Ambience: The restaurant has a pleasant vibe with some nice wall art that adds character to the space. Service: The service was generally good. However, the staff seemed somewhat unreceptive to feedback. When concerns were raised, the response given was: "Everything is how it's supposed to be," which felt dismissive rather than helpful. Food: Overall, the food was average. Here are some specifics: * Puttu: A bit too dry for my taste -- it lacked the softness and moisture that typically makes it enjoyable. * Vellayappam: This was the highlight -- fresh and tasty. * Fish Curry: Disappointing. It was served lukewarm, and the fish itself came in very small, dry pieces. The gravy had a bitter undertone, and was missing the expected flavor, spice, and smokiness usually associated with this dish. Even though it's cooked a day prior, it did not develop any flavor and it's possible that the chilli base was burnt/ cooked in high temp. Worth giving it a try, each day is different! read more

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I was unsure whether to even write the review as it's just soft opening and their very first day in business. Goal is to just provide objective feedback which might hopefully help them improve. We arrived by 6.40 PM to find a fully packed dining space. There was no floor manager or waiter, just one person taking orders at the counter. She was serving the food as well. We found an empty table, placed our order and kept waiting. During our 45 min wait, we saw the tables slowly getting empty, people leaving unable to wait any longer. I decided I had to try atleast one dish so I kept waiting. I was expecting fireworks as their advert write up was pretty enticing. Check attached flyer. We were suggested cutlets and that's what arrived first. First bite and I realized they have a long way to go. In addition to being bland, the cutlet had bits of burnt crumbs. The kids refused to eat after tasting a bit as well. If this is how their recommended dish is, I am not sure how the rest will be. Instead of wasting our time further, I walked up to the counter to check the status of our other two dishes, apparently even after 45 mins, they didn't even start making them, so I just canceled. The entire restaurant seems to be drowning in confusion, they could have atleast posted a sign outside indicating soft opening and long wait times. And maybe a limited menu? And definitely get a floor manager. Also, they did a half baked job with the renovation, the floor is chipped in places. The tables are covered in faux wood wall paper. read more

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We went here on Christmas Eve as they were open and we were the only people there. The dishes they offer are quite a range. There are plenty of options and most carbs like parathas , kapppa or idiyappam. Keep in mind that they prepare from scratch and so some dishes can take time. I tried the egg curry with parathas and it was an excellent combination. My family tried the polichittu fish, nadan chicken curry and mutton fry with parathas. They were all good and the food was eaten quickly. The mutton fry was made right there as we could hear the pressure cooker release steam but the meat came a bit tough as they may have rushed but the flavor was great. This was my families opinion. The pazam puri was good and tasty. Even though we were the only folks at the restaurant they gave us great attention and service was fast. The space is large and well lit and has a great atmosphere. If you like Kerala food, this place is definitely a great place to visit. They are going to introduce a buffet. read more

Kappa sent me to the time I was young , broke and traveling far & wide to eat some authentic Malabar(South Indian) food. It is a siren call to Bay Area Malayalee community to congregate around a steaming plate of 'puttu' with friends and family ! Situated in an unassuming lot next to a laundromat, you walk into quirky movie dialogs like 'Mon happy alle?' and profound references on the wall - banana chips (greater than ) relationships :) This means lots of parking - while being accessible off the highway. They are creative for serving craft beer flights -offering everything dear to the mallu heart. Liquor license -check Tips for first timers: Order everything you want together, as early as you can, because food is freshly made to order and good things take time. Get the quail fry - it's bomb - Kerala's Fried Chicken The kulukki sarbath packs a refreshing punch with mint , basil seeds and split green chilli- must try! We tried beef puttu- steaming hot, soft, unapologetically mallu, and very very good! Porotta mutton stew- the flavors on point but I got a bunch of mutton fat among the pieces that should've melted into the gravy . Porotta needs to be more hot and flaky and crushed if it is made to order. The appam was sweet and paired well with stew.. but we expected the crispy edges and soft center of traditional appam. The shrimp roast paired well with the yummy ghee rice ! I'd recommend ghee rice with any of the gravies and fried quail, it was sublime. Filter coffee needs to come in the steel cups , piping hot . .mine was given to me with sugar on the side and lukewarm. Overall I had a great time and hope to come back with friends for long conversations over home food. All the best team Kappa! read more

