Alrighty then. So my friend Chelsea came to town and wanted to be a part of a curry review. And since she is neither a curry dish itself, or a curry restaurant proprietor I decided to take her back to one of the curry spots that I haven't been in a while.

We decided to revisit the Calgary Sweethouse Cafe & Grill in NE calgary. I believe it is somehow related to the Calgary Sweethouse that is in the south of town, but i'm not sure....otherwise it seems like a pretty jerk-ass move to steal the name. So, in case you don't feel like reading my blast thru the past review from below, basically this is a spot that has always had good food but the service has been on a downward slide each time i've gone to visit.

I think they must be having major problems getting staff. Its never really felt like a "family" place so i'm thinking they don't have the advantage of putting the owner out front, the wife in the kitchen and the kids and cousins and whoever else waitressing and washing dishes. There was a help wanted ad on the door that chelsea was looking at but it specifically mentioned a need to speak punjabi so I guess her paleosomethingorother masters degree isn't gonna give her a foot in the door.

I'm gonna let Chelsea take over for a bit here cause she wrote a really nice review and it'd be way too much work to butcher it down to size.

Heading in to the Calgary Sweet House, I couldn’t help but recall our previous visit - a delicious, top-button-popping lunchtime buffet in an otherwise empty restaurant in the northeast part of the city. However, we were in for a few surprises.

We weren’t the only people in the restaurant this time, though it was far from busy. After taking a spot near the back of the restaurant in a booth with a stainless steel table, we realized we now had to order at the counter. I kept glancing at the bakery section, full of multi-coloured Indian treats. After a quick peruse of the giant chalkboard listing the menu items (no buffet today), we decided to split an order of fish pakora. I chose the saag paneer and Ryan went with his mainstay, the butter chicken. The girl at the counter asked if we wanted to order naan, though it was supposed to come with the meal. After telling her we didn’t need extra naan, ordering a mango lassi (for me) and a mango shake (for Ryan), with another glance at the bakery we took our seats.

Moments later, a young waiter appeared with a jug of water and two plastic cups, along with Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils for the pakora. We hardly had time to raise an eyebrow before he came back with our appetizer, a round, tin, cafeteria-style plate filled with large chunks of fish, onions, pickled green chilies and a strange, pinkish, salsa-like sauce. Plastic utensils aside, the pakora were delicious! Marinated in a semi-spicy sauce and then lightly fried, they had a satisfying crunch that held together all the fishy goodness. The sauce, which turned out to be some sort of chili chutney, was a little spicy, extremely salty and, though I tried it several times, I preferred the pakora pieces on their own.

While we were still muching our way through the pakora plate, our main courses arrived (accompanied by fresh plastic utensils) with a bit more class. Instead of the Styrofoam plates we thought we’d get, these were served instead on what looked to me like the metal covers for stove burners that you might find at your grandma’s house (though without the painted flowers on the outer surface). After an initial laugh at the presentation, I dug through my dish (saag paneer is a classic Indian dish made with cubes of homemade cheese in a mild spinach puree) in disappointment as I counted only six pieces of paneer. Undaunted, I grabbed a chunk of naan and dug in.

The dish was delicious, though a bit more homogeneous than I am used to – no big chunks of anything except the paneer, and as I mentioned there weren’t nearly enough of those. With a lovely combination of spinach and spices and just a hint of heat, it wasn’t long before I realized that we were running out of naan. Nonetheless, between the two of us we managed to wipe our burner-covers clean. The piece of Ryan’s butter chicken that I stole was delicious and the sauce extremely creamy, tasting more strongly of tomatoes than other versions of the dish I have tried.

Just as we were trying to find room to fit the last vestiges of sauce in somewhere (Ryan trying to eat butter chicken sauce with a plastic fork was a highlight), the drinks that we thought they had forgotten appeared on our table in plastic cups with lids and straws, a.k.a. kindergarten. We both ended up with mango lassi, but I don’t think Ryan minded much. As we waited in line to pay for what seemed like an eternity (thanks, Ryan J), we sipped away. Our drinks were infused with more mango pulp than usual (we spied several crates of mango pulp cans in the preparation area), giving them an amazing flavour to go with their super smooth consistency. However, they were just as heavy as always – where I found room I still don’t know, because I was so stuffed I couldn’t even eat supper that night.

After a slight mix-up at the till involving whether or not we ordered extra naan (apparently we did, unknowingly, but it never found its way to our table), we rolled ourselves out the door. The Sweet House had become slightly more dodgy in the year since I had visited last, but the quality of the food had not suffered for it (maybe because we ate with our fingers instead of using the plastic forks?). As far as ambience, the restaurant is clean and bright, though far from cozy (the only plant in sight? a large, gaudy, fake bamboo near the till). Service is nearly non-existent, so my recommendation? Get takeout! Don’t miss the fish pakora, and while you’re at it, pick up a few dozen samosas (sold by the pound!). If you try the dessert, let me know!

Well, that was chelsea's review. Not a whole lot to add....getting our dinner served on paper plates and paint-can lids was definitely a highlight. Having to wait in a line to order, then having to wait in the same line a second time again to pay was great too. Obviously short a couple bodies on the serving/dishwashing staff.

Dodgy Things in/around the restaurant:

1: Saan store
2: Plastic cutlery
3: Paper freaken plates
4: burner cover/paint-can lid/hub-cap serving dishes.
5: drinks came just as we were finishing our meal....we'd given up on them ages before that
6: Order at the counter....this isn't london
7: Pay at the counter....we ate in...not take-out....i want the bill at the table
8: "You ordered extra naan", " no we didn't", "yes you did, that will be $1.50", "well we didn't get it", asks waiter, "did these guys get extra naan", "no", "oh, well we forgot to bring it so you don't have to pay" -----not ordering something, getting charged for it, then barely getting off the hook because they "forgot" to bring the item we didn't order. I also didn't order a bag of dorito's with a side of wombat semen....but they didn't forget to bring that to the table....wait...yes...they did forget to bring dorito's and semen to the table...my mistake...I'd better make sure i wasn't charged for it.

Not Dodgy things:

1: food was good (fish pakora's are yummy...even though no-one lets me order them....MATTY)
2: Clean, and shiny...i guess when the entire set of dishes can be garbaged....its easy to keep em clean.
3: We were the only honkies in the joint....definitely a good thing. Ever go to a chinese food place that the chinese avoid like the plague....well..don't!!!!
4: No wombat semen

Overall Rating: 7/10

One more dodgy thing....checked out their webpage as listed on the business cards at the counter... www.calgarysweethouse.com Seems to be a placeholder from some big domain hoster....real classy probably gave me a virus and everything....but the food didn't....so better

Rating: