Consistently good food and great service. Everything tastes fresh and authentic in taste

Highly overrated food. We went to dine yesterday and ordered idlis, dosas, wada sambhar etc. The South Indian restaurants generally take a pride and differentiate themselves on sambhar which in case of idly express was very mediocre. The chutneys were also nothing to speak of. Say it this way - with this quality of food for what they charge, this restaurant won't survive a year in India. Pretty banal food. We are not going back. read more

Amazing Carnatic Instrumental music! Love the sustainable bamboo plates with green leaf on them. Growing up it was a huge part of my life coz my mom would never take me to a restaurant which didn't serve on the green leaf. Food is mind blowing as expected. The only food I wouldn't recommend is kothu parotta. Butter Dosa, idli, pongal are great. I love the slightly thick dosas coz it's easier for my toddler to eat. I would recommend the restaurant to consider putting leaves on steel plates to make it more sustainable and easier to eat. read more

I like this. I realize I have not had much southern India food so I was less familiar with the menu. I got a mixed meal and it was very good. I like that it is quick and easy to get. They don't seem to have as much variety as other locations but this seems like a good lunch or quick dinner place read more

Fresh, light, and flavorful! Service was impeccable. Must have Bennu dosa, thatte idly, mendu vada, uttapam. read more

New quick service restaurant, amazing portions, good tastes yum! Very convenient location for folks in and around Palo Alto.

Quality and taste was fantastic and authentic! Service was superb with regard to speed and politeness. I also like the ambience- it is quiet and calm. I wish you open dine in and delivery in San Francisco soon! We can pay xtra! read more

A good restaurant with reasonable pricing. They can improve a bit on service and food quantity. They have South Indian food options which you don't normally find in another restaurants. read more

Mohammad provides excellent service. And really cares about quality. Love the filter coffee and Benne Dosa. We drive down from Los Altos downtown skipping the other breakfast place. The bhajans in the morning and clean environment create an inviting ambiance. read more

We are so disappointed as we love going to Mylapore Restaurant at Westgate which has excellent service, has a friendly atmosphere. But Idly express in Mountain View was a huge disappointment. The price is high, same as Mylapore, it has no service at all, it is dirty with stuff fallen all over. We asked someone to clean our table and floor as it had food fallen there and they argued that they cannot do it! Finally my husband asked someone at the main desk Who cleaned it. The food was also not hot, atmosphere was nowhere near Mylapore's and the pricing is too high! Sorry, w will not go back to this Idly express! read more

I am a regular to Mylapore express in San Jose and Idly express at Milpitas. Food is pretty similar is all the places and it is definitely good. However, the thali at Mountain View is $28!! Also sharing the sentiment of many customers, it is unnecessary to serve food in to go boxes. It defeated the purpose of enjoying authentic food in a plate and tumbler. Hope they work on it. Otherwise ambience is neat and kudos to Carnatic instrumental music. read more

Food was really good with too many options. The plate was filling and worth the money. Service was good too as staff were friendly and responsive. Liked the ambience and with so much crowd over the weekend and close booths, still was well spaced out. E we picked up the cut mango pickle on our way out. They have some of those to go items available to be by. Worth a visit especially when you have people visiting from India. read more

We catered boxed meals for 90 people at a retreat in Los Altos. From ordering the food to delivery, their service was excellent. Everybody loved the food and was asking where was it from? food was not very spicy yet very tasty. The quantity was more then enough. Siva, the catering manager was very responsive and Professionl. We Highly recommend catering from them. We also ate at the Mountain View Location. Their food service and environment was very good. I have recommended this place to all my friends. read more

Beautiful and Congratulations Excellent service keep going Beautiful environment and very clean best is the food fresh service read more

Idli is smaller in size than Milpitas Chutney is more tasty in Milpitas Thanks Thanks Thanks read more

Awesome authentic South Indian food! Idli and coffee were great! Benne masala dosa was awesome!!

Loved the benne masala dosa, so buttery smooth, the sambar was also the best i've had in a long time,

Very nice place, clean, friendly. The vegan selections are clearly marked. The food are delicious. Vegan chia tea and coffee are available, which is a big plus. I recommend this place. read more

This has become our regular weekend kickstarter - the food is high quality and consistent. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming with the mellow Carnatic music and very comfortable to sit, particularly earlier in morning but crowds do pick up past 9:30am. The service is top notch, the staff is always very attentive and make for a pleasant experience that keeps us coming back! read more

Food was great, love the dose and mini podi idly. Mendu vada and regular idly were also very good

i am visiting from Dublin and had an excellent breakfast . service and taste were super. have one feedback on coffee . it was awful and no match to the coffee at mylapore, pleasanton . it did not taste anything like filter cofeee . pl verify and fix it read more

Fresh and flavorful We went there during the soft opening and the food was excellent. The idly were fresh, soft, and slightly tangy. The Vada was crispy and well cooked inside. Sambar was very flavorful and had the right spice level. Chutney needed a bit more seasoning. Overall it's great to have fresh flavorful South Indian in the area. It has become our go-to place. read more

This place is awesome! The dosa and vada are crispy and tasty, the idly is soft, fluffy, and, especially when paired with their delicious chutneys, delicious. The filter coffee and masala chai are straight from South India. :) read more

Outstanding food, great service, Manager Shiva is an asset. Cares about his customers and the business