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My uncle is from Kerela and South Indian food is my first and dearest memories. Ordered the meen mulakittadhu with matta rice! For a specialty restaurant, it was very good and I will return to try other specialty dishes. I would have like the fish to be deboned, and for the curry to have a bit more lime sourness. But that is only based on my palate. Thank you Kappa for bringing back delicious food memories! The service was 5 stars... read more

Kappa - Matta rice - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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I did a take out today for the order as per picture. This is one of the worst Kerala foods I've had in the bay area. I was so hopeful seeing their insta ads and reels and felt the food would be tasty and authentic but it's all a lie. Coming to the individual items : 1. Meen polichadhu was utterly dry and the masala was bitter. I expected a whole fish but it was just a single piece which was stiff as a rock and tasteless. 2. Chemba Puttu - Very dry and so less in quantity 3. Kerala Parotta - Pl stop calling yourself a Kerala restaurant if you are serving such bad parottas. Even the frozen Costco parottas are better than this. The Parotta was stale and small and stiff. No taste or flavor. 4. Mutton stew - The stew had only two pieces and rest was bones. It was given in a 12 oz container and that was half full. So pathetic. 5. Shrimp roast - The shrimp were overcooked and hard. The masala was a tomato onion paste which any noob can make. No flavor or soul. 6. Kadala curry - This was the only dish which was passable among all the disasters we had. It atleast was not stingy on the channa and had some flavor. Sorry you've lost valuable customers. read more

Kappa - It's the itemized bill - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Service was great. Everything is prepared after we order so it takes atleast 30 minutes to get it ready. The nei soru and chicken fry tasted very good. We went in for the Pazampori and it was good as well. read more

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I heard a lot of this place and the ads and try things out. So lets start off 1. Food - It was meh. I had much better Kerala food in the Bay Area. I ordered three different meat dishes and all of them had the same base masala, so you could taste the flavor of the same masala on three different kind of prep 2. Ambiance - It looked cool. There were Kerala related artwork on the wall, the boat, the banana, puttu etc was nice. 3. Service - I ordered take out and when it was all rung up and I was to tap my card on the machine, I was stumped - the Tip options - 20%, 25%, 30%. Part of me wanted me to leave the place then and there, I pay for service, I pay well for great service, but the audacity of the restaurant to make the minimum tip 20 and then 25 and 30, just did not sit well with me. The cashier expected me to tap on one of them I am like... I tapped Skip, grabbed the food and never going back. read more

Fellow Keralite here. Worst mallu food I have tasted. Beef fry was dry as gravel. Fish curry was made with either rotten sardines or canned sardines. The smell was so repulsive that I had to throw it away. On top of that, quantity is so deceiving. Most of the items were only had full in the take out container. Don't get deceived by pictures on the yelp page. -------------------------- This is my response to the business owners comment below... First of all, my blunt comments stem from extreme disappointment of what I hoped would be a great Kerala restaurant down the street turned out to be a letdown. I say this as a well-wisher who genuinely wants this place to become the best Kerala restaurant in the Bay Area. There is a tasteful range of dryness in beef fry that one can appreciate, but this was far beyond that. No one in Kerala consumes beef like this. Let's be real. Sardine is a delicacy, agreed, but in Kerala you always disclose "sardine" in the dish name because not everyone likes it, and it's considered a very cheap fish. If you advertise "Fish Curry" at the price you're charging, no one expects to be served sardines. Fresh sardines are rare in the Bay Area. Frozen sardines are a coin toss. More than half the time, they're bad and only suitable for frying, not for making curries. I don't want to call you or email you. Can't wait to take this review down. Just make good food. read more

Average food please avoid !!! Parathas were frozen ones that were served and all curries have same base - the protein is different. Enough said read more

Great food. Authentic kerala dishes that now is not available in Bay Area in a good ambience and served by friendly staff

