Chennai Dosa

The good. There’s alcohol. You’ll need a lot of it to eat the food over here.
The bad.
1. Food that wasn’t fresh — the pongal, dosa and the fried idly were at least a day old if not more. It was barely edible. Response from the waiters and waitresses was nonchalant at best to my complaint.
2. They do not accept cards. I hate paying with cash — I don’t care how cheap the menu is, but I do not trust a business that is building (or at least trying to build) a franchise that operates on a cash only basis
3. I feel so strongly about it that I feel the need to re-​iterate it. The food was not fresh and did not taste good. The only thing was fresh was the dosa, and that was cold by the time it got to my table.
The average rating of 2.5 is probably fair — but I have to say that I am surprised by the higher ratings. As a South Indian, it irks me when I go to a place that claims to be the «finest» South Indian restaurant, that is probably mediocre at best on its finest day. Never going here again. Not if this is the last surviving restaurant on Earth. I can whip up a better pongal or vada any day. Best steer clear of this place.

I’ve nothing to add that Indran’s review doesn’t cover except my favourite: Mutton Masala Dosa.
And that’s all I typically order when I visit except for a Lassi from time-​to-​time.

I had a masala dosa here and it was lovely, especially with the sambar that was served. Unfortunately what was such a turn off was the service. Understandably it was a busy time (dinner) and there were only three service staff but I was deliberately ignored for a larger group, not once but twice. I had to call them for quite a while before even given a menu.
The prices are affordable and the dishes that come with rice looks and taste lovely. They’re not overly spicy but they’re definitely not bland. And the dosa is large, I was quite full by the time I was finished with it.
Despite the service, I might just come back here again when I have a craving for South Indian food.

Food is cheap. They don’t take credit card.

This place has two things going for it in my mind:
— Really affordable pricing. We had two starters, two curry mains with rice and two pints of beer for dinner totaling £25.
— Spicy food that’s actually spiced right. You get some heat, but it doesn’t overpower the dish.
I’m not Indian, nor would I say an authority on Indian food, but I enjoyed it. I will definitely return.

Good South Indian Food; terrible service which spoilt the whole meal experience.

I was dying for some authentic South Indian food when I came upon Chennai Dosa. I was dining alone and the staff did not go out of their way to help or be friendly. I seated myself, thankyouverymuch, and proceeded to check out the buffet. They provide you with small thali cups rather than one big plate to put everything on. I also noticed meat on offer which told me that this was not a true South Indian owned restaurant. I asked if they had any raita but the lady working there told me they were out. I think she was just shocked I knew to ask for raita!
As another reviewer mentioned, quite sterile inside the restaurant and not much ambiance. Coupled with the cold shoulder I was getting from the staff and weird looks from the other patrons I couldn’t wait to eat and get out of there. Newsflash-​white people like authentic Indian food too!
The food was pretty good. Not the best ever, but decent and well spiced.
When I was paying at the register I mentioned to the guy ringing me up that where I live there are a lot of South Indian restaurants & how glad I was to find one in the area. That made him smile. It’s too bad the staff doesn’t smile more. It doesn’t hurt to be friendly to customers.

This place offers up cheap southern Indian food. The ambiance is rather sterile, but that is okay because the prices weren’t outrageous and the food was tasty. There were a lot of Indians eating in the restaurant, so I assume that the food is authentic enough. They accept cash only, so come prepared! The mango lassi drink seemed to be very popular — I saw at least five people enjoying them!

Good food, good prices, slow service! This place serves really nice South Indian food for very reasonable prices. The only thing that lets it down is the service which is hap-​hazard to say the least. When ordering they didn’t seem very keen on us ordering curry dishes instead pushing for us to order Dosas and starters. Whilst I can understand them wanting us to try their specialities, what is the point in having other dishes on the menu if they don’t want people to order them? We ended up ordering dosas as well as curries and rice. The food didn’t come out at the same time some curries came out first and they provided us with plates to start eating on but then when the dosas arrived we had to scrape our food off the plates we had onto the dosa plates all very confusing and rather messy! I would go again as the prices are very good and the food really tasty. It would be great if they could get the service aspect right.

Very good and authentic south indian food which is cheap as chips. For folks new to south indian food — south indian food is quite different from the usual (north) indian food that we find normally in restaurants in UK. South indian food has flavors of coconut and tamarind and uses lentils a lot. Idli-​sambaar and Dosa are a must if you visit Chennai Dosa. The biriyani is good too, but it’s a shame they hardly have it for lunch.