Empress Of India - Waterloo

Friendly staff, quality food and good portion. The ambience was really good and located in uptown.

Disappointed with portion sizes and overall taste. I had heard good things but I feel pretty let down. Would not recommend.

I've had a lot of Indian food in Canada and USA, and this place definitely stands out as quite good, which is kind of surprising because it's such a hole in the wall kind of place. I've been here twice so far and I've had the butter chicken, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, vindaloo chicken and palak paneer. All these dishes were so good and very delicious, and the naan is freshly baked, warm, soft and fluffy just what I look for in naan. The spices in the dishes were perfectly spiced and not too spicy. Also I think they give you a deal where you get a free bowl of rice if you order more than 3 dishes and they have a check in deal on Yelp. I've been here for dinner twice and they usually have spots available, this place isn't too busy. Also the food is pretty filling, even though the amount of food looks small in the bowls they serve, it's so filling and so good.

Food I tried: Garlic Naan And Paneer Butter masala. Taste: Amazing. The Naan was soft and the gravy was creamy and buttery. I tried with Uber, the delivery came in quick.

Don't be deceived by it's shabby looking exterior and broken down signage, this little restaurant serves up authentic, high-quality Indian cuisine! Me and my boyfriend came here on a Friday evening and the restaurant was decently busy. I had heard good things about their royal butter chicken $15 so we knew we had to order it. However, looking at the size of the curry dishes at the table next to us, I was afraid we wouldn't be full so we ordered aloo ghobi $11 which is a potato and cauliflower curry, a bowl of rice $4 and two vegetable samosas $4 . The samosas came first and they were a lot bigger than I thought they'd be. Each bite was filled with potatoes, spices, and veggies and the outer coating was thin and crispy. I highly recommend them! Next up were the curries and basmati rice. The butter chicken was very pleasantly rich and flavorful, you could taste the time that went into allowing all the flavors to develop and blend together. The aloo ghobi had a ton of potato and cauliflower, however the flavors were not as strong and I would have preferred a bit more spiciness. We didn't have to worry about leaving with empty space in our stomachs as there was definitely more than enough to eat! I love Indian food and I would agree with other Yelpers that this is one of the best in Waterloo! :