The food was decent, but the service was a disaster. There is only one person cooking and one person taking the order. We had to wait for our food for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Even when the food came out, it all came out at different times, and it just ruined the whole experience read more

Stopped by with a friend on an early Sunday afternoon a few days after their soft opening. We asked for some recommendations from the owner and shared two dishes of Beef and Chicken Parotta. I really enjoyed the chicken dish, with soft, tender, juicy chicken, while my friend prefered the beef, largely due to his annoyance with not wanting to deal with any bones. When writing the yelp review, I just realized they are open only at night (dinner until close) but they are open for Sunday lunch as well. We spoke with the owner regarding the loud music and mentioned it was difficult to hold a conversation. I'm not entirely sure of what ambiance they are going for, the loud music is more appropriate for the evenings, like what the former ChiMek crowd would be. ChiMek was a Korean fried chicken & beer restaurant, a little dark like a bar, open late with sports games on the TVs, and the music volume was very appropriate for that crowd. My one recommendation for them would be to designate on the menu which items are spicy. I personally love spicy food and can eat extremely spicy, but for people who aren't super familiar with Indian food (and the other types of food they serve), they might potentially be caught off guard as the level of spicyness would be considered "spicy" and "hot" if I'm making comparisons to items for the mass consumer American market, like chips or salsa you can buy in mainstream white people grocery stores. read more

I went there with my Malayalee gang last Friday evening on their soft opening day. I thought there were few people, but it was fully plugged and packed. All the tables were filled by the time we reached, but we still waited there as we liked the vibe, wall-filled paintings, movie pics, and dialogues, which made us all feel like we had found a tribe. Despite the rush, they served with so much grace and smiles. The food? It's worth the wait. We started with crispy beef cutlets with a peppery Kerala masala kick. They served as Chai/Coffee and PazhamPori(those were free; we did not know about the free stuff until we reached there) Then, we ordered Kappa and Meen Mulakittathu(it was a combo)--Kappa(tapioca) was soft and steaming next to the bold red fish curry like Kottayam Fish Curry (this took me back to the college hostel days when my friend from Pala(a place in Kerala) bring this curry every time she came back from her vacation). This was a soul food at its best. Erachi Puttu (we ordered chicken)- Rice puttu and chicken, served piping hot, and then Ellum Kappayum-It was bold and rich, with curry nestled beside Kappa. Beef Ularthiyathu - was deep, dry-roasted Beef with curry leaves and coconut slivers. We also ordered Meen Pollichathu for fish lovers in our gang - it was a banana leaf-wrapped magic we won't forget. It was truly flavourful. We left this place late, almost when they closed. The host was very friendly (I guess he is the owner) and came to us and asked for feedback. I felt every dish - from Kappa to meen pollichathu - tasted straight from Ammachi's kitchen. My only ask for them is to add more dishes from different parts of Kerala, may be pazhampori and beef roast(a combo), more evening Kerala snacks. I can't wait to go back there with my family! Stay tuned -I'll add photos next time. read more

We took take out. Food was really good and the owner seemed like a nice guy. Would recommend.

Unfortunately not the kerala food I'm used to. The food was very dry and not very flavorful

Came here for a Sunday lunch and we tried Porotta, Beef varattiyathu, Pazham pori, Beef cutlet and Kulukki sarbath. Pazham pori was tasty, Beer cutlet had a good blend of spices, but slightly different than what you get back in Kerala, Kulukki sarbath was very refreshing. Porotta was soft, Beef varattiyathu was okay. Felt that few menu items were slightly pricey though .. Ambience was very cool with few cult movie dialogues and posters all over the place :-) read more

nice food and excellent service most recommended goto place to have dinner or lunch , ambiance was good too read more

Awesome place if you want to try some nostalgic Kerala / Tamil Nadu style food. Quick service and they have an amazing ambiance. They also have Mandi on the menu, which is an Arabian style meat and rice dish, which tastes authentic. Worth visiting if you are craving for some malabar food in the Bay Area. read more

Ordered samosa and puttu kadalaikari. Both were good . The restaurant was simple and clean and very spacious . Easy access from Lawrence so that is is +. Very friendly owner and the front desk person . Would go there again read more