and full when we left just after 8. Food was lovely and portion sizes were good. Would recommend!

Food here is authentic and delicious. Had the Paneer Makhani, Butter Naan and Lachcha Paratha. Treated myself to the mango lassi as a dessert. Would love to go back here and try their other stuff.

Utsav Indian restaurant is a great place to hangout with family and friends. The ambiance is so good, the staff is so friendly. We ordered chicken briyani and peas pulav, they are so fresh and kids loved it. My favourite is their naan varieties especially the panned kulcha was so good and it goes good with their panner gravey.

We visited this restaurant while traveling from Montreal and it was an amazing experience! The food was absolutely delicious, full of authentic flavors. The service made it even better — the waitress and (we believe) the owner were incredibly kind and welcoming. Their warmth made us feel right at home. We will definitely be coming back!

I’ve dine at Utsav 3 times now, it’s my go restaurant when I’m in the Yorkville Village! Appetizers:Vegetable Samosas Entree: Lamb Rogan Josh (Spicy) I can’t take the spicy like I used to, I ordered mild and it was still too spicy, the server was nice to bring out a side of yogurt to help cool down my mouth. All in all the dinner was delicious 😋 tasty and I went back a couple of weeks later just to have an assortment of appetizers and a glass of sparkling wine.

Who would have thought that Yorkville could be home to an amazing Indian restaurant? And we didn't even have to pay an exorbitant price for the privilege. Going there on an early weekday evening, the place was fairly quiet and we received exceptionally warm service from the owner. The ambiance was muted and elegant, despite being a small space. I ordered the eggplant bharta, which turned out to be one of the best I've ever had. The smoky flavour of the eggplant blended exquisitely with the various spices - I also loved that the texture was slightly more chunky than usual. I could tell that they definitely toned down the heat a little, which I appreciated - just make sure to let them know if you prefer otherwise. My friend enjoyed her paneer dish very much as well, and in fact was so impressed by the restaurant (or maybe was hallucinating) that she swore the water was somehow special as it tasted sweet...spoiler, it was just tap water. An unexpectedly wonderful find! I suppose I will be frequenting the area more often.

One of the best Indian food spots in Toronto! We tried the meal for 2 called Thali, $39 per person. You get to choose 3 curries and it comes with appetizer, rice, basket of naan bread. The food was delicious! I'm a fan of the butter chicken and aloo gobi. We didn't even get to finish the meals, it was way more quantity than we expected. Would def come back and recommend this spot! The ambiance in this restaurant is nice, too! Great dinner spot.

Tucked in a nice neighborhood, the venue offers standard Indian fare at reasonable prices and decent portions. E.g., the lamb I ordered was flavorful but dry on the inside, and the rice I could not finish (I will say that I have a small appetite). The service was fast and professional, on the impersonal side of things.

Good food for the excellent price. Saag Paneer (spinach and paneer) was really good and paneer itself tasted fresh and was tender. Biryani wasn't the best that I ever had but it was again good for the price. I'll definitely return! Mango lassi was delicious as well. Service was courteous and the place is nicely located.

An employee at our hotel recommended this restaurant. FANTASTIC!!!! The food was even better than we had hoped for, and the service was excellent! (I think our server was the owner.) If you're in Toronto, you have to give this restaurant a try. Thank you so much for a wonderful dining experience!

Great lunch menu and service. Went off menu with Fish Curry and it was delish. Sang Paneer was creamy good.

