Indian Bay Leaf

I love this restaurant. My bf and I were searching for some amazing hyderabadi dum chicken biryani that was authentic. Mission accomplished! It's not too spicy.but has a warm glow about it. Also the veg manchurian was amazing. We order from here at least twice a week and we love it.

I have called the restaurant to order one veg biryani and one chicken biryani on Monday May 17th around 10.20pm for pickup but i was informed that both the biryani’s got completed and they can make only panneer biryani chicken 65 biryani.
So, i have order panneer biryani for myself and chicken for my friend.

The panneer biryani was made from the left over chicken biryani rice as i could small bone pieces and also small chicken piece mixed with the masala.

You have zero value for vegetarians. You have no respect for human values, else you would never do such activity. When you don’t have something you could have said no immediately. Never ordering food from this place again.

I don’t have an option to give zero stars.
Very poor customer service.

Excellent food and service provided by Murali and Abhi: Thank you so much guys, our guests loved the food. Authentic Indian Hyderbadi Chicken Biriyani and Haleem -:)

Don’t come here for the time being.

I heard they were still taking orders, and I ordered here with some friends back in the fall of 2022.
I tried to order again and you can use their online portal to order and pay (and the payment will process!) but the business is closed, windows blacked out and doors are locked. I had to dispute the charge with my bank. Phone number doesn’t work and there’s no one to help online. Save the hassle and go elsewhere.

Update: Changing rating to 0 stars. Got take out from here after a long time. Sadly we got severely undercooked meat in the biriyani. We had to throw 100+ dollars worth food. So disappointed.

5 stars for authentic hyderabadi biriyani which is such a luxury outside India! Chicken is always cooked perfectly in the original dum style. I need to however add that even the most mild spice level version is quite hot and spicy.

Best chicken 65 in town, very authentic Indian food too! Only down side is that they only do take out and delivery at the moment. Anyway, great food!

Couldn't give less than 1 star worst biryani I have ever had today I am a regular to this place since 6 to 7 months one thing is the taste and quality decreased slowly but recently today is 3rd time food sucks! Will never visit again! Chicken 65 biryani the meat is out of a freezer and dry

What a pity they don't do seated restaurant anymore, only take out. One of the best Hyderabadi Biryani in Vancouver. It is still good on take out, but not the same. Another COVID victim.

5 stars for biriyani, it’s tasty and good quality and quantity, I took family biriyani for 4 people, it was sufficient for 4 people tasty Hyderabad style biriyani…

Used to be a regular but they failed miserably on my last two orders. Ordered vegetable biriyani with specific instructions to make it spicy and all we got a box of bland yellow colored rice. Not planning to go back anytime soon. Editing my previous review as quality control seems to have completely gone. Wish the management takes notice!

Btw, reading the recent reviews makes me laugh out loud. The place has been take away only since COVID yet the reviews talk about service, formal dining space, ambience blah blah. I find it funny.

I am a regular customer of this restaurant and ordered biryani every time. I have tried Hyderabadi and Chicken 65 biryani. I like Chicken 65 biryani the most because of its spice level and freshly prepared. You will get the Indian taste in this biryani.

Food is always fulfilling with quality and prices are very decent.

This is the best place to order biryani in Vancouver. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the dinner. I loved your delicious food. Really your chef's are very skilled and awesome.

Hi i ordered Chicken 65 Biryani today and totally disappointed with the Quality of food, especially the chicken is not fresh. I tried couple of times in the past and gave 5 star ratings when food was good. Today totally disappointed, the chicken was stinking. Charging $50 dollars and not even willing to provide quality food. The management should really shy for not maintaining the quality consistently. This is my last order with Indian Bay Leaf.

I am pregnant and had food poisoning after having the chicken dum biryani from the restaurant, when we called the management to report it they were least bothered and mention it might be the fault of the chicken considering them as innocent. I will never recommend food from this restaurant

It was a really good restaurant and one of the best halal option in an around Vancouver. But they changed their meat suppliers quite a few times. Some of the suppliers weren’t even halal. If you ask the restaurant whether their food is halal, they will lie saying it’s halal which isn’t true. Anyone who is looking for halal option, ask the halal certificate as some of these kinda restaurants lie to your face.

Ordered Veg Family pack. Awesome spicy Biryani freshly prepared. Moved from Seattle and tried different Indian restaurants, and finally made my way to Indian Bay Leaf. Only ordered couple of times, but never disappointed. I always order my food and finally got best restaurant in Vancouver.

Unhygienic food and worst quality.
The lady who works at the counter there wasn’t wearing a mask. He asked her why isn’t she wearing one. She replied very rudely saying do u have any problem I’m unexempted from wearing one. U don’t have to be rude. Never coming back to this awful disgusting place with rude people and worst hygiene with bolts.
Overrated

The time given for pick up was accurate and we just reached and picked up. Biriyani was hot and fresh and definitely in par to hyderabad biriyani. I recommend.

