I had the benne dosa, the flavor of the dosa and chutneys was delicious. However, the portion sizes felt a bit off. The dosa itself was smaller than plain dosas I've had elsewhere, and there was almost enough sambar and chutney left over for another full dosa of the same size. This was one of the rare times I've still felt hungry after a dosa, since I usually find them very filling. Also, it wasn't clear before I went that there's no indoor seating , just a couple of chairs outside. So that's something to keep in mind. read more

Idly Express is a solid stop when you want quick South Indian food that actually tastes good. If you love dosa and onion uttapam, you'll be happy here. I came on a Sunday brunch run and the dosa + onion uttapam combo was exactly what I needed. Food: really tasty and consistent. Drinks: rose milk and coffee are my favorites. Service/Parking: staff is helpful and parking is easy. Big downside: the location basically doesn't have seating. There are a few tables outside but it's not comfortable, and during peak times you'll likely end up eating in your car or taking it to go. One more thing: it looks like they might be connected to Mylapore since the containers and branding seem the same. If seating matters to you, I'd just go to Mylapore. If you're okay with takeout, Idly Express is great. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Mini Idly - Dipped (14 pcs) Dosa Uttapam - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

The food was amazing! Such great flavor profile and lots of different options. Quick counter service and great friendly staff! Loved the drip coffee too!! read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

It's okay. It's more of a to go, hence "express" in its name. They have tables outside if you cant wait to eat your food. Very relaxed and casual. We ordered idly, they are minis! If you are not Indian and wondering what it tastes like, if you have had puto, yes i said it, a Filipino snack make of rice flour, that's how it tastes like except idly will have the Indian twist, it's coated with chili and lentil. They were spicy, but then again, as I have grown older, my tolerance to spicy food had gone down tremendously. And if you have not had the Filipino puto, then think of mochi but more fluffy and airy. we also ordered dosa which came with a soup, and chutney, coconut and tomato. The soup was ok, very liquid compared to a soup where you blended some of the ingredients, the soup becomes creamy. The dosa itself is good. it was odd though as Im used to seeing a burrito like dosa, this was more like flattened and cut into pies. We also ordered something that looks like a Korean pancake, I forgot the name. That was good too. For something fast, this will do. Lots of parking! read more

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Stopped by for a quick bite for breakfast and got the Idli 2 Vada combo with sambar, coconut chutney, and tomato chutney. The idli was one of the best I've had at an Indian restaurant! Sambar and coconut chutney were also amazing, but the tomato chutney was too sweet. They were super generous with the portions for chutneys and sambar. I also tried the vegan masala chai, it had good flavor but was pricey for the portion. Service was quick and staff were really friendly. It's takeout only. Parking is easy. Definitely plan to come back and try more of the menu. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Idly (1) Vadai (2) Combo - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

I was craving for some traditional authentic filter coffee and after a quick Yelp search, I found this place. Surprisingly it was open at 8am! I got a medium filter coffee, a vada and benne masala dosa. I just couldn't wait to dig in. The person at the counter was very kind. The seating here was limited but they did have good indoor and outdoor seating. The coffee came out pretty quickly! It tasted just like the traditional Indian filter coffee - absolutely delicious! The dosa and vada came out pretty quickly too. The dosa was dripping with ghee - just the way I like it. It came with tomato and coconut chutney. There was authentic sambar too. Everything tasted delicious! My cravings were satisfied! If you are looking for authentic South Indian food , look no further! read more

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Take out only! I suggest ordering pickup because it takes a while for the food to come out. Especially since there is no seating area inside. Vegan chai is made with oat milk read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Menu- June 2025 - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

Love the food today. Idk what I ordered or how to order but I just looked at the pics and then I picked something $8.99 with a variety of food. It was very tasty and I liked that I got to take a break from eating meat. I'm going to eat here more often. I def don't know how to cook like this! Like Real home cooked food. read more

