A friend recommended Zeera By The Bay in Pickering. We went for a celebration dinner since we love Indian food and love discovering new places.
A young woman greets me pleasantly. She shows me to a 2-top table against a wall in the main traffic aisle. It’s not a great location. This is where everyone walks in or out or to deliver food and it’s right next to the washrooms.
They’ve mounted a large round metal piece to the wall on top of the table, perhaps to catch splatters.
It took some time to get a drink. I ordered a pint of Cheetah dark beer (yum!). I was not in a hurry as I waited for my husband to arrive. The rest of the evening, the service (or non-service) at Zeera By The Bay in Pickering is our biggest complaint.
Oily Samosas Without Chutney, Cutlery or Plates
We order samosas with tamarind and mint chutney. I was specific as the menu only states samosas are drizzled with a chutney. We got our samosas. They are over-cooked and brown, not golden. There was oil on the bottom of the plate which was also a turn-off. They serve this first plate to us with no chutney, no napkin, cutlery or mini-plates.
An older lady came by, noticed the plates and cutlery missing, hissed at another woman to bring them to the table and went on about her business. Nothing happened. It took flagging down someone to finally get this settled.
The samosas are full of sliced potato but didn’t have much flavour and I was disappointed in the overcooked pastry. We would not order them again.
The Zeera Special Platter
We read on Yelp that the tandoori fish was great. I ordered the Zeera Special platter for $17.95, as we wanted to try a variety. The platter comes with tandoori chicken, garlic prawns (we only got one), chicken tikka and the fish, too. They have cooked the tandoori fish perfectly. The fish is the best thing I try. It is moist, flakey, and flavorful.
Also ordered the Lamb Roganjosh for $12.95. Good sauce with about 9 cubes of meat, but not enough.
We order the plain basmati rice and naan. Both are riddled with seeds. which is not noted in the menu. Something to be aware of if you need to avoid seeds.
The naan was really good.
Zeera Fails in Service
Trying to get anything from the servers at Zeera By The Bay in Pickering was difficult at best. Even worse, it was rude.
The owner, who is an older man, is talking with us at our table about my request to wrap up our food to take home. While I am talking, the man abruptly stops, and walks away, to take care of a small group of men who’d walked in the door.
At another table a 3-year old is getting antsy. The parents are unhappy with their meal, are complaining and trying to leave. Zeera is not having a good night.
My husband told me later that he’d had to line up at the bar just to pay the bill. It took a long time. The cashier ran out of paper for the cash register. He had to wait while the woman went home to get more paper.
All in all, we spent quite a bit of money at Zeera By The Bay in Pickering for not a great experience. Worst of all, I got sick afterwards. I can’t claim it’s from here. Regardless, I associate it with this place.
Here are some other places to try in Ajax. And here are some other places in Pickering.
Zeera By The Bay
713 Krosno Boulevard, Pickering, ON L1W 1G4