Food was great, spicy and flavourful. This is just a take place. But service was quick. Will definitely oder here again when we are in town

My first 1 star restaurant review is finally here. This restaurant has gone to great lengths to push a lazy person like me to sit down and write a lengthy 1 star review to make future customers beware of the current state of their so called biryani. Heard from a friend that this place has the best Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani so wanted to give it a try. Called on phone for a to go order and was asked to come after 30 mins, ended up getting the order exactly after 72 mins. Not so punctual, ok, maybe the biryani will make up for it. Went home and opened the biryani, it just looked like rice and chicken, ok may be looks are decieving. Ate the biryani, no doubt it is the worst I have had. I can't even rate it if it was a good or bad biryani as it was not even biryani, It was just rice and chicken. Ohh well, lesson learnt never to come back again. Completely agree with past reviews of Rakshit Patnana, Overeating Biryani and Amey Bhalerao below. As for people who have rated their biryani good, future customers, please look at the biryani pics they have shared, any biryani connoisseur will know that it fails the visual test and believe me when i say it, it tastes worse than it looks and it looks just like chicken and rice, not biryani.

Best Biryani in Canada I would say! I am really not sure what some of the people down there are talking about. The closest thing that comes close to an authentic Biriyani is Indian bay leaf. I am sure you guys like those weird Pulaos (so called Biryani) that rest of the Punjabi restaurants serve! Just stick to those guys cuz real Biryani isn't your cup of tea!

The only place in Vancouver that has Hyderabadi veg dum biryani. I just wish they made it everyday instead of weekends only. Highly recommend in Vancouver.

Was told 30-40 minutes for pickup on a Sunday afternoon.

1 order of chicken. 3 bread.

It’s been an hour and I’m still here.
3 skip drivers have come and gone.
No apologies.
No excuses.

They don’t even have an eat in option.
Was still charged full price.
Don’t waste your time.
Go somewhere else.

I rarely give a low rating to businesses. It pains me to give a low rating here, but it is what it is. Ordered Chicken dum biryani for the first time (and now also the last time) from this place. In their defense, I ordered mild version of biryani since the kids wanted to eat it. I have ordered mild biryani from many places but i have never got a partial white and partial turmeric rice with chicken pieces labeled as chicken dum biryani. It's okay if the flavors are mild, but there should be flavor to the food you are serving. Even the kids hated it n asked for the biryani to be modified to have some flavor. I am not sure who has rated their biryani high but at least my experience was bad. I am giving 1* because the server had packed our food well n kept it ready for us to pick up. So I believe that their service is good. As far as the biryani goes, it was really a zero star rating dish. You might as well boil a cup of rice.then in 1/2 cup cooked rice sprinkle 1/20th of 18th tsp of turmeric and in the other 1/2 cup, add similar amount of salt n mix them.that's what your biryani will taste like if you get it from here.

Tried this place as it came highly recommended for biryani and was supposed to be the best biryani place in Vancouver.

We ordered the chicken and goat dum biryanis. Both were bland and tasteless, it’s like they forgot to add salt even. The rice was basically tangy/lemon turmeric colored rice. Extremely disappointed and underwhelming.

For those looking for authentic hyderabadi biryanis, this is NOT representative of what it’s supposed to taste like.

Great taste by bayleaf. This Veg Biryani remembers Hyderabadi biryani and Vancouver has best biryani from Indian bay leaf. Strongly suggest to try it. Very fresh & tasty

Veggie lovers now you don’t need to worry for proper Hyderabadi veggie biryani

Indian bay leaf is one of the few places I'm eagerly looking forward for whenever I'm visiting Vancouver; their chicken biryani is probably the best I've tasted since moving to Canada. That's one delicacy I never compromise on.being from Victoria I'm used to paying high prices for mediocre tasting biryani's. But this place beats all other restos and has set the bar super high.they are definitely doing something right!

This is the best place to enjoy veg hydrabadi biryani. I could give 10 stars for that. I cannot say about the other meals they provide, basically never tried any other foods from restaurant. I hope in future they do serve veh biryani throughout the whole week

I kid you not when I say best Biryani i have had in Vancouver! So good and flavorful, great portion and halal! The only place i go from now on

It’s one place a lot of people mention has good dum biriyani, that’s rare to find in metro Vancouver. I wouldn’t say disappointing but still wouldn’t categorise this as the best I’ve had. Plus the location is a bit inaccessible so another downside.

Suggested by a few south-Indian friends, mainly from Andhrapradesh and Telangana. Visited their few weeks ago on a Sunday evening around 8 pm, ordered 2 hyderabadi chicken Biryani (spicy) and a spicy chicken tikka masala curry to take out. Receptionist told that they are out of Biryani and have to wait 30 minutes, they are making freshly. (seriously aroud 8 pm, they are Out of Biryani, that too on Sunday?), It surprised me and after 30 minutes we took our order and went home.