Oh boy, where do I start? With Utsav having a four star review in Yorkville, perhaps I was expecting too much. What I ended up with was disappointment. Walking in at around 1:40pm on a Friday afternoon, I must have just missed the lunch rush. The staff appeared to be resetting all the tables. Only two tables were occupied when I arrived so it wasn't busy at all. With almost every table available, I was shown a table right next to the entrance, with the chair facing the street. I even had to wait for them to dress the table. So, I sat right next to the front door facing out. With so many tables unoccupied, this was probably the worst in the building. It's been a while since I've had butter chicken so I was really looking forward to this. A small salad arrived first. Not bad but too much cucumber for my liking. Next, the chicken and rice arrived in separate containers, along with a plate. The naan arrived a few minutes later. Everything looked good. Unfortunately, the chicken was really sweet, kinda sugary. This was a bit of a turn off for me. The rice was also very dry. Another turnoff. The naan was okay but could have been cooked just a tad longer, for my taste. This is the fourth Indian restaurant I've been to near my office (Yonge and Church/Davenport) and have left disappointed, except for one. Maybe I should just stick to that one.

Haven't had Indian food in the longest time so we decided to finally drop by this place we walk pass by at the end of every spinning class. It's quite hidden at a semi basement in Yorkville. We asked for recommendation from our waiter for spicy prawn / lamb selections, and we loved it! Just the right amount of spiciness! The waiter also gave us tomato soup before our appetizers came and rice pudding after we finished our meal. The portion of our prix fixe menu was huge for two people. It can easily feed three. We packed lots to go. We were recommended by waiter to come during lunch time. Will give that a try!

Consistently fresh dishes! Love their Butter Chicken and lamb! The cucumber salads are great too- Friendly neighborhood service gem that I will continue to frequent!

Tried this place on a Friday evening with a friend. Found it to be a small and quiet resto located in an unassuming location. We walked in without reservations and had no problems. Kinda off street level, need to walk down stairs to access it. Prices are reasonable for Yorkville but I did think portions were a bit small. Dishes are to share. I ordered the Chicken Makhni (butter chicken) $14, which included chicken grilled in tandoor and creamy tomato sauce. Paired it with the Garlic Nan $3 (nan bread baked with fresh garlic). Pretty happy with my selection, food was definitely good and savoury. My friend ordered the Biryani (rice dish), forgot if it was the Chicken or Gosht dish but they wanted it spicy. Omg, I took a bite and basically finished a glass of water. Lol. I am bad with spicy food though. Food was good but I think we were surprised at the portions. It's a bit small for price and for my nan I only got like 3 slices which you had to reorder for refills. Service was okay for me. I didn't feel like we were welcomed as much as others? They tried to stick us near the front door in a small table squashed next to another couple, which I didn't appreciate because it's winter and anyone coming in will bring a blast of cold air and snow. We were also carrying a ton of bags too. The entire restaurant was basically almost empty and there were at least 3 other empty non-reserved tables they could have offered. I know this cause the entire time we were there no one sat at those tables. We ended up getting one close to the kitchen/washroom and cash register area. So it was kinda awkward in my opinion. Overall, I would still recommend if you are in the area but I won't go out of my way to go there.

This is a tiny restaurant in Yorkville (surprisingly one of the more affordable options and probably the least pretentious). It's a bit hidden as you need to go down a few steps. It's clean and decorated simply - it gives it that humble appearance. I came on a weekday for lunch and it was about half full. I ordered the Goan fish (I believe this is a lunch special only) which came with a salad and rice. It was flavourful and delicious - chunks of fish in that aromatic curry sauce make you want to go yum! It's not spicy (not all indian food is!) but the spices melded nicely together. I'd definitely come back if I was in the area and try a few of their other dishes.

I am finally able to visit Utsav my favourite Indian resto. Beautiful , even wonderful cuisine, consistent, professional service and very welcoming staff. Even during the worst of the pandemic we were able to count on delicious take- out as tasty as the original. I am not underrating at 5 stars as it would be to give any fewer. Indian food requires delicacy in spicing, care in simmering and a sense of the harmony among the dishes. The majority of Indian testosterone in the GTA lack the balances between these elements.

Authentic, awesome food, biriyani was delicious, ask for spicy, aloo paratha was scrumptious Friendly and excellent service Would love to come back often

Rich flavors and great service. We had the dal, Chana, and lamb w coconut. Garlic naan. Cozy little place. Reasonable prices and portion sizes. Highly recommended

Definitely the best Indian food in Yorkville. I got the butter chicken with rice and garlic naan, just busting with flavour and tasted really fresh. The chicken was very tender and not too fatty which I appreciate. Making a little log meh with the butter chicken, rice, and naan was life changing. Great portions as well!