Rude person at the front counter I asked him for advice on what to order, and he just grumps in discuss, like he didn't need my business. Besides it smells like they fumigated the place with Black Flag insect killer. The smell was overwhelming and I didn't bother to order anything so I left. read more

Mylapore / Idly express can be summarized as an authentic South Indian restaurant with high quality food, with excellent customer service and nestled in a beautiful location in MV and has as an ambient interiors with soothing music. read more

one of the best best food we can have. the staff are so nice. their payasam is to die for! I swear by their coffee as a South Indian. read more

A cozy spot for a quick lunch. We ordered the lunch thali and idli vada, both of which were tasty, along with complimentary mini vadas, which was a nice touch. I personally didn't enjoy the rose lassi (which I wouldn't recommend), and the filter coffee was on the pricier side. Overall, both the food and service were great, making it a good value for the price. read more

The food is so well made and tastes like authentic made at home south indian food! Their hot lunches and evening specials are extremely good and I look forward to knowing what is being made everyday through the whatsapp announcement page! read more

Really good South Indian authentic place! All dishes are delicious. Service is fast and the place is really clean with good ambience!

Food is yummy & piping hot. Ambiance ( music, fragrance , layout) is very pleasant. Staff is courteous & provide high quality service. The to go meals are great as well read more

Very authentic South Indian food! super impressed everytime I order the thali with variety of tasty veggies and yummy sambar!

Loved the food everything we ordered was delicious. The service was great. The server was checking in on refills for chutneys and if anything else was required. The ambiance was perfect and the place was very clean. read more

Great food and staff attention. Clean and raises the bar on ambience and authentic feel.

Generally love the food here but I'm disappointed with their vegan filter coffee. It is nothing like the one at Mylapore, generally served lukewarm but today they served me two cold coffees for $11. It was quite late by the time I realized it to send it back. read more

Great South Indian Thali experience! Loved the seasonal poriyals and sambars. Plus the thuviyal and kootu.

16 friends went to have idli on a weekend. It was also an indian festival that day so I was worried that we would face a long line. But surprizingly there was a short and fast-moving line. Once in the line, the method is to locate a table number and then order the food, so that it can be served to the table. But you stand in line before you see any tables, so its impossible to get a table number before food orders. This is confusing and needs to be corrected. Once past that hurdle we ordered food. The menu in mountainview is smaller than that in Milpitas or Fremont. But the taste is just as nice. The food is made in the style of MTR Bangalore. The plain dosas are thicker like uttappas and the sambhar is tasty. There is less spice than Madras Cafe or Sarvana Bhavan which we were very grateful about. The chutneys could improve. The main coconut chutney had coconut cilantro and green chilies. But it was watery as it did not have the roasted channa dal to thicken it. It also did not have the additional tempering needed on top. With a thick plain dosa and a watery coconut chutney, the experience was incomplete. But still it was nice as you did not have to make it yourself and it was pretty tasty. Lets talk about Ghee. Ghee was everywhere. Yes it added to the taste but frankly no one can afford to eat so much ghee now. That needs to be corrected for sure because it will stop people from going frequently. As far as the taste is concerened it was SUPERB. Those who prefer the more Bangalore, Karnatak or TamBram flavors will find this to be delightful. Those who prefer the extra sharp cayenne heat and the tamarind taste may enjoy other restaurants. My friends and I loved this one. But for the ghee that we will need to work off, we would go weekly to have an Idli Express Breakfast! You certainly need to try it!! read more

We are new to Palo Alto and we were looking for Starbucks. we accidentally found this place which was a very pleasant surprise. The pkave is neat and clean and their breakfast items are very tasty and very authentic in taste. their filter coffee is just awesome and just like having filter coffee from Sourh India. I highly recommend this place. read more

absolutely delicious Sambar!!! I'll be adding to my daily dose of healthy snack!! Made fresh everyday!

Idly Express Was a unique joint for me as I felt the aspects of the meal were very different. While the food was quite good, the service and portion size were just not up to standard and the ambiance with no plates even for done in orders and only plastic waste made me feel very wasteful while eating. However let's start with the food. I started with the rose milk which was ok. It was really sweet so it wasn't my cup of tea but it had a strong rise flavor and was a large portion. The mango lassi however was jaw dropping. It was the perfect amount of sweet and tangy and was quite creamy. It also tasted fresh and seemed to be made in house. After getting the drinks we explored the restaurant while waiting for our order. There is a little store in the restaurant where you can buy Indian sweets like ladoos and jalebis for desert. The merchandise sold at the store ranges from Indian sweets to nutritious powders made from native Indian plants! Then we got our orders. I got the benne dosa which was so freaking good. The mysore masala on the inside was sooo tasty and not spicy at all which I appreciated. The dish was very hot sou you could tell it was made fresh. Unfortunately, the portion size was insanely small for $13. I had to get a second one to just fill myself up and I wasn't very hungry in the first place. The dosa itself was filled with ghee(clarified butter). It was an interesting dosa.nit was quite thick and was very crispy on the outside. The chutneys and sambar that came with the dosa were also super tasty and unique! There was a coconut and tomato chutney and a flavorful lentil sambar. OVERALL the minimal portions for the price, the subpar service, and all of the plastic waste would make me not recommend this place to others, however if these factors were too change Idly Express would be my new favorite South Indian restaraunt to eat at. Enjoy the food if you come here! Ps. This is an all veg restaurant. read more