2741 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6K 1P9
+1 604-559-1666
info@karmaindianbistro.ca
Open daily from 12:00 PM
Diwali falls on a Sunday this year, which means tables go earlier than usual. What the five days actually mark, what gets eaten across them, and how to get a group seated in Kitsilano.
Diwali is a festival of shared plates. Order for the table and put everything in the middle.
Diwali is Sunday 8 November 2026, with the wider festival running Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November. Because the main night falls on a weekend, restaurant tables across Vancouver will go early - three to four weeks ahead is sensible for anything above six people. We seat groups up to 34 in the dining room and can be bought out entirely for up to 92 including the heated patio.
Diwali is not one evening. It is a five-day festival, and the day everyone means when they say "Diwali" is the third of them - the new-moon night, when Lakshmi Puja is performed and the lamps go out along windowsills and balconies.
Dhanteras
Fri 6 Nov
The start of the festival, associated with prosperity. Traditionally a day for buying metal - gold, silver, or something as ordinary as a new steel pot.
Naraka Chaturdashi
Sat 7 Nov
Also called Choti Diwali, the "little Diwali". Homes are cleaned and the first lamps are lit.
Diwali · Lakshmi Puja
Sun 8 Nov
The main night. Lamps everywhere, prayers to Lakshmi, and the meal that most people mean when they talk about Diwali dinner.
Govardhan Puja / Annakut
Mon 9 Nov
A day of food specifically - a mountain of dishes offered and then shared. In some regions this is the new year.
Bhai Dooj
Tue 10 Nov
The closing day, marking the bond between brothers and sisters. Another eating day.
Diwali follows the lunar calendar, and the exact days can differ slightly by region and by which tradition a family observes. If you are planning around a specific ritual rather than a dinner, check with your own family before booking.
Which evening to book
Sunday 8 November is the obvious one, and it will be the busiest across the city. But a large number of families do Lakshmi Puja at home that evening - lamps, prayers, a meal in the house - and go out either the night before or the night after.
Which is worth knowing if you are organising for a big group: Saturday 7 November and Monday 9 November are far easier to book, and Monday is Annakut, a day whose entire theme is a great deal of food shared between people. It is not a compromise date.
If you are organising for twelve, the night after Diwali is easier to book and just as much a part of the festival.
The savoury half
There is no single Diwali dish, because there is no single India. A Gujarati household, a Punjabi one and a Tamil one will put quite different things on the table. What holds across all of them is the shape of the meal: a lot of dishes, all at once, in the middle, shared.
Fried snacks and namkeen come out first and stay out - pakora, samosa, chaat, the things people pick at while talking. Then several curries rather than one, with rice and a stack of bread. Many families keep the Lakshmi Puja meal vegetarian, though this varies by region and household and plenty of people eat meat right across the festival.
Why the sweets are the point
Mithai is not dessert in the Western sense - an optional course at the end. It is the medium of the festival. Boxes of sweets are given to neighbours, taken to relatives, handed to colleagues; the sharing is the ritual, and the eating is almost secondary.
Which is why a Diwali meal that skips the sweets feels wrong even to people who could not tell you why. On our menu that means gulab jamun at $8 - warm dumplings in rosewater syrup - or ras malai at $8, soft cheese in sweetened milk with pistachio. The saffron rice pudding, also $8, is the one that is gluten-free and dairy-free, cooked with coconut rather than milk.
Order them for the table rather than per person. Three between eight is plenty, and passing them round is closer to the spirit of it anyway.
How many we can seat
Full details are on the group bookings page.
When to book
Three to four weeks ahead for anything above six people, and earlier if you want a specific time on the Sunday itself. Diwali is one of two or three nights a year when Indian restaurants across Vancouver fill simultaneously, and there is no flexibility in the system on that night - everyone wants 7pm.
Two practical notes. An earlier sitting, around 5:30 or 6, is much easier to get and works well for a family group with children. And if your party might grow - Diwali plans reliably grow - say so when you book, so we can hold a table that can be extended rather than one that cannot.
Groups here order à la carte from the full menu rather than from a set menu. For a festival meal that works better, not worse: a table where half the party is vegetarian can build its own spread across ninety-seven dishes instead of everyone eating the same three courses.
Here is a spread that works, costed from the real menu.
Vegetable Pakora · Paneer Pakora
$29
Samosa Chat · Chicken 65
$30
Paneer Butter Masala · Chana Masala
$36
Dal Makhni
$19
Butter Chicken · Chicken Madras
$42
Lamb Kadai
$23
Basmati Rice ×2 · Jeera Rice
$17
Garlic Basil Naan ×3 · Plain Naan
$19
Raita · Onions Salad
$9
Gulab Jamun · Ras Malai · Saffron Rice Pudding
$24
Total
$248 · $31 each
Before drinks and tax. With the 18% gratuity on parties of five or more, that is about $37 a head. Six curries for eight people is the right ratio - three of them vegetarian, one vegan, and nobody is eating a compromise dish.
If your table is entirely vegetarian, swap the two chicken curries and the lamb for Malai Kofta, Kadai Paneer and Navratan Korma and the arithmetic barely moves. Nine vegan curries and nine vegetarian curries sit on the standing menu, so nothing needs arranging in advance.
Everything is cooked to order across four spice levels, set per dish rather than per table - useful when three generations are eating together and they do not agree about chilli.
We are at 2741 West 4th Avenue on the corner of Macdonald, open from noon daily and until 11pm on Sundays. The 4, 44 and 84 buses stop outside, which is worth passing on to guests who would rather not park on a festival weekend.
When is Diwali in 2026?
Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026. The wider festival runs across five days, from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj.
Can I book a large table for Diwali in Vancouver?
Yes. Karma seats groups up to 34 in the dining room and can be bought out entirely for up to 92 including the heated patio. Diwali weekend books early, so three to four weeks ahead is sensible.
Does Karma run a special Diwali menu?
Groups order à la carte from the full menu rather than from a set Diwali menu. In practice that works better for a festival meal, because a mixed table can build its own spread across ninety-seven dishes instead of everyone eating the same three courses.
Is Diwali food vegetarian?
Often, yes. Many families keep the Lakshmi Puja meal vegetarian, though practice varies by region and household and plenty of people eat meat across the festival. Nine vegan curries and nine vegetarian curries sit on our standing menu, so a table can go either way without arranging anything in advance.
How much does a Diwali dinner cost per person?
A shared spread of starters, curries, rice, breads and sweets works out around $31 a head before tax and gratuity at our prices, or roughly $37 including the 18% gratuity that applies to parties of five or more. Drinks are extra.
Are you open on Diwali?
Yes. Diwali falls on a Sunday in 2026, and we are open from noon until 11pm on Sundays. The kitchen takes its last order 30 minutes before close.
2741 West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano, open daily from noon. Tables to 34, buy-outs to 92, and a heated patio that works in November. Book early - Diwali weekend goes fast.