Yorkville has a lot of nice places and UTSAV is one of them if you've got a craving for Indian food. Though its hard to overlook this place in this bustling neighborhood you can totally miss it. The place is relatively small, however nonetheless; presentable, clean and quaint. Service was exceptional and extremely polite. As for food, I kept it mainstream and ordered their lunch special which includes either rice or roti. With a group of co-workers we decided to order an array of special dishes, some of which included, Chicken tikka marsala, Utsav butter chicken and Bhindi (lady fingers). All dishes were rich in flavor and thicknesses. Overall a great experience.

My companions and I tried Utsav's lunch menu. The lentil soup was delicious. I also enjoyed their light, fluffy naan. The staff were very friendly and welcoming (even though we came very close to when their lunch hours ended). Utsav is a small and cozy restaurant. It has unique decor that combines modern art with classic Indian designs. P.S. To get to the restaurant's doors, a steep flight of stairs has to be descended. Thankfully there are some handy stair railings, though it can get slippery after it rains.

Food authentic and service fantastic ! Love the small space and the family vibe it gives off.

The environment and the location is 10/10, I thought I was going to spend 30 dollars eating at such a place but their lunch special is 13 dollars(includes tax) for salad+entree+nann+rice, it is very good value. The food is really nice, I ordered chicken tikki masala, the portion is really reasonable. Only thing I didn't like is that they put everyone's nann together, and put everyone's rice together. It is kinda hard and awkward to keep track of how much I can still eat. But overall it is really nice.

I felt compelled to write a review because the food at this place was truly terrible. I got takeout from here because it was the closest Indian place to my hotel with decent reviews. I was really looking forward to the food after a long day. Specially the lachha paratha. I was sadly extremely disappointed. I had gotten the chicken Kashmiri korma, dal makhni, butter naan and lachha paratha. The quantities were more than generous and the food was hot. But the good part ends there. All of it completely lacked flavor. I do not understand how they managed to make the dal super spicy and completely flavorless at the same time. The chicken was just ok, kind of sweet but also completely lacking flavor. The most disappointing were the breads. The butter naan was rubbery. They had either oversized the dough or kept it frozen or both. But the worst thing was the paratha. I don't think whoever runs this restaurant knows what a lachha paratha is. They took that same rubbery naan and fried it with some spices to call it lachha paratha. No layers, no flakiness, not even the right kind of dough. The prices at this place are not cheap. To serve such atrocities in the name of Indian food is a shame. I have a hard time wasting food. So, I put the generous amounts of leftovers in the fridge but I don't think I can bring myself to eat this again. It was that bad.

Went for dinner on Saturday with my girlfriend. It had pretty good review and we were feeling something that we haven't had in a while. The place is a small cozy restaurant. We were greeted right when we got in and were seated promptly. We ordered one chicken dish (chicken masala) and one lamb dish (lamb madrasi). The price were very good for the location ($14 per dish). We also got two garlic naan, which seemed like it was made pretty fresh. Both dishes were excellent. The lamb just melts! We would definitely visit again

We went to Utsav for my birthday. I read the reviews but was skeptical as many Indian restaurants are sub-par. Man did Utsav blow it out of the water. The restaurant is cozy so make reservations. Service/food/ambiance is great. Ask the waiters for food options to get the best experience. You will not be disappointed. Recommended!

We had the lamb korma and chicken tikka masala with basmati rice. Both dishes tasted great! The ambience was nice, and the service was good as well. We would definitely come back again!