This location of Idly express is more of a takeout than a sit down, hence the ambience is very functional!! Nothing too much to talk about ...there are a couple of tables outside, no seating inside! The service appears to be fast. There is an electronic stand - to place your order and check out. There is a cashier - where you pay, and then there is a booth (more like a pick up table), the host signals that your order is ready for pick up! I have only eaten here once - last week I picked up a takeout. I ordered the Tathe Idly. You get two big idlis in a box. The order has small inner containers of sambar, a podi with oil, tomato chutney and coconut chutney. I requested them to skip the coconut chutney due to food, allergies (coconut is a no-no for me!!) They gave me four teeny/small containers of tomato chutney! This is where my experienced went South rapidly!! I don't think the tomato chutney is made of only tomato; when you keep it in the fridge and take it out, it solidifies and there is some sticky-creamy texture and it feels a bit chewy. I'm not sure what the other ingredient in the tomato is, I have to get to the bottom of it. This triggered immediate wheezing and a weird distaste for me!!! Stay tuned cause I'm going to call them and fill this space with ingredients within the tomato chutney. If you were to order food and eat, please - please - please be sure to ask about every ingredient, especially if you have asthma coupled with wheezing and a sensitive system! Follow up: I just got off the phone. The young lady who answered was very polite and checked with the chef about the ingredients!! Bang on, I was correct : the reason it's solid solidifies and the chutney looks creamy is because they use coconut oil !! Top that they add carrot in it! Be very mindful if you're eating that chutney! read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Tomato chutney - with carrots and made in coconut oil - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

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I got an Uber delivery of Mini tiffin ( vip + rava kesari). They had a lot of delicious items like dosa and poori. But only idly was available through Uber. Food was ready quickly. Medhu vada was crispy and flavorful. Sambar, coconut chutney and tomato chutney all came in good quantity. Pongal was good. Kesari had a lot of ghee. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Mini tiffin ( vip + rava kesari) - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

I'm a fan of their thatte idlis, but my recent DoorDash order was disappointing. The extra coconut chutney I ordered was missing, and they also never packed two tomato chutneys with two different orders of thatte idlis. I've noticed they've reduced the combo by one thatte idli and lowered the price on their website, but DoorDash still charges more ($7.95 vs $9.54). I understand restaurants pay a fee to DoorDash, but customers shouldn't bear the cost. On the bright side, their coconut chutney is delicious, and their sambhar is exceptional - soothing, homely, and perfectly spiced with added bottle gourd. I hope they address the inconsistencies and pricing issues. I look forward to dining in the restaurant and tasting their other offerings. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - A picture from october last year- Thatte idlis. - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

Comfort soul food! When you're overwhelmed with endless Indian options, this place offers clean, guilt-free, and wallet-friendly meals without compromising on quality or quantity. The $5 specials are incredible--Adai Avial, Kanjivaram Idlis, and Poori Masal are our top picks. The attention to detail in a $5 meal is impressive, like the butter and jaggery on the side for Adai. Their batters are unmatched in town, especially the sponginess of the idlis. Opportunities: * Tiffin: The regular tomato chutney is just okay but could be better (though the one served with Kanjivaram Idlis is amazing). * Hot Lunch: Their poriyals, like vazhakkai and potato, are consistently undercooked, and the taste could use some improvement. read more

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Great, authentic flavor. One of my two favorite South Indian places in South Bay. They have recyclable delivery boxes which is great! Food is a bit pricey read more

Food tastes just like homemade. It's a takeout place. Very little seating. Service is great. They answer all your questions. Whenever we are too tired to cook or no time, we order food from here. Perfect spicy. read more

Idly express is the best ! Filter coffee is my go to The Benne dosa is very delicious. I have tried the idly and vada which has always been my favorite dish here The server is kind and always accommodating Its mostly a take out place but well kept and clean read more

We ordered idly , sambar, puri and onion uthappam for dinner. The coconut chutney, puri, onion uthappam all was good except the sambar. The sambar almost was gone bad and we could taste it. So wanted to share our experience. Thanks. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Photo of the order - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

Small place. Mostly takeout. However there are some tables outside for you to sit. We ordered Masala Benne Dosa, Combo Idly/vada and Vada plate. Everything was authentic. The dosa was made with ghee. So very rich. If you want something light, do NOT order the dosa. Idly is the best in bay area. Disappointed with coconut chutney. Tomato chutney was good. Sambhar is different from other restaurants. I found it to be heavy on coriander masala. Overall a good takeout place. If you want to go there for dine in then only a few tables are there and they are outside so may not be good idea during cold and windy days. read more

Love their food authentic South Indian cuisine especially Tamil style and we go there to drink their mini coffee and iddlies and Dosa and Vada and Pongal and poori baaji read more

This place never fails! The sambhar here slaps every time. The idlis are the fluffiest ever and the chutneys are delicious. This is probably the best sambhar in the Bay Area. The place itself is pretty small and best for takeout. There are a couple of tables with chairs outside but it's too cold to sit out with the rain and the low temp these days. The service was pretty fast and the staff was nice. The filter coffee here is good too. Can't wait for my next idly sambhar day! read more

Their dosa batter has wheat! I'm a regular at this place and generally like their food but I was unpleasantly surprised to see wheat in their dosa batter. Not cool!! read more