A big chicken thigh piece marinated with salt, red chili powder and ginger, garlic paste, boiled basmati rice added salt and yellow colour to it with 3 bay leaves, 2 cardamom pods and 3 cinnamon sticks and mix it up, that's what they call hyderabadi chicken Biryani? Totally disappointed. It's totally a garbage. Too much hype created by the people about the Biryani here and the reality was different.
But some of my friends said Biryani is very delicious here, how come one day it is delicious and the other day it was Garbage. Management have to check about this, and chicken tikka masala was not at all spicy and too much of oil in the curry.
No plans of visiting here again.
Please take out the name "Hyderabadi" from the Menu, if you are making Biryani in the same way. Good luck.

On the first time my friend order to this restaurant by phone call and me I tried their chicken 65 beryani and it was really taste good but the amount of the chicken 65 is not enough their chicken 65 needed to add more chicken per serving or per order this is only my concern but over all I’ll still give this restaurant a 3 star and I’ll recommended to everyone to try their chicken 65 with beryani rice I’ll change the rating into 5 star if on my next visit I’ll get more chicken 65

I am from Hyderabad and was so excited to see that this place had good reviews for Hyderabadi biryani. I ordered the chicken 65 biryani and I requested that they not put corriander as I am allergic. When I picked up the order I checked with them again about the corriander and was told we don’t use corriander in biryani. When I got home and opened it, it was covered with corriander. It took me a long time to remove it, and once I did the biryani was so disappointing. Hyderabadi biryani has a lot of fried onions and mint leaves in it. This was nothing close to anything like Hyderabadi biryani. And the mirchi ka salan, honestly I don’t know what that was. So not going back again

Cheating and scamming people through they website which is literally in their info details.
Lost $60 and they’re being shameless about it.

Terrible service. They messed up my order and gave me plain rice with gravy instead of chicken biryani. When I called them, they promised to give me a refund next time. That didn’t happen and they adamantly charged me again. I will avoid this place in the future.

People don’t know how to speak. I do Delivery usually and they put instructions to call before entering restaurant to confirm order. Girl pick call being rude said why are you calling. I think these people need to see there part first and learn how to speak with someone even if the person is delivery driver.

I heard alot about this restaurant from a friend.now I think his taste buds are unconscious. I ordered chicken biryani and munchurian. Not upto the mark at all.we drove so far and were so excited to taste it but now we are regretting it.it’s ok.just wanted to let others know to not keep their expectations so high.you can satisfy your hunger though. Food is not bad.but not tasty.

Great food and best ever chicken biryani must try this authentic Indian food. The staff is also friendly and the chef has great experience with the food. Overall brilliant experience.

One of the most delicious and authentic Hyderabadi Biryanis I’ve had outside of the subcontinent. Wish I had discovered this place sooner!

Those complaining about the oil seem to miss the point entirely. That’s one of the things that *marks it* as authentic. If you’ve ever eaten in India, this is what the food is *supposed to be* like. People over there don't generally eat Biryani or similarly heavy dishes at every single meal - it's a rich, scrumptious, flavorful, oily repast you only enjoy once in a while. It's like ordering Carbonara at an Italian joint and complaining that it’s too creamy and cheesy - just don't order Carbonara every damned night!

There’s plenty of uninspired, watered down, non-spicy, non-oily and frankly, lazy joints in and around downtown that’ll be only too happy to serve you "butter chicken". If you want the real deal, this is it!

Let the connoisseurs of authentic Indian, French, Italian, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Canadian, Mexican, whatever, enjoy the real thing as it's *supposed* to like!

Hello Frnd! I want curry, Not Oil! Its like I have 250ml of oil in 1 curry. Mr. Owner I think you going to close the buisness soon

The Biryani has a great mix of spices making it very complex and flavourful. The curry is also very flavourful, rich, and is seasoned well unlike some other places that water down their curry.

I have had chicken biryani before from here and it was scrumptious. I got a takeout today due to the Covid ban on indoor dinning and it was a disaster. I was served two chicken leg piece with plain rice on top. That’s all! This is horrible just because it’s a take out they cannot fool customers like this. In form of raita I was served curd mixed with water no usual onion, tomato or cucumber.literally fooled!
Careful before you takeout! Do check or preferably go for dine in post covid!

I’m one of skip courier. I went Wednesday night to pick up my order and the girl at front behaved so rude. She was busy in using phone all the time and ignoring me. I will never accept orders from this restaurant.

Service is at rock bottom here! Placed an order online through their website. Since I did not receive confirmation, called the restaurant to verify. Female answering replied that they don't taken orders from their website! Asked her why don't they put a note on their website to that effect? She replied that she doesn't deal with that. Asked who does? She replied that's the manager. I have to call my credit card provider to deal with the refund. Apparently manager was not there to talk to me. Won't give his name nor hers so I could inform the manager who I spoke with when I had to call tomorrow. Not going there ever again.

I just want this review to be precise on point. The pick up time for one chicken biryani was over 30mins while I was told that pick up would be ready in 10mins. The food was super cold and undercooked chicken. A continuous disappointment. Overly priced for that disgusting chicken.