Reading previous reviews, I was excited to try Utsav for the first time. I was left very disappointed. Recently my husband and I have been going to many Indian restaurants, our favourite is still Little India. The ambiance is average. The decor is modern and some Indian accents in the pictures. Tables are a generous size and in fact I believe you can create more seats with smaller tables. Service is normal but there are only two servers who do everything from hosting, taking orders, drinks, running food and taking payment. We came on a not so busy night but I cannot imagine the service if they were full. We ordered the Vegetable Samosa, Chicken Tikka Marsala, Lamb Curry, Okra, Garlic Naan, Basmati Rice and Chai tea. The meat is very overcooked. The amount of spice is higher than expected. The samosa was doughy not crunchy. The rice is not a fragrant spiced rice you would imagine from an Indian restaurant. We were so disappointed in everything. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Stopped in for lunch before heading to the airport. First 2 places were 30 minute wait, and I'm glad! Utsav was lovely. No one else there at 12:30 but it was about 2/3 full by the time we left. Good service by 1 server for the (small) whole place. Great appetizers platter and AWESOME mattar paneer. Lovely unexpected experience.

Utsav came highly recommended by a foodie friend in Toronto and it did not disappoint . It's a small, 6-8 table family oriented Indian restaurant right at the entrance to Yorkville. The service is run by an older gentleman who is very courteous and accommodating of requests to either food or service. The prices are very reasonable and are much below the $$$ range of Yorkville restaurants. One note, reservation handling wasn't the best. Otherwise, service was good. Service: 4 stars. What stands out about Utsav is the cooking. Each dish is delicious and prepared very well. The dishes are well crafted allowing the flavors from the spices to come out very well. Excellent flavors. Food: 4.5 stars.

A small neat restaurant in the middle of Toronto downtown. They have super affordable lunch menu. And the quantities are large. A 10$ would fill you up for lunch :) The food is tasty and the service is attentive. It is a busy place during lunch and you might not get a spot if you have not reserved a table in advance. Good for take outs even.

Stepped in this restaurant on my visit to Toronto. If you are visiting Toronto, it is just two blocks from the Royal Ontario Museum. Food here is pretty tasteful and presentation is also delightful. The Navratna Korma and Paneer Achari are the two dishes that I would mark out clearly as must have. And what more, if you hop on to the peas pulav with the two gravy items, it's going to be a perfect combination. Service is also notch up than what I have experienced in usual Indian restaurants in North East Corridor from Virginia to Montreal.

Excellent, clean food, not oily and heavy. Fresh ingredients, each dish tasted distinctly different. Highly recommend.

Great spot for Indian food! Curries were delicious but a bit spicy (relative to what you usually get in Indian restaurants that cater to a wide audience. Lamb Briyani and the Butter Chicken were unbelievable... so many amazing flavours that are perfectly balanced. Samosas were delicious - big portions and really fresh! Great service and nice cosy atmosphere for a date or a group of people. The place is considered 'children friendly'; staff were super accommodating and there are high chairs available, there are no change pads in the restaurant (or enough space for changing in the washroom) - sort of typical for the area.

What they lack in customer service, they gain in their food quality. We tried several items off the menu, and enjoyed everything we ate. I would highly recommend the chicken tikka masala with their fresh naan. We also tried the briyani and lamb curry which satisfied our taste buds. All items are reasonably priced. However, our waitress took forever to give us water, take our order, bring out our food and give us our bill at the end. We had to request each step several times. This really shocks me given the small size of the reataurant; you would think they would rush us out in order to serve the next guests.

The peas in the paneer dish tasted like they'd been frozen, thawed, frozen again, thawed again. They were like really hard chalk. The paneer didn't taste good either; it had a really bad texture. The biryani was way too oily, and not flavorful. The portions were miserably small. I definitely won't be coming back here.

Visited here for a friend's birthday dinner. The restaurant is small without feeling too cramped and decently well-kept. The food was largely agreed upon to be delicious! I had an extra spicy chicken jalfrezi with garlic naan. It was incredibly flavourful and packed a punch with its heat! The naan was an excellent accompaniment. The portions are a little on the smaller side for the price given that this is Indian food, but we are in Yorkville after all. My one qualm is the service, which was inattentive at times and nearly bordered on inept. While I know big groups (we had 8 people) are difficult to deal with, we had reserved ahead, and they took some time once our party had arrived to get to us. Perhaps this is a personal preference, but I expect the provision of water to be generally automatic and that was not the case. They were also hard to flag down throughout our meal: at one point we nearly had to go to them to explain that there was an issue with the appetizer they provided. I also asked to get my bill earlier than the rest of the party as I had to leave and this request went ignored. When we did get a bill, the waitress spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out separate totals, only to give me the wrong one and become vexed when I corrected her. Again, groups can be tough to deal with. In any case, the food is delicious!

Great place for lunch and prices were really good. Portions are pretty big. I had the lunch butter chicken special. The lunch special includes salad, butter chicken, rice and the naan. The salad...i actually did not like the salad at all. It had some sort of spices that made it sweet and sour. The tomatoes and mangoes that they added in made it taste much better, but there wasnt enough of it to cover for that odd aftertaste. Butter chicken was done nicely and had lots of flavor. It came with a big bowl of rice (enough for 2-3 bowls) and naan. Rice was dry, but the naan was done perfectly. Service needs to be better because they didnt refill the water and never noticed my raised hand for 5 minutes. But as it costs 11$ for everything, im perfectly fine with that. Very pricey for dinner though and not worth it. This is for within the area, there are better Indian places, but not within a working lunch distance.

Okay Indian place in Yorkville. Decent portioned lunch special with soup, salad and samosa included with one lunch item. I has the butter chicken with that. Everything was pretty decent.

I found the service here to be adequate although a little bit slow at times. I got the car was decent and I found the space to be fairly clean all the tables could use a bit of work. The food wasn't actually the greatest and I have had Chinese food that is significantly better for lower price. I think that's what it actually comes down to, the fact that it's quite expensive here for what is offered. It would be nice if the quality of the food was higher and the flavors tasted a bit more authentic. I also had to remind my server a few times to bring items that we ordered.

Came here for a quick lunch.... lunch specials are great. Had the butter chicken with some extra spice and boy, was it hot! The rice was nice and fluffy. The naan was soft and crispy. The staff are super attentive and the owner is very friendly.

This is a really great Indian restaurant in the Yorkville area. Their naan is good and the service is friendly. I've tried the butter chicken and lamb saag. Both dishes are very flavorful. This is definitely my go-to place for Indian food downtown.

Talk about disappointing Had a meal here a week back, a birthday treat. The venue was my idea; By the end, I insisted on paying cause I could not imagine making anyone else pay for such a mistake. The chips that came before the meal were stale. And the preserves to go with were gummy instead of jelly- clearly not fresh. We had the butter chicken and the cauliflower (vegetarian) dish. Both were tasteless. The naan was also sans flavour. We even tried to send back the butter chicken at the waitress's insistence. It came back tasting exactly the same. Those of you saying this is the best Indian in Toronto, please... Step away from the Yorkville bubble and explore your city. Indian town (Leslieville/Gerard st), Brampton and Sauga, some pockets of downtown, and even midtown (Yeg and davisville) have so much more flavour to offer in terms of south Asian cuisine. I may have to start a Yelp list cause clearly people don't know??? I will go as far as to say that I have NEVER had a butter chicken I did not enjoy on some level... I mean never and nowhere... before Utsav's. It was so bland, chicken and stew, that I took it home and fixed it to just make it passable. Still wouldn't have served that to anyone myself. Caveat- The service was good but I have to insist on one star because the food is a sham.

very delicious food and very nice service. Love it:) We tried that valentine's menu. We love the butter chicken and that shrimp very much.

If you are in the area and crave Indian food, this is a nice place to go to. It is a small restaurant, and the atmosphere, with pale yellow walls is not the typical Indian Restaurant decor, but I liked it. The food was good and our waitress friendly. Utsav was not too far from our hotel, so it was quite convenient, but I would not make a special trip to eat there. A nice little Indian restaurant, but nothing exceptional.

