Diana Downtown

Service.....not so much!!

Saturday night's are always busy....so I phoned Wednesday afternoon for a reservation. No problem, they said - happy to accommodate. If only they had accommodated us!! The. service. was. awful. Food was very good but it took a little over an hour to get it and when the food did arrive, the meals did not come out together (which is just awful....IMO) There was a large table of 16 that had just ordered before us...so we were told...and the place was packed...but was this a surprise to them??!! Unless all of these groups just walked in off the street with no reservations, I just don't understand why they did not plan ahead and staff up for a Saturday night? Our waitress....instead of quickly apologizing for the delay and offering us drinks - virtually abandoned us.....only after we asked as to the whereabouts did she apologize and inform the Manager of our displeasure. To his credit, the manger did come out - but only after 3 of the meals had come, followed a little later by 2...and then the last meal was served, no word of a lie, about 15 minutes later. It really left us with a bad impression of this place. The Manager discounted the one late meal and offered us free desserts...but you know...we were done with this place by then. This situation could have been handled much much better...and if the servers/manager are reading this - please, don't abandon a table when there are kitchen issues!! Earlier communication would have gone a long way to keeping us happy..... OK - end of complaining as the food was good and we will go again, but this place isn't cheap and we were so disappointed.....so beware on busy Saturday nights.

Service, what service?

On arrival, with reservations, we were ignored for about five minutes while people without reservations were accommodated. After ordering, we waited 45 minutes before we saw our appetizers - despite speaking with the waiter and two of the restaurant owners to ask for our food. We watched people who came in after us eat their food and leave before we saw our food. Main courses were disappointing - half-cooked salmon for me and overcooked and tasteless chicken for my spouse. Then it took forever to get the bill so we could leave. Decor is pretentious in relation to the quality of the food and service. Drinks are way too expensive. They should go back to the original Greek restaurant that was here 25 years ago. We will never come back after this experience.

Seriously disappointed.

As a huge lover of restaurants, it's a wonder that it took me 6-7 years to finally try Diana's. I had high hopes, as I had heard good things. Aside from the bizarre entrance/bar/kitchen/prep area, the dining room is quite nice. Very dramatic decor, exposed stone walls and wood floors. At this point I was fairly impressed and anxious to try the food. Our server wreaked of alcohol and seemed to have problems remembering our order, asking us repeatedly. I ordered the butter chicken, having known their reputation for good Indian food. When the food arrived, I was disappointed immediately. I had chosen naan (rather than rice) and what arrived was a pita that had been warmed - not a good start! The butter chicken itself was extremely salty with a very faint curry flavour. I am a huge fan of Indian foods and this was far from authentic. My companion complained that the soup they had ordered (the soup of the day, cream of asparagus and spinach) was also extremely salty and it looked as if it had curdled. Needless to say, most of this bowl was left behind as well. We chose not to cause a scene and eat what we could tolerate. As I was paying, I was asked how the meal was. I was honest and calm with the server (perhaps owner) who thanked me for my feedback and went on to tell me that they had won awards for their butter chicken and then proceeded to charge me for the entire meal. She was less than apologetic or genuinely interested in my feedback. I will never return!

great!!

This place is amazing on so many levels. In a large party there are usually so many conflicting tastes that people are lookingfor. At this restaurant you can order from so many different flavours from different countries. One person can eat Indian, another Italian, another Greek. This place has no doubt the best samosas I have ever eaten. Usually, at other places, they have too much pastry, or the inside is all just mashed together, but here the samosas are flaky, and consist of a nice blend of the right flavours and to top it off the sauce that no one knows how to say adds an extra kick of spice. I recomend that you go and then go again and again because it is the best restaurant in Guelph.

Five of us went to the Diana last weekend. It was our first time there in a LONG time. Boy, how things have changed. Our food was excellent, albeit not cheap. The atmosphere was really nice, very upscale. The service was attentive and prompt and the server gave us separate bills with no attitude. Three out of the five of us did not have Indian food...salmon, chicken souvlaki and seafood linguine special...and it was excellent. The serving sizes were more than adequate..although the salmon + rice + veggie was much smaller, portion size, than any of the other meals. We did not have dessert or coffee so we can't comment on that. We enjoyed it!! If you are looking for a bit of an upscale place...