I've been to multiple locations like Folsom, westgate, Fremont, Milpitas. Generally, the food is great and prepared with care including accompaniments like sambar and chutneys. Service is prompt n polite and they give you extra accompaniments without any fuss. I really like their Mysore masala dose, ghee podi thatte idly, idly, poori masala, coffee, tea and meals. Few things I'm not a fan of are their Bangalore style benne dose (I feel it's too greasy and batter is more tangy than what I've eaten in Bangalore) and the rava idly I will steer clear of because it was smelling of raw batter and they only give two small idlys for the price above 10$ and the sagu is sweet and bland, Vada is a hit or miss, sometimes crispy and other times just so so. Definitely still one of top places for South Indian fare :) read more

This place is mostly for take out very little space outside to sit and other people stand next to to your table so you eat fast and they can take table We tried idli and dosa. Food quality is good. Especially sambhar was good not like other places where it's diluted. so only go there if you want to pick up food read more

Ghee Podi thatte Idly is da bomb here. best I ve ever had. I ve tried several places around Fremont, but their idly is the perfect texture with the right amount of spice and crunch in the powder. read more

Amazing food and service . The podi idly and coffee was top notch . My little One enjoyed the biryani . Monica , Arpitha and haji went above and beyond with the great service . Will come back again . read more

Cold rainy morning... getting authentic idly vada sambar and chutney like home is a bliss in California. Service is very good, staff is courteous, place is clean. Only wish they had more room to sit inside... Keep up the good food! read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Idly Idly (1) Vadai (2) Combo - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

One of the cheapest ways to get a filling, multi-course meal in the entire Bay Area. Depending on what set menu you get, you pay somewhere between $7.50 and $9.50 for a full takeout meal. That's pretty much impossible to get anywhere else in the Bay Area except maybe fast food - and even that is sometimes not going to happen if you go to one of the pricier fast food places. How do they make this food so cheap? Well, you're going to get a set meal (which I suppose means they don't actually need to make that many different dishes). Pretty much every set meal consists of some sort of staple food with chutney and sambar curry. The staples are usually either Idly, a spongy, slightly sour rice cake (you'll really like it if you like Ethiopian bread), Vada (a fried bread, which you'll like if you like fried bread), or Pongal (an interestingly flavored soft rice dish - it's kind of like if Asian congee tasted good). You can actually try out all three by getting the "deluxe" $11.50 set (aka the dindin lunch or the VIP - Vada, Idly, Pongal combo). They also have specials after 3 PM for various other South Indian vegetarian dishes, usually for $5, which is an absolute steal. Most of those are actually large enough to actually be a full meal for someone - so this actually might be the cheapest dinner option in the entire Bay Area. The food is consistently flavorful, reasonably generous in portions (enough for me, a relatively big eater, to always be satisfied), and actually pretty healthy since Indian vegetarian cuisine is primarily dependent on relatively healthy foods (lentils, vegetables, rice, etc). Service is extremely fast and if you order ahead by ten minutes on the internet, it'll be ready when you get there. There's no real indoor seating, so it's mostly takeout. That being said, there's two fairly large tables outside that you can eat the food at - and I do think it's best when warm! They also serve pretty good filter coffee. Nice, frothy, milky, and strong. read more

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Not sure why this place is highly rated - Consistency needs to improve. This place has never failed to disappoint me. The first time, I ordered a Vada that had a plastic taste. Maybe a plastic spoon was accidentally fried with it. Since it was an Uber order, we didn't bother with a refund. Today also was another bad experience. Unfortunately, it was undercooked, and to make things worse, the oil used had a strange aroma -- it smelled like Balushahi sweet! I couldn't tell if I was eating a Benne Dosa or something made from leftover dessert oil. Definitely not going back again. read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

Tried them a couple of times now. I've known about Mylapore Express for a while, and I think the quality of the food is great! I've tried the Thatte Idly (3 big idly's, it's pretty filling), the podi idly and the vada as well. All of them were honestly very good. I'm not a huge idly person (I hardly eat them, dosa always!), but I'd definitely recommend this place for idly, and I'd get them occasionally as well here. Really soft! Vada was great as well, freshly made and not very oily at all. I'm typically a masala vada person (haven't tried that here yet) but I like the medu vada here. I liked the thenga (coconut chutney), but I am not a huge fan of their sambar or their tomato chutney. I'm deducting 1 star because of this, because sides are important for me with my idli or dosa. I did not get a green chutney both times, did see it on some of the photos. The Tomato chutney felt like a low effort one and sambar seemed to be well made (others might like this), but I didn't like the style/flavor. I am from Chennai and I have a particular type of tiffin sambar I prefer, and it's one that shouldn't be extremely strong and over the top. They recently introduced the Bengaluru Masal Puri on Saturday and I tried that, the Peas/Ragda tasted really nice, could've done with a little more of the puri and the imli (tamarind) sauce though. I'll definitely be back to try some of the other dishes like the Parotta/Idiyappam and their curries that they keep in their fridge, and also the hot lunch. Definitely recommend this place. They also offer small samples of their evening snacks like the Pakoda if you're there. read more

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Authentic south Indian food. Highly recommend their idly, sambar and pakoda. Service is amazing. While you wait for your food for take out, sometimes they bring out taste samples for people to try. And trust me they are amazing! Will definitely be coming back. This place is definitely for take out, but they do have tons of outdoor seating. read more

Fresh food, the ambiance and service - everything is right about this place. Oh, do try their vegan coffee - one of the best tasting vegan coffees in the Bay Area ( if you live south Indian filter coffee) . read more

Good morning food! Few options all based around idlies! Great taste. Sambar + Chutney read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

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Big fan of Mylapore express for the taste,consistent quality and cleanliness.I love that I can take my children here without having to worry about stale food or unclean utensils,a problem prevalent in many Indian restaurants, especially when dining during the week.I am so glad bay area has a restaurant that has our trust. Today I wanted to leave a review about the owner Jay .I had messaged the business about a specific request I had for black coffee.I immediately got a call from Jay asking for details. It is really impressive for a thriving business, to go out of its way and take care of each and every individual's needs.I am not surprised at the success of Mylapore express because their business model is rightly based on Customer Satisfaction and they do it very very well.Kudos Jay! read more

Flavors took me back home. It's a must try South Indian food joint. There are limited seating arrangement and huge parking spots as the place is located at a prominent place in Milpitas. Loved every bite of the food that we had. Highly try recommending idli dipped with samabar. The vadas were crispy and melts in the mouth. It's a must try place. read more

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Found the food to be great all the times I got food here recently. I like their Thatte idly the most.

I always get the thatte idly and yesterday was no different. This has been my go to spot since they opened but I noticed the quality going down... as well as the quantity. The idly was ok- pretty dry, hard and very different from how they used to taste. The sambar was thick and just ok. The chutneys were the only saving grace. The service was good and quick. read more

Love this place and quite a frequent customer both for in person eating (in the outside chairs) as well as the online ordering and delivery services. Authentic South Indian restaurant with food that's made from top notch quality ingredients. They have a limited menu as that's deliberate and tailored to perfecting what they do well. Our favorites: - Thatte Idly: softest idlies and the best in this world (coming from a South Indian who eats Idly at home regularly) - Pongal: dripping in ghee. Soft and melts in the mouth - Vada: nice and crispy - Filter coffee: out of this world. They use some secret ingredients and recipe here that makes it wow. Because if their super soft idlies, we also buy their Idly, Dosa batters and the pickles. Service is prompt and professional. I am a life long loyal customer as long as they keep up the quality of food. Must visit to anyone who loves South Indian vegetarian food read more

Idly Express - Milpitas - Mini Podi Idly - Vegetarian Near Me - Milpitas, California

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The place is quite interesting here as they don't have much dine-in options, but typically takes 10-15 min for pickups. It's best to call in before 10 min for the order. Their combos are delightful options here, Idly-Vada combo, Idly-Pongal-Vada Combo, amazing. But the Idly is very huge, not sure if they add any kind of cooking soda in prepping the idly mix. One Idly is too heavy. read more

My family came into town and I was really busy so I sent them to Idly Express for lunch. They loved it especially my mom who is a really picky eater and an excellent cook. They brought some idli back for me and I have to say the mini idlis were delicious. We ended up eating there multiple times. We tried a new item that was so good- the butter masala dosa. You have to try it. It was great. I crave it now. Enjoy. read more

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My mom and I generally go to Mylapore Fremont and get strong vegan filter coffee; it is made perfectly there. The strong vegan filter coffee here was too strong and it was not hot enough. Got the vegetable pakoda. There were no vegetables, there were only onions. The pakodas were too crunchy and unpleasant to eat, there was absolutely no flavor of any spice. It was inedible. I expected better quality of pakoda and vegan coffee. I was quite disappointed. read more

We visited this place because of the so many positive reviews and I must say it surpassed our expectations. Thatte idli was absolutely flawless. Sufficient quantity for one. It included 2 chutneys and sambar. I adored the flavor of coconut chutney and sambar, it was the finest I've tasted in the bay area. I simply wished they would offer more choices on the menu. read more