Very nice family ran restaurant. The service is very hospitable. The food is very good, and rich. Most of the dishes are pretty standard Indian cuisine. Nice amount of heat on some of the dishes. The decore is plain, but pleasant. Wines are reasonably priced.

I've always been welcomed here with a warm smile and delicious food! My husband and I are vegetarian and usually order a couple of the veggie entries and the lecha parathas and they never disappoint. The bhindi masala and the achari paneer are my favorite! The parathas are fluffy and flaky. The decor is cozy, bright and clean, and I really enjoy the modern art pieces - very different from the typical kitschy photos at other Indian restaurants. I've found the service to be quick and very welcoming every time I've been here, at least thrice, probably more times now. Thank you for that!

Went in on a Sunday night, only one other table was there. Which consisted of 4 people if i remember correctly. Looked like they ordered food and received it. I've heard good things about this place. Since I couldn't get a spot at another restaurant came here. Usually food is a higher importance to me but Customer Service is very important to me as well as I've been in the industry for years now. We sat down (2 of us). Given water promptly and menus. Great. We're ready to order, we put our menus down, close them. International sign for "we're ready to order", few minutes pass. Two guys are chatting at the front counter, occasionally looking at us. 15 minutes pass after putting our menu down. I stare him in the eye, he looked at me twice and looked away. I'm absolutely livid, i've never experienced anything like this. I go up to ask him, at this point being frustrated "How long do you guys wait before taking our order", he just says "Yeah" and just gets back on the phone. I couldn't believe it. Restaurant only had 1 other party. With two servers, and we waited around 20 minutes to get served after menus were given to us. I left immediately and went to Paramount around the corner. Got better service by a "chain" restaurant. Thats how you do things right. I usually don't write yelp reviews, but hopefully the owner sees this and can fix this issue. Then maybe i'll give them a second chance. (This happened on June 18, 2017 @ around 7pmish?)

5 stars for food, 3 for the service. Kind of unfortunate because this restaurant has such huge potential to be a 5 star restaurant. Service is a bit slow so be prepared to wait (even for your bill). Now, let's talk about the food. By far one of the best Indian food I've tried in the city. They have many different options, including vegetarian dishes. And every dish is made with tradition and mouth-watery flavours in mind. The food was a hit! I would definitely recommend this place. Go before 6pm to avoid crowds. And I'm not sure if I'd recommend coming here in larger groups (the place is a bit on the small side).

Popped in here with friends after a visit to the ROM. Had naan bread and app share plate. Everything was delicious. Fresh tasting and full of flavour. The Raita was a hit. Hard to pick which sauce was best, but I'm pretty sure the chutney was made in house. Spectacular nonetheless. Definitely recommend.

I have not been here before my recent visit, despite working a block away. Why? Not sure, but I really enjoyed the food. It is small, so reservations are probably a good idea. I went with a small group so was able to sample the lamb saag, lamb madrasi and chicken masala. I enjoyed all three dishes. These are northern indian style curries, which is my preference. My only complaint is that their menu is quite small. But perhaps they simply like to keep it to the things they do best, which isn't a bad thing. These were all lunch specials - salad, rice, naan and a dish, $10. You get a lot of food considering the price. Service was pleasant. I'm definitely going to go back.

I read good reviews for this place and decided I wanted to order from here since they were so close. I ordered the chicken tikka masala and the Paneer makhani. While the chicken was good, the paneer was awful, to say the least. The Paneer tasted as if it was from the 'Ready to Eat' packets by MTR. The restaurant thinks they can serve their customers readymade dishes and charge ~$12 for it. If you decide to go to this place, I would suggest you to stay away from Paneer dishes. I wouldn't go here again!

Amazing lunch special portions!! Comes with rice, salad and chewy fresh naan. You walk in there and there's tones of Indians sitting down for lunch. That's how you know it's good. Highly